Real Estate Connection, Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/26) */
The following is that portion of the Consumer's lease relating to her lossa copy of the signed Rental Agreement is attached for verification
"Renter acknowledges that all goods are stored at Renter's sole option and expenseRenter
hereby releases Lessor from any and all liabilities, cost, and expense whatsoever resulting from this lease or Renter's use of the space ...."
(This portion all caps and bold print "LESSOR EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS AL LIABILITY AND EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES FOR OR IN CONNECTION WITH ALL LOSS OR DAMAGE FROM FIRE, EXPLOSION, THEFT, VANDALISM, WIND, WATER, MOISTURE, MILDEW, EXTREME TEMPERATURES, INSECTS, RODENTS, BUILDING DEFECT, OTHER TENANTS, ETCRESULTING FROM THIS LEASE OR THE USE OF OCCUPANCY OF THE SPACE BY RENTER, INCLUDING CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGE."
"Renter shall indemnify and hold Lessor harmless from all claims, demands, actions, liabilities and expenses arising directly or indirectly from Renter's storage of goods in the space."
With reference to the above Rental Agreement, Renters are required to initial as to whether they have insurance coverage or notplease note the renter initialed on the lease (and acknowledges doing so) that she had full understanding and would arrange for an insurance policywe had no way of knowing what type of insurance the renter purchased, who it was with, how much insurance (or if it was replacement cost value - depreciated value - stated value), how much her deductible was, and what type of exclusions the policy had
The Consumer had requested a 10'x30'space, but because none were available at the time, the rental agent gave her two (2) 10'x15' spaces (combining the units gave her the same amount of space) and discounted the rental charge for the Consumer's rental period from May 21, 2015, thru July 1, 2015, giving the Consumer days free rent
The Consumer mentions that because the door faced north, a bad storm might have pushed the door back letting rain in***both units that the Consumer rented faced northhowever, her complaint is only with Unit #**in fact there are units in this facility that face north (units in the entire facility) and no calls have come in from any of those renters or the renters directly on either side of the Consumer's unit (having the same type door)indicating a problem with rain water getting inand we're unaware of any unit ever reporting such a problem
I personally inspected the property and this particular unit (the tenant was no longer in the unit) right after a heavy rain and saw no rain or evidence of any previous dampness in the unitthat garage door is so heavy, I could hardly lift it upthe door itself is installed to fit inside a metal u-shaped track holding it in place and allowing it to move up and downand when I pushed on the edges and middle of the door in an attempt to simulate wind blowing the door in (as the Consumer suggested), I wasn't able to push the door in at all because of the heavy u-shaped metal track it was installed in and holding it in placethere was no room for it to move* See photos attached
A representative from the Consumer's insurance company did call and talk with our Brokerthe Broker advised that he did check out the unit and found no obvious reason for water to get into the unit (the building has a newer metal roof)and he offered to meet the insurance representative at the unit for him to take a look himself - but the insurance representative declined and said it wasn't necessary
Please note that once a unit is rented (these are not temperature or climate controlled units), the renter installs their own lock, and our Company then has no care, custody, control or any access to the unit or its contentswe have no knowledge of what is stored in the unit, or the condition of the contents when they were placed in the unit, if the contents were damp when placed in the unit, if a tenant opened the door when it was raining getting the contents damp, or how the contents were stored in the unit
This storage facility is gated and requires each tenant to enter their private and unique code in order to raise the gate giving them access to their unitthis report shows that the Renter entered the storage facility (numerous times on most days) originally on May 21st, May 25th (days later), May 26th (day later), May 27th (day later), May 28th (day later), May 29th (day later), June 1st (days later), June 2nd (day later), June 3rd (day later), June 4th (day later), June 6th (days later), June 8th (days later), June 13th (days later), June 16th (days later), June **nd (days later), June 24th (days later), June 26th (days later - which is when she first called the office with their complaint), June 27th (day later - final day at storage facility)
We are truly sorry for the Renter's lossunfortunately because of the Rental Agreement terms which the renter agreed to, we're truly sorry that we're unable to offer any financial assistance - doing so would be a form of assuming liability for any and all losses in the future - including fraudulent claims - and require us to continually throughout each and every day document and inventory and monitor each and every item each Renter had in their unit along with establishing a proof of value for each item, monitor how each Renter stored their items, etc., and monitor each time a Renter got into their unit, etc., and act in the capacity of more than an insurance company - which we are not
Again, we are truly sorryand I would suggest that the Consumer speak once again with their insurance representative as insurance policies can be very confusingand ask them to explain why the insurance policy the Consumer had will not cover the loss they experienced - a policy for which the Consumer thought they had coverage for
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2015/07/28) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
They reason our stuff was not cover was because of Don m*** telling the insurance that the door was pushed back by the storm they consider that a maitance issue not storm damage now if the storm pushing back the door bent the rails slightly or a little to let that water in the not would have been coveredWe we never told that door were loose when we signed the agreement we had no other choice at the timeI trust the the company regularly maintain these units and that there were no issuesThe insurance company contacted them several times and they always went around the fact of the matterThe isurance consider it a maitance issue