Ellen's Custom Nails

When this tenant came into our office I had just read his letter.  When he identified himself I simply said that I was aware of his complaint  He asked what our company policy was to deal with this type of thing.  I said we did not have a policy to deal with this type of thing as the...

contract he signed says that we simply rent space to  tenants to store property and that the responsibility of any damage to contents stored inside those units is the sole responsibility of the tenant. He asked if I would make him a copy of the contract he signed saying he could not locate his copies right now. I made him copies and was trying to point out to him the place on the contract where responsibility was addressed and he told me he could read and took the copies from me. He asked for the phone number of the owner or someone  to whom he could file a complaint.  I then said our policy does  allow if we have a disgruntled tenant  at which point he interrupted me and said he was not disgruntled. I then tried to explain what I meant by disgruntled but he cut me off again saying he was an educated man and did not need me to explain to him what disgruntled means. He was obviously not getting the response he wanted from me and would no longer let me say ANYTHING, saying he didn’t like my attitude and only wanted to talk to my husband. I did  comply with his wishes and allowed my husband  to handle it . My husband told him we are not allowed to give out owner phone numbers  but we  could take his name and number and have someone get in touch with him. He was irritated  but  finally agreed to give us a number and the best time to reach him. We contacted our manager by email immediately after the tenant  left and the tenant was actually contacted the very next day by our manager. He has since that time met with the owner of our management company to try to resolve his complaint. In sympathy for his situation our owner agreed to allow the tenant 2 weeks at no additional charge to be able to go through his belongings. We also agreed to dispose of anything he did not wish to keep at no cost to him. To address the “mouse” issue:  We are a storage unit facility backed up by open space. We have a monthly pest control service who addresses all pest prevention on a regular basis. If and when we notice or are made aware of increased activity we address it quickly so as to eradicate the problem within a short period of time. We do all that we can to address the issue outside the units. We strongly encourage tenants to make sure they do not have anything in their units that might attract critters. However, we cannot get inside individual units nor can we prevent other tenants from knowingly or unknowingly bringing in “critters” or  prevent field mice from looking for warm and dry places to go. We have never had a “RAT” problem (nor have we ever said so) for the 4 years  we have been managing this facility. We do occasionally deal with field mice. It is obvious by the tenants own pictures that we had already been addressing  an increased activity noted to us by another tenant in an adjacent unit just a short time before .  We usually set  out sticky pads and dispose of  them every day or so until we get no more activity.  We pride ourselves in a clean facility and do the best we can to stay on top of all pest issues. But we cannot address issues inside individual units nor is it our responsibility. Each tenant is made aware of that fact at the time of signing contracts and even signs a separate addendum noting their responsibility to insure their own belongings against damage. Claims against damage should be presented to the tenant’s insurance carrier We  actually did notify all tenants in the adjacent  units to make them aware of the fact they may need to address the issue inside their units. Only a couple of other  tenants  had noticed activity; two of the tenants I contacted actually said they had been in their units and did not notice any problems. We have seen no more activity on sticky pads in the area so we can only surmise that the activity was contained to a small area  and the problem has been addressed.

It is obvious that each person involved sees the incident very differently. I do not believe that debating the details here will EVER produce the truth. Therefore I will limit my comments to facts. It is a standard policy in the storage industry and you will note from the documents attached that we merely rent space to tenants to store their belongings. We do not in anyway assume responsibility for the "safekeeping" of those contents. You will note from the initial statement on the front of the contract that "no deposit of goods for safekeeping is intended or created" . Also note under #11, #13, #15 and #24 on page 2 of the contract that it is again repeated that the tenant is solely responsible for the contents inside their unit and it's care. Item #13 says specifically that we are not responsible  "for damage to any personal property arising from any cause whatsoever". And finally the insurance addendum, which is a separate paper again meant to draw attention to this very fact says, we are not responsible and that the tenant is responsible to provide their own insurance against damages or be self-insured(personally assume risk of loss or damage).This tenant signed each and every item mentioned above. In sympathy for his situation we also offered to give him extra time at no additional cost to him to sort through the contents of his unit. He did take advantage of that offer and received two extra weeks of storage at no additional rent cost to him. We also offered to dispose of any contents he did not wish to take with him at no additional cost to him. He did NOT however take advantage of that offer but took ALL of the contents of his unit when he vacated.

I am rejecting this response because:  There is so much deceit in [redacted]’s response so as to appear innocent. I never once displayed any agitation during the time of me addressing my concerns, regarding my furniture. In fact at one point [redacted] slammed her fist against the counter top saying “ I am tired of people complaining about rats as if it our responsibility! and at that precise moment I stated your acting irate as if your the affected customer! furthermore  [redacted]’s husband admits- by his own admission, that I was very calm throughout this encounter ( and I have that statement recorded and I am willing to submit this to the Revdex.com). In response to [redacted]'s claim to have notified “ All Customers” in adjacent units, I would like for her to provide Revdex.com those details as to the date and time. I am unclear if this message was sent out prior to my complaint or after? The fact of the matter is I should have been notified weeks prior, as [redacted] clearly stated that another customer ( near about my unit) also complained and was pretty upset- prior to me complaining. If [redacted], contends that she sent out a notice in that time frame I would like to see evident of such.The main reason I was so adamant in wanting to speak with another point of contact is because it was very evident from [redacted] and [redacted] that they did not take my letter serious. In fact I even asked why hadn’t they contacted me with via phone or email if they knew they wouldn’t take up any measures to resolve the complaint? [redacted]’s response was that they needed to see if I was serious! because they received numerous complaint and threats and no one ever follows up… I told him, its pretty obvious that I’m serious considering I was here christmas eve, christmas day ( to move out) as well as the 26, and now this day….finally; In shifting back to the truth as far as the “disgruntled” comment… When I came into the office and having spoke to [redacted] and [redacted] for several minutes, I asked numerous times to speak with another point of contact, each time I was denied. [redacted] yelled out, she would send a message of a disgruntled customer, I literally smiled saying “ disgruntled seems a little harsh”. [redacted] then asked me “ WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF DISGRUNTLED?” … I told her was not angry ( apart of its definition) and I’m certainly not here for an academic lesson.