Planet Self Storage

This place is not that great and I’m not sure where those pictures are from but it’s definitely a situation where the photos are misleading. It’s also in a very sketchy part of town. I saw a drug deal go down right in the parking lot, the halls are dark and there is only fencing covering the tops of the units. The service is not great either, after I moved out I got a rude call a few days later asking why I had not told them I moved out right away, I had already paid for the month so it was strange. Anyway, convenient if you live downtown but I would go somewhere else.

Made a reservation, confirmed it by phone and got a confirmation email. Loaded the car and got there but they said «sorry we didn’t make the reservation correctly we have no unit for you»

It was really inexpensive. It sucks that it’s not 24 hour access but I knew that upfront (they are very clear about their hours).
One time I locked my keys in my car as they were closing and had to call pop-​a-​lock, which meant the guy working had to stay late. I felt so bad but he was INCREDIBLY nice about it. Every encounter I had with the staff was really friendly.

My boyfriend kept furniture here for the summer between semesters. The man in the office seemed wholly unhelpful. He locked us out while we used the bathrooms, leaving us standing outside until he came back later. They are also not open on September 1^st due to the holiday, and told us the access code we had for the doors wouldn’t work. How can a self storage place not be open on the busiest moving day of the year? We’re now stuck spending extra money on a hotel room and another month’s rent just to get his stuff out on the 2^nd.

This place is awful. First, I called them twice to inquire about prices, coming in to rent a unit, etc. Fine. Guy on the phone was helpful the first time. Second time, he was carrying on some kind of a conversation with someone else and kept screwing up my information. I only needed the space for 2 months between apartments (I’m in college) and it was just a few boxes and a mattress.
Show up on May 1^st to rent the place, fine. Looks sketchy but it is in Dorchester so it was to be expected. No one in the office, there’s a «be back at such and such time» sign on the door. That is pretty effing annoying when you say your hours are what they are, you should have someone in the office. My dad happens to be up for the day to help me move between places and to storage. When the guy finally shows up at the office and we are there, he tells me I need two forms of ID (Why did no one mention this on the phone when I called to reserve the unit??). Obviously, this should have been fine, I’m not a complete idiot. But I had used my IDs to reserve something back at school so I didn’t have two forms, only one. Luckily, I had my dad there, right? Well, if they had told me he was the only one who could sign out the unit after the two months, that would have been REALLY HELPFUL. All they told me was he was the only one who could cut the lock (duh, makes sense), but failed to mention he needed to sign it out too. I used my credit card to pay for the thing, and while I realize it is not unreasonable to request the person who signed the papers to sign the leaving papers too, I don’t know WHY IT WASN’T MENTIONED TO ME. If it had been, I would not have had my dad sign the papers and I would have just gone and gotten my second form of ID in order to sign out the unit. It seems a bit unfair that they are charging my name and bank account for the unit but I can’t sign the damn thing out.
Also, they didn’t have locks. They «ran out.» You run a storage place, how do you fail to keep locks in stock. So that forced us to go out and buy a lock, putting us even further behind.
As for the unit itself, when the guy brought us up to it, it had water on the ground. Not a good sign. He gave us another unit (bigger, at least, which was nice, because I got it for the 5×5×8 price), but then we had to resign all their paperwork. The units themself don’t look the best, but since it was only going to be two months and a few things, I didn’t really care about quality, I was looking more for price. But since it has rained more or less nonstop in Boston for months now, it will be interesting to see what has happened to my things. Hopefully they are okay. If not, it will be good fun to battle with them about their «insurance» coverage.
I found out this information on the phone, today, 6/​22, and the girl on the phone was unhelpful. She was able to email me the form and told me I just needed to bring it in in order to sign out the unit. I plan on calling once more before ⁷⁄₁ (the day I need to move out of the unit) to make sure this is indeed sufficient, because at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if I showed up and they told me an altogether different story.

Update 12/​30/​2011 — Dropped from 4 stars to 2 stars. Credit card was charged twice after I had ended my contract with Planet Storage. The unit ended up not being really weather proof. Dirt and leaves were somehow blown into my unit even though, I never opened it. Rust and water damaged half of what was stored there. The check out process was confusing and unhelpful when I complained I had been over charged. I moved my items to Space Self Storage in Sommerville… so far everything is loads better… including the price!!!
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I just signed up for a 10 X 20 unit at $ 150 for 3 months with their ½ off for 3 months deal. I was specifically interested in this location because I was looking for a unit that had 24 hour access.
The experience: Michelle showed me the available units and was less than enthusiastic, confusing with explanation, and really seemed more bothered by the fact that I wanted to rent than really wanting to be helpful or engaging. However, by the end of the experience she did get the job done and it wasn’t a big hassle.
The unit: The unit was clean and there is a sheriff’s office right behind my unit so I feel a bit more reassured that my items are safe. It isn’t the best part of town, but overall the location has easy access and seems like it will work out well.
I did notice that there are quite a few outdoor units that people run businesses out of and seem to open on a daily basis. If you aren’t comfortable with trucks or people always around then this isn’t the place for you. I think it’s a bonus since it’ll keep suspicious folks out of the area.