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Outside Storage Inconsistencies

It would seem as if different self storage facilities have different ideas on what is acceptable with parking. Many people will allow certain types of vehicle to be stored in their parking lot or inside of the storage unit. This is not a big deal to the facility managers because they just tell the customers what can and what cannot be stored there. For the consumer calling around, to be told no on what another facility told them yes could be nerve racking. It would be good if everyone had the same thought process on parking.
For many storage facilities, out side parking spaces are meant for vehicles that have wheels. I spoke with a young man who wanted to rent an outside parking space to put his canoe. It wasn't on a trailer. He stated that he didn't need to put it inside of a storage unit as he was used to storing it outside of his home anyway. Unfortunately this wasn't an option at a storage facility. The customer tried even harder to convince me that other facilities would store it, it just wasn’t an option for my facility. I didn’t leave him without an option though.
Luckily I had another option which was a drive up storage unit and it was a 5x15 unit. It wasn't very expe...

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  • Outside Storage Inconsistencies
    By joel on January 15, 2012 | No Comments Comments
    It would seem as if different self storage facilities have different ideas on what is acceptable with parking. Many people will allow certain types of vehicle to be stored in their parking lot or inside of the storage unit. This is not a big deal to the facility managers because they just tell the customers what can and what cannot be stored there. For the consumer calling around, to be told no on what another facility told them yes could be nerve racking. It would be good if everyone had the same thought process on parking.
    For many storage facilities, out side parking spaces are meant for vehicles that have wheels. I spoke with a young man who wanted to rent an outside parking space to put his canoe. It wasn’t on a trailer. He stated that he didn’t need to put it inside of a storage unit as he was used to storing it outside of his home anyway. Unfortunately this wasn’t an option at a storage facility. The customer tried even harder to convince me that other facilities would store it, it just wasn’t an option for my facility. I didn’t leave him without an option though.
    Luckily I had another option which was a drive up storage unit and it was a 5×15 unit. It wasn’t very expensive, it met the needs of the caller and it came with great security features. It was a win, win situation for everyone. Now he had room in his backyard to install the new playground for his kids.

    It would seem as if different self storage facilities have different ideas on what is acceptable with parking. Many people will allow certain types of vehicle to be stored in their parking lot or inside of the storage unit. This is not a big deal to the facility managers because they just tell the customers what can and what cannot be stored there. For the consumer calling around, to be told no on what another facility told them yes could be nerve racking. It would be good if everyone had the same thought process on parking.

    For many storage facilities, out side parking spaces are meant for vehicles that have wheels. I spoke with a young man who wanted to rent an outside parking space to put his canoe. It wasn’t on a trailer. He stated that he didn’t need to put it inside of a storage unit as he was used to storing it outside of his home anyway. Unfortunately this wasn’t an option at a storage facility. The customer tried even harder to convince me that other facilities would store it, it just wasn’t an option for my facility. I didn’t leave him without an option though.

    Luckily I had another option which was a drive up storage unit and it was a 5×15 unit. It wasn’t very expensive, it met the needs of the caller and it came with great security features. It was a win, win situation for everyone. Now he had room in his backyard to install the new playground for his kids.

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    Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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  • Keeping Calm in Troubling Situations
    By joel on January 13, 2012 | No Comments Comments
    As a property manager, we have to try to be ready for anything that comes our way. Now of course we can only do so much to prepare for different things. In reality we just hope that we do not have to deal with certain things that could possibly come up. If they do, we have to take a deep breath and try to find a solution for the issue. For instance, people will call about billing issues, trouble with the gate, and so forth. This morning, I had a very common problem that had the chance to go either way in terms of it being trouble.
    This morning a self storage renter called me who was at her storage unit trying to get the door to open. She was a bit flustered because she was in a hurry to get to a wedding. The wedding gift she purchased was inside of her storage unit and she couldn’t get to it. She didn’t know what to do. She said she came to the office, but couldn’t find anyone to help her. She said was able to get the lock off the door but couldn’t slide the latch over. She ended up calling the number to my facility and I was there to answer it. It was a roll up door so I told her to step on the handle which pulled the door down further so she could slide the latch over. She was elated, grabbed the gift and away she went to enjoy the wedding.
    This was a situation in which it could have been very bad. The door was stuck, and I might have had to go out there to calm the customer down or get someone to the facility in order to get the door over. That would have cost the company money. Luckily, I was quick on my feet in thinking and I was able to get the customer taken care of. I was very happy it wasn’t anything serious.

    As a property manager, we have to try to be ready for anything that comes our way. Now of course we can only do so much to prepare for different things. In reality we just hope that we do not have to deal with certain things that could possibly come up. If they do, we have to take a deep breath and try to find a solution for the issue. For instance, people will call about billing issues, trouble with the gate, and so forth. This morning, I had a very common problem that had the chance to go either way in terms of it being trouble.

    This morning a self storage renter called me who was at her storage unit trying to get the door to open. She was a bit flustered because she was in a hurry to get to a wedding. The wedding gift she purchased was inside of her storage unit and she couldn’t get to it. She didn’t know what to do. She said she came to the office, but couldn’t find anyone to help her. She said was able to get the lock off the door but couldn’t slide the latch over. She ended up calling the number to my facility and I was there to answer it. It was a roll up door so I told her to step on the handle which pulled the door down further so she could slide the latch over. She was elated, grabbed the gift and away she went to enjoy the wedding.

    This was a situation in which it could have been very bad. The door was stuck, and I might have had to go out there to calm the customer down or get someone to the facility in order to get the door over. That would have cost the company money. Luckily, I was quick on my feet in thinking and I was able to get the customer taken care of. I was very happy it wasn’t anything serious.

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    Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

  • The Customer is Number One
    By joel on January 9, 2012 | No Comments Comments
    As a property manager we have all kinds of responsibilities to ensure the store runs well. Not many customers know or pretend to know what we do on a daily basis. We try to have a list or responsibilities to do every day and we try not to get behind on our duties. Now of course we do have to also take care of our customers which have the highest priority on our list. In fact I know I would put a stop to anything else I was doing in order to take care of the customer, especially if it is a new renter. This is of course no matter what time of night it is.
    A new renter of a storage unit arrived at their unit about 45 minutes before the store closed last night. They had a moving truck fully loaded with movers. The only problem was there was an orange lock on the unit, which meant that we had placed it on their unit. We do that so that no one puts their stuff in a lock when they are not supposed to. Regardless of the explanation, she was so upset. She just bought the unit and wanted to know why the store would place that on her unit, although earlier that day, I did tell her to put a lock on it before she left. It is for the safety and protection of the company and the customer that we lock up each unit that is empty before I leave for the night.
    She was happy to know that the property manager was available to assist her in taking it off and that the reason why they had it on the unit was so no one could move their things into the unit accidently. She had plenty of time that night to move her belongings inside the storage space. The customer is our number one priority when it comes to our daily duties, so I am glad that we could make another customer happy.

    As a property manager we have all kinds of responsibilities to ensure the store runs well. Not many customers know or pretend to know what we do on a daily basis. We try to have a list or responsibilities to do every day and we try not to get behind on our duties. Now of course we do have to also take care of our customers which have the highest priority on our list. In fact I know I would put a stop to anything else I was doing in order to take care of the customer, especially if it is a new renter. This is of course no matter what time of night it is.

    A new renter of a storage unit arrived at their unit about 45 minutes before the store closed last night. They had a moving truck fully loaded with movers. The only problem was there was an orange lock on the unit, which meant that we had placed it on their unit. We do that so that no one puts their stuff in a lock when they are not supposed to. Regardless of the explanation, she was so upset. She just bought the unit and wanted to know why the store would place that on her unit, although earlier that day, I did tell her to put a lock on it before she left. It is for the safety and protection of the company and the customer that we lock up each unit that is empty before I leave for the night.

    She was happy to know that the property manager was available to assist her in taking it off and that the reason why they had it on the unit was so no one could move their things into the unit accidently. She had plenty of time that night to move her belongings inside the storage space. The customer is our number one priority when it comes to our daily duties, so I am glad that we could make another customer happy.

    [Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post 

    Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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