Junk King is a real company. It started in 2005 in San Carlos, California, has more than 185 locations across the US and Canada, and has been owned by the franchise group Neighborly since 2022. The locations are franchises, individually owned and operated. So the star rating you are reading was earned by a different business than the one that pulls into your driveway. Search your city, not the brand.
The rating you are reading was earned by someone else
Junk King sells franchises. A local owner buys the territory, hires the crew, buys the trucks, sets the schedule, and quotes the job. Corporate owns the brand and the booking software. Corporate does not send the two people who come to your house.
That is why the reviews contradict each other. They are not describing one company.
Checked in April 2026, the San Jose location had more than 589 Yelp reviews. The San Francisco location had 117. Same brand, same metro, two separate businesses with separate track records.
An average built across all of them is a number about the logo. It tells you nothing about Tuesday.
How to check the one that will actually show up
Search the brand name plus your city. Searching the brand alone returns national roundups written by people who never booked anything.
Then read the last 90 days only. Franchises change hands. A two year old review is about a previous owner.
Three things to look for.
- •No shows. One missed window is a bad day. The same complaint three times in three months is how that location runs.
- •Quote changes. The estimator gives a range and the crew sets the number on site, so some gap is the model working as designed. Repeated complaints that the on-site number came in far above the estimate are a different signal.
- •Replies. An owner who answers a one star review in public is an owner still paying attention.
If the recent reviews are thin, or the profile has gone quiet, get a second number before you commit.
Which job is yours
If the work is inside, book a full-service crew. A couch in the basement, a treadmill on the second floor, a garage packed to the ceiling. That is what Junk King is built for. They carry, they take stairs, and they price by the space the pile fills. Nobody from Dropcurb comes inside your home, so a job that starts in your living room is not a job we can do. Past roughly ten items, a truck-volume quote beats per-item math, and a dumpster beats both if you will load it yourself.
If your city runs bulk pickup, check that first. Where it exists it is cheap or free. The wait usually runs weeks, the item limits vary by city, and those limits change without notice, so read the current rules before you plan around it.
If the work is outside, book curbside. One to four things you can get to the curb. The franchise question disappears, because the number is set when you book and nobody is quoting anything at your house. Book by 2 PM and a local hauler comes today where same-day is running, seven days a week, in all fifty states.
What a Junk King job costs
Junk King does not publish a per-item rate card. It prices by how much of the truck your pile fills, in eighths, and the crew sets the final number after they see it. The online estimator gives a range before that happens.
HomeGuide reports $389 to $488 for a half truck and $589 to $658 for a full truck. Those are national figures.
A reader in r/cincinnati reported paying $188 to have one couch carried out of a basement. That is what a truck minimum looks like when the load is small and the carry is long.
Locations are individually owned, so rates move with the market and the owner. Treat any single number you find online, including these, as a data point and not a quote.
What people say about us
Melissa Mader left this on Google after a pickup: "I was concerned this wasn't a legit company, but they absolutely are… I was quoted $1500 by another company."
Tyler Bond had a couch taken for $89 after a mover quoted him $250. Forty-five minutes from booking to pickup.
Google 5.0 across 150+ reviews. Trustpilot 4.9 across 125+ reviews. More than 1,000 items picked up every month.
Prices by item, fixed when you book
Junk King prices by the truck, so a one item job pays the truck minimum. Here the item is the price. It is set when you book and it does not change at the curb.
Nobody comes inside. You do not need to be home. The price you saw when you booked is the price, and there is nothing left to negotiate at the curb.
Book a couch pickup, $99What happens after you book
You book first, then put the items out. Most people have it backwards and wait until everything is at the curb, which only costs them the same-day window.
Book by 2 PM and the pickup happens that day where same-day is running, seven days a week. You get a text with the window, and a live ETA when your hauler is on the way. Just under half of pickups are done by noon and about three quarters by 2 PM.
Nobody knocks and nobody comes inside. You do not need to be home. The hauler sends before and after photos, so you can see the spot is clear from wherever you are.
The price you saw when you booked is the price. There is no on-site estimate, so there is nothing left to negotiate at the curb.