Don’t let this happen to you . ..A few years ago I needed to store a dozen big steel filing cabinets south of Los Angeles. I rented a 10’ x 10’ space in a building owned by a group that had about a dozen self storage facilities around the West Coast. The first year was great – all I did was send a check. They cashed it. End of story. The second year, they raised my rent three times!
The first two times, I was mad but I had to live with it because who wants to drive to LA and move 2,000 pounds of steel over an extra $20 or $30 per month? The third raise broke this camel’s back. I drove down to LA and donated the cabinets to St. Anthony’s. (Incidentally, they were terrific. St Anthony was the only group willing to come out and pick up the cabinets. They showed up exactly when they said they would. I was so delighted, I helped them load the truck. If you want to make a donation and have them pick up, try www.pickuplease.org.)
A couple of years ago our mother passed away. She had a lot of stuff but with professional movers I was able to squeeze it all into a 10’ x 20’ storage locker. I rented from one of the big national storage companies because they had the best price on the web. After six months they raised our rent by 30%. Icalled and complained: “I haven’t even been in there a year yet. How can you raise me so soon?” The lady in the call center read from her script: “We have determined that the fair market value for the unit in that area is X + 30% dollars.” In other words, they felt I would pay it, so they charged it. The advertised rates on the web page for new tenants did NOT go up. But what could I do? It cost $2,500 to move mom’s stuff ...
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May 12th, 2012
