If I could leave no stars I would! I leased a storage unit effective April 1, 2023. At the time of the rental, I asked a lot of questions regarding rate increases because it's quite common for self-storage companies to lure you with an attractive low rate special only to hit you with unjustifiably large and frequent rate increases. I made it clear to the person that was facilitating my lease that I would not tolerate exorbitant and frequent rate increases, and I want to know now before I agree to lease a unit. She assured me that rate increases are infrequent, and she has not seen any increases more than $25 at a time.
On August 30, 2023, I received an email stating that "after a routine review of your account we noticed proof of insurance coverage is missing and required by the terms of your lease". Not only did I provide them with proof of insurance at the time of my lease (which they require), but I replied to their email the same day with another copy, which they acknowledged receiving.
On August 31, I received my payment receipt showing they had charged me $12 for insurance. The letter they had sent me a day earlier said, "If you do not have insurance that covers your stored items and wish to purchase it, a third-party insurance program is available that provides insurance coverage for property legally stored at Self Storage Plus. If you would like to take advantage of the insurance program we offer, as a convenience to you, NO FURTHER ACTION IS NCESSARY. Effective on your next rental cycle you will be automatically enrolled in the program."
Not only have I always had insurance in place, but they force-placed insurance after I had already provided them proof of coverage, which they acknowledged receiving. The next day they sent me another email raising my monthly rate from $365 to $425 effective September 30 - a whopping 16% increase which is far above CPI. I have notified Self-Storage Plus via email about all of this, and they have not responded. I had to contact my credit card company to dispute the insurance charge and American Express promptly removed the $12 insurance premium after I provided them all my details.
This is my second experience with Self Storage Plus (and my last). My first was in Manassas and now Southlawn and both were negative. They use predatory tactics like other big box self-storage companies to lure customers with initial low rates and then gouge you with exorbitant rate increases by betting that a customer won't leave because it's too inconvenient for them to move. They often justify this by saying "due to increased maintenance costs" or "market conditions", which is a go-to tag line they all use. They require insurance although the chance of a loss is statistically very low, betting that you don't have it, and will purchase it from them which is another revenue opportunity since they receive a portion of the monthly premium in commission.
Furthermore, Southlawn shows reviews on their web page despite not having a link to be able to leave any and they seem to have cherry picked or cooked up all 5-star reviews without any criticism or negative feedback whatsoever. The only favorable experience I've ever had has been with privately-owned independent storage companies. They don't raise their monthly rates very often and when they do it's reasonable. I would not recommend Self-Storage Plus to anyone that intends to rent long-term. read more