Do not rent here. Simple as that. There is a way of doing business and treating a customer, and neither Public Storage nor this location care about it. I rented a unit here for all of two days. The saleswoman that showed me the different units was very pushy. I proceeded anyway, however, as I needed something fast and the rent was reasonable ($67 for a 5x10). I made my first trip with a full SUV that night, after office hours but within access hours. I entered the building of my unit and there were no carts. My unit was well in the interior of the building. I looked around the building and still couldn't find one. I finally found them all, chained together and locked outside the office. No way to efficiently unload my car. I ended up leaving. Complete waste of time and energy.
I should add at this point that this facility is in a notoriously bad industrial area. There's a reason the rent is low. It seemed ok in the daytime, with plenty of people around, but when the office shuts down the place is dead and you could be too. It wasn't until I arrived at 6:30pm that I noticed there didn't seem to be nearly enough cameras around, and was anyone even watching them anyway? There was no way I was going to unload my car and walk box by box between open unit and open car, outside the open building, at the back of the facility, away from the street, near the airport, facing the woods, with just a chainlink fence and a little barbed wire in between. I immediately began to feel unsafe and left with the full car.
This is not the worst part however. I called the next day and spoke to the manager, asking for a refund and cancellation of my contract. He said to just come down, get my lock, and the refund request would go to the district manager. I did this, another day later, and as soon as I went into the office and again requested the refund, the facility manager said the district manager had already determined that the only refund I'd get would be the $1 I'd paid for the first month's rent. No refund on the 'administrative fee' they charge you at rental or the insurance they force you to buy. I was never offered the opportunity to speak or explain to the district manager, no further discussion, no refunds and that's that. The manager argued with me that the salesperson told both my wife and I that the carts were only available during office hours, that we were both in the wrong, that I had signed a contract, that all these terms were in there, and that there was nothing else to be done. End of discussion.
OK. I'm not stupid. I know I signed a contract. You can't do anything anymore without one. But again, there is a way of doing business and treating a customer right, and there is a way of treating a customer wrong and ensuring less business. But apparently Public Storage would rather argue with a customer over a $30 refund and risk bad publicity--and that's what this is--than do the right thing for a 2-day customer who in the end doesn't even deem the facility safe or convenient. The manager would rather argue with me over a cart than consider that, maybe if the company actually treated me well, I might find a better, closer, and safer PS location and pay more to rent there. I am not going to do this now. And frankly, even if the salesperson did warn me about the carts, even if all of this was actually spelled out in the contract--which I normally do read, I'm the guy who takes the full time at the car dealership reading the fine print--even if I'd been forewarned about all of this...I rented there for all of two days. I never even put anything in the unit. Acknowledge that, up to a point, and certainly one as fine as this, the customer is right, and arguing with him, in your own office, in front of other customers, is bad business. Give me my stupid $30 back. read more
