Public Storage

I just wanted to give a shout out to the manager @PS Kelly. She is so professional and personal, was a great big help in a very stressful situation. She gave me such great personal service and awesome wonderful tips for utilizing all the space with all my stuff. She’s so nice and friendly I felt like we were friends! Thanks so much for all your help Kelly… and if you need to rent storage space, go to this one and ask for Kelly. It’s a better experience with her! Plus I need to mention, she herself came out to my unit and put salt down for me when it was very icy and the snow guys didn’t show!!!

I had a very positive experience at this location. Kelly was extremely nice and always willing to address any concerns I had.

I would rate this facility a 0 if I could.
Our unit was purchased in June of 2013. Since then, the rate has increased three times.
We just went to the unit and everything is COMPLETELY RUINED. Dead mice, everywhere. Furniture, bedding, packing materials, clothes, chewed through. In addition to the rodent infestation, there is severe water damage. Water is coming up through the floor and down from the broken gutters. Everything not eaten is moldy, rusty, and water damaged.
We alerted the facility to the problem, spoke to numerous representatives all the way up to the district manager. He said Public Storage is not liable. They will not refund any of the thousands of dollars of belongs. They will not assist in removing the ruined items, emptying the unit, or providing a place to throw away an entire condo worth of belongings. They will not refund any of the rent. They will not even fix the unit or provide an alternate unit. And THEY WILL KEEP CHARGING RENT UNTIL EVERYTHING IS OUT. His only words were «that’s unfortunate.»
We have used other public storage facilities for years and have never had an experience like this. Since the district manager was so anti-​costumer service, we will be moving everything from our various units and will never use this company again.
Please do not put your belongings in this unit!!!

DO NOT USE THIS FACILITY! It would be nice if this company maintained their facility. It is pure negligence on their part. They know there is an issue with their facility and still have not fixed it. I have pictures for proof. Broken gutters and leaking roof are not things to be ignored. District and regional mangers have been contacted and they will not correct the situation. All of my mother’s possessions have been ruined by mold and water damage due to negligence by Public Storage. I could deal with the mouse droppings and dead mouse carcass, but I can not deal with the mold. They need to step up and correct the situation.

Kelly was awesome! She was a great listener and had a positive attitude. I look forward to my new home!

Reserved unit online and arranged with Chris when I could see the unit. Liked that unit was drive up and not where had to walk in and out of a building. Was a bit put-​off that I had to purchase one of there locks rather than provide my own. Location convenient to where I live. The $ 1 for first month isn’t actually $ 1 due to the administration fees. This should work well enough for me.

I did research online to find a good storage facility for my antique vehicle. In October 2012, Public Storage had a promotion going on with $ 1 for the first month, and a reduced rate of $ 141 for the subsequent months that looked competitive and to be a good value. I reserved a 10×15 unit online, as the best guess size for what I would need.
On the appointed day for me to move the vehicle (October 27, 2012), I called the local Public Storage number at 630−834−4137 a number of times and left voice messages for Chris, the property manager, to confirm a time for me to arrive. He never called me back. Later in the afternoon, on my way home, I stopped at the Public Storage facility and talked with Chris. I explained that I had been trying to reach him all day to confirm a time and he never called me back! He apologized and said something about their phone system not working!
So, reluctantly I made arrangements to bring the vehicle in the following day. I asked Chris what would happen if my vehicle did not fot in the 10×15 I had reserved online, and he said they would just switch me up to another sized unit… no problem!
When I arrived the next day to store my vehicle we discovered that it was a shade too long to fit in the 10×15, so I needed to move up to a 15×20. However, because this was on a weekend, and the local sales person could not reach the Public Storage headquarters to get approval to transfer the online discounted rate ($ 179/​mo.) for the 10×20 unit. Instead, they had to give me the full rate ($ 198/​mo.) and a «Customer Service» number to call to set things back to the online $ 171 rate the following week.
Since I prefer to communicate through email, the following week I went to my online PS account and used the online web form to contact the Public Storage company about this issue. I did not hear back from them in the following week, so I filled the web form out again, explaining the whole scenario. Still no response as we were getting into mid-​to late November 2012.
On November 28, 2012 I received an email from
regarding some lease/​rental agreement changes coming up for 2013. I used this email as an opportunity to respond via direct email to the company about my unresolved situation regarding the lower rates. 2 days later… still no reply.
So, today I finally called the (800) 567‑0759 number which is buried on the Public Storage website. After navigating the automated phone system and pushing maybe 10 different responses, I finally got a real person named «Chanel» in Customer Service. She was polite and listened to my story. However, in the end she told me that because I did not technically reserve the 10×20 unit ONLINE, but rather switched to it from a smaller unit that WAS RESERVED ONLINE, I did not qualify for the reduced rate on the 10×20 unit!
The only thing she would/​could do was to give me the name of the Chicago area district manager named Jonathan at 630−343−0483. Of course when she transferred me there, I got his voice mail! I left a message for him to call me, but I have no hope that he will given their track record of no response.
Unless this issue is resolved promptly, I will never use this business again, and I will tell all my friends and family about my experience both personally, through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and on my blog site. Public Storage has no concept of what «Customer Service» means and if I ran my business this way, I would not survive in today’s marketplace!
UPDATE
After posting this report on Unilocal and a few other places online, I received a voice mail from the District Manager saying that he had looked into my account and had lowered my rate to the online rate of $ 171/​mo, instead of $ 198/​mo. That is all I was trying to get them to do since October 28, 2012 when I moved my antique truck into their facility. This company has a lot to learn about communication with customers and what it means to be a customer focused. In my opinion, if they do not change their ways, they will not survive in this economy.
Bottom line… my experience was so poor that as soon as I am able, I will be moving and storing my vehicle elsewhere.

2.5 stars for 2 problems I faced:
Called to ask and activate the 24-​hour access courtesy. Person who answered the phone said yes. When I actually showed up after-​hours, I was denied access. It’s actually important for me to move things out by a certain time. Time is important when you promise something you can’t keep.
«Manager will return at 3PM» is not the same as coming back at 3:13PM. He apologized and said it was an estimate. Poor excuse. Again, time is important and another promise you can’t keep.
Phone isn’t always answered during business hours. Perhaps this is due to only one man holding the fort down.