I've been renting a medium-sized unit here for over 3 years now, and I've absolutely had it with the rent increases. I don't know what they do now, but they drew us in with a very good rate and 2 free month's rent. I should have known better, but 1 month free rent is very common across the country and rental companies. If I had known, that a mere 3 years later the rent would be 200% the original rent, I would have NEVER rented here. A year ago, they had already raised the rent well above other storage companies' rates, yet STILL raised our rent an additional +48% more JUST IN THIS PAST YEAR!! That far above other companies' rates is blatant gouging. How is it that other companies can, right now today and over the past 3+ years, charge so much less for the EXACT same thing, even in better areas of town. ( this one is in Penn Hills / Monroeville == shootings, brazen grocery store thefts, businesses closed/closing everywhere you look ) It's a despicable bait and switch game they play. As eluded to, I've rented storage units all over the country and far longer than I've been renting here. Mostly Public Storage, but others as well. They all were reasonably priced and either didn't raise rent for years or when they did it was $5 or a small percentage. But 200% in 3 years?!! Again, gouging! I'm not only looking to relocate, but I started reviewing PA laws to see if I have an actionable case in any way. I've never even HEARD of such blatant business malpractice; a description that doesn't come close to describe this. If that's not bad enough, the person ( her business card says "Store Manager"! ) who opened our account was rude, never cracked a smile, took us to a unit that had tons of white powder all over the floor, acted irritated when I asked to rent a different one, and didn't enable our access code so on move-in day, I could not get in. The office was not open on Sunday ( a storage unit, people move-in on weekends, not open on Sunday?? ), so I had to keep the moving truck for another day costing me an additional $80+. Not only that, but she had the nerve to over-emphasize to us that no one is allowed to live in the unit. No joke. Not, "we have to point this out to everyone because it has happened before ...", no, just serious to the point you'd begin to think she really suspected you would do such a thing, or more like it, just wanted to give a customer a not-at-all veiled insult. And it didn't stop there. I'm not sure if it was move-in day or a few days later when I was organizing my boxes and looking for a few items, suddenly I hear a quiet foot step. The place was completely empty and it's dark inside ( not like the photo you see, the lights follow you as you walk, no light in your unit, minimize their costs while they gouge you some more ) so my hair stood up a little. I leaned toward the door, and there she was, stopped just to the side of my door where I couldn't see her, leaning to peer into my unit! When she saw me, she started walking as if she had some other reason to be there. I looked after her. She just walked away, no other reason I could tell. They have monitors in the rental office and can watch you inside, which I thought was good to prevent theft. But it's NOT good when a very strange rude manager uses them to watch you and stalk you when you're trying to use the unit for which you pay +$47 over other places. That +$47 OVER charge gouge alone is roughly enough to rent small units elsewhere, meaning I could rent THIS same exact unit and for a few $ more rent a second small one at other places, or pay for a much larger unit that's not in a dungeon basement, and that has a light inside the unit.
Bottom line, I wouldn't recommend renting here to my worst enemy. I did a quick search just now. There are storage units, nice ones, inside temp controlled, etc. that right now are renting for a few dollars more than my original rent here, from 3+ years ago. I looked at one yesterday that is only $13 more than that original rate in a nicer area. It's clean and the employees are normal. I read reviews on it and others and although some complained about rent, I didn't see any that complained about their rent going to 200% in 3 years, or ANYTHING close. And the rates at those facilities are FAR lower than what I'm paying now. Those reviewers would be shocked and speechless if they knew what this place does. Entire garages in nice apartment complexes rent for a good bit less than I'm paying to be gouged over and over and stalked by an employee. Not worth it is the understatement of all time. read more
