Public Storage

Needed an affordable storage unit fast. This place is very close and online said first month 1 dollar. So i did the online application since it also said it would be 69 plus tax a month verses like 74 plus tax in the store. Went in to get assigned next day. While signing up come to find there is an application fee and such so that 1 dollar ended up being about 42. Then when signing paperwork was told have to have insurance and they made it sounds like I had to buy theirs. This was another 10 a month. They also try to get you to pay twice as much for their lock. I said I have insurance and asked if I had to have it. They finally said mine was fine. Shown unit and I mentioned the light is out –no problem. A couple days later went to drop off and light is still out. Also noticed almost no lights work on the outside of the buildings as well. There is trash everywhere and the fence needs repaired in places. Fixtures are broke and siding coming off in places. Then last month get notice the rates are going up 15 bucks! So i check out. When leaving I put door up and it completely comes off the tract! Couldn’t close it. Good thing I was done.

If i could give zero stars to a company, this would be one of those cases. I buy and sell vintage furniture in LA and rent a storage container in OH — I have my family fill up the locker while i pay the bill, and once the locker is full I ship out the contents to LA.
Sounds easy enough eh?
I rented a locker from this Public Storage for over a year– always making my payments and doing good business with them. I informed the management that I would be moving out and no longer needed the unit, and that’s what I did. I completely moved out. The unit was vacated and even swept clean. We shut the door and left.
About 2 moths later I get a call telling me I’m delinquent on my account… uhm… what account? I moved out of that unit months ago. The woman then claimed that we had left a lock on the unit so we would be charged each months rent, including the rent for the 3^rd month. I explained to her that we most definitely did NOT leave a lock on the unit, and even if we did (which we didn’t) couldn’t they have just cut it off?
The woman (Barb I believe) said she was sorry– there was nothing she could do… I owed $ 350 whether I had vacated the unit or not– unless I was interested in renting another unit, then she could see about waiving those fees.
Absolutely ridiculous!!! I can’t believe after being a loyal customer and paying them thousands of dollars they would try to extort $ 350 from me!
Not only that– now that I’m trying to rent a retail store here in LA, this nonsense is showing up on my credit report as a «Failure to pay,» and dropped my credit score an entire level (18 points). I disputed the validity of this «claim» on my credit report and I can only hope that upper level management or somebody within the confines of the collection company sees what this manager did and will acknowledge that this isn’t right.
The sad thing is that I can totally afford the $ 350– BUT* If I pay the $ 350 this will stay on my credit report for 7 years and still show as a «Failure to pay,» that i’ve since acknowledged and paid off. This is just bad business.
BEWARE!!!