Customers unable to access storage units for days at Public Storage in Chapel Hill, got no answers
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- Customers at a Chapel Hill storage facility were upset after they say they coulnd't get access to the units they rented at a storage facility for days. Even more frustrating for the customers, they say they could not get answers from anyone at the storage facility.
Robbie Broadway is moving out of her home and rented a unit at the Public Storage on Marvin Edwards Lane in Chapel Hill. Last week, she had her truck filled with a lot of her belongings and boxes, and when she pulled up to the gate at the storage facility, she said it didn't work. She says she tried to get answers from someone in the office at the facility, but there were no lights on, and the doors were locked, which she said was unusual. She said this went on for two days last week when she tried to get access to the facility. Broadway tells ABC11 Troubleshooter Diane Wilson, "I need to be out of my house by this weekend, and I don't have any place to store my items. I mean, I have half my items in storage already, but I need to put the other half in there."
Broadway says she called the customer service line for Public Storage and was told someone would get back to her. "There's no communication. I left maybe 9 voicemails. I've sent an email, and still no one from Public has responded back to me," Broadway said. She isn't alone, as ABC11 Troubleshooter heard from other frustrated customers who couldn't get into their storage units.
One customer emailed, "There was zero communication initiated by Public Storage. The one time I called and spoke to a customer service rep, she assured me that the place was open because she was calling up the hours of operation online. I kept asking her if she had information beyond what I could get online myself. After that, I left four messages for "the property manager" as prompted by the automated answering system. No one ever returned the call."
Wilson met Broadway at the storage facility last Thursday, and there were some lights on in the building, which Broadway says wasn't like that all week. The gate into the storage facility was still not working. There were electrical crews on site. While the gate was not working, the door to the office was unlocked, and a side door on the fence was open. Broadway said that wasn't helpful.
"I have a truckload of stuff. Huge boxes to go into storage, it's just impossible. I can't carry it through there. I need to be able to access. I rented purposely the outside unit, so that you pull your truck up to the unit to make unloading and loading a lot easier on me."
An employee at the Chapel Hill Public Storage said to Wilson on Sunday or Monday of last week that the electrical unit at the storage facility was fried, and customer service was supposed to call customers to let them know. He said crews were working on getting the gate access working again. That employee gave Wilson a number to call for more details, and she called that number but got customer service. A representative said they would give Wilson's information to the district manager, who would respond within 24 to 48 hours, but so far, we have not heard anything. When Wilson asked why a sign wasn't posted at the storage facility letting customers know of the power outage, the worker said it's against company policy to hang signs on the door to inform customers of the problem.
Meanwhile, a few hours later, Broadway got the call, and she can now get access to her storage unit through the drive-through gate. She was able to drive her truck right to her storage unit and get everything from her house moved to her storage unit.
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