At a recent visit to my local Public Storage facility, I found that my storage unit had a different lock on it, from the one I placed on it. A trip to the office to speak with the manager of the facility, quickly revealed just how safe Public Storage, at least this location, really is.
She informed me that they really have no idea who is getting into the units, and there is no monitoring of what units are opened. This came as a shock to me, because they have security gates and cameras when you first arrive.
I was told that someone else probably opened the unit with bolt-cutters and placed their on lock on the unit. Her solution was to go rent some bolt-cutters, buy a new lock and put it on the unit. I asked where I could rent the bolt-cutters, as she said I should just go over to OSH (a local hardware store) and buy a pair, when I was done with them to “just return them.” She said that if I did that, there was some paper-work to fill out, but whomever cut my lock, probably didn’t fill it out.
I could go on about the lack of care that Public Storage demonstrated here, but lets make this a bit more constructive instead. After moving my property out of this Public Storage facility, I found a much better company to deal with, and in doing some, a came up with the following list of questions to ask, when choosing a storage facility.
- What type of security do you provide?
- Is the opening of a unit monitored?
- Will I be notified if my unit is opened?
- How often do you check the units?
- Is there someone onsite 24/7?
- Are the camera views of my unit?
These are just a few of the questions, I would recommend asking when choosing a storage unit. At least as far as the safety of your property is concerned.