Public Storage

Eliza was awesome, she was helpful and the most polite person I have met at this public storage facility. The change in staffing is huge, if it wasn’t for Eliza I would not recommend this facility. The prior staff members were lazy, parked their cars in the drop off pick up bays, and acted like you as a customer meant nothing to them. Before Eliza you couldn’t get the staff to get up out of the seat to help look for missing push carts, with Eliza on top of everything push carts don’t go missing in the first place.

This place is terrible. It’s not that the facility is awful, but Eliza (the manager) is an awful mess with absolutely zero customer service skills. She constantly interrupts, is incredibly condescending and will do whatever it takes to make sure you know that she is always right. Go somewhere else and save yourself the headaches of dealing with her.

Maybe the worst experience I’ve ever had with customer service. Computers are constantly down. They lost the key to my unit they keep on file. Giving me no access to my unit for days at a time. Then charged me for the lock change. Crooks
Over the past 5 years they’ve raised my rent by $ 100 with no notice. Avoid this place. So many better options in the west loop.
Eliza the manager is really awful and angry. Maybe they should bring the old management back.

Eliza was great and super helpful, she took care of all my concerns and recommended the best space that suits for me. Yes, I would recommend this place to anyone who is looking for a self storage room!

I visited this location yesterday and Marshawna and Tommy were a great help to me. I am preparing to move our engineering firm to a different location and they were helpful in letting me know all the different options for boxes and specials that they are offering. Thanks so much guys!!!

Anthony was very helpful in getting the storage unit all set up! Storage unit was clean and accessible. But dollys weren’t made available to us once the office hours were closed. We had to carry everything to the elevator.

I just moved my stuff out after having rented a space here for almost 2 years.
Pros: The #1 reason I chose this place was location. It’s across the street from my place so I was willing to deal with higher prices for the convenience. Also Takiyah who was almost always the one at the front desk was great. She was always pleasant and helpful. After a few months, I moved to a smaller unit to save money and she was great to work with.
Cons: Price! I received a ‘free’ month when I moved in, but was required to buy their $ 20 lock and pay and admin fee, so it really wasn’t free. Within a few months they raised the rate by $ 20/​month saying it was because it was high demand season with UIC students. That”s when I moved to a smaller unit. Then about 9 months later they raised it again. Like I said, it was so close I was willing to put up with a bit more expense. But just last week I got another rate increase. My 5×5 unit was now going to be $ 81/​mo!!. I checked the website and they were offering the same unit for $ 48/​mo, discounted to $ 41/​mo. When I called to see if I could get that rate, they said I’d have to move out for 7 days. Right, cause that’s convenient. They did say they could postpone my rate increase for 6 months. Which just makes me angrier because if I’d known that, I would have called after the first increase.
To top it off, the building has some serious drawbacks. The elevators are slow and a pain to work with because they are the old-​school freight type with 2 sets of doors to close. And the brick walls ‘shed’ a lot! All of my stuff ended up totally covered in brick dust. And the outer garage doors were often left open for hours which I’m sure is a security issue.
So, the front desk staff is friendly but other that that I’d recommend going with one of the other storage places nearby. If you do go here and they raise your rates call and complain you can probably get them to put off the increase for a while.

Clean and organized, while waiting for my friend and hungover, I was able to lie on the floor and not feel dirty. For those that think this is a full on customer service joint, with people there swarming you because they work on commission, they should probably just not go. Ever. Keep posting though, your needy desires and demands are cute. IT’S A STORAGE PLACE! It holds stuff that you don’t want or won’t fit in your humble abode. There’s always a few people in the one office that are more than willing, and friendly about helping you. And there must be a janitor of sorts sweeping those floors all day, because they’re cleaner than some I’ve seen in friends apartments, and the air in there is kept at a comfortable dry so your items remain unharmed. I recommend it if you’re not looking to be doted on.

If I could give his place a ½ star I would. I am sorry to say that customer service is non-​existent here. I moved out at the 24^th of October. I scheduled the move-​out via their web site. Imagine my surprise when not only did I receive another statement for November, but a late fee. I called the property, they gave me some lame excuse about not removing the lock. I told them it was THEIR lock and not included in the rental agreement I signed. I then called the customer service department. The lady acted as if I was interrupting something important that she was doing. I explained my situation. She hemmed and hawed and directed me to the regional manager. I had to call him 3 times before he graced me with a return call. When I finally spoke to him, he told me it didn’t matter that it wasn’t in the agreement, it wouldn’t change anything.
DON’T USE THE FACILITY LOCATED AT 947 W. VAN BUREN. IT IS A SCAM. SAVE YOURSELF THE FRUSTRATION OF HAVING TO DEAL WITH NON-​EXISTENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND «MYSTERY AGREEMENTS».

Hmmm, not sure what more I can add to these reviews, other than voice my opinion and agree. Employees who act as they are doing you a favor by taking a break from playing with their nails to grace you with their eyesight and acknowledge your presence. Terrible customer service experience, in the whole time there was only 1 guy who was helpful and was interested in doing his job. I’m moving out next month, and surely hope all my things are still there. I will never recommend this place to anyone or use them again myself.

The previous reviewer mentioned that the staff was «unfriendly». That is an understatement. I had to call the police because Public Storage’s clerk, Antoinette, threatened to «whoop my a**» because I was «annoying» her. All because when we came to move in with the truck and the movers, Public Storage had no electricity, so Antoinette said we can carry our 1 bedroom up to the 4^th floor via stairs, since elevators or loading locks were in-​operational without electricity. I told her that I understand that her powers are limited, so I would like to speak to a manager or customer service to have them help us. She yelled at me, told me to leave and call them myself, but I can’t be in «her» office. In the meantime she spoke with at least 3 or 4 people on the phone, and turned her back and waived me off when I asked to speak with them. In the end when we finally moved in and came back the following day she threatened to cut the lock and throw everything out on the street. Apparently, when she was telling us to come back the next day and everything would be sorted out, she meant «call and email customer service yourself because there is nothing that I am going to do other than chat with my mom on my cell and tell her how you are being a pain in the a**» instead of actually doing her job. In the end, I was so scared for my possessions and my well-​being that I had to call the cops who had to explain to Antoinette that she can not enter a customer’s locker and throw things out when the customer is prepaid for a month.
Now, after reading the previous review, I will book the movers again and move my things the heck out of there before half of my stuff disappears.
If you don’t think that clerks should yell at you and call you names, don’t go to Public Storage on Van Buren!

typically, you pay a self-​storage facility to watch your stuff for you. you’d like to think that when you come back to collect your things, that it’s all there. well, apparently that scenario is not always the case.
from the get-​go, the staff was unfriendly. they never answer the phone, they never return phone calls and they make sure you know what a chore it is to help you out. «whatever,» i thought, «i don’t have to deal with them until i come to get my stuff and close my account in 6 months when i move.»
fast forward to me opening the door to my locker and seeing that the two most accessible expensive items in the whole locker were, of course, missing. i shouldn’t say ‘of course’ because i really wasn’t expecting that, under lock and key, my stuff would mysteriously disappear. i sucked it up and went to deal with the staff. i got a lot of «i don’t know what to tell you» and «it’s not our policy to open up someone’s locker» and whatnot. my movers were there, i didn’t have time to deal with it, so i left and dealt with my move. i vented a bit to the movers and they happened to mention that i’m not the only person they’ve moved out of that specific facility that had their stuff stolen. interesting.
when i’d moved in, i’d taken the liberty of inventorying everything in my locker and where it was, and i happen to know exactly what went missing. i phoned in to mention this and insist that someone be more helpful. i asked for the district manager’s contact information. i suppose the young woman was tired of talking to me, because instead of getting the info i’d requested, i heard «you’re not getting your stuff back» and was hung up on.
i headed down to the police station and filed a report. i reviewed my materials from when i created the public storage account and noticed that i had to take out an insurance policy. «great» i thought, «now i’m getting somewhere.» i called them up and filed a claim referencing the police report. i receive a call back about a week later and am met with a series of questions. claim denied. «WHAT?!» yes, apparently Willis will only cover the cost of goods lost if there is *visible* evidence of *forced entry*. so, the door needs to be damaged or the chicken wire needs to be cut. if someone takes it upon themselves to pick the lock, you are S.O.L. and no one cares. end of story.
apparently, this is a well known fact within the self-​storage community. after googling it i discovered that this isn’t an isolated incident. in fact, it’s a popular phenomenon. there’s even a book written about it. do yourself a favor and rent a garage somewhere or find some place reputable.