Print the value of index0
  • Report:  #1053696

Complaint Review: Storage Battles

Storage Battles Manipulates Bidding Scottsdale Arizona

  • Reported By:
    dsmith — Houston Texas
  • Submitted:
    Sat, May 25, 2013
  • Updated:
    Thu, May 30, 2013
*REBUTTAL Owner of company: False Accusations and Bidder

I have been using StorageBattles.com for the past few months and have found out that they are scamming people and are in cohoots with some bidders. This company auctions off storage units online and takes a percentage of the sale from the buyer and the seller. That's fine and all, but when really nice units come up, that's when the scam begins.

On three different occasions, there have been really great storage units that have went up for auction in my state. When I say good units, I mean units that you could resell for several thousand dollars. Well, in all three cases, I bid really high and did not win the units. Normally, I would just assume that I was outbid, but I bid so high, I just had to know how much I was outbid by. I contacted the storage facility and asked how much the winning bidder bid. She told me that the winning bid was 2 thousand dollars lower than my highest bid. The storage facility manager was angry but she couldn't  get an explanation from Storage Battles.

This incident got my attention and I started wathcing them more closely. Well, it happened again last month. Really nice unit, I placed a high bid of $3400. Didn't win. Called the storage facility and he said the winning bid was $1460. The winning bidder had the same username.

The straw that broke the camels back was what happened yesterday. An incredible unit was scheduled to end at noon. I could have easily mad 5 grand reselling this business equipment. I bid $2000. The auction ended and once again I didn't win. Called the facility manager and she said the winning bidder placed a bid for $670. It wasn't the same bidder this time but obviously someone adjusted the winning bid.

It's really shady. This doesn't happen on the really cheap units that nobody wants, only the high dollar units that can resell for a lot of money. This is just a warning to storage facility operators and people who are bidding on the site. Be aware and always call the facility to check the highest bids.

1 Updates & Rebuttals

Storagebattles.com Team

Scottsdale,
Arizona,

False Accusations and Bidder

#2REBUTTAL Owner of company

Thu, May 30, 2013

As the CEO of StorageBattles.com, I feel it is important to respond to this post which contains many errors, dare I even call them lies.  StorageBattles.com is a legitimate business and we do not prevent qualified winning bidders from winning storage units for sale on our site.  In fact, we have no way of awarding a unit to a bidder, other than to the highest registered bidder.

Let me start by refuting the post with facts.  Although we do not have the poster’s name, I have conducted an intense investigation of over 5000 auctions and determined that we have no bidder with a matching screen name, DSMITH, and we have never had a bid at StorageBattles.com for $3,400 and we have never had a winning bid in the amount of $1,460 or $670. 

I would like to assume DSMITH has confused our company with another online bidding site, and I invite them to call me personally at my office 855-722-8853 to discuss and/or provide more details so we can clear up their confusion.  Finally, StorageBattles.com and its employees do not bid on units, ever.  We have no vested interest in who wins an auction except to make sure it is to the highest bid and that the winner pays for and removes the property according to the facility rules.

Let me also re-state the obvious facts. 

  • What kind of “scam” would my business run that would regularly award units to a lower bid?  My company gets paid a percentage of the sale price; it is in StorageBattles.com’ best interests to have the unit sell for as much as possible.  Anyone reading the post has to ask, how would StorageBattles.com have benefited for accepting a bid substantially below the alleged high bid?  The answer is we would not benefit in any way from the alleged conduct.   
  • StorageBattles.com has no affiliation with any of its bidders/buyers, other than we require the buyer to register and place a credit card on file to pay the small buyer premium.  
  • Finally, the facilities watch the sale prices, as they are trying to reduce their loss recovery.  They would know if there was a substantially higher bid than the final “winning” bid and they would call us and ask why, and naturally they would be upset, rather as the posted story goes, the managers had no idea about the higher bids and were angry to learn of them.  They would question why they did not receive all of the money they were entitled to.
  • Once a bid is placed in our system, the bidder could take a screen shot of his bid, or go to his account and see a detailed account and bid history.  If this poster does exist, he should provide this information.
  • StorageBattles.com is a transparent system, everyone can see online and knows what the high bid is at any given moment, subject to Internet lag time.  If StorageBattles.com were awarding units to lower bids, all bidders would know it, especially the managers of the facilities.

I am forced to conclude that DSMITH is either a competitor or someone who has sour grapes about losing an auction, but the facts as stated in this post are fabricated!  I thinking about the logic, you will have to conclude that a company that makes money on a percentage of a sale price wants the highest possible bid to win every time.  If you can conclude that the post makes no sense, please ignore it.

Sincerly,

Jim Grant and the dedicated Storagebattles.com Team

Respond to this Report!