Unfair business practices -- be warned!
So I had an 8x10 storage unit from Nov 2021 - April 2023. The price of the unit started at $194/mo. -- and during the short 17 months I had no less than three rent increases, to bring me up to $288/mo. -- an almost 50% rent increase in less than a year and a half! That seemed a bit much, so when you call about an unexpected increase the office sends a 'rent adjustment request' in to the PS corporate office which was never approved in all three increases.
I was never an issue for Public Storage, had autopay set-up, and never late. I rarely ever went to the storage unit. But enough was enough on the increases so I ended up cancelling and put a courtesy call in to them to let them know and get their procedure for clearing out the unit. They told me it had to be empty by 4/30 but never mentioned the time. Now, as I mentioned I rarely go to the unit so don't really know how it works. They have posted office hours of 9:30 -5pm but assumed that's OFFICE hours and not GATE hours. I've never known a storage place that doesn't offer after hours gate access (A-1 Self Storage on Gothard, HB 714-421-4394 offers gate access 6am - 9pm).
As is normally the case when you're trying to empty a unit, we had several trips to make on Sunday, 4/30. I sent to the office to talk with them the day of the move and understand procedures, and it was locked tight. The OPEN sign was up but no one there. I went back on each runf to/from unit (4 different times Sunday during office hours -- crickets. No one home. each.and.every.time.
Final run to take last load had us there at approximately 5:30pm. Tried to access gate but to no avail. Locked tight. Confused, as it's 5:30PM....hours of day-light left even. That's when I realize when they say CLOSED they mean it. So, I noted office hours and realize they open up Monday, 5/1 @ 930am -- I planned to be there when they open and take 10 minutes to load up last of the boxes, as well as stop by office to let them know the situation from last night and/or settle up. I tried office at 9:30am, and surprisingly -- no one there again! I went by again as we left at 9:45 and still no one there. SO six times in two days I went by that office -- and not a single person to be found ANYWHERE (looked all over the property too in case they were out and about on premises -- ghost town).
So finally I call around noon on Monday, 5/1 and got a hold of someone. They said I owe for the ENTIRE month of May to the tune of $260 bucks because I used my access code on May 1st. I called customer service TWICE and their response was "It's in the 1st paragraph of your contract that you owe entire month". No waivering, no understanding, no offering of a pro-rated amount.
Now I'm not a demanding person, and I'm reasonable. Even though their gate hours are RIDICULOUS, I accepted the fact that rules are rules and so I was willing to accept some kind of pro-rated fee. What gets me is that they would only accept a penalty of the ENTIRE month of rent. Keep in mind this unit was EMPTY 10am on May 1st. They definitely will be renting it again in a day or two. The customer service agent kept pointing to the contract and my final answer was, "but is that FAIR?" If YOU were on this end of the line and had to pay an ENTIRE month due to poor communication and ridiculous gate hours, would YOU think it's FAIR? .....the agent pointed to the contract again.
Terrible customer service!! UNFAIR business practices!! STAY away and go to A-1 Self Storage.
I'd be willing to take this down if Public Storage is willing to be FAIR with me. read more