Public Storage

I had rented a storage unit for nearly 3 years without any issues until the week before I was scheduled to vacate at the end of June of this year. I had visited my storage unit on Sat June 21st to grab a few boxes and things were fine. I called the office on Thurs. afternoon which was June 26Th to inform them I would be vacated by the end of the month. I spoke to Yamen. At that time he informed me that that would not be a good time to move because of painting, when I arrived at 6:15 p.m. no painting was in progress...? When I got there the front gate at the property was not working, it appeared to be stuck open and would not close. When I reached the door to get into the storage building, it also was not working correctly as the door would not completely close or lock. Upon arriving at my storage locker I found a lock on there that was not mine. Being after hours I called the 877 number. I was told there was nothing that they could do and I would have to wait until the morning. A few minutes later I realized that the unit next to mine was missing a lock, at that time I walked around and discovered several more units were also missing locks. Again I called the 877 number to let them know that there were units that did not have locks on them and again, I was told very impolitely there was nothing they could do until the next day. My boyfriend also made a call to inform them that the front gate was not working and was told they were aware, as problem had already been reported earlier and a email had been sent to the manager. I decided to file a police report at that time (case number 08-7066). When officer Hodges arrived, he made note of the front gate not working and complex door not properly closing, during his inspection of the units without locks, found numerous that had been cut and thrown back into the units. At that time he could not complete my report as I didn't have access to my unit, and would return the next evening. The next day, Friday the 27Th, I called the office to make sure they were aware of the break-ins and not to touch the locks as the police officers would return to collect them for possible evidence. I was told with an attitude that the employee knew and it was fine. That evening I returned after work at approximately 5 p.m. The same gentleman I had spoke to on the phone the day before, Yamen, was working at the time. He told me that an employee must have placed the lock on my unit because it had been found without one. When we got to my unit he looked at the lock and asked if I was sure it wasn't mine because it wasn't one of theirs, I told him no, it definitely wasn't mine, I had purchased a round lock from P.S. and the one that was on there was a common masterlock. At this time he left to make a call to the property manager. When he returned I was again told I would have to wait until the next day to have the lock removed, which was complete crap to me as I felt that the lock had been placed there so whom ever had broken in could return to help themselves later. We walked back to the office, I asked Yamen how often the employees checked on the storage units, he told me once a day. Which makes me wonder seen as how I had been there 15 minutes after the office had closed, how all of the units without locks were not seen earlier in the day. Also while I was in the office I noticed that the video cameras that were outside had been covered up because of the painting. At this time officer Hodges and his partner officer Parrott arrived. While questioning Yamen about the front gate, he falsely stated to the officers that when he left the previous day at 6 p.m. the gates were working at that time, and also that there were no issues with the door that led into the units. While the officers were gathering information from Yamen I decided that I would go to Lowe's to purchase bolt cutters as the police officers would need to get into my unit to indeed see if anything of mine had been stolen to finish my report, not to mention there was no way I was going to leave my unit for one more night with a lock someone else had put on there. When I returned the officers were collecting all of the cut locks so when they finished they helped me cut the lock on my unit, once opened surprise surprise my car audio equipment that was worth approximately $1300 was gone. I did have some jewelry and a t.v. that were also in the unit, but those were not taken at that time. I finished moving all of my things out at 1:30 A.M. A few weeks later I returned to get a copy of my lease agreement. When I first rented my unit I went through P.S. for insurance and was covered up to $2000. I was given the number to Willis insurance and filed a new claim on a Thursday in July and was told that I would be called on either Friday or Monday. Three weeks and 3 messages later left with Willis that I would like someone to contact me and no return phone call, I finally get a hold of a representative who informs me that I refused to switch to Willis when they took over as insurance provider for P.S. leaving me uninsured, and that they had mailed me a letter stating this, which of course, I never received. She verified at that time that they had my correct address on file, which they did. My address on the lease is not current, my bad, I should have updated it. When I asked how I could have refused if I knew nothing about it she told me that letters were sent out and I had refused is all she would tell me; this lady unfortunately was very unpleasant to deal with also. The alternate contact on the lease however is my parent's current info, were never contacted. I do not understand how it is possible that I am required to have insurance, but was allowed to go so long without, unbeknownst to me. I am also aware that the price for insurance did not go up, but stayed the same at $8 when Willis took over and I would think that the new insurance would just be transferred over. In no way did I knowingly want to be uninsured, at any time. So, I am obviously very frustrated with my experience. I just cannot believe every ones snotty attitudes throughout this whole ordeal, both from P.S. and Willis. I know there are 40 or so others that this also happened to, and I sincerely hope there experience hasn't been as ridiculous as mine.