Apparently Most People on Yelp Agree

You can read the reviews here.

You would be hard pressed to find a storage facility or even a business with a 1.5 Star Rating on Yelp. Recently I have searched many storage facilities in our general area on Yelp, and almost all are in the 4-5 Star Rating area.

As I shared about 10 days ago, our propane tanks were stolen from our self-storage facility in Desert Hot Springs.

As this story unfolds, you will find that iStorage apparently doesn’t care about what is happening at their facility, and in spite of their marketing, their faculty is NOT secure at all.

I think you will be shocked at what I have uncovered about iStorage in Desert Hot Springs, and their Corporate Office that manages over 300 storage facilities (according to their website).

Background

Palm Springs has an ordinance prohibiting storing an RV or boat in a residential neighborhood. We were able to store both of our previous campers, a 1992 Starcraft Meteorite and a 2006 Fleetwood Niagara in our garage.

When we bought our current travel trailer, a 2014 Eclipse Milan, it was too big to fit in the garage. Plus it was so wide that if we parked in the driveway we could not get any of our other vehicles in the garage. I procrastinated on find a storage facility until I was cited by the city.

Security

A High Voltage Electric Fence

When we first toured the iStorage facility I was somewhat concerned that it was only secured by a perimeter chain link fence. The employee guiding us around the facility pointed out that inside the fence was a high voltage electric fence and showed us the fence and a huge Danger Sign advertising some incredibly high voltage. That eliminated any concerns for us.

Our History with iStorage

We have been storing our travel trailer at iStorage since July 2014. We rented a covered outdoor parking spot to shade our camper from the unforgiving desert sun. The covered parking was much better than storing it in our driveway uncovered — so no rant about our Draconian city council.

In the 8+ years we have been an iStorage customer we:

• • Spent $13,399.94 in rent.
  • Our rent increased 103% during this period.
  • Inflation during the same period was 19.68%

I never complained about the price increases because the location is convenient and I figured the price increases would help upgrade security if needed.

RV storage in our desert is difficult to find. There are many self storage facilities, but they generally have little or no vacancies. After our theft and my research on iStorage, I started looking for another RV storage facility. Other than iStorage I could not find a single RV storage facility in the entire Coachella Valley with covered parking that had an available space for rent. They are all full.

From my observations over the years, our iStorage facility seemed to have a low vacancy rate. However this started to change in December of 2020 when iStorage decided to increase their rates by 9.5% in the middle of a pandemic, even though they had raised our rent by 85.5% in just 6 years.

Consider this Post a Public Service Announcement

Our Financial Loss

Actually our loss was nominal. About 14 gallons of propane or $68. 

Our propane tanks were 9 years old and we would have had to replace them in 3 years anyway, or have them re-certified, which costs as much as new tanks if one can even find someone locally to do it.

The main propane hose from our regulator to the trailer plumbing was damaged. However, the damage was really the result of an old hose getting soft and developing a kink in it from laying on the propane tank mount. So the hose needed replacement anyway.

We lost the TorkLift propane lock and a padlock. This wasn’t really a loss, because they didn’t work. 

What I Wanted from iStorage

I did not want or ask for any reimbursement from our loss.

What I wanted from iStorage was to find out what they were going to do about the lack of security. We really wanted to continue to use their facility since the location is so convenient for us.

TimeLine

October 4, 2022

I went to iStorage to check on the camper, which I do periodically when it is stored. This is when I discovered the stolen propane tanks.

I went to the office to report the theft. I was told by the office employees that they have thefts several times a month. The thieves cut through the chain link fence.

I pointed out that there was a high voltage fence. They told me there wasn’t a high voltage fence. Both apparently haven’t worked there very long and had no knowledge of the electric fence that once existed.

I asked what was going to be done about this lack of security. They said, “Corporate is working on it,” and gave me the corporate phone number.

Since I had driven to the site in my car, I couldn’t tow the trailer home for repairs and decided to leave it there while I sourced parts for repair/replacement and a more better method to secure the propane tanks. I did take the propane tank cover with me.

Before I left, I drove around the perimeter of the lot. No holes in the fence but several places that had been repaired with new sections of the chain link fencing.

The high voltage signs were gone. As was most of the high voltage wires. The high voltage posts were still in place.

I made a mental note, that when I called the corporate office, to ask why the electric fence had been disconnected. Perhaps their lawyers or insurance company made them take this action. I don’t know. But it occurred to me that if security had been degraded, they have a fiduciary and even an ethical responsibility to inform their customers that this had happened.

October 7, 2022

I called the corporate office during business hours. It immediately went to voice mail. I am good at dealing with voice mail. I used to do employee telephone training.

I started out by slowly identifying myself and my phone number. 

I stated I had a theft and was concerned about security since employees had told me it was a common problem. I also stated I wanted to know what steps were being taken to mitigate the problem.

I finished the call by repeating my name and phone number.

I never heard back from them.

October 16, 2022

I had received new tanks and other materials from Amazon. So I drove to the site to tow the trailer home. While I was hooking things up, I talked to two customers who were removing their trailers permanently. One told me there was a big hole in the fence.

One my way out I drove by a small section of the lot. I found the gentleman who told me there was a hole in the fence was somewhat mistaken. Approximately 50 feet of fence was completely gone and most of the fence poles had been bent over. This had happened since my last visit 12 days earlier. “Corporate is working on this?” I think not.

 The gaps between the poles are large enough to drive a large vehicle through them.

In this small section of the storage area I took a few pictures of vehicles that had suffered theft and/or vandalism. Then I went home.

 

 

October 17,  2022

I returned to cancel my rental agreement.

Office hours are posted and opening time is 10AM. They opened at 10:20AM. During this twenty minute period, two package delivery companies stopped by and left without leaving the packages. Two customers stopped by and finally just left.

Would you want to do business with this company?