Storage Wars: SC Edition

[Parrothead]

When you rent a unit at my company, you are taken out to see it, and sign a bit in the lease that you saw it and it would be sufficient for your needs. There is also a part of the lease that says that we do not give refunds if the unit does not work out. /bg

So, I was out sick the past two days, come in and start calling the people who haven't paid (late fee hits tomorrow) and this guy comes in.

Guy: Hey, I rented a unit yesterday, and now I want to cancel it.
Me: ok, I can vacate you out of the system, but we can't give you a refund.
Guy: then what's the point? *walks out*

I shrug, and document this in his notes (company policy, pretty much any time you deal with a customer, you put it in the notes.) and go back to my calls. About five minutes later, a different car pulls into the lot, and an older couple comes out with the same guy. Apparently, after being told "no", he went running to mommy and daddy. ( this customer is like mid to late thirties, people)

Cust mom: my son rented a unit yesterday, and it's too small.

Me: I'm sorry to hear that, I can transfer him to a larger unit, but as he signed the part of the lease that said it was sufficient, I can not give you a discount or a refund.

Cust dad: that's bullshit. We have two units here and never got a discount. We're three people. I'm a person, she's a person, he's a person.

Me: I'm sorry, but the discounts are only for new customers. You wouldn't have gotten one for your second unit anyway.

Cust dad: well who can I call?

Me: you could call our corporate number, but I can not issue a discount or refund.

Then they left shooting me the nastiest looks.

Seriously, they had a copy of the lease with them, I should have pointed out that part. Oh, well. I'm still sick, so I'm being a little slow.

[MoonCat]

Am I missing something? I don't see what Dad's statement below has to do with the son's problem:

Cust dad: that's bullshit. We have two units here and never got a discount. We're three people. I'm a person, she's a person, he's a person.

Son signed lease agreeing to the terms, too bad, so sad.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

I'm assuming he was trying to claim that for each unit they should've gotten some type of discount offer that was only available to new renters because there are three of them.

One discount for daddy, one for mommy, and one for the baby. Baby won't get the discounted offer on his larger unit because he already signed in on the smaller unit, and is therefore no longer a new customer.

[Ben_Who]

I'm relieved that I'm not the only person disturbed by this odd trend of increasingly older people running to their parents when they need help. ...I mean, yeah, I'm forty and can still count on my folks to see me out of a tight spot if I ever find myself in a deep enough hole, but that usually boils down to "apartment burned down and I need a place to stay until I can rent a new one," not "I'm having a dispute with customer service."

[Sapphire Silk]

I'm relieved that I'm not the only person disturbed by this odd trend of increasingly older people running to their parents when they need help. ...I mean, yeah, I'm forty and can still count on my folks to see me out of a tight spot if I ever find myself in a deep enough hole, but that usually boils down to "apartment burned down and I need a place to stay until I can rent a new one," not "I'm having a dispute with customer service."

Gawd I just can't imagine doing this. I've asked my parents for financial help--sometimes they said yes, sometimes no. But I never asked them to resolve dispute for me after my freshman year of high school.

I've heard in some cultures you're not considered a man while your father is still alive. Makes me wonder if behavior like this isn't the reason why?

[Argabarga]

I DON'T CARE WHAT I SIGNED! YOU WILL DO WHAT I WANT OR YOU'RE MEANINES! AND I'LL GET MY MOM AND DAD ON YOU!

See, if you won't teach your kid that this doesn't work when he's 5, he'll think it will always work, even when he's 35. Heck, I don't even HAVE or WANT kids and I know this is how it works!

[HotelMinion]

They never agree to what they signed. Sometimes they don't even read it. I remember I used to work at this wholesaler, and these people had to pay over $5000 to buy with us, and sign a contract that said additional sales fees would incur. Well some loudmouth screamed when I was checking him out "WHAT IS DIS 5% FOR?! DON'T I PAY YOU ENOUGH??" So the sales manager got out his contract and said that he explained everything with him when he signed, and the guy's like, "NUH UH!!!" and they argued. I got fired because I "failed to explain that the 5% sales fee properly" even though the stupid sales manager was the one who was supposed to do it! Course, he was my boss's hubby, so she couldn't fire her own hubby, right? course not. Wish I got out of there sooner! Even now they don't read the reg card saying their card WILL be charged and scream when it is.

[corwin02]

Quite frankly I do not understand the whole concept of long time renting of a storage unit. Why would you rent two of those to store stuff you apparently do not need and or miss.
I can understand you need something short term (like storing something for a while when you are moving or living somewhere else) I just don't see the value in paying 100 bucks or so a month to use it as a shed.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Quite frankly I do not understand the whole concept of long time renting of a storage unit. Why would you rent two of those to store stuff you apparently do not need and or miss.
I can understand you need something short term (like storing something for a while when you are moving or living somewhere else) I just don't see the value in paying 100 bucks or so a month to use it as a shed.

Depends on what you are storing. An office I used to work at had one rented to store old client files, something that they needed to be able to access but didn't have enough room in the office for them.

My friend has one to store his cars in depending on what season it is.

Others have one rented long term because they have stuff that can't fit in their house/apartment, but they want to keep it for when they eventually (hopefully) move to a bigger place.

I have another guy I know who uses it to store all his sporting equipment (hunting, except for the guns) and kills because the mounted pieces scared the chilluns, so he's keeping all the stuff there until they're a bit older and won't be so frightened up them.

[Sapphire Silk]

Quite frankly I do not understand the whole concept of long time renting of a storage unit. Why would you rent two of those to store stuff you apparently do not need and or miss.
I can understand you need something short term (like storing something for a while when you are moving or living somewhere else) I just don't see the value in paying 100 bucks or so a month to use it as a shed.

Oh, there are definite benefits. When I moved to North Dakota to go to school, I planned to live on campus to save money. So I put most of my things from my 1 bedroom apartment into a storage unit near my parents house for two years. After I finished school, my new job in California paid moving expenses, so I was able to hire a moving truck to move my stuff out of storage to my new apartment in California (said stuff arrived on 9/11 of all days).

Later, when I moved to North Carolina, I was in another small space and didn't have enough room to hang on to some things I really wanted to keep, so I rented another storage space. I went out there a couple of times a month to get this or that until I bought my house. Then I had the room for everything and got rid of the storage space.

But you are right; I have seen some lockers that are literally junk and it's no wonder the tenants don't bother to pay up to keep their things.

[telecom_goddess]

I'm relieved that I'm not the only person disturbed by this odd trend of increasingly older people running to their parents when they need help. ...I mean, yeah, I'm forty and can still count on my folks to see me out of a tight spot if I ever find myself in a deep enough hole, but that usually boils down to "apartment burned down and I need a place to stay until I can rent a new one," not "I'm having a dispute with customer service."

yeah it's getting ridiculous. However my parents are dead and I do not have that luxury. I've been on my own with no help whatsoever since the age of 20. This was 1986.

And while it seems weird that my parents would be dead when I'm only 47 they were born in 1917 and 1920 I'm the age now that my mom was when she had me.

[RootedPhoenix]

I know I stored some of my stuff when I lived in an extended-stay hotel for 5 weeks.

It can be wise, and it can be unwise.

[RetailWorkhorse]

My family kept a storage unit for a long time. 18 months. Then again for 3 years. When we moved cross country we decluttered down until everything fit in the Bluebird Bus, and then moved part of it into the two sheds EQ has. She's counting down the days until I get everything out of the Dry Shed and into my own bus. Heck, maybe she'll help me move. I even stored my art-box computer in the Dry Shed for 2 years before I managed to get it out. Other than dust and needing Ram, the Main works just fine.

[Aislin]

My ex has been paying 6 years for a storage unit he has not seem since he moved his stuff into it. He was suposed to leave it short term until he could come back and get 4-5 weeks later. He moved in with idiots and ended up having sever issues with coming back ad getting his stuff. Then he went back to school, got marrie and hasn't come back to get his stuff. For what he has paid in rent he could replace everything in the unit about 3 times.

[taxguykarl]

When I finally kicked my ex-gf out, I had to put her stuff in a storage locker.

As for the OP, I didn't even consider asking my parents to go to bat for me after I moved out. What is with 1)the SC for requesting this at his age? 2)the 'rents for going along with this scheme?