0 STARS -- WE HAD TO CALL 911 TO GET OUT OF PUBLIC STORAGE
If Google allowed zero stars, Public Storage would have earned every single one of them tonight.
On September 7, I accompanied a friend to his storage unit at the Public Storage facility at 5900 148th St W in Apple Valley, Minnesota, to help him organize and downsize his belongings. His payment had been due September 1 -- six days earlier.
We arrived at approximately 7:15 p.m. He used the Public Storage app to access the property. The app accepted his access and opened the gate, allowing us and our vehicle inside.
We entered his unit, completed what we came to do, and attempted to leave at approximately 8:00 p.m.
Public Storage wouldn't let us out. The very same app that had authorized our ENTRY approximately 45 minutes earlier suddenly refused to open the gate when we attempted to EXIT, displaying:
"Access denied. Your account is past due."
EXCUSE ME?
If an account is past due and Public Storage intends to suspend access, DENY ENTRY.
You do not allow people and their vehicle through a secured gate and onto your property and then use an account balance as the reason they cannot physically leave.
We called the number listed on the website. No answer. We called the number provided through the app. No answer.
And here's what makes this even more unbelievable: Public Storage advertises an "on-site property manager." Where exactly was the "on-site" assistance while two people were locked behind the company's gate and unable to leave?
We ultimately had to CALL 911.
A police officer had to respond to Public Storage so that two adults whom Public Storage's own system had authorized to enter the property could simply leave it.
Let that sink in.
WE NEEDED POLICE ASSISTANCE TO EXIT A STORAGE FACILITY.
And here's the part that makes tonight especially infuriating:
This was not my first experience being locked inside a Public Storage facility. I am a former Public Storage customer myself, and during the time I rented from this company, I experienced this same basic problem on multiple occasions -- being allowed onto a property and later finding myself unable to get back out through the gate.
So tonight I wasn't simply watching some bizarre, one-time technological failure happen to my friend. I was watching Public Storage do to another customer what I had personally experienced more than once when I was their customer. Different customer. Different occasion. Same fundamental safety problem. That history is precisely why tonight bothered me so much.
What happens when the person trapped inside is elderly? What if they're alone? What if someone falls or experiences a medical emergency? What if a parent is there with a frightened child? What if their phone dies?
And what exactly does "on-site property manager" mean if customers who cannot physically leave the property cannot reach anyone on-site to help them?
An overdue storage bill is a financial matter.
A human being's ability to leave your property is a safety matter. Those two things should never be confused.
Unfortunately, the gate problems were only part of my previous experience with Public Storage. As a former customer, I dealt with enough problems involving accessibility, communication, customer treatment, and the handling of my belongings that I eventually took my business elsewhere.
And thank God I did.
I now rent from StorageMart in Plymouth off Highway 169, and the difference has been night and day. Brad and his team have consistently treated me with patience, dignity, common sense, and genuine human decency. The facility is clean and accessible, communication has been reliable, and my experience there has reminded me that a storage company can protect its business interests without forgetting that the people behind its account numbers are human beings.
Tonight only reinforced why I left Public Storage. Your system was sophisticated enough to recognize that this account was six days past due when we attempted to leave.
Apparently it wasn't sophisticated enough to recognize that before opening the gate and allowing us inside. And when that system subsequently prevented us from leaving, the company advertising an "on-site property manager" had no one available to get us out.
The POLICE had to do it instead.
That isn't merely poor customer service. That is a safety problem -- and based on my own repeated experiences as a former customer, tonight was certainly not an isolated incident.
Get your act together Public Storage!
0/5 stars.
-- A Former Customer Who Learned the Cost of Public Storage's Indifference -- and Somehow Got Locked Behind It Again read more