Previous owner

I just got a call from the storage facility and then a call from Bid13. The previous owner of a unit I just bid on, won and cleaned out was apparently in the hospital. He wants to get a few items.
Any suggestions?

Depends what they are, I guess. When I find things like family pictures I anonymously send them to the most recent address I can find for the person (there’s always been something in the unit with the owner’s name and address at the time), and I’d probably do the same for other personal items if they reached out to me provided it wasn’t one of the main things I bought the unit for.

So yeah, I’d probably accommodate them provided they could tell me specifically what they want and they weren’t things I considered essential to the value of the unit. There would be no just coming by and going through everything, though. If they forgot something was in there it wasn’t very important to them in the first place.

2 Likes

If it isn’t of value to you, why not give it back?

I’m someone who saw my landlord rummage our garage and lock us out of our complex when I was a kid 25+ years ago, we had got evicted when my Dad lost his job and took what we could but my parents messed up and left the garage filled. While a few neighbors grabbed what my Mother was yelling to grab, most took what they wanted. It’s some of my earliest memories. I’ve almost lost storages myself and found out about this site because I forgot to pay my bill and was threatened with auction so I inquired what website was used. My storage facility says they go through the units and shred all pics and important paperwork.
I asked “why not just give them that stuff?”
And she said “if we could find them, we’d have them Pay”
“that can’t be the case for every unit. Had I lost mine it would have been due to financial reasons”
she didn’t seem moved by this at all. Actually more annoyed I would suggest they give them back and not just agree with her.

I guess what I’m saying here is each of us need money to pay the bills and live our lives but we also have a moral compass and they are as unique as our personalities. By even posting here I can tell your moral compass has directions in compassion and empathy. I hope you did the right thing, and if the items were within reason and not something of extreme value, I’d return them to the man anonymously-maybe having a third party talk to him or her for you and using the sending address as the return address also, so you can keep your privacy.

Wow! Are you insensitive, an a**hole or just ignorant in your life experience to the point that you have no compassion for a person who is having a rough time financially? Fact is, you have no understanding about the possible reasons someone may have lost their storage unit…? I was swindled by a shady storage manager, more than once, out of very large storage units… yes, swindled - as in rented from a place for 4+ years, fell behind a few times and even saved it from going to auction 3 months prior… but then i went out of town for work, and fell a month and a few weeks behind… when i returned and tried to settle and pay my bill I was told my unit was sold! I asked that quickly!? And she said yes, the owners were tired of bill being paid late! Yeah sure they didnt like getting an extra $75 dollars anytime i fell behind… she fast-tracked my units auction and took advantage of the fact we were out of townon a job, didnt notify my father in law when i fell behind like she said she would, and essentially stole my 10x25 unit of everything I owned - since that heartbreak occured, I never trust a storage facility or their managers - storage game is a dirty business and managers are very often the most shady… I could go on, and provide numerous examples of them taking advantage in an environment where they already have the upper hand…
point being, your attitude about giving someone some of their stuff back is repulsive, and the materialistic sentiment is unfortunately pretty popular amongst locker buyers… I hope you lose everything through little fault of your own one day only so you can foster a tiny little bit of sympathy in an otherwise cold, hollow soul…

3 Likes

As a manager of a storage facility I would suggest to those of you that find themselves in a predicament such as this- there ARE laws in place to protect you. Granted, they may not adequately prevent you from losing your items- but they can hold a facility responsible for them. We are REQUIRED to send notices to the address on file MULTIPLE times throughout the fairly short period of time (37 days delinquent) it takes to go into foreclosure. The Final Lien Notice is one that must be sent certified- so we can prove it got sent. I would imagine this is the case for most, if not all facilities offering self storage. Furthermore, I am required to hold on to those foreclosure records for SEVEN YEARS- in case we should need them to prove we took the steps necessary to contact and attempt to communicate with the customer. As well, the customer has our contact number, address, and can pay over the phone, in person, and through USPS at anytime, from anywhere in the entire world. If there is ZERO communication with that customer for any reason at all- there’s nothing good that comes out of continuing to hold the unit once in foreclosure. My facility would be full of ‘hopes that they would return’ units if that were so. Communication is KEY. If I were you, I most definitely would have looked into what my rights were- and then handled it in a civil court. Maybe you still can?? That’s IF things are as you say, which in my experience, is rare that we have a customer that stays in touch and does not default on a Promise to Pay arrangement by not paying again. Sorry for your experience but not all facilities are sour. Regards,

1 Like

I found out 3 days before this passed Christmas that all 3 of my storage lockers from Storage Solution in Campbellville ON did the exact same thing to me for the exact same reason they did it to you. I had fallen behind $2,100 in rental and when I went into pay it up to date I was told that all 3 of my locker totalling $125,000 yes $125,000 had been auctioned off for a
Total of $1,900.
I wonder what friend of the storage place owner purchased the most valuable locker because they knew what the locker was worth just through experience of seeing others storage locker and the contents.
I will find the people that purchased my lockers. I doubt that the meetings will go any better for me but I still hold Storage Solutions first and for most responsible for what happened to my life savings and family air-looms that I lost in those 3 lockers.
My family and I are devastated over our loss.

Did you read the message above your comment? I’m sorry for your loss of course, but $2100.00 is ALOT of time waiting for you to pay. Especially when they could be renting it AND getting paid too. My biggest unit is a 10x30 which is like HUGE and rents for $230.00- that would be a bit over NINE months or THREE months if you had three units- even if you subtract fees and still weigh the time- Its longer than 42 days for you (thats how long we HAVE to wait before foreclosure units can be sold.) How long did you expect them to wait? Also, you could have at any time, called and checked on your units. COMMUNICATION is always KEY.

Who in the hell are you referring to I seen or read nothing insensitive in anybodys post until I got to yours the guy was asking for advice on what to do Christ did you not have your Prozac this morning or what.