Public Menace?

We stored all of our belongings at the Public Storage facility at 7246 Hollister Avenue, and our unit was broken into. It was ransacked, and we lost $3,000 in personal property, much of which was irreplaceable. Many items were damaged, including a piano that had been in my family for over 60 years.

Public Storage did not return any of our calls until I wrote letters to customer service and the board of directors, and only then did we receive one disappointing email stating, “We sincerely hope this incident will not deter you from utilizing Public Storage products and services in the future.”

The worst part is that our insurance companied denied our claim, saying we could not prove forced entry. We think the lock was picked (which was a durable Master lock), someone broke in, then locked it exactly as it was so that no one would notice. And no one did.

We filed an official report with the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department. The only time Public Storage returned our call was to allow a Sheriff’s deputy to perform an inspection of the unit. The deputy was unable to prove a break in.

We hope to warn others of this situation with this letter. There are no video cameras at this site, and the front gate security is inadequate. We are not aware of any extra measures being taken to improve security at this location and strongly feel it will continue to happen.

Public Storage continues to ignore all of our correspondence.