LifeStorage of Scenic Ridge

Adrian and Gus are wonderful managers. They are so kind and helpful and they keep the facility clean and maintained. Best storage experience I’ve ever had. I highly recommend them!

LifeStorage bought out Three Kings Storage and that’s when the rent for my storage just went out of control! After years of storage, they were charging me $ 100+ more per month for rent, than what they had advertised for that month. So, let’s say, every year they would increase my rent by so much, that after a few years, my rent was $ 100+ more, than if I just came in off the street to rent a unit. I talked to them about it, and they refused to lower my rent. I said, «If I check out of my unit, I can move everything into a similar unit and get the advertised price?» They said, yes, I could get the lower price if I move my stuff out and back in. What the f-​ck?!!
Here’s my detailed experience with them…
:
I lived in Austin for a few years, but my mother’s health got really bad at one point and they thought she wasn’t going to make it. So, I took all of the contents of a one bedroom apartment and shoved everything into a storage unit… including my old car (which was okay with that storage facility). I had to fly back home, around 2000 miles away.
The storage unit was open to the elements, because the roof was about 6 inches above the walls, and those 6 inches were open to the outdoors (which is what made it okay to store a car) – natural ventilation.
Three years ago, I was struggling financially and could no longer afford the rent on my storage unit that went up from $ 140/​mo to $ 300/​mo over the course of some years. They had continued to raise my rent every year, even when their advertised prices was far less than what they were charging me. I called them to ask about lowering my rent, which at that point was $ 100+ more than their advertised prices. They said «no» and that it was non-​negotiable. A few people said it would be smarter for me to stop paying the rent. I didn’t have the money to move the stuff out of storage and I had nowhere to store it.
After a couple of weeks of not paying rent, I received a notice that the locks would be cut from my unit by the end of the month and my things would be auctioned off. After another month passed, I was notified that my belongings would be auctioned.
Three years have passed, and a month ago, I received an invoice that said I owed close to $ 7000 in back rent on my storage unit!!! WTH?! Can they do this? Can they tell me that they were auctioning my things three years ago, and then turn around, and charge me for three years of rent three years later?
I sent them a message asking how is it possible that I owe them for three years rent, when they told me they were auctioning my things three years ago? They did not respond. Instead, I just received a court notice for the close to $ 7000 that they said I owe. Is this legal? Can they wait three years before taking any action and charge me for rent after sending me a note that my stuff was being auctioned in 2012?
I feel like the storage purposely charged me to the point where the value of the contents of my storage would equal to what they say that I owe them. If they sold it when they said they would, they would have owed me money, because the value of the contents was worth more than what I owed.