Public Storage Public Storage Crooks, Sheisters, Pitbulls, with really nasty personnel working in their front offices, Now selling all my worldly goods at 4x the amount owed, refuse to abide by Court Order! ripoff Los Angeles California

I find it interesting that the term "constitution" is used so much in the responses contained in this report. Oddly enough, California and Nevada are the ONLY two states that address the issue of due process in their lien foreclosure statutes. Simply, California and Nevada provide for due process redress by giving the consumer the ability to oppose the imposition of the lien asserted by the self storage owner/operator. The opposition to the lien feature of the statutes gives the consumer a very important protection against seizure of their property. In other words, if a consumer believes that the operator is acting improperly and does not have a valid and perfected lien, they can oppose it. This places the onus on the operator to file suit in court. The consumer can then have their day in court and challenge the perfection of the lien. Moreover, this gives the operator "res adjudicata" protection, in other words, the issue is resolved by the court. California and Nevada are the only two states that give this protection via statute to the consumer.

I applaude the responses offered by other consumers in this report. While Public Storage is a large corporation and we are often loathe to give corporations any credit at all for their actions, I must applaude PS for their extreme patience with this complaintant!!!!!!!!!

I have been a customer of Public Storage since Jan 07 and employee since July 07. The fact that you paid when you could does not mean they did not follow the Law. If you have a problem with what happened you may need a reality check. Public Storage is the largest storage company in the world, and they did not get that way by "ripping off" customers, they got there by following state and federal laws to a T, I suggest for you to read your states self storage law and educate yourself and you will understand what all of us are stating. You are making outrageous claims that are false, Public Storage only charges 1 late fee, any other charges are pre-leins and lein fees that differ from state to state. If you had read your contract and abided by the terms you would not be here wanting sympathy to your childish rants.

Wow, we wonder why prices go up every year. Could it be frivolous lawsuits from horrible customers complaining about how they weren't handed a sucker and a smile when they walked in to not pay their bill.

Who cares how an individual employee treated you, that is irrelevant. This site is intended for legitimate rip-offs. You were not ripped-off , you simply failed to pay your bill. Sure they weren't nice to you, but that is not ripping you off, you were paying ( sometimes) for a storage space. You were aware of the late fees and policy's yet still complain when they lived up to their promise of an auction if you fail to pay.

This is slander, you have failed to mention how they ripped you off. Be sure not to say late fees since you were aware of them when signing the contract. When you walked in to rent a space it was a deal you made with them. You promised to pay on time, and they promised to auction your stuff off if you turn out to be a liar by not paying on time. It couldn't be simpler.

The "outrageous" late and lien fees were explained to the customer. The longer it goes unpaid the higher it will get. There can be no "settlement" or "negotiation". Most times the auction does not sell for much. Shurgrad may have taken partial payments but Public Storage never has. They will gladly accept the money but you will then recieve a notification of partial paryment and you will still recieve late fees on the remaining balance, which is also explained to the customer. If you know you cant afford the units you should of vacated them along time ago and only a fraction of what you owe would be in collections if any.All fees and letters and policies are mandated by the state not public storage.

P, you sure don't know anything about the business and professions code. All of the fees and the dates they are imposed are on the first page of the contract. Storage in California is extremely regulated. There is one late fee, one prelien fee and one lien fee. If you didnt agree with it, you shouldn't have signed the contract. You should be reported to the Better Customer's Bureau.

I dont know how old you are, but I certainly wouldn't want my kids to see me acting like you. You messed up, you payed the price, now learn from it to make you a better person and move on. Contracts are in place to protect both parties and there is nothing a business can do but to follow the contract to a T if you don't make your payments on time. Businesses cannot control whether or not you make a full payment. The fact of the matter is, after 10 days, you are late in California and after 14 days you can go into prelien. After 28 days you can go into lien. There are fees associated with it on page 1 of storage contracts. Dont be so surprised that they charged exactly what they said they would charge. 14 days after that, they can sell your stuff, and it is all there in black and white in the business and professions code and on your contract.

The fact of the matter is that the majority of people pay their bill on time and dont have any issues. Most facilities have 400-1000 customer's and they cant babysit each one individulally. So really, you should be angry at yourself for your behavior, angry at yourself that you cant meet your obligations, angry at yourself for showing other people, especially young people, that your problems are always someone elses fault, angry at yourself for saying people are ripping you off when nobody forced you to sign the contract.

They may not hire the best and the brightest, but their contract is fairly standard in the business, and they do follow it, so just admit your mistake and move forward in making the world a better place. You will always be angry until you realize how free-er and happier you will be once you take responsibility for your actions and use mistakes as a learning tool instead of a blaming tool.

I am a public storage employee and you are giving out false information. We do not have clean out fees. Here is the remedy: pay your bill on time. We will not accept late fees or negotiations. Plain and simple pay your bill. This person has been giving out false information and is just a disgruntled customer.

Hello again to PS Victims.

As many of you know, I lost 2 storage units in 2006; however, I had 1 last unit, which was owned previously by Shurgard Storage. Although I had a court order for a $50/month payment, the now new owners, Public Storage, refused to honor it and, more, refused to even acknowledge payments I had made on the account 'after they took ownwership' of the company. I have been informed that this was an illegal action by them; why doesn't that surprise me?! Thus, they were in the process of snatching away more of my belongings. It took some time, but I was able to effectively pay off this last unit, and the process was very hard, because they seemed to wait until I would get most of the back rent paid off, and then WHAM! They would slap on more high 'lien fees' to the tune of $250.00+! CROOKS! However, when I finally got my belongings home, MANY ITEMS WERE MISSING! There had been wholesale pilfering of my belongings. When I went down to the facility to collect my things, the previous parties who had worked in the office were now gone -- which seems to be a practice of 'upper management'; whenever there is a problem and they are not getting in their pound of flesh scraped from the faces of their helpless clients, they immediately turn on the office personnel. More, when I accessed the elevator with my keycode ...... it wouldn't budge -- the new worker in the office had been using HIS keycode to check on the units, so he had to take me up to my unit, and then it had to be changed in the system. When I entered my unit, I noticed that things were not in the same order that they had been in just months earlier. I stated to the office manager who had accompanied me that my things had been moved about; he just shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Not his problem!

Now, here is where it gets interesting: several months earlier, a former office manager had called me repeatedly, offering friendship and wishing to unburden himself. He loathed working for these people, and was planning to jump ship as soon as another job offer presented itself. He informed me that PS had been conducting what he thought were illegal practices in regards to how they collected the rents. He also stated that if you worked for them and complained about their business practices that they would very soon thereafter transfer you to a post far removed from where you now worked, and would make sure that you didn't even have an office to work from, lowering you in status to a mere 'floater' -- they would then after some time fire you. And this happened to a former office manager who had tried to help me whenever I was running late; he is long gone from the company.

Shortly thereafter, the DISTRICT MANGER of the facility jumped ship! That's some incentive for their workers, isn't it? He just bailed suddenly, without a word to anyone - and this was followed by my new friendly associate who also bailed, stated that things were getting bad at PS -- due, no doubt, to their many lawsuits!

So, my advice for extricating your self and your belongings from this company is to as soon as possible, and within the constraints of the law:

1. Vacate units and remove all belongings to some other, SMALLER, storage facility in the same day. Dealing with a smaller company will be more to the benefit, especially in the matter of Customer Service.

2. When vacating, be sure to leave the unit in a neat and clean manner, or PS will BILL you for having to remove 'trash' (aka empty boxes, etc.), and to be sure it is suitable for the next *victim*.

3. It is also advisable to call the office beforehand and let them know that you are moving out; be sure to turn in all keys. They will charge you for cleaning and key fees, if you do not. It is also advisable to be as friendly as possible with the office personnel, as it helps to speed the process of getting out of there intact, with all of your belongings.

4. Be sure to check your belongings first hand, and report any missing items to the office. You should also take pictures of any opened boxes, showing that their contents are now missing. Then, of course, the proper legal channels should be followed to file a claim of theft.

I hope that this helps anyone out there who is going through what I, and countless others, have suffered.

Good luck to all,
"p"
{STILL MAD!}

Hello, all.

Recently, I have discovered pertinent info on how to protect your belongings from being sold at auction, or at the very least, documentation that may help you. I'm sure that those with vested interests in PS / Shurgard will work hard and fast to reverse these helpful suggestions:

1. First and foremost, if you are late or arrears in your payments, you must keep abreast of what your account status is. AS SOON as you become aware that you are behind, call the office and ask for the status of your account; they have to tell you. If they say that 'your belongings are being scheduled for auction', be sure to get a time and date of the auction, as well as the name of the person giving the info. Then, call the main office number (it's a toll-free number) and demand to talk to someone (Customer Service, most likely) to rectify the problem. Get all names and phone numbers that you can, and call, call repeatedly if you have to, until you are satisfied.

2. When they send you a Preliminary Notice that your goods are to be sold at auction, immediately send back the form signed at the bottom portion of your OBJECTION TO LIEN SALE. This will buy you some time and, perhaps, you will be able to come up with the requested amount that you are arrears in. By returning the signed OBJECTION TO LIEN SALE form, you will be stopping the auction dead in its tracks. However, the PS people will try to tell you that it is only for 30 days; this is not correct. This stops the acution, PERIOD, until you go to court, but until that time, you can pay down the amount owed. You can also call the District Manager and request to pay off the amount. You can pay online through their website, or by phone on your amount, until it is paid down. If you are severely behind in the amount, you can always go over the heads of the District Manager and the Cust. Serv. people, and ask to speak to the owner / president of the company. This might not work too well at first, but just keep calling until you get some results.

3. Even though these people are reprehensible, you should keep cool, do not insult or provoke with threats, and speak calmly and logically. This will meet with a better result than if you jump on the phone and start screaming and cursing at your tormentors (PS).

4. FOLLOW-UP everything you do with written correspondence. Send all OBJECTION TO LIEN SALE documents back to PS via Certified Letter with return response. You can also Fax over your response; be sure to include a cover letter, and state that a formal, signed OBJECTION TO LIEN SALE document will be mailed by Certified Letter. Make sure you have copies of ALL correspondence, bills, receipts of payment, etc., so that you can file a valid case against them, if need be, in court. The power of the written word is AWESOME!

5. Do not give in to threats of them taking you to court; once you file the Objection form, it is a given that unless you pay off the arrears amount, you will in fact go to court; so that is a given. Many times, PS employees (on directions from their bosses) will try to harass you for past-due amounts, EVEN AFTER YOU HAVE SIGNED THE OPPOSITION TO LIEN SALE FORM. Do not respond in knee-jerk manner; just calmly state to these people that you are aware of the proper procedures of the Objection, and report any rude or harrassing manners to the District Mgr. and even go higher, if need be. ALWAYS get a name and number. Please note, that in many instances, you may not get a live body when you call in to try and resolve things. Just be sure to get a Fax number, and Fax over your complaints clearly and strongly, and then back it up with a signed original correspondence.

All of the above suggestions have worked, to my own knowledge and others', in resolving issues with Public Storage; in a few instances, some were actually able to pay off their arrears amounts and move their belongings out of PS.

I hope that many of you will find these suggestions helpful, and will take them to heart. As previously stated at the beginning of this post, I am sure that the PS people will try to deflect or inhibit the above suggestions; their attorneys will most likely try to get these practices banned or otherwise hinder them, but until the law allows, these procedures WILL work!

Good luck to all who have had bad dealings with PS, or are still trying to rectify their problems with them. I know how hard it is to stand helplessly by and see everything that you love and hold dear sold at auction. It's very sad.

Hopefully, my post can help others in similar or same situations.

Godspeed to all!

~A Friend~

'P', take responsibility for yourself!

'P',

You still have some sense of entitlement here and are still not seeing the reality of the situation.

Public Storage is in no way obligated to provide you with extra time to pull things together financially. You signed a contract that you did not meet. Period. Everything else is totally irrelevant.

There is no rip off here on the part of Public Storage. The rip off here is you trying to use their storage space for free or for a reduced price.

>> As is usual, those rebutting my posts have not taken the time to read all of my postings, or have done their homework on the standards and practices of this bogus company. And I here reiterate .... PUBLIC STORAGE = RIPOFF!!! Just take a look at ALL of the complaints against this company! These people are in business to make money off the backs of their clients any way they can; they do NOT care about feelings, 'customer service' (WHERE?! They are only interested in MONEY, not good service to their clientele), or even if they damage your property. I'm sure they have to send out their pitbulls to defend their own positions, even though they are being sued up the wazoo for their illegal practices. I stand by my original statements. Get over it, already!

-----------------------------------------

this is slander

This is a story about a guy that failed to pay rent, couldn't come up with the full amount , and is angry that a company followed procedure that is clearly defined in the signed contract. As a storage manger it is very difficult dealing with people like this that expect handouts and take no responsibility for their own actions , then slander a company for doing what they had to do to make money off that storage room.

>>> 'Slander' ....... NOTTT!!! You work for these thieves, then, right? You know, I have talked with other former managers of this company, and beleive it or not, quite a few of them feel as I do, that this company is deceitful, full of tricks, and are only in it for the money, anyway they can get it. These former managers quit the company, repelled by the procedures and practices of PS / Shurgard. Guess you're still working there, right? Too bad for you, mate! You can believe, my friend, that the moment you do not follow their commands to the letter, or if they even think you are helping someone that falls behind a little, that YOU will be OUT the door pronto! That is how they work. And you are fighting for their cause??? You sorely need a reality check, my friend. Pronto. I would not want to be in your shoes when 'it' hits the fan!

FWIW, I made many attempts to work this out with PS; I was NOT asking for any 'handouts', as you say; more than a few times I paid for BOTH STORAGE UNITS at the same time, which cost a few hundred dollars. So, HOW am I asking for handouts or not taking responsibility for my actions? You've got it twisted severely! Again, Public Storage / Shurgard Storage are CROOKS, FELONS, THIEVES. I dare you to own a unit in one of their facilities, lose your job, and are trying to make good on your back fees. That would be justice for you, my 'friend'.

I still stand by my statements,

And I'm still ....

~More Than Angry!

This is a story about a guy that failed to pay rent, couldn't come up with the full amount , and is angry that a company followed procedure that is clearly defined in the signed contract. As a storage manger it is very difficult dealing with people like this that expect handouts and take no responsibility for their own actions , then slander a company for doing what they had to do to make money off that storage room.

"P",

You still have some sense of entitlement here and are still not seeing the reality of the situation.

Public Storage is in no way obligated to provide you with extra time to pull things together financially. You signed a contract that you did not meet. Period. Everything else is totally irrelevant.

There is no rip off here on the part of Public Storage. The rip off here is you trying to use their storage space for free or for a reduced price.

I can see by the many responses to my post that I've somehow touched a few raw nerves ..... too bad no one can see the OBVIOUS matter, that although this company is 'a for-profit business', that their MANNER of business is unethical and even unfair.

Tell me this ...... if I am trying to resolve all past debts and calling in earnest to contact the managers/district mgrs. etc. to pay off everything in one lump sum -- AND THESE VERY SAME MGRS. HAVE INDICATED THEY WOULD DO SO BUT NOW DODGE MY CALLS, instead preferring to take me to court for a now outrageeous fee, bolstered by 'late fees' (when I have been precluded from the renatal procedure) and are still charging me rent?! WHERE is the ethical biz practices?

Yes, I was late more than once but quickly brought my account back to current status as soon as possible, and did not initially complain when paying the late fees; we all run into problems in life - most of us just want a little time to pull things back together. Public Storage does not care if and when these problems happen, nor am I saying that they should, but instead they seem to penalize you more when you fall on hard times and are late with payments. Sure, it's not their responsibility, but as stated before, a company is only as good as the people who support them; people are appreciative when you are willing to work with them, and therefore become good clients. Given the numerous complaints against Public Storage (AND the many lawsuits) for having questionable business practices - their procedures of doing business seem to be borderline criminal - many people are now dropping their accounts with them. The practice of poor customer service, break-ins and out and out theft by company personnal, and the taxing their customers with too-high late fees is an ongoing friction -- and this has been even complained about and validated by personnel who work/have worked in their offices themselves! Many state that they would NEVER have a storage account with Public Storage! If their own personnel feel this way, it is easy to see why there is are so many problems with this company - WHICH HAS AN -F- RATING IN THE MINI-STORAGE INDUSTRY! This is indicative that their business practices need to be looked into and perhaps even amended, IMO.

Business, yes is one thing .... RIPPING OFF CLIENTS AND THEN STOPPING THEM FROM EVEN MAKING GOOD ON THEIR ACCOUNTS IS ANOTHER.

PS - If the Better Business Bureau gives them an F rating, perhaps this should be contemplated in all seriousness as a once-good company gone bad!

Thanks for reading and responding to my posts.
~More Than Angry~

And I had NO problems. Why? Because I had them automatically bill my credit card every month and I actually paid for my rental as per my agreement! Cancelling it and removing my stuff once I moved was also no problem. I had my stuff out when I said I would and they immediately stopped the auto-payments. No hassles and no extra fees the entire time I used them (which was about 5 months).

You brought this on yourself 100%. Public Storage is not to blame and you WILL lose in court if you try to sue them (as it should be). You agreed to the terms and now you're angry that you're facing the consequences of your own actions. That's why not a single person in this post has agreed with your assessment of a ripoff taking place.

Public Storage isn't a charity. They're running a business and yes, shockingly, profit is the motive.

You yourself (the OP) said that you kept current "whenever possible". You either keep current or your not. Period. Not "whenever possible."

I've dealt with this company on 2 different occasions, and the only problem I had with them was the fact that the property manager smoked like a chimney and it about gagged me to walk into the office to make payment. I fixed that by dropping the payment either in the mail or in the drop box attached to the office.

I realize you're angry - but I truly believe you will not get any "justice" from the courts. You yourself admitted to being in default; all the storage company needs to do is use this website and your own words and deeds to prove you failed to abide by your contract and your case will be thrown out. All the other stuff is superfluous and the judge will not hear it, i.e., all the other complaints you cite about the company. If you have siblings, I'm sure you've heard your parents say "I don't care what your brother or sister did...I'm talking about what YOU did!!!" My suggestion: get on with your life. Pay your bill. Never let this happen again.

You have a right to bear someone else's storage space? There is nothing unconstitutional; about running a business with rules, guidelines and contracts. You have stated from post #1 that you flagrantly did not abide by the terms of the agreement.

"if it were not for the high late fees, applied MORE THAN ONCE IN A GIVEN MONTH, I would not have fallen behind in the first place!"

Had you paid on time as agreed to, you would not have fallen behind in the first place. YOUR payment-or lack thereof-comes before ANY late fee is assessed.

Public Storage Corporation is a FOR PROFIT CORPORATION. They have stockholders to answer to.

They are not some welfare agency or public service. They are in business to MAKE MONEY.

They enforced the terms of the contract that you willingly signed. Why do you feel that you can just be late on your payments without penalty?

If you paid as agreed, you would not have had this issue. You defaulted on the agreement you signed, and Public Storage used all legal remedies available to them to get the money for the services they provided you.

I have dealt with Public Storage on several occasions, and I agree that they are hard to deal with. However, I always paid as agreed and never had a real problem. And, it is against the policy of the company to ever accept partial payments.

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=210&aid=62924

This was reported in the news on the NY1 For You news website. A few highlights:

"Woman's Belongings Auctioned Off From Storage Without Her Knowledge - The renter kept her belongings in Public Storage since 2004. She says she made monthly payments by credit card, online and never had a problem until July when she could not register a payment. Zhao says she called Public Storage on the day her payment was due and was informed that they had auctioned off all her stuff, three days ago."

***************

"Zhao says after weeks of calling Public Storage and its corporate headquarters in California and getting the run around, she finally hired a lawyer. That's when she says, Public Storage told her she could buy back 95% of her belongings from the buyer in return for a $1,000. Zhao agreed but says when she went to claim her things, she found that the majority of her stuff, with the exception of a few pieces of large furniture, was gone. And to her further shock and surprise, she found a few boxes full of stranger's belongings!"

**************** For more, read the report directly from their website. So now, where are all the detractors and rebuttals regarding this 'wonderful' company? And there are many more reports of this type, and some similar to mine, spread liberally on the web. I, also, would like to buy back my property, but fear that the same instance would occur for me, as for the above-mentioned victim.

Do mini-storage renters have ANY rights? The laws need to be changed ASAP to protect the innocent victims of the mini-storage business; to date our rights are not being represented, we are being RIPPED OFF TOTALLY, and then we are further 'raped' by the legal system, which seems to be on the side of big business and corporate structuring.

I am hoping to see some type of change in the near future.

Thanks for reading my post,
More Than Angry

Justice is a double-sided sword that cuts BOTH ways.

Steve - Bradenton, Florida wrote:

"Thats not the worst part. That $150 they got from the storage sale just allowed them to clear the unit and re-rent it legally.

The difference between what you owed them and what they got at storage is called a deficiency, which they WILL sue you for and get a judgement.

That's why they didn't take your partial payment offer. They want it all, and will probably get it."

****Yes, and so now we can see what PS is really all about ...... MONEY! They used to be about good customer relations, I am told; welcome to the 21st century! With more and more reports coming in showing the bad ethics, greed, and malfeasance of this now conglomerate, you can be sure that the lawsuits will be flying thick and fast. Many people are disadvantaged by job layoffs, and other financial duresses and so they turn to an octupus like PS in their hours of need, only to be raped and pillaged by this company and/or its personnel.

Since filing this report, I have discovered many instances where PS was totally to blame for persons losing all their valuables - either by neglect, or outright theft (via high late fees, evasive tactics, and employee theft); this is not a reputable company -- they never seem to want to mediate or resolve any situation -- just PAY them 'what is owed', which they make very difficult to do by adding late fees and other miscellaneous charges until your head explodes! They KNOW that most people cannot pay these high fees ....... therefore they are legal pirates.

As you say, they will most likely try to collect this out-of-control amount - they first charged a far less amount as due and collectible, and then continued to charge me rent, even though I was removed from the rental actions by the lien opposition and court status PLUS attached LATE FEES - RIDICULOUS! But, the sword of Justice cuts both ways .... I will seek my due process in the court of law to remedy this situation.

Thanks,
More Than Angry

Larry - West Sacramento, California wrote:

"The bottom line here is you entered into a contract and failed to keep up your end of the bargain. The storage operator remedied your default in the manner authorized by California law. You resorted to the courts in a frivolous attempt to delay the operator. Now you must pay the price for your actions."

Hey, Larry - if it were not for the high late fees, applied MORE THAN ONCE IN A GIVEN MONTH, I would not have fallen behind in the first place! I had a friend who rented from PS years ago; he was often late with his payments, but WAS ONLY CHARGED A $15/MONTH LATE FEE.

BOY, those times have changed! My late fees were applied 2-3 times a month, and then they added a lien fee on top of that. I ended up paying my storage TWICE for the same units with all the accumulated late fees; that to me is not only high piracy, but is unconstitutional. And there are many complaints from others to bolster my claim; just do the research.

Further, your statement that I 'resorted to the courts in a frivolous attempt to delay the operator' says worlds about your mental outlook; you do not even know me, 'buddy', and here you are making rash statements about my actions. If you ask me, the 'operator' needs to be delayed indefinitely from applying high late fees, ignoring attempts to settle an account, and having rude and toxic personnel in their front office who lie blatantly and are on the attack when you call in an attempt to resolve your rental status.

CROOKS AND FELONS!

More Than Angry

Larry - West Sacramento, California wrote:

"The bottom line here is you entered into a contract and failed to keep up your end of the bargain. The storage operator remedied your default in the manner authorized by California law. You resorted to the courts in a frivolous attempt to delay the operator. Now you must pay the price for your actions."

Hey, Larry - if it were not for the high late fees, applied MORE THAN ONCE IN A GIVEN MONTH, I would not have fallen behind in the first place! I had a friend who rented from PS years ago; he was often late with his payments, but WAS ONLY CHARGED A $15/MONTH LATE FEE.

BOY, those times have changed! My late fees were applied 2-3 times a month, and then they added a lien fee on top of that. I ended up paying my storage TWICE for the same units with all the accumulated late fees; that to me is not only high piracy, but is unconstitutional. And there are many complaints from others to bolster my claim; just do the research.

Further, your statement that I 'resorted to the courts in a frivolous attempt to delay the operator' says worlds about your mental outlook; you do not even know me, 'buddy', and here you are making rash statements about my actions. If you ask me, the 'operator' needs to be delayed indefinitely from applying high late fees, ignoring attempts to settle an account, and having rude and toxic personnel in their front office who lie blatantly and are on the attack when you call in an attempt to resolve your rental status.

CROOKS AND FELONS!

More Than Angry

Larry - West Sacramento, California wrote:

"The bottom line here is you entered into a contract and failed to keep up your end of the bargain. The storage operator remedied your default in the manner authorized by California law. You resorted to the courts in a frivolous attempt to delay the operator. Now you must pay the price for your actions."

Hey, Larry - if it were not for the high late fees, applied MORE THAN ONCE IN A GIVEN MONTH, I would not have fallen behind in the first place! I had a friend who rented from PS years ago; he was often late with his payments, but WAS ONLY CHARGED A $15/MONTH LATE FEE.

BOY, those times have changed! My late fees were applied 2-3 times a month, and then they added a lien fee on top of that. I ended up paying my storage TWICE for the same units with all the accumulated late fees; that to me is not only high piracy, but is unconstitutional. And there are many complaints from others to bolster my claim; just do the research.

Further, your statement that I 'resorted to the courts in a frivolous attempt to delay the operator' says worlds about your mental outlook; you do not even know me, 'buddy', and here you are making rash statements about my actions. If you ask me, the 'operator' needs to be delayed indefinitely from applying high late fees, ignoring attempts to settle an account, and having rude and toxic personnel in their front office who lie blatantly and are on the attack when you call in an attempt to resolve your rental status.

CROOKS AND FELONS!

More Than Angry

Larry - West Sacramento, California wrote:

"The bottom line here is you entered into a contract and failed to keep up your end of the bargain. The storage operator remedied your default in the manner authorized by California law. You resorted to the courts in a frivolous attempt to delay the operator. Now you must pay the price for your actions."

Hey, Larry - if it were not for the high late fees, applied MORE THAN ONCE IN A GIVEN MONTH, I would not have fallen behind in the first place! I had a friend who rented from PS years ago; he was often late with his payments, but WAS ONLY CHARGED A $15/MONTH LATE FEE.

BOY, those times have changed! My late fees were applied 2-3 times a month, and then they added a lien fee on top of that. I ended up paying my storage TWICE for the same units with all the accumulated late fees; that to me is not only high piracy, but is unconstitutional. And there are many complaints from others to bolster my claim; just do the research.

Further, your statement that I 'resorted to the courts in a frivolous attempt to delay the operator' says worlds about your mental outlook; you do not even know me, 'buddy', and here you are making rash statements about my actions. If you ask me, the 'operator' needs to be delayed indefinitely from applying high late fees, ignoring attempts to settle an account, and having rude and toxic personnel in their front office who lie blatantly and are on the attack when you call in an attempt to resolve your rental status.

CROOKS AND FELONS!

More Than Angry

To Peter, you said, "You cannot 'make an offer' to get your belongings back from the storage facility. You have to PAY YOUR BILL IN FULL, something that you obviously never did throughout this entire ordeal."

There you are doubly wrong; (1) There were many instances when I paid THE ENTIRE BILL FOR BOTH UNITS AT ONCE; other than that, I kept my account current whenever possible; (2) I was advised by the acting attorney that they would consider an offer to settle; the offer I made was reviewed, and then rejected. Period. Further, I had previously been informed that I would be able to make a settlement offer way before this went to their Legal Dept., which I did, with their District Mgr. I called and faxed repeatedly my offer; never received any type of response, and then of course all this occurred.

Although the 'laws' have been written to support PS, they are only enacting a type of LEGAL PIRACY. The laws should be changed to protect their customers and others from these type of business entities.

Still
More Than Angry

"P",

Thats not the worst part. That $150 they got from the storage sale just allowed them to clear the unit and re-rent it legally.

The difference between what you owed them and what they got at storage is called a deficiency, which they WILL sue you for and get a judgement.

That's why they didn't take your partial payment offer. They want it all, and will probably get it.

Good luck.

I manage a self-storage for a different company. California law allows a storage operator to impose one late fee per month. But it also allows the operator to charge the tenant for his expenses in collecting. State law requires at least two letters for each unit to be sent by certified mail before selling the contents. The operator can charge fees for each of those letters. If the operator has to cut the tenants locks, he may charge for that. The operator will charge for the advertisement he is required to place. Defaulting runs up the charges very quickly.

You mention that you filed an Opposition. California law requires that the operator give the tenant this option, but invoking it is very expensive as it requires the operator to get a judgment before he can sell the tenants possessions. Since PS is a corporation, it must be represented by an attorney. When a tenant in default tries to stall a lien sale by filing an opposition, the tenant can expect a judgment against them in the thousands of dollars as he must pay not only the storage fees but all the court fees (including the attorney) as well. You now have a legally enforceable judgment against you for the unpaid balance.

When this matter went to court it was not PS's job to inform you of the court date. The court was supposed to do that. By your own admission you had not paid the rent, so you had no defense to present.

California law does not require a storage operator to notify the tenant of the time and date of the auction. He is only required to state that he will sell the tenant's possessions after a certain date. State law does not even require an auction; it requires only a commercially reasonable sale.

The bottom line here is you entered into a contract and failed to keep up your end of the bargain. The storage operator remedied your default in the manner authorized by California law. You resorted to the courts in a frivolous attempt to delay the operator. Now you must pay the price for your actions.

You cannot "make an offer" to get your belongings back from the storage facility. You have to PAY YOUR BILL IN FULL, something that you obviously never did throughout this entire ordeal.

Received notification today via regular mail that Public Storage has sold both my units; one for only $50.00, the other for $100.00. They refused my offer of $1500.00 only last week for both units, which of course contradicts the statements that they were only trying to collect past debts on the account, which was originally only $540.00 for 1 unit, and $434.00 for the other unit, approximately. SO WHERE'S THE JUSTICE IN THAT?!

Further, a friend went by their facility to try and buy back my goods .... there was no ongoing auction, THERE WAS NO POSTED NOTICE OF AN AUCTION ON THE PREMISES ANNOUNCING SAME (had been previously informed that said auction would occur in the parking lot), and there was NO HEAVY TRAFFIC OF CARS/PEOPLE ON THE PREMISES, only the regular patrons going in and out with their things. This suggests that my belongings MAY HAVE SOLD PRIOR TO THE SO-CALLED OCTOBER 31ST DATE, which their attorney informed me would be the actual date of the sale.

I stand firmly by my statements against PS - they are sheisters, crooks and FELONS, in my estimate, and this auction law should be aborted or severely amended, for it is truly UNCONSTITUTIONAL!

"P",
More Than Angry

RE: "How can you expect that it is ok for you to obtain services or a product, and only give partial payments when you feel like it?"

>>> "Only when I feel like it" - that's a rash assumption if you ask me. I made payments to the best of my ability, and for the last 2-3 months paid BOTH storage bills for the 2 units at once.

"Do you think it is ok to go in a restaurant, order a meal and eat it, and then when they give you the bill you tell them you only want to pay for part of it?"

>>>> You bet - especially if the food is rancid and makes me ILL! Which might not be noticeable until I was ready to walk out the door!

All this, though, belabors my original statements, and to substantiate my claims further, I suggest you visit http://mesh.medill.northwestern.edu/mnschicago/archives/2005/06/selfstor_jonyse.html and read the rather interesting content regarding others' complaints against PS; a small example:

"...Johnson is in the midst of a legal battle with Public Storage, a national chain operating in 37 states, over what happened that morning. Johnson says she usually made her payments on time, but when she missed two payments toward the end of 2001, she received a notice that she had until Jan. 3 to pay her bill or else her stored belongings would be auctioned.

Johnson says she went to the facility on Jan. 2 to settle the bill, but was told she couldn't pay by check. She said she was told to come back the next day with cash, which she did. But by the time she arrived, the auction had already started."

"I came in that morning with the money to pay my bill, but they had the auction [already] going on," Johnson said. "I wasn't allowed to go back there and participate. I couldn't buy my stuff back in the auction. They wouldn't even tell me who bought it or how much they sold it for. I could see my stuff through the gates, but I couldn't get to it."

>>>>" The self-storage industry has become concerned that the litigation against it could hurt business. In a 2002 article in the trade publication "Inside Self-Storage Magazine," Greenberger noted: "Too many operators performing improper lien sales leads to involvement by the legislature. When this happens, state and national associations have to fight like the dickens to avoid a change in the law that is disadvantageous to self-storage operators."

But some people affected by lien sales feel the laws only benefit pubic storage facilities and that some facilities are manipulating the law to sell valuable property to their friends for bargain prices."

Note, that there is CLASS ACTION SUT being implemented against PS ........

Indeed, the handwriting IS on the wall.

Thank you for reading my post.


More Than Angry

First of all, I was back east when I was paying on my PS unit and kept my account current as much as possible; reread my statement - I did not 'default' until moving back to CA.

Secondly, when it became apparent that I was defaulting - and I tried everything within my power not to do so - I contaced their reps and informed them of same.

Thirdly, although I was back in CA I had no car and little money, hence no way to obtain my property. And I really want to point out strongly, that were it not for the abysmally high late fees, piled on up to 3x a month, I would have been able to remain current on many occasion.

THAT, my friend, is unconstitutional. That not only hampers one's freedom to secure their belonging, but takes that freedom away! Due to astronomically high late fees, I ended up paying my storage fees TWICE! That is utterly ridiculous.

As to the statement that Public Storage 'did not take partial payments. There you are wrong; I would pay half in one pay perioud, and then half in the next - all within the same month, I might add, but was actually paying my storage fees TWICE!

I believe that there should be some type of middle ground to help customers who are struggling but sincere in paying their storage fees; a business or company IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT THEM! When those privaleges are abused, then trouble occurs.

Yes, I signed a contract with PS, but nowhere in the wordage did I see anything about late fees being applied in this manner. For your sake, I hope you never 'fall between the cracks of life' and are struggling to secure yourself financially; should you have a storage unit under PS, you will find out for yourself their true comportment.

Thanks for reading and replying to my post.

"P"

You agreed with their terms to begin with and then defaulted. Just because you are in a bad situation does not mean it is ok for you to bad mouth a business looking after their own interests in a manner that you had previously agreed to when you signed your contract.

How can you expect that it is ok for you to obtain services or a product, and only give partial payments when you feel like it?

Do you think it is ok to go in a restaurant, order a meal and eat it, and then when they give you the bill you tell them you only want to pay for part of it?

Public Storage has a legal right to add late charges, interest and legal costs to the amount you owe them if you default.

Lastly, where does it give you the right to any of this in the constitution? I am curious about that claim.

The bottom line is that if you enter into a contract willingly, you have no right to gripe when you default.

"P"

So let me get this straight. You feel you have the right to be continuously in default. You need to read the CONTRACT you signed! They were enforcing there rights under that contract! How is that a rip off?

Maybe that manager was trying to help you by accepting a few partial payments, but I know for a fact that it has NEVER been the company policy of Public Storage as I have been a customer of theirs many times in many states.

When you knew you could not afford to pay the storage, you should have moved your stuff out!

The rip off here is you expecting to store your stuff for free! You aren't entitled to anything except what is spelled out in your contract, and it appears that is exactly what you got!

Reality check.