- Report: #1130345
Complaint Review: Public Storage - Murrieta California
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Author Not Confirmed
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Public Storage
24905 Whitewood Rd. Murrieta, 92563 California, USA
Phone:
9516007338
Web:
www.publicstorage.com
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Public Storage, Alex Auction took place of irreplaceable items without notice Murrieta California
Background: My mother passed away on Christmas Eve 2012 and the few items that were left for my Daughter and myself, we had decided to put into a garage at Public Storage.
On top of that tragity, I have been dealing with ongoing medical problems of my own which have required me to have a few surguries and procedures over the last 6 months. The Medical visits and the subsequent inability to go to work periodically while i was recovering created a serious financial hardship with my family. This is what had caused us to fall behind 2 months on the storage payments.
One week ago, I was contacted by " Alex" from Public Storage. She advised me that my balance was due for my rented storage unit. She also advised that I had until 3/12/2014 to pay the balance in full in order to prevent the unit going to an auction.
"Alex", a rep from Public Storage, (on a side note) was EXSTREMELY demanding and rude during this conversation over the phone with both myself and my Husband.
During our entire time as renters of such storage space, neither myself or my Husband received any written notices or invoices from the company, whatsoever!
On 3/12/2014 at apx. 11:30am my Husband contacted the Murrieta office for Public Storage to pay the balance in full over the phone. He spoke to " Mary Kay" who had advised him at that time that the unit had been sold at auction 30 minutes prior to their phone call. In previous conversations with "Alex" it was made clear that as long as a full payment was made on or before 3/12/2014, the unit would not go to auction.My Husband was told over the phone on the 12th that there was NOTHING that they could do at that point.
At no time before the auction took place did Public Storage attempt to contact either myself or my Husband to inform us of a pending auction date of 3/12/2014.
No 30 day notice or debt collection attempts were made in writing. Contained inside the storage unit, aside from priceless family airlooms, were sensitive and confidental, legal and very personal documents. I was advised over the phone that if the individual who purchased the unit at auction would be given my phone number in the event they decided to turn over these items. I was also told however, they are not legally required to do so.
I have yet to be contacted regarding the above refrenced documentation.
I belive that it is completely unprofessional and illegal on this companies behalf to have given me a payment deadline and instead of honoring it, decided to move forward with selling my Priceless and invaluable family belongings. We held our end of the agreement and were calling to pay the owed dept within the stated deadline, only to learn that the action had already been held and that our belongings were gone.
Furthermore the fact that NO formal auction/lein notices were sent to me or my husband before this took place is a violation of the lease contract i had signed when i opened the account there.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Orange County, California
Irvine,California,
auctions
#2Consumer Comment
Sat, August 30, 2014
I am so sorry to hear that you lost your things. I am very familiar with Public Storage and other self-storage facilities.
Unfortunately, Public Storage was not required to notify you of the exact time and date of the auction. If you have your letters from them, you will see that on one of the first letters it states something to the effect that the auction may occur "after 1/1/14" for instance. When you call in, no one knows the date of the auction until it is very close.
Unfortunately, when you asked about the last day to pay, someone gave you the date of the auction which, is technically the last date you can pay but, they neglected to tell you that it has to be paid by 9:00 a.m., or whatever the time is before the auction begins.
I have thouroughly read ALL of the statutes regarding self-storage. I filed a lawsuit against Public Storage a couple of years ago. If you want to bother to verify, it is case number 30-2012-00535757 in Orange County, Santa Ana Central District. It was settled to my satisfaction.
Again, so sorry to hear you lost things that money can't buy. Unfortunately, you are not alone. Thankfully, I didn't lose my stuff but I do know people who have.
Robert
Irvine,California,
Being from Murrietta...do you want some cheese with that wine?
#3Consumer Comment
Thu, March 13, 2014
Here is the thing. You knew you had a storage unit, and you knew that rent was due EVERY month. You KNEW that nothing in the documentation you signed said you only had to pay them when you could. Also, when you signed up for the Storage Unit you knew the policy on late payments and having your stuff auctioned for non-payment.
Oh and you say you NEVER signed anything....Buzz..Wrong answer. That is unless you really want people to believe that a)you just handed money over to them every month for no reason and b)they never had you sign an agreement of any sort.
It is very interesting how it took the threat of auctioning off your stuff to get the money together. How come you didn't put that same effort into getting it when you got behind before they called you? Then how come even though you have priceless heirlooms, legal documents and other extreamly vital items did you wait until what you "thought" was the absolute last moment to pay? The reason is you took a gamble figuring you could hold them off as long as possible...and you LOST that gamble. Sad..yes, but something that was probably totally avoidable from your side.
Now with that said...I will say that they do have some legal requirements that they must follow under the "California Self Storage Facility Act". This includes notification. If you can prove that they failed to propery notify you may have some recourse.
