PUBLIC STORAGE RIPOFF, RIPOFF,RIPOFF THATS ALL I HAVE TO SAY STATEN ISLAND New York

I almost got sucked into this situation. I rented a PS truck and unit for some stuff I was clearing out of a house. When I got to the office, it took a long time (+/- 20 minutes) for me to get the truck keys and my unit number. The gal working the computer said it was slow, but she kept tapping and clicking.

The trip to and from the house was largely uneventful. The trouble arose when I arrived at the facility. The office had just closed, and I had no entry code. I called the 800 number in the folder I received, and the call jockey asked me about a card in the folder. You guessed it--not there! Am guessing that girl behind the computer didn't know or didn't care.

Anyhow, a family that was there let me in, and I drove around to my assigned unit, when lightning struck twice. This time, a huge PS lock was on the door, and there I was with no keys to it. What's more, the lock had an incuse red-painted warning stating that breaking the lock constituted burglary.

Darkness was falling fast on this facility, and I was deciding that this was a bunch of malarkey. I didn't have an exit code to leave, either. Fortunately, I was able to leave after another customer came in. I had to store the truck overnight at my place. The next morning, I went to a competing storage facility with which I was already doing business. I unloaded the stuff and swept out the truck per PS rules.

When I returned the truck, I didn't raise a stink. I just dropped off the keys and left. I was charged for having the truck overnight, and yes, I am miffed at that. Nevertheless, am now reading these ROR horror stories, and I am now very glad that I didn't put my stuff in that unit.

Long story short, I am not pleased with my PS experience and will NOT return. Public Storage is a joke.

Public Storage (PS) allowed breaking to many units and failed to pay damages for the thefts, they then sold all my property that I had in the world, personal items, records, irreplaceable things. They lied to me, and I am suing them in CA.

Join with me and let's make them pay for what they did.

I manage a self-storage (not Public Storage) in Tucson, AZ. Laws vary considerably from state to state so this may or may not apply.

Arizona requires that I send notices of default and/or lien sales to the tenant's last known address. That is either the address they gave me when they filled out the rental agreement or the new address they gave me in writing. The rental agreement clearly states that a change of address must be in writing.

Notifying the storage company (or any other business) of a change of address over the phone is risky if the contract requires a written notice.

What if someone calls me and says he is one of my tenants but is really an ex-spouse out to cause trouble? What if a tenant calls and says his new address is 123 Hobson and I hear 123 Dobson? If I change a tenant's mailing address based on a phone call I have no proof that he requested the change and no way to verify that I entered it into my records correctly. I would incur much more liability changing an address based on a phone call than I would by sending notices to an old address.

The nature of this business is that many of our tenants are moving from one place to another and the address that they gave us when they moved in is not the same one they now receive mail at. But how am I to know? Even when I know that a tenant is living at some place other than the address I have in my records I cannot change their mailing address without their written notice. I have tenants who live a block away who want all their mail sent to a PO Box in South Dakota 1500 miles away. It is the tenant's job to tell me where he wants his mail sent; it is not my place to make that decision for the tenant.

When you called Public Storage and gave them your new address, they should have told you that you needed to put it in writing. Regardless of whether they told you or not, you are going to have a major problem trying to prove that you called them, that you gave them notice of a new address, that they understood that it was a change of address, and that they accepted your telephonic notice in lieu of a written notice if a written notice was required.