Complaint Review: Public Storage Corp. - Nationwide

Public Storage Corporate and Headquarters

701 Western Avenue

Glendale  CA 91201

Dear Sir or Madam:

            I am writing you today regarding one of the storage units I rented from Public Storage beginning July 19, 2010. The location is: San Jose CA. Manager was Denise and Customer Service Representative was Tiffany.

            In the first week of August, I discussed with Tiffany on the phone my decision to move our personal belongings into a much smaller unit. I arranged this with her and on Sunday August 11, 2013, two family members and I went to this Public Storage to move our belongings. However, much to our very unpleasant surprise our unit appeared to have been robbed and vandalized. Broken hearted to say the least when we saw our unit that was once filled with precious personal belongings, most of which were keepsakes, collectables, memorabilia, including but not limited to china and Disney music boxes. When we originally put our belongings into the unit, everything was packed perfectly, organized and stacked accordingly. However, this was definitely not what we found. Even our Power Wheels Barbie Car had been thrown upside down.

             Before we could even begin, my nephew began taking pictures of what our unit and personal belongings looked like when we opened the door. Not only were we left with dozens of broken porcelain dolls, music boxes, china, children’s precious memorabilia, awards, books etc… we had multiple boxes and containers missing. Whoever vandalized our unit managed to take several Rubbermaid containers containing our belonging and left the lids behind, which we also toke pictures of.

            None of our personal and sentimental keepsakes and belongings that have been broken and or taken can ever be replaced, especially our grandmothers china and Disney music boxes worth several thousand dollars, porcelain dolls and figurines etc…All that is left to the china is a couple of broken saucers. The pictures will speak for themselves.

            On this day, Tiffany was in fact working and when we showed her our unit she told us that break-ins do happen at this location and suggested we call the corporate office. She also told us she would be off work that day at 1:00 pm and that we could talk to someone else if we needed too.

            Our unit took several hours to clean up. There were piles of broken collectables and glass figurines strewn throughout the unit. It appeared the boxes were just literally turned upside, dumped and sifted through. After several hours of clean up, I went to the office and asked another young girl that was on duty if I could speak to the manager, which at the time was Denise. She called Denise for me however, Denise refused to come outside and discuss this problem with me. My feeling was that she already knew our unit had been vandalized and it was obvious to me she wasn’t bothered by it in the least. She was more concerned about the dumpster being full and didn’t want us to dump any of the broken items into the trash.

            By the end of the day and our unit now clean and a lot less full, we decided to lock it up and make arrangements to come back another day to move everything that was left out of Public Storage. But first off on Monday, August 12, 2013 I called the District Office and spoke to the District Manager Farzaneh. She apologized and said that in fact the units are in fact broken into. But this one had apparently been the first for this location this year. She suggested that I file a police report. I also asked for the Corporate office number, called and was connected with claims. Claims told me that although they are sorry our unit was broken into and that this does occasionally happen, they are not responsible for break-ins.

            I did in fact file a Police Report with the SJPD. Theft Tracking #T13009555. However I received an email back with this to confirm and also to tell me that this was more of a burglary not a theft especially since the valuables stolen and broken are in excess of $10,000.

            On this same day, August 12, 2013, I called my storage location and spoke with Tiffany. She told me that when I first moved in I had limited insurance however when a payment on a  unit is late, the insurance automatically cancels and tenants are not given notice of such nor given opportunity to renew or get new insurance coverage. When I had first moved in, I informed them when I filled out my application that my payments would rarely if ever be on the first because of the way I get a limited income each month. I knew that I would have to pay the late fee but didn’t have a choice. Therefore my payments were almost always late as I told them they would be.

            Since we had already paid for the remainder of the month, we used this time to make plans to get a moving truck and move our belongings elsewhere. It has taken us some time be we  have spoken with some attorneys all of which are more than happy to represent my family and I. However, before we go ahead, retain and pay an attorney, we will attempt to resolve this on our own especially since the attorney fees will exceed the dollar amount we are requesting. They have advised us to make the initial demand on our own and if we fail to get a satisfactory resolution, they will proceed on our behalf.

            Although it is difficult to have receipts for 30 years’ worth of collectables and all valuables I have mentioned, we have come up with a fair dollar amount for which we believe we are entitled too for what has been stolen and or broken. Even with asking for the $10,000 to replace all of our sentimental belongings, we can never replace them, especially the ones from grandparents and those that are no longer available and were limited editions.

            I am enclosing a CD with the pictures we took on August 11, 2013 of our unit. We are hopeful that you can understand how disappointed and heartbroken we are that a majority of  our valuables have been stolen and or broken, none of which can be replaced.

            Is it Public Storage’s policy to allow this to happen and then tell your customers, “We are sorry but we are not responsible.” It is really sad to know that you are aware of break-ins at your storage facilities however, don’t feel you are responsible. Is that really ethical business practice?

            Please feel free to give this to your Legal Department. We look forward to hearing from you and will wait to proceed accordingly. We are prepared to go to court if need be.

WE SENT THIS LETTER TO PUBLIC STORAGE CORPORATE OFFICES AND ALTHOUGH USPS SHOWS IT WAS RECEIVED, THEY NEVER RESPONDED.