Barr Warehousing

Review: Our family chose Barr Secure Storage because there buildings are all new it is secure and the nicest self storage around the Oshkosh area. We had a lot of our belongings in the storage unit for the most part furniture. We elevated all belongings off the floor to protect them from any moisture from the concrete floor. In late July we had contacted Barr to inform them that there was a water issue with the building. We have pictures of puddles of water in the unit and all belongings were wet moldy and ruined. They got back to me and stated that they looked at the roof and found nothing wrong, that possibly one of the neighbors could have drained there boat and that is where the water could be coming from. They were willing to come look in the unit, I traveled for work and could not get to checking out how bad the belongings really were until late September. All belongings in the unit even the furniture that was elevated 5-6 feet off the ground had water damage and mold on them. The worst being towards the back of the unit where the ridge vent is. Everything is ruined. I found water stains directly under the ridge vent mold growing on the walls near the ridge vent. I contacted Barr with these issues along with photos they informed us that we are the only tenants that had any water issues in the whole place. They tried to blame it on condensation, there is no way that much water came from condensation. Barr accused us of putting something in the unit that was wet because I originally stated that I was going to store a boat in the unit. They were more than willing to let us out of the lease and refund prepaid rent or let us move all of our belongings that are ruined into a different unit. We refused to move are belongings because they need to be disposed of. We have not ended the lease because we have thousands of dollars in belongings that are ruined due to there roof leaking through the ridge vent. Barr keeps saying look at your contract but there roof is the root of the problem.Desired Settlement: Replacement or reimbursement and disposal of water damaged belongings.

Business

Response:

At our Warehousing & Secure Self-Storage facility we offer over 100 Climate Controlled storage units and over 600Outdoor storage units.The Climate Controlled storage units are located inside a building, out of the elements. This building is heated andcooled depending on the outside temperature. The temperature of the climate controlled storage spaces arebelow 85 degrees and above 40 degrees with internal relative humidity at 60% or less. Of course these importantfeatures add to the cost of the storage unit. Climate Controlled storage is almost twice the price of Outdoorstorage. Outdoor storage units are built out of quality steel with cement floors, no insulation and have wooddividers for walls.The customer met with our storage facility manager mid May, 2013 to discuss his options for storing a boat andsome household items. He selected an Outdoor storage unit. The lease was explained in detail to the customer byour facility manager at which time a conversation regarding the coverage of insurance commenced. Paragraphnine reads: 9. INSURANCE, Tenant, at Tenant's expense, shall maintain a policy of fire, extended coverageendorsement, water, burglary, vandalism and malicious mischief insurance for the actual value of stored property.Insurance on Tenant's property is a material condition of this agreement and is for the benefit of both Tenant andLandlord. Failure to carry the required insurances a breach of this agreement and Tenant assumes all risk of lossto stored property that would be covered by such insurance. Tenant expressly agrees that the insurance companyproviding such insurance shall not be subrogated to any claim of Tenant against Landlord, Landlord's agents oremployees for loss or damage to stored property. Paragraph ten reads: 10. RELEASE OF LANDLORD'SLIABILITY FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE: All personal property stored within or upon the enclosed storage space byTenant shall be at Tenant's sale risk. Landlord and Landlord's agents and employees shall not be liable for any lossof or damage to any personal property while at the self storage facility arising from any cause whatsoeverincluding, but not limited to, burglary, mysterious disappearance, fire, water damage, rodent, Acts of God, theactive or passive acts or omission of negligence of the Landlord, Landlord's agents or employees.The customer did mention that he worked in the construction industry, and that he understood howcondensation can occur in the summer months when the days are hot and the nights are cool. He initialed &signed that he understood the entire terms of the rental agreement, including paragraphs 9. & 10.The tenant first contacted our facility manager after hours on July 2nd, 2014 at 6:50pm, via email stating "he wasout at the unit and there was water on the floor; he attached a few photos of water droplets on the concretefloor. He stated that "we have had a significant amount of rain this year and he realizes that concrete sweats buthe had most of his Items up on wood and thought the water was coming from somewhere else. "Our manager replied to the tenant at 9:09 am on July 3rd, stating she had our maintenance man walk the roofthat morning and to contact her if he would like to meet with a maintenance man so he could look from inside thetenant's unit. The tenant never responded to that offer on July 3rd, 2014. The maintenance man never found anysource of leaking from the roof of the building on July 3rd, so the facility manager assumed the water haddissipated and there were no further issues with the unit. It was not until after hours on September 24th at5:10pm, via email when the tenant made his next contact with the facility manager stating "he had gone throughthe unit and 95% of his items are wet and moldy, even furniture that was elevated 4 feet off the ground". Heasked if we have had the same issues with other units, to which our facility manager replied "no, not to the extenthe described".During the summer months of 2014 we had been notified by less than 1% of tenants that they were experiencingcondensation issues inside their units. For our own piece of mind, in September we contacted the builder of thethree newest buildings and asked him to come out and inspect the roof & ridge cap on the buildings, no damagewas found on the exterior of the building. He stated that Spring/Summer condensation appears to be the issue.The facility manager received a call from the tenant's insurance representative on Sept. 30th. He mentioned hehad taken photos of the roof, walls and door and found no physical evidence of negligence on our part and haddenied his customers claim.We offered:1) To move the tenant to a different unit.2) To refund prepaid rent and terminate the lease.Both were declined and the tenant is still currently renting from us.Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions.

Consumer

Response: