WHITE SPACE

Cynthia (owner) was very helpful in outlining how her company could be helpful. I was about to have shoulder surgery and had a need for their services. She assured me that they could take care of everything with minimal stress. The team sent for decluttering our basement was wonderful and very helpful. The process involved a lot more of my time and energy than I thought it would. I spent most of the 6 hours they were in my home in the basement with them going through crates that they brought over to me, sorting things into keep, give away, and trash piles. They carted all the trash out and took things that went to charity. My experience the day of our move was nothing like Cynthia described as a "spa day" for me. Any spa experience would have been interrupted too many times to count by White Space staff calling to ask what things we wanted to stay at our previous home and which things were going to our new home; even though we had left a detailed spreadsheet. The system White Space had of putting blue tape on things that were supposed to stay in our old home did not work at all. We ended up storing a bookcase, dresser, and several chairs in our basement that were supposed to remain at our old house. We ended up paying additional moving costs because the "blue tape" system didn't work well. I have high praise for the staff of White Space and the beautiful job they did unpacking our home. This is the one area that was worth every penny and reduced our stress. They were sensitive, thoughtful and highly efficient. My biggest complaint is with the owner of the company whose vision and promises unfortunately don't match the reality of what can actually happen in a prescribed amount of time. During our process I was promised that I would have an invoice "the next day" and then would have to call a few days later to ask again. Delegating the bookkeeping responsibility to an office manager would certainly have alleviated this problem. When our project was completed we were sent a bill that did not reflect the complete amount we had paid previously. I called Cynthia twice to talk about my confusion and did not hear back. I emailed her asking for a detailed invoice that reflected our prior payment her response was terse and intimated that we were suggesting she was trying to cheat us. I was amazed that a business person would react in such a manner when asked for a detailed invoice. We had always responded to her in an above board, friendly manner. When we had to delay our payment by two weeks, we spoke to her by phone and sent her the postdated check. Somehow asking for clarification was a sign that we were trying skip out on our bill. After she had already cashed the postdated check she still had not sent the invoice. I finally spoke with one of her staff and an invoice was emailed that day which (surprise) was to the dollar the amount she had billed us. Since this was an after the fact invoice I'm not sure how accurate it really is.

White Space's unpacking/organizing services are worth their premium rates. I can't recommend the rest of their services. The "decluttering" was a useful exercise, but there was little to no added value from white space. Their 6 hours plus the time for taking the trash, delivering the charitable items and prepping for the day were all charged at premium rates. The packing day was the low point. White Space was late to arrive, unable to answer packers' questions until the owner could be reached by phone, and contributed little value throughout a difficult day. It was high stress, and from a co. that sells their ability to simplify things, it was not what I expected. The unpacking was great. They brought order to my home in record time. I did not like having to negotiate at the end of the day to get them to finish unpacking. They said they were managing the budget, but it felt like an efficiency issue to me.

I am torn over how to review White Space. The idea is great, and we were ultimately very happy when we walked into our new condo and saw how great the place looked. What would have taken us three weeks took only a day, and all of our things were beautifully organized with materials from the Container Store. That said, we had some communication problems that left us unsatisfied with the result. The project coordinator did not communicate with the team (or us) about the full cost of the supplies, which ran about $600 more than what we were expecting. Plus, they did not remove all of the trash from the unpacking, as they had promised to do. I contacted the head of the company with these complaints and suggested a resolution. To her credit, she accepted my suggestion and did everything I asked for. Still, at that price, you expect perfection, and it wasn't quite there. My hope is that it's just growing pains for a new company.

MY EXPERIENCE WAS QUITE POOR. FOR AN ORGANIZATION COMPANY, THEY ARE VERY DISORGANIZED. IT TOOK MULTIPLE PHONE CALLS TO GET THEM TO CALL ME BACK, MULTIPLE PHONE CALLS TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT, AND THEN MULTIPLE PHONE CALLS TO FIND OUT THAT THE PROPOSAL THEY PROMISED TO HAVE READY WASN'T GOING TO BE AVAILABLE ANY TIME SOON. THEY CLAIM THEY ARE EXPERIENCING GROWING PAINS, BUT IF THE WHOLE PREMISE OF YOUR COMPANY IS TO HELP ORGANIZE, I WOULD EXPECT YOU TO BE ORGANIZED. THEY WEREN'T EVEN ORGANIZED ENOUGH TO MAKE A PHONE CALL THAT THE PROPOSAL THEY PROMISED WAS GOING TO TAKE LONGER, I HAD TO TRACK THEM DOWN. I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT YOU STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY.

REBECCA, THE CONSULTANT, WAS VERY NICE AND INFORMATIVE. I REALLY WANTED HER TO ORGANIZE MY LIFE, BUT I COULDN'T AFFORD THEIR SERVICE.

VERY HELPFUL .