It's taken me awhile to get over my anger about this place, but now I can feel I can write an honest review.
My mother rented a storage unit here 4 years ago to store our family items. We have had the same unit over the 4 years and have had a couple problems (a break-in, a leaky roof) over the years but the owners have always fixed the issues to our satisfaction. The last straw came a few weeks ago however, and I have since moved our property elsewhere. Here is the (longish) story:
On Thursday, January 21st I went to the storage unit to get my snow chains out since I was driving to Tahoe the next day. This was when we were having the crazy, heavy rainstorms and I figured I would need my chains to make the trek up the summit. When I arrived at the building my unit is in and began to walk down the hallway, I noticed that there was a lot of water on the floor. I figured since it had been raining people were probably tracking in water when they were walking around. As soon as I rounded the corner I noticed a HUGE puddle about an inch deep in the hallway directly in front of my storage unit. I quickly unlocked my unit and rolled up the door.
HALF of my storage unit was flooded with water. It looked like the water that was in the hallway had seeped under the roll-down door and corrugated metal walls of my unit. My wood furniture and cardboard boxes were sitting in a PUDDLE of water (1/2 to 1 inch deep.) I couldn't tell how far back the puddle went since there was heavy furniture blocking my view and I couldn't move it on my own.
I went down the front office and told the "manager" who I was and the situation. He commented "Oh yeah, I tried to call you yesterday but we had the wrong number." I then asked if he knew about the flooding situation why there was still a HUGE puddle of water in the building (and in my unit). He then explained that they had hired a roofer to come out to look at the roof but he couldn't find any problems. The manager said they were going in there periodically with a ShopVac to suck up some of the water, but that he couldn't be there all the time. I told him that I found that approach unacceptable and wanted to know what they were going to do to help me dry my things out. I asked him if they were going to have people move my property to a dry unit, or at least take out my things to let them (and my storage unit) dry out. He said that he couldn't do that because I didn't buy the "insurance". I said that I didn't want any money for damages, just for them to move my things so my furniture could dry. He gave me the run around about how it had been raining really hard and about how these things happen. I agreed but said they needed to fix it, because I didn't feel that it was MY responsibility to fix the problem because I didn't cause the flood to occur. He told me he personally could not allow me to move my items because he didn't have the "clearance" and that the company probably wouldn't pay for movers. He gave me an attitude and then the phone number for the regional manager, Rick Bartlett, and told me to call him.
I went home and called Rick and left him a message. He returned my call awhile later and I explained the situation (again). I asked him if he would have someone move my items for my to dry (again, not asking for money) and he said no because I didn't have the insurance. I got angry because I felt that they were just ignoring the problem. I told Rick that it was his property and his responsibility to fix the problem. He then informed me that it had been raining recently (like I was an idiot who had no clue what the wet stuff falling from the sky was). He then said "We have 12 buildings in the Bay Area and THEY ALL HAVE LEAKS." NOT the best thing to say, don't you think? After getting more attitude from him, I decided to move my furniture elsewhere.
Since I was leaving for Tahoe the next day, I called my roommate to see if she could help me move some items to the dry side of the unit so they wouldn't be sitting in water while I was away. She agreed and came to the unit with me on her lunch break. Keep in mind this all was happening on Thursday. When we arrived, she saw someone moving things in the building across from us and decided to go ask them if their unit had flooded as well. Lo and behold, the manager was helping a woman move her items to another unit because hers had flooded as well. My roomate asked him why he was helping her move, and he told her, "as a courtesy to this customer, yes I am helping her move." He obviously didn't see ME standing behind my roomie, and I walked up to him and his eyeballs got as big as dinner plates. I just started yelling at him, I couldn't help myself. He basically ran around the corner to get away from me, and my roomie and I went to my unit to start the move.
Well when we started moving we realized that my furniture and belongings in cardboard boxes were COVERED IN MOLD! I'm up to my limit, msg me for the rest! ZERO STARS! read more