Forest Central Self Storage

When I originally rented this storage unit, it was fully air conditioned and heated. But a year or so later the AC/Heat stopped working and I was informed, only after I discovered the problem myself and inquired, that it wasn?t going to be fixed. It didn?t work for several years but I believe it may now be working again.  

In August 2011, I received a renewal notice for the 2012 calendar year for $660 due January 1, 2012 (no change in price over the previous year).  

But then in November, I received a second notice stating that the rent for the 2012 calendar year was changed to $1200 (an increase of 82%).  

There was no explanation, no reference to the previous notice, no apology ? just a ?you are hereby notified? statement.  

Naturally I called but was told by the onsite manager that the owner had made a decision about rents across the board and there could be no further discussion.  

Self storage tenants are, to some extent, captive consumers. It?s expensive to move from one storage facility to another, rents must typically overlap a month, and the move can?t occur unsupervised. So with less than 60 days? notice, my only options are to go along with the owner?s decree or incur moving and duplicate storage expenses and take a day off to supervise the move. 

My situation? I'm a cancer patient who can't afford to move, can't afford the rent increase, and really don't need this stress.

My opinion? This sort of insensitivity and callous disregard for a company?s customers is inexcusable.

It?s clear that the owners are untrustworthy, undependable, and completely insensitive to their customers and under no circumstances can I recommend that anyone rent a storage unit with this company.

UPDATE:
I posted my report before I removed my things from the facility and, in the process, mentioned to the onsite manager I that I was dissatisfied and had posted a negative review on Angie?s List.  

Then began an almost surreal series of retaliatory events, verbal abuse, and harassment that ended only after I had completely moved out.  

The doors to the storage areas are self-closing and there is no way to hold them open. So rolling a cart full of furniture through a door requires two persons, one to hold the door and one to manage the cart. But since I was alone, I was forced to devise a way to get the cart through the door and hold the door open at the same time. The first time I tried it I rolled the cart over my foot.  

Later, I noticed that someone else had used a concrete based rat trap (yes, the facility has rat bait traps everywhere) to prop a door open. That seemed like a good idea, so I did the same and managed to get one SUV load of furniture out that day with no problem. But when I went to drive off there was a note written in big letters under my windshield wiper: ?If I catch you using my bait station as a door stop again, I will charge you $50!! Janice Murphy, Manager.? Since I had already taken care to return the bait station to its original location and had duly noted her comment, I left to return on another day for another load.  

That next day was Sunday, but I couldn?t get into the facility ? my password no longer worked. I asked the front desk person what was going on and was told that my entry had been blocked by the facility manager and that I had to return on a weekday to talk with her and have it unblocked.  

I returned on a weekday, talked with the manager who told me that she had blocked my access due to my use of a bait station as a door stop and went on to explain that it is dangerous for tenants to pick up bait stations since they could be bitten by rats. I explained that I had read her note and was more than willing to comply, she unblocked my access and I moved out another SUV load of my items.  

A couple of nights later I received a telephone call at home from another tenant who told me that his taillight lens had been broken, he thought, by someone else driving within the facility and that the facility manager had looked over security videos, determined that I had done it, and gave him my home telephone number. I told him that was impossible, that I would have known if I had hit another car, that I?m the type of person who contacts people when I see others damage their car and drive off, and that the facility manager seemed to be waging a personal vendetta against me for posting a negative review of her facility. He accepted my explanation and agreed to drop the matter.  

The next day was on the weekend, I visited managers office and requested that I be shown the video of my car hitting another car. The weekend manager explained that I would have to return on a weekday to see the video.  

The next weekday I returned, drove up to the entrance to my storage unit, realized I had forgotten the key to my storage unit, never even exited my car, and then drove to the manager?s office. At the office I told the manager that I wanted to see that video.  

It was at that point that the manager and her mother (yes, her mother works there too) began verbally harassing me.  

The manager showed me a real-time surveillance video of the door next to the entrance to my storage unit and berated me for moving a rat bait station next to the door against her instructions. I explained that I hadn?t even gotten out of my car and suggested she rewind the video to see for herself (she didn?t).  

Then I requested that she show me the video of my car hitting another car and was told she would have to search and cue it up ? that I would have to schedule an appointment to see it.  

When I had taken about all I could take on that subject I asked her to explain to me exactly what she did see on her surveillance tape. I repeatedly asked if the video actually showed my car contacting the other car and she finally acknowledged that it did not but that I had passed by the other car so she was sure it was me.  

Then she redirected her harassment to the subject of my storage rental rate. The problem it seemed was that I had enjoyed a reduced rate for my storage unit (due to the AC being out for years) for far too long and that it was only right that my rate be jacked up so high. I kid you not ? the manager and her mother were mad at me because my rate was so low.  

I explained that a year or two prior she had told me that the owners had no intention of ever fixing the AC so I had no reason to assume that it was even working again. Further, I had no idea my rate was even less than it should be and it was hardly my responsibility to audit my rate against those at other facilities and voluntarily raise it. I also explained that it wasn?t the rate that concerned me anyway it was that the notice of a rate increase superseded a renewal notice at the previous rate that had been provided over four months in advance with another giving me less than six weeks to respond.  

Regardless, the only way I escaped further abuse on that subject was to apologize, which, believe it or not, I did just to get out of there. I apologized for having a rate that was too low, turned around and, on the way out, said ?Goodbye.? She yelled, I suppose trying to bait me, ?What did you say!? I turned around and repeated, ?I only said, goodbye.?  

When I posted my original review I thought there was a problem with the ownership of this facility and had no reason to believe that the management was complicit.  

My advice, stay away ? the place and the people who work there are toxic. Once Forest Central Storage has got yo