I really was hoping to avoid having to put this out there in public but now I feel like I have no choice. I have been renting from South Hill mini storage on 57th for about seven months now. I went by my unit in the middle of November to grab some holiday decorations and discovered that my unit had been broken into. Everything in there was completely ransacked and the part that was most disturbing. Is that the wall on the inside of my unit that is shared with another unit had clearly been broken apart halfway and then repaired by replacing it with a metal wall. Clearly the storage unit manager was more than aware that my unit had been broken into.
So here's where the problem starts! Ironically, as rare as I am down there and I can't tell you when it got broken into because I hadn't even visited the unit in over a month the people that rent right next to me had just shown up and also realized their unit have been broken into. None of us had been contacted by the storage unit company. I had to basically beg the manager that was working at the time to come over and speak with us in person. Once she showed up, her answers continued to change. From what myself and the other renters gathered, the units had been broken into and multiple units several weeks prior, but she attempted to act like she was unaware ours had been broken into. I questioned her how on earth the end wall to my unit ended up being replaced, but they were unaware my unit had been broken into and completely ransacked.!? She also told us she had only recently taken over the management position, and that there were no cameras however, when I decided to rent from this location, after looking at many different companies that were within a mile of my home I chose them because they assured me they had excellent security coverage, including cameras in the section my unit was. The manager on this day though told us that the cameras were there, but they were never working.
Again, this was mid November. It was a Sunday and I had to work at 5 AM the following day and did not have a ton of time to keep running in circles with this lady. She asked me if I would be OK with them putting one of their locks on the unit so that they can get in there and take more photos, file a report, and have the rest of the damage fixed. I uncomfortably agreed to this arrangement, and she assured me they would call me as soon as the damages were repaired and I could put my own lock back on the unit. At this point in time I no longer have anything of any value left in my unit and had not had a chance to do any sort of an inventory. I knew I had several bags of brand new items in the unit that were now missing I had purchased over the last six months for my children and we're hiding them there until Christmas.
On January 3 I receive a letter in the mail informing me that my storage unit price is going up. I still have not had any access to my unit and I have not been contacted to be told anything is repaired and that I can now get into it to do an inventory and put my lock back on. So they were able to contact me to let me know that I would need to pay them more money starting the next month, but not take care of everything associated with the break-in. I called the number that is listed for complaints for this company online and received an after hours person. I explained the situation and told her I do not want to deal with the manager on site at the location as she has let me down and not followed through on anything she said she would. The lady remained nice on the phone, but told me there was nobody else that could handle my issue and I would have to deal with her.
I should have followed up with them sooner but I wanted to have good faith in this company and think that they were going to do everything they could to make this right. I have never received an apology, they have not communicated with Me , they never tried to fix any of this with anything but lies. I am going to do everything I can to follow through on assuring that this is made right and that I am reimbursed for everything I can at least notice at the time is missing, but I want to make sure that a warning goes out to anyone that is considering renting from this location. I had also broadcasted this on the Nextdoor app, and had 100s of responses from previous renters that went through the same situation with them. The only reason I got a storage unit was to keep holiday stuff and to hide Christmas gifts from my kids every year and I was so excited to be able to do that! This unfortunate and dishonest situation ruined that entire fantasy I had!!! Please beware of this storage unit and do not take your business to them. They are dishonest, and your things will not be safe. they are unsympathetic of any circumstance related to their negligence. I don't want anyone to go through what I have with them. read more