Ryan was stressed. A lotta stuff’s been going down in his life and he needed to bust out of Cali to go to a new University. He considered just leaving the crap in his storage locker to rot but didn’t want the credit dings. So he called 1-800-GOT-JUNK. He just wanted some guys to take the junk out of his storage locker. He didn’t need the gangsta rap music or his pathetic student possessions being insulted by the homeslices, just the beginning of a miserable experience.

Maybe it penance handed down from the gods of consumerism. After all, as Fight Club teaches, the things we own come to own us. When you try to divest yourself of your possessions, particularly so unceremoniously, there’s going to be some tearing of the flesh as you pry out the claws of the albatross.

Or maybe, 1-800-GOT-JUNK staffs a buncha jerkoffs and they should give him a refund… Ryan’s letter, after the jump…

comment on this post

Ryan writes:

“Acceptance to a university on the other side of California and other dramas have led me to need to quickly sell most of my possessions here for my new life.

Which meant today I had to clear out a storage unit full of junk from my last apartment.

Dealing with U-Haul and another junking service at the same time put heaps of dread into me this morning , but not all was bad.

When I called u-haul the day before I talked to the manager about an outstanding balance I had there which I was no longer willing to pay for. I told her my plight as a poor student and my sudden need to take off. I also inquired as honestly as I could what the consequences of letting my junk just go to auction at this point and not looking back. Her response was it would hurt me in the long run. I’m guessing she was implying my credit would get dinged. She gave me a chance though, and told me if I could clear everything in there by end of the week, she’d call the balance off and everyones happy.

Well I left that place anything but happy, but that didn’t stop me from sending the u-haul manager a thank you e-note, though by their general customer feedback form as I had difficulty finding an e-mail addy for the specific store.

“Despite previous experiences, I must say how much I was pleased today with your manager K.T. at your location *** E. ******** Rd., ******, Ca.
She was very helpful to a delicate situation of mine and made things smooth and easy for a usually stressful situation. ”

1800-Got-Junk? on the other hand was quite a disappointment. I tried not to judge the young employee duo that rolled up blasting rap music and laughing from their blue truck. Things only got worse though. I was exposed to their delightful foul language and jokes about my own furniture and other assorted belongings that were audible at times making me feel rather angry, or like the kid in math class everyone is making whispered jokes about. Their first visual estimate which I was happy with was then second guessed to me after they had moved a few pieces. To be fair this was because my refridge was in the back and hard to estimate its size. But the new estimate tacked on 40 bucks. Ok I’m sweating it off as best I can at this point but I’m also taking down their plate number and truck number on my cell phone.

After they’ve finally loaded it all up they try to process my request with some wireless card reader they have and finding a signal alone not only takes 20 minutes of waiting, but also a call to their internal tech support which they had to call another number to get the number for.

Their backup idea is to process it later and have me put my credit card number and billing info on their copy of the receipt. Despite not looking very Russian-mob-like I say hell no, but eventually their gizmo did work.

And after all that one of the movers tells me how they both “Hooked me up” @ a bill of $301

I think my real hookup will be a refund when I submit my complaint to 1-800-Got-Junk
-Ryan”

comment on this post

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.