Storage USA #331 ripoff thieves Secaucus New Jersey

Storage USAStorage USA #331 ripoff - Everything in my unit was stolen, inside job, no one can help me Secaucus New Jersey .....

Living in a six family apartment building and planning on buying a house in the coming year or two I wanted to pack away several personal items so I would have less to pack away when it came time to move.

I could have put all of these items in my basement where I had a storage shed but living in Jersey City and the not so good neighborhood I live in I didnt want to chance getting anything stolen. I decided to put it in self-storage. I decided on Storage USA in Secaucus NJ. It was the only big chain storage facility I could think of.

On Sunday November 25th I went there and rented a storage unit from Felix Rodriguez. It cost me $40.80 per month for a unit 5x5 very small. I unloaded my van of the contents.

(1 Rolands electronic drum set $2,200.00) - (1 Yamaha keyboard $280.00) (Elvis Presley Memorabilia Elvis wall pictures, 8 Elvis TV guides sealed, Elvis collectors pens in wood guitar boxes, Elvis watch, Elvis 20 VHS movie set sealed, Elvis Valentines day heart shape candy tins my wife gave me over the years, Elvis music boxes, Elvis TCB charm, Elvis music Christmas ornament, 2 Elvis Cadillac cars, and other Elvis items I just cant recall. Values at $2000.00+) (Hess gas station truck collection from 1990 2003 mini trucks, 7 scale model die cast collector cars Dodge Charger Daytona not the little ones, 7 Tractor Trailers, $1,600.00) 7 h*o-train sets and about 20 model houses $1500.00) (DJ police lights and DJ strobe lights $100.00).

I felt very safe with my things in Storage USA. I felt that I could not be robbed because they have someone that lives upstairs on the property and that there were cameras everywhere, no worry of a fire the whole place is made of all metal, no wood so I was content. I would visit my storage unit from t time to time to either get something out or put something in.

In December 2002 I went to my storage unit with my 13-year-old son to get something and when I opened my unit I found some of my items to have been ruined by a water leak. It turned out that the snow pilled up outside my unit and everything on that side was water damaged.

I went down to the managers office to inform him, at this time I never noticed the original manager around anymore but there was a new manager name Gerry or Jerry, I told Gerry that I had a water leak so he came up with a camera and took pictures, I picked up my Yamaha keyboard and tipped it over sideways and water came running out of it. Also my Rolands drum set was water damaged also. I had some boxes containing my trains and Hess trucks that were also water damaged. He seen that the main two items that were water damaged were the keyboard and the drum set.

Well I filled a claim with the insurance company and I only had coverage for $3000.00 so I was able to get the full amount. I was really angry because I really didnt want the money I wanted my items back but oh well what can I do. They fixed the leak and all was well. A few weeks later I was paid and life went on.

I am not sure of the date but I was paid in full around 4/25/2003 around that time I decided to put some more items in my storage unit, I figured they fixed the water damage so I was safe. I went to the office that day and told Gerry I wanted to drop the insurance since I was paid for the water damaged item I could not be paid again if it was to happen again so he said ok I will take care of it, I asked him do I need to sign something and he said no I will take care of it.

After that me and my son went to the unit to put some more boxes in there, I put in (8 boxes containing around 1600 CDs, 1 stereo equalizer, 1 Gemini mixer with a goose neck microphone and light, and some computer hardware, and still had my other things in there like my Hess trucks and my trains and Elvis stuff, I decided to re-box all the old boxes that were originally water damaged such as my Hess trucks and my trains. I took everything out and placed all the boxes of CDs in the back and on the floor since they were very heavy. The keyboard was placed on top of everything with a towel covering it so it would not get dusty, I wanted to hold onto the keyboard and maybe get it repaired. Well everything was ok and I was content with everything so I locked it up and went home.

June 18 2003 my world would come down on me and bring a grown man to tears among anger and rage. I was driving my Tractor Trailer and my phone rang and I could not hear what the person was saying so I said hold on let me pull over. I pulled over and shut down my truck. She said is this Walter Condi I said yes, she said this is Laurie Montanaro from Storage USA in Secaucus NJ. Mr. Condi when was the last time you was at your unit? (In the back of my mind I was praying please let her tell me that I missed a payment or something)

I said the last time was when I canceled my insurance. She said well the cleaning person found my storage unit open and the lock missing. My heart dropped. I said my wife would be right there since I could not get there I had to finish my route. A few hours later my wife called me on my cell phone from the unit while looking inside it right in front of the manager and said to me Hun they cleaned you out! Oh my god I felt like I just lost my life.

I know its only material stuff but its mine and took most of my life to accumulate it. Well right after work I guess around 8:00 pm I went to the unit and met my wife there and I had to see this for myself. Yes I cried I wasnt sure if I cried because of what I had loss or because what I noticed when looking in the storage unit. Take a wild guess what they didnt steal? The two original items that were on top of everything, yes the two original items that were previously water damaged, ok let me tell you this, this two items did not looked water damaged the water only got inside so they looked brand new from the outside, the keyboard still had the store tags and stickers on it where my wife purchased it for me.

Ok the first thing that came to my mind, why the hell didnt they take these two things, they took the time to take them off the top to get what was underneath and then after they cleaned me out the put them back in the unit nice and neat. What the hell is that? I dont care what kind of thief you are, if your going to steal everything then why put the two most expensive items back? I will tell you why because someone knew not to take them, they were water damaged and had no value. Myself my son and the insurance lady and the manager Gerry are the only ones that knew of the damages but at the time the insurance lady was giving child birth and didnt know I had put my 8 cases of CDs in there but Gerry seen me and my son bringing those boxes up there.

You do not have to be a rocket scientist to figure what has happened here. It was an inside job. Thats not all that is odd about this whole thing. No lock was found, no clasp was found. Now if the clasp was ripped off you would have had to use a crow bar right? Or at least something strong to break it off, I remember that clasp it was one of those heavy metal ones held on by 4 large bolts. Ok so lets say they did, well there was no damage to the sheds door and nothing was to be found around the floor area, ok right! The thief cleaned up after himself, I dont think so because he left all the broken glass from my Elvis pictures all over the place.

That day the manager Laurie put a new lock on the unit and gave my wife the key. I wasnt there yet. The officer came there and took the report and I told him everything I said here and my theory and he seemed to agree with me, why didnt they take these two things? I went to the Secaucus police station the next day to get the police report and asked them what happens now and they said they have assigned a detective to it. Could you believe that the detective didnt get to it till two weeks later because he was on vacation and was busy. I went to an attorney and told him the story and he said you have to have those surveillance tapes be put on hold. I called Laurie and told her to hold them but she said she could not that the detective would have to come there. I called him everyday, day after day and finally he got there 2 weeks later and called me and said there was nothing to go on, the tapes showed nothing. How can you look through two weeks of tapes in 1 day? Also no one knows the exact day the break in happened so it could have been earlier then those two weeks. And if nothing was on the tapes then someone could have taken my stuff out after those two weeks and no one was looking at the days after those two weeks.

Well the final was that I called Storage USA corporate office and I was told someone would get back to me. Finally their Insurance carrier called me and she told me that my claim was rejected and that there was nothing she could do. I called corporate back and the lady told me when I get the letter of rejection to write them back and say I dont agree. Your dam right I dont agree! Well now its July 16th 2003 and I dont know what to do.

I am trying to find a lawyer to help me but I dont know who to turn to. I pray for this person that I never find him. I am not a violent person whatsoever but this has brought out the worse in me and I am truly sad. $23,000.00 worth of my life treasures are all gone, and someone has them and I will not stop till I get it back now I know that I can kiss it all goodbye but I have faith. If there is anyone that can help me or if you would like to share your thoughts or story with me please write me I could use the talk :o)thanks..Walter

Ps there is so much more about this case such as dates, phone calls, names and other forms of proof that It was an inside job, but I dont want to write to much I am not sure how much I can put on this site I know there are word limits and I have written a lot so far. The only comfort I had so far was finding this web site Rip-off Report.com and to know that there are others like me out there and that there are great people that are here to help or at least make us know were not alone. Thank you so much for letting me vent my story and my feelings. END

Walter
Jersey City, New Jersey
U.S.A.