We won this 1 storage that had the unit facing the road. The previous owner was on the outside of the fence watching me take his stuff out and load it, asking if he could have this and that. I told him I would give all his personal belongings to the front desk. He comes back later and this time with his wife, crying asking for their kids things. I was completely uncomfortable. I called my husband and when he got down they left. I told the storage owner about it. Honestly though what could he have done. My thing is if it wasnât me someone else would have bought their stuff, so either way they lost it. I understand that their life is probably in this storage and I feel for each 1. I also give each storage facility the previous owners their personal belongings. Has this ever happened to anyone else, if so what did you do or would do?
Hi Naos, thank you for sharing your experience with us!
Occasionally, previous owners will reach out to facilities for their personal belongings however, we do agree that you have encountered an unusual circumstance. It was very kind of you to return their personal belongings to the facility, we do not see any other course of action you could have taken. Good luck on your next unit!
I have wondered about this scenario every time I clean out a locker. I also expect someday a fist in the face when I open my front door to an expected Kijiji customer; the previous owner feeling I had somehow stolen from them. I suppose these potential scenarios are part of the down side of the game. I canât imagine what it would be like to lose all of my possessions this way (but I also would have paid my storage fees! lol)
Iâve had them show up to my yard sales⌠So far it hasnât been too big of a problem. We exchange a few words, I mention something to them about âpaying your billsâ, and they leave.
I do have some sympathy for these people, but I also have sympathy for the business owners that are losing money because of these deadbeats.
Hi slipgelie thank you for voicing your concern. What we can suggest is a safe meet up spot should you ever wish to meet up with the tenant and return his/her personal belongings. Many cities now offer safe meet up spots for online meet ups.
The cases that Noah and RottonSkippy have mentioned rarely happen. Tenantâs also have no access to your personal information so they can never contact you. A lot of the time they contact us and ask if we could get you to contact them. Under no circumstances are you obligated to respond to the tenant if you donât feel safe about it. Your best bet is to leave their personal belongings to the facility and the tenant will pick it up on their own time.
Take Care.
I feel like this is about to happen to someone in Calgary. They just posted a new locker up for auction and on a box marked fragile is a piece of paper that has this guys name,address, and phone number.
I want to bid just to see what is in the fragile box, but I also feel like this guy is going to track down his items on kijiji.
Hi May,
Please consider taking advantage of Calgaryâs Safe Buy Sell Zones. You can read more about them here: http://www.calgary.ca/cps/Pages/Public-services/Buy-and-Sell-Zones.aspx
This would be the best approach to take with all online sales such as kijiji, craigslist, etc.
Alternatively, you could sell the items online, on sites like ebay, etc.
Best of luck on the unit!
It happened to me. I contacted the storage manager and they took care of it. By law, I have to return personal items, such as tax records, birth certificates, credit card statements, etc. to the storage office. But it was uncomfortable to have the people show up and ask for other thingsâŚand it was my first time buying a locker, too.
I manage a facility in Yakima WA. I can testify to the fact that there are MANY reasons why a customer can lose their unit. I feel that âdeadbeatsâ is a rather bias kind of description and frankly, more rarely than not- is accurate at all⌠A person could be losing a unit for reasons that most are not privy to-everybody has a story. Maybe they fell on hard times and lost their job and were unable to right the rent amount due. Maybe they werenât aware that a relative even had a storage somewhere. Maybe they are embarrassed about being unable to pay. Maybe a boyfriend or an Ex has threatened them or their children and they have stored their most important keepsakes for safekeeping and then been unable to maintain the rent ETC ETC ETCâŚAnd I mean I HAVE seen a couple where the person has chosen to let the unit go deliberately but usually its because they owe more than whatever they have inside, is worth to them. But to call them all deadbeats kinda creates a stigma that is, in my experience, usually unfair as well as untrue. In my opinion anyways.
I was that customer that lost their unit. We showed up to pay the bill the morning of the auction and they told us the lock had already been cut. Here I am 8 months prego and I begged the buyer to pls sell me the bassinet and box of baby clothes. I was not trying to make him feel bad I just needed my baby stuff.
As a manager of a facility now, I feel the pain every time I have to cut a lock. But bottom line, you are correct, if you hadnât bought it the next buyer would have. A facility can only extend the olive branch so far. I have an older lady I feel awful about - she is 3 months behind x3 lockers. Every couple of weeks she calls me âWith another little paymentâ. At what point do we as managers draw the line? It is a very tough job to have to do.
Naos do not feel bad for your purchase. It does fall to the renter to keep up their end of their contractual agreement. Hold your head up and move on. 
I had an owner leave a note for the high bidder (which was me) They asked if I would contact them so I did. I sold them half the contents for double what I paid for the unit. Win win I guess
So , if in fact the owner of a unit does indeed hover over you contact you or try to make any kind of effort to get into contact with you . You should work with them to full extent if they want to buy there items back you should 100 % give them that option. Since the facilitys are SUPPOSE TO by law do this but they donât even honor there own stipulations but expect the client to adhere to there conditions and you the buyer could be that person in between helping the owner by right . Thatâs nothing but good karma and the proper thing to do and no you shouldnât charge them double the price thats just cruel and shows exactly your character as a person. Coming from experience of loosing my storage units its something you donât get over and like a peice of you has been taken from you and you can never fill that space . Just remember these are peopleâs LIVES and sometimes in life there are trials and tribulations that we all face so due to unforseen circumstances not everyone can live up to paying there storage units on time thats clearly evident. So YOU PEOPLE should be making a difference and not making it harder for others. So keep that In mind .
Actually even tho by law you are supposed to give back all personal items . The owner has the right by law to request to the BUYERS OR THE FACILITY to buy there items back⌠and you as the buyer shouldnât deny them there own personal items regardless if you won them or not. Its principle and as far as Iâm concerned there is no other way to look at it.