College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving

This review is coming from someone who used to genuinely love this company.

We moved to the Tampa Bay Area over 10 years ago and used College Hunks Hauling Junk more than five times for our own moves and twice for my parents. They used to have great customer service, accurate estimates, and teams that actually cared. When they damaged our floor 8 years ago while moving a washer and dryer, they took responsibility and had it repaired within a week. That level of accountability is why we kept coming back and recommending them.

This last experience completely changed my view of the company.

I called about a week ahead of time to get an estimate to pay for my mom’s move. The woman I spoke with, I believe her name was Alhyia, was kind, patient, and thorough. She pulled up my parents’ 2023 move, which was around $610 and broken down by items. This time, my mom had significantly less furniture due to my dads passing away. One entire bedroom set and an office had been donated from us to a charity we love and they use College Hunks also. Everything was already packed and ready to go. She moved within the same apartment complex, just two buildings down, same number of floors as in 2023. To be safe, the estimate was padded by about $300 more even though logically it should have been similar or less.

I did not book immediately because we were waiting on confirmation from the leasing office. When I called back a week later to book, I spoke with Jesse. He reused the estimate and sent the booking link for me to book, which meant he would be getting commission for this job and not Alhyia… The final bill came out to over $1,500 for a move that involved less furniture than before.. THREE TIMES More than in 2023. The job took over ten hours to move less than half a truck of belongings. I still tipped the movers.

I called to give the company a fair chance to explain or make things right. Instead, I was met with zero empathy and a lot of defensiveness. Jesse focused entirely on protecting his commission rather than listening. The estimate structure had changed from item based to time based, which benefits the company the longer a job takes. When I questioned this cost, he made comments that did not make sense, including saying that more muscular and in shape movers they used to send out would actually take longer than smaller, less in shape movers. It felt like he was saying anything he could to justify the cost instead of addressing the issue.

What bothered me most was the complete lack of humanity. When I mentioned that my mom was moving alone after my dad’s passing and that this is why she had less furniture than last time, there was no acknowledgment at all. No empathy. No pause. Nothing. Just cold, transactional responses. At one point he even told me to go ahead and leave a one star review and said it would just be taken down.

That response alone says everything about how this company operates now.

This is no longer a business that values loyalty or customer experience. It feels like a company that prioritizes commissions and inflated pricing over fairness and care. The longer a job takes, the more they make, and customers are the ones who pay for it.

We will not be using College Hunks again. Not for our next move, not for future donations, and not for any client or personal recommendations. It is extremely disappointing because this used to be a company I trusted and spoke highly of. That version of the company is gone.

These guys are horrible and inconsistent. Weve (and family members) have used them in the past multiple times. We had issues previous times with damage to our place which they fixed. This time they sent two people for a 3 bedroom apartment and charged us $1500. The same apartment cost half that last time we used them and they brought 3 people. It took almost 10 hours and it was moving from one apartment to a few apartments down the street. Last time the job took 5 hours. Just a complete lack and embarrassment on the operational side to be such a dramatic change for the exact same move. Very disappointed. Find a company that actually takes pride in providing even a reasonable service for their clients...

**EDIT: AFTER SPEAKING MORE TO MY WIFE I AM APPAULED BY THEIR BUSINESS MANAGER WHO NAME BEGINS WITH A J. RULE #1 YOU DO NOT ARGUE WITH A CUSTOMER WHEN YOU ARE IN THE WRONG. HE CLAIMED TO QUOTE US BUT A LADY QUOTED US INITIALLY FOR $600 AND WE HAVE THE ESTIMATE VIA EMAIL. THEN WE CALLED BACK THE NEXT DAY AND WIFE GAVE HIM THE CARD AND PUT IT UNDER HIS NAME. THIS SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE JUST WANTED THE COMMISSION AND DOES NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS. REGARDLESS IF ITS AN ESTIMATE, WE PAID $700 2 YEARS AGO WITH LESS FURNITURE AND NOW IT TURNED INTO $1500. THE WORST PART WAS THE LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE MANAGERS ATTITUDE. THIS IS A HORRIBLY RUN COMPANY.

Very happy with the move. Ben and John were awesome they did exactly what I asked them to do. Very polite and professional. I am handicapped so they moved everything to storage without me needing to sit there all those hours in my wheelchair. If there was a rating of 10 they would deserve it.

Update: I was reached out to to find a “solution” and the options are pay them for the second move of items they left behind or I can purchase my own uhaul and they would send someone out to load it as long as I drive. Absolutely infuriating. I’m now going to be out a full day of work and additional $400-500 dollars because of negligence.

I truly hate writing a negative review but the experience of hiring these movers was more expensive and less convenient than if I had just done it alone with our groups of friends.

The TLDR is we went through all the right steps - someone came out and walked the property and made a list of every item that needed to move. When it came time for moving day - the three gentlemen were helpful and kind but clearly there is a communication error. They looked at us and asked “so what’s moving and what’s staying behind?” Insinuating it would not all fit in the truck. At the end of the day, about 5-10 large items and bins had to be left behind - including our guest bed FRAME (mattress already packed), our child’s rocking chair (it’s been a nightmare without it already), and our bin of cleaning supplies. They attempted to leave behind our babies crib, but we essentially fought tooth and nail for that to fit.

They have offered no solutions and the truck had almost five feet of room at the top, meaning to me it was packed with a lack of experience or planning. It feels as though if packed properly, we would have had plenty of space. And of course - charged the whole amount.

Now our on FIRST week at our news job we have to request a day off to fix what our movers couldn’t do. It’s so beyond frusterating to need to do the four hour round trip drive again with no assistance or empathy. I wouldn’t recommend at this point.

I hope college hunks is willing to work with me on a solution included in the massive amount I already paid. I see on every comment they are saying to reach out to them at a number - y’all have my number. Call me. Thanks.