Complaint Review: PUBLIC STORAGE - Antioch California

My worst nightmare has actually happened. I recently found out my storage unit had been robbed and ransacked by thieves who got inside my unit from altering adjacent walls from other connecting units.  The unit directly behind mine-( my back wall was also their back wall in their unit), had unscrewed all the screws on the wall-from top to bottom,  removed a block of wood, and easily pulled the wall out enough for bodies to fit through and enter my unit.  Unfortunately enough they were unseen by employees and security cameras, due to the location of their unit. 

Upon entering my unit after several months of not even seeing the inside, I could tell by the first 30 seconds after opening the roll-up door that my unit was robbed.  They opened EVERY box, rooted beyond belief and selectively they took what they wanted. They stole every large sized plastic bin we had, emptying out the contents carelessly and putting what they took in them.  My boyfriends clothes, personal files, along with many power tools, were also taken.  They took my 3 piece luggage set, ( which were full of my good clothes), 3 boxes full of our DVD movies, 7 framed pictures which were decor , towels, house wares, bedding, a black metal bed frame, Christmas decorations, personal files of mine, and more things that were very sentimental to me.

The employees working at the time of discovery were hardly sympathetic or the least bit compassionate.  After finding out that I was violated and feeling devastated by the loss of what had been taken, they hardly had anything to say except that my insurance policy had expired in 2009.

The Antioch police were notified and sent  an officer to take a report and get fingerprints from inside my unit. When the officer was in our unit assessing the damage we were sure to point out the back wall of our unit- which was disassembled completely from top to bottom and out about a foot from the metal bracket it was suppose to be fastened to. Realizing what had actually happened and finding out how they entered my unit was unbelievable. We were able to take some boxes home that night to try and figure out what all had been taken.

The day after we returned to our unit with a camera and hand-held video camera.  I was able to stand on a dresser that was in the left back corner of my unit, taking a hand mirror I was able to stick it through a little area- allowing me to see all the contents in the unit behind mine. Well let me just say it was unbelievable what I saw. All of our plastic bins, my boyfriends tools, some of our Christmas items, a beach chair, some luggage, and on and on....

After the mirror view I took my video camera and got all the footage on tape. Although the picture was a bit dark and sometimes blurry, you could tell hands down that it was our stuff- item by item. I was able to see a pair of sunglasses sitting open on my small beach chair in the back of their unit as well as a pair of slippers a bottle of water, fast food take out containers in garbage by the front of the unit. Personally it looked as though someone was living inside the unit. As crazy as that sounds I saw many things that didn't make sense about the way the inside of their unit was" set up".  Having about an hour of footage of different views and angles of the inside of their unit I went and told the ladies that were working in the front office. They took me to the front of the other unit which was located inside. There were 2 Public Storage cylinder locks on the outside of the unit and the employees said that they are only suppose to have one, and they only had 1 for him on file. They told my at that time they knew what had happened and knew that the tenant of that particular unit was the one responsible for my break-in. The older lady also told me in the rudest manner that they have done all they can do for me and that the Antioch police will tell me I'm s**t out of luck".  Not to mention her personal view on how Pittsburg PD is way better than Antioch PD. She also spoke of similar situations she had delt with at her normal location- ( Pittsburg, Ca )

The most important thing she said and so alarming I almost lost my mind: was that the people who have the other unit - had alot of traffic in their unit in the last couple of weeks and that when entering the front gate and leaving, they tailgate other cars- not punching in their gate code, electronically not being able to show they had been there.  Specifically she said that they tailgate in more than they tailgate out.  Talk about interesting statements.  I was luck to have had my video camera on the whole time while I was talking to them, recording the entire converstation, as well as their personal comments making them look like idiots.

More importantly so...the two ladies took it upon themselves how they would go about having the tenants come down, and open up their unit. Going over stupid scenarios that sound good, and over locking his two locks were just the beginning of how these employees thought they could act as LAW ENFORCEMENT, and outsmart the tenants of this unit.

Yes they did make a call to the people letting them know they are under suspicion for the theft of my unit as well as they are the main suspects so far. Then they over locked his unit with one of their clamp like locks- hoping that would work.

Well guess what? Within 1 day of them doing the over lock- the lock was cut and the entire unit cleared out....By the time I got back down to the facility about 3 days after the over lock; I was told by one of the employees that they  came down after hours, cut all the locks, and then took all the stuff out.

Did I mention that I didn't even get a lousy phone call to let me know what had happened.  Here I thought I was going to get all my stuff back and that it was secure- WRONG. And they didn't even notify me.  Whats wrong with that picture?  The nerve of them not even letting me know.

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM OUT OF ALL- was they waited 5 days to fix the wall in my unit allowing it to be accessed again by the other tenants when they were getting all the stuff out of their unit.  They re-entered my unit. Yes thats right, a second time. And knowing that the security camera was not working for that part of the property by these particular units.  How convenient for them.  Yes and have it noted also that there were 3 out of 6 security cameras that worked at all.

A detective has been assigned to my case and I have been working with him on some of the speculations as to what might have happened as to what did.  The employees that I delt with in this situation need to be fired hands down. How do you not follow some sort of regulated protocol or precise steps in a situation like this?  Are they trained for situations like these?  Do they just get to assess the problem and then implement their own ideas as how to deal with severity of it?

I am not sure what I'm going to do yet- get a lawyer or take them to small claims court.  This is one of the worst things I've ever had to deal with and in regards to theft or robbery.  Whats even worse is the lack of collaboration on the storage employees and the local police department. A hard lesson to learn and a hard write off.  DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU....PUBLIC STORAGE- NOT THE WAY TO GO!