We've had a storage unit here for a couple of years. Recently, I got a bit too busy and distracted with work and forgot to pay the storage fee for one month. In the past, someone from the site has called to remind me if I forgot to do that -- and that was above-and-beyond customer service! I'd pay right away when that happened, which was maybe once a year. But this month was very different.
They sent two emails on the same day, one reminding us to pay and asking for our feedback, the other saying that their attempts to contact us had been unsuccessful and they were going to auction our stored items. After one missed payment? Yeah, it's probably in the contract -- but as noted above, that was not previously the way they did business. a paper letter informing us of their intent to auction arrived the same day as the emails.
There had been no phone call. The (paper) letter mentioned cutting locks off of units, which is rather odd considering the company own the locks -- you get a special lock issued when you rent and presumably they have a key. Perhaps it's a form letter initiated by a distant office that doesn't know about the local company's lock system. That might also explain why the threatened sale after 1 month in arrears. Is the overall corporation under new management? I do understand that there are many units and the site managers also sometimes must get very busy (see? we *both* were busy...) and they might not be able to get around to calling. Perhaps for the last two years those thoughtful calls have been the local management trying to keep the automated threatening letter option from kicking in? If so, I can understand why; my first instincts were 1) pay the bill immediately, which I did and 2) to take my stuff somewhere else, quickly, since clearly somebody somewhere is far more interested in selling it off than in keeping it safe for me.
After considering the other storage options locally, this makes me want to just buy a storage building for our property, rather than dealing with some corporation that clearly is itching to auction our stored goods on Storage Wars.
And that's the disconnect between HideAway corporate HQ and HideAway Fort Myers: everyone on-site in Fort Myers has been perfectly nice and the unit has been well-kept and trouble-free -- it's just that incredibly tacky "we're going to go through your stuff and sell it as soon as possible" subtext that really turns me off; the tone shifted from considerate service-provider to 'way downmarket very fast. Is there any way for the corporate HQ to import the Fort Myers people to show them how to actually build a happy customer base? Or is the future of this chain that people who store family treasures with them will see them auctioned off after missing a single payment? Misery loves company, they say -- and someone in the upper management structure at this company's HQ must be pretty miserable.
So, that's why three stars: five for the local managers' excellent service and clean facility over the last two years, and one for the corporate HQ. At least you can pay online, which presumably is one benefit the HQ provides to the local site managers. But seriously, we're rethinking the storage thing now. read more
