LESSON LEARNED EXTRA SPACE STORAGE

I learned last week that my storage unit had been auctioned off and while I would like to blame everyone I'm aware the fault lies with me.  I'm very hard working...I commute daily 2 hours each way from home to work.  I raise my son alone and I have been really trying hard to rebuild after a very bad period in my life.  That said, it's so hard to go to certain sites and see the cruel things that are said about people who abandon or lose their storage units.  Until you really know a person's story then you should not judge the situation.  I lost my job in 09, found myself homeless, then got a great opportunity to relocate with a full time job and home. Blood, Sweat and tears...I never like to make excuses but I did not have the $2K to have my things moved from NY to GA.  It's very hard for me to ask people for anything and the irony to all this is a very very good friend of mine who visits me every other Sunday said how long are you going to continue to rent this furniture...get your things out!!  I explained the situation and told her I was behind but I'm going pay as I always do the 2-3 months at once due to everything I must juggle.  She looked at me and said call them tomorrow pay with this credit card and order you a truck...DONE!  I didn't feel right taking the offer and this is my fault.  Looking at her newly divorced with 3 young children...I didn't want to be a burden.  I could on that Tuesday and was told my unit had been sold.  I was at work and it was the end of the day...I just sat there devastated and cried and cried.  Immediately I'm not thinking about the little furniture I had but my family items, my son's lil monkey he adores and just how I lost my family's memories for $800...I owed $600.  People will say why would you store those things there?  I had no place to take them I felt was safe.  People will say why didn't you just pay your bill?  Your right but the fear of not having a home or a car to get to work again scares me so I do the best I can do.  The reason for all this is not to pull on heart strings...I'm really trying to be hopeful the person will return my personal things I neatly stored away and will see the care and attention I placed on how i kept my things.  That is all I want....I think of so many times I've done a small act of kindness and how that person thought I was their guardian angel.  That feeling is amazing.  I have a new outlook on life and know that the material things can be replaced in time....my families pictures, death certificates, yearbooks and my son's foot prints can not.  I'm clear the facility did reach out to me and sent me letters.  Due to some miscommunication about the contents of the certified letter...I was waiting on them to send me new keys to a lock they replaced.  I would return calls but that last call I missed and when I listened to the message it was just like every other message.  Hey it's B from Extra Space Storage give us a call...not Hey your things are being sold tomorrow.  I trusted the relationship I thought I had with ESS meaning I would call and check in and if things were getting close to auction they would let me know.  My luck ran out and I lost everything......Right now I'm just still trying to be optimistic and saying to myself it's the Holiday season...maybe that means something to this person maybe not.  The facility said that they know him and he normally returns personal items he finds...that restored hope.  Mentally, with everything I've been threw I'm depressed but at the same time so grateful for so many other things that have happened.  This is life. You live and hopefully you learn.  Thank you for reading.  If for whatever reason the person or someone knows the person who attended the auction Dec 5th 2014 at Extra Space Storage in Coram, NY Rte 112 hosted by Ken French Unit 533 please contact me at [email protected]

The facility said that they know him and he normally returns personal items he finds...that restored hope.

Perhaps you can ask them to give him a call and inquire about your personal items. That might both speed up and assure their return. Also, if I understand you correctly, you owed $600 and the unit sold for $800. If that's true, according to most state lien laws, the facility is supposed to refund you any amount over what you owed, which in this case sounds like $200.

I agree, call the facility and ask the manager to contact the buyer and let them know you are interested in getting your sentimental items back. Be specific with what you need. Let them know you'll pay for shipping.

unless  its a very slow moving operation i'd say all sentimental items are long gone by now.

If you wrote sooner I could have helped out.  Thats my run.

I bought 3 rooms in coram that day but not yours but probably know the guy that did.  Sorry to hear about everything.

NY Lien law says you will get the overage but they deduct listing fees, certified letters, rent owed, late fees ..etc. so you most likely won't get much back if anything.

Just saw ken french today.  He knows about the issue and the contact however the guy that bought the room has already discarded everything. 

Just saw ken french today.  He knows about the issue and the contact however the guy that bought the room has already discarded everything.

Well, thanks for looking into that for her. Probably isn't the answer she was hoping for, but at least she now knows.

however the guy that bought the room has already discarded everything.

Doesn't NY law require that he turn it over and not discard it?

Its a shame if it was faster I could have gotten most back.  There are only 4 or 5 of us that buy there.

I also called the guy who bought it and he confirmed that it was gone.  I was hoping I could hook them up so there was a somewhat happy ending here.

Doesn't NY law require that he turn it over and not discard it?

Its up the individual facilities.  Extra Space and Public Storage in this area no longer keep any personal items.

This exact same thing happened to me in Coram 3 months ago.  The room was filled with wedding albums, urns, social security cards, baby pics ..etc.  I brought them up to the front and they didn't want it and told me to dispose of it.  I held it for a week as I usually do and then tossed it.  The previous owner contacted the facility who then contacted me 1.5 months later.

I was bummed on that one because I really wanted to get them there stuff back.

My heart just sank, If this is all true auction guy....Well I guess I have been lied too.... Its sad because I was really believing in the good nature in people and hopeful that all I was told about this man was true.  ESS told me they knew this guy personally and normally "he does the right thing"..I was holding on to that.  I posted up on this site days later but I contacted them all only a couple of days after the incident.  I know the contents of my unit well and I don't know how one could go threw all those things that quick and dispose of it.Hell I couldn't even do it all that fast when I was packing  Nevertheless, if he did dispose of my tax documents, report cards, personal pictures, toys, my son's baby teeth, VHS Tapes labeled family and christmas, yearbooks and such that is just really sad..... Things were packed with care and you could tell....  No one contacted me back from ESS..Ken French did to tell me he would get the word out...ironically this is the most information I've gotten back concerning my unit.  Tuesday a close family friend called ESS who offered to pay half of what he paid for just my personal things i was told that he probably wouldn't even take the money...that was just his character.  I'm so confused and just wish that I had the opportunity to work something out where we ALL could have walked away happy.  Happy Holidays everyone! 

Well, thanks for looking into that for her. Probably isn't the answer she was hoping for, but at least she now knows.

ahhhh definitely not.....

it only takes a couple hours to do a presort on a full 10x20 unit. 1 truck for keep 1 truck for trash.

it only takes a couple hours to do a presort on a full 10x20 unit. 1 truck for keep 1 truck for trash.

I'm sure and it only takes 5 mins to make a call. I was told that this person purchased another unit that day and put everything in it too sort threw. My unit and someone else to be exact. That theory made more sense as at least where my unit was concerned again a few hours he couldn't have been looking to recoup much. Those containers were deep. I packed most of them. Nevertheless contents clearly marked and packaged is not trash, but to him I'm sure it is. It is what it is.