Man Alledges Storage Battles is Breaking the Law

Just came across ANOTHER (#8) RipoffReport.com complaint against Storage Battles. Here is what the complainant said:

First, in order to bid on these local "public lien auctions" .."you must belong to the private membership of storage battles,and own a credit card for these "public cash lien auctions".Online public auctions discriminates against a class of cash buyers (He must not know that OnlineStorageAuctions.com doesn't charge fees or require a credit card ) and in my opinion are breaking some local state laws and federal laws.These auctions are title public lien sales,open to all to buy a lien storage unit of contents.

In an entirely different complaint, a STORAGE FACILITY MANAGER said:

Storage battles also restrict cash buyers from attending the lien sale,they want you to join their site or you can't bid,and this is opening up a new can of legal worms for the defaulted tenants of these units,excluding a class of "CASH" BUYERS that would pay more or less for a unit,but are excluded from the auctions unless fee's are paid to storage battles.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Storage-Battles/internet/Storage-BattlesStorage-Treasures-Public-Storage-Auctions-PRIVATE-MEMBERSHIP-only-to-Bid-1205695

So what do you think? Do these complaints have merit? Do Storage Battles' practices discriminate against a certain class or violate lien laws in some states?

The fee is a non-argument since if the auction was held on site and in cash, he could possibly be paying an auctioneer premium/fee. As to the cash issue, that's only valid if the state law specifies that cash must be accepted at the auction. The storage facility can easily cite safety concerns with using cash and choose to exclude it. The mere advertising of an auction tells any would be criminal, "Hey, here's a bunch of people with thousands of dollars each on them, come and get some."

Personally, I don't think this argument has much merit and I don't think it's illegal. I've never seen a law that said that an auction had to accommodate everyone to be considered public.

The fees are irrelevant. Buyer's fees are common in our industry, even at in-person auctions.

Here is a local public notice utilizing storagebattles:


LEGAL NOTICE # 21059948 NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE:
Legal Notice # 21059948 NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE: Self-storage Cube contents will be sold for cash by CubeSmart to satisfy a lien for rental on March, 12 2015 at approx. 9AM at

My issue is that it doesnt state names, how many units, unit numbers ..etc.

In regards to payment it says it will sell for cash, which it does when the winner pays for the room.  I don't believe the use of a third party service that requires a credit card violates state law.

I've noticed the same thing. I read thousands of legal notices every week (yes, I know, I have no life) and there is a real problem with CubeSmart notices. Just in the last 4 months, over 100 tenants in the DFW area may have been wrongfully foreclosed upon because the legal notices didn't list the facility's address, which is a requirement under Chapter 59 of the Texas Property Code.

Liens...  Cash.. Credit cards...  Fees...    Get over it, you play the game or you don't...  You can always get a prepaid card.. Fees are just a way of life...

When someone wants to deal in cash only it tends to make me think they're trying to avoid the tax man or the paying of child support.

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ken