Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  07/22/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On May 27TH 2024 I RECEIVED A ***** FROM SMOKEY POINT SELF STORAGE ******************** THE ***** WAS A **** THAT HAD THE ***** AMOUNT THAT I OWED THEM FOR MY STORAGE UNIT IT SAID THAT THE **** WAS READY AND THAT I COULD PAY IT THRU JUNE 1ST ************************************************************************************************************************ THE COMPANY AND THAT I SHOULD HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE ***** AND I SHOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN OFF THE AUTOMATED ****ING LIST BUT THEY DIDN'T TAKE ME OFF THE LIST SO THE **** WAS SENT TO ME ON THE 27 OF MAY 2024 AND MY STORAGE WAS AUCTIONED OFF ON MAY 28TH 2024 SO AT THAT POINT THE FEMALE EMPLOYEE INFORMED ME THAT IT WAS THE ***** OF THE COMPANY FOR SENDING ME THE ***** THAT MISINFORMED ME AND LED ME TO BELIEVE THAT MY STORAGE **** WAS DUE AND I HAD TILL THE 1ST OF JUNE TO PAY IT BUT THAT WAS NOT THE **** AND EVERYTHING I OWNED WAS I FACT SOLD ON MAY 28TH 2024 SO I AM FILING THIS COMPLAINT TO GET HELP WITH A RESOLUTION I THIS SITUATION

  Business response

  07/24/2024

  To: Better Business Bureau
  ******************

  
  Re: Smokey Point Self Storage
  Case ID: ********
  Customer: ***************************
  

  *******,
  We have been in contact with ***** several times over the last couple weeks. ***** has explained to us that he believes we are in violation of our rental agreement with him due to our sending of an invoice for services. The main issue is that we had to auction Davids unit due to non-payment between the time the invoice was sent and when he contacted our office.
  While we understand that the invoice had a due date of **** 1, 2024, that would have been for current charges for the month of **** only. We sent several notices to ***** before that date indicating that his items would be sold at public auction if payment for past due charges was not paid by the auction date of 5/28/2024.
  These past due notices are required by statute and that is what we follow. We also go above and beyond what is required by statute. Our attempts to contact ***** included:
  Text message on 4/2/24 Payment reminder
  Text message on 4/10/24 A payment reminder
  Email on 4/11/24 A past due notice
  Text message on 4/14/24 Asking for him to contact the office regarding payment
  Preliminary Lien Letter sent on 4/16/24 Outlining past due amounts and informing him of the timeline
  to make a payment and bring the account current or the unit would be auctioned
  Invoice sent on 4/26/24 - Adding the new charges for *** that were due on 5/1/24
  ***** called in on 4/26/24 - He let the office know he would pay on 5/5/24. We offered to waive our Lien Fee
  if he followed through. Payment was not received on the 5th.
  Final Lien Letter was sent on 5/1/24 This is sent in compliance with ** Statute, the agreement to pay on
  the 5th did not waive any facility rights under the statute since payment had not been made yet. This
  letter included the amount due as well as the date of the auction (5/28/24) if payment was no
  made.
  Text message on 5/7/24 Letting the tenant know that in accordance with statute we would be cutting the
  lock on his unit and take inventory to prepare for auction soon and to please contact the office.
  Called on 5/13/24 Left voicemail for ***** to return our call so we can resolve the past due balance.
  Called on 5/24/24 Could not get through rang twice then went to busy signal.
  Emailed on 5/24/24 Since the call would not go through, sent an email asking ***** to contact us.
  Our records show this email was opened by the recipient on 5/24/24.
  Text sent on 5/24/24 Again, since the call didnt go through, sent a text asking for ***** to contact us.
  Invoice sent on 5/27/24 Adding new charges for **** that were due on 6/1/24.
  Unit was auctioned on 5/28/24
  We tried to contact ***** many, many times as outlined above. We sent notices, called, texted, emailed trying to get payment so his items would not be auctioned. This was not a surprise to *****. We never want to sell a tenants items, and we always do our best to avoid doing such. Our efforts as stated go above and beyond what is required.

  In our conversations with ***** after the auction, he was understandably upset. We would not expect him not to be. We were empathetic to his feelings and understand that this is difficult to go through. We also tried to explain to him that an invoice is not a contract and that with any invoice sent, the due date is for current charges only. Past due charges are still past due.
  Unfortunately, due to non-payment and no contact from *****, we had to follow through with all our notices and in accordance with the ** statute and auction the contents of his unit.

  
  Thank you,
  Smokey Point Self Storage Management

  Customer response

  08/15/2024

   Hi ******* this is in response to the email I received from July 31st first off I have to apologize to you and the company for not responding back to you sooner I was awaiting a response since I sent my complaint in originally but unfortunately I had some settings on my email account would allow me to only receive email from one account I thought I had it set up for both accounts to receive both accounts emails essentially in sync my @Gmail and my @outlook together but I didn't so now I do and I read the emails I received from you in response to my dispute with smokey point self storage who responded back with a very wordy letter making statements that are incorrect    1.I initially filed complaints who washington state attorney generals office and with the BBB at the same time I filed one right after the other online on the same day submitted    2.first they check and see if you have a viable reason for a dispute and then they try and mediate with both parties involved for a resolution to the dispute so I filed a complaint they found that I had a viable reason for a dispute they contacted smokey point self storage and smokey point self storage responded with the same letter they sent to you             3.the letter they sent has statements that are to put it in a light sense the way they represent the company is very questionable in how the language within the message is falsely incorporated and it make claims that are flat out not true in a very obvious way I have not spoken to or been in any way shape or form contacted by any person or persons or representative from smokey point self storage or any other company's associated with them at no time up to and since the date of June 3rd 2024 when I went in the office to pay my bill from the email I received on May 27th 2024 stating that the amount of ****** that was for the months of April/may/June and that it would be ready for payment on June 1st 2024  4.They made the attempt to try and tell you that this issue is resolved and they know that statement is false I did not contact them or anyone associated with the company at no point for that information to be true both sides of the dispute would have to agree on a resolution the ************************ can only ask for mediation they can't do anymore then that in their email to me it states that if I am not pleased with smokey point self storage response which was the same letter they sent you the I should pursue other means of resolution which I am filing a complaint with them was more of a formality then anything else it was to have a 3rd party check into my findings and either support or decline my dispute accusations and to have it on file as I may need to use the situation as I move into a making a case for a breach of contract lawsuit I am reaching out and using all means that I have at my disposal to mediate and resolve this matter with smokey point self storage without making it into a legal matter   5. The fact of the matter is that the smokey point self storage did send me a email with a invoice for ******$ on the 27 of May 2024  in the email it clearly states that the bill is for all money owed to them including late fees for April,may,june I was behind because of financial difficulties and that the bill would be ready for payment on June 1st ********************************************************************************************************** because I was not taken off the auto billing list and they then sold my storage off in their auction the next day after that which was the 28th of May had I not received the email on May 27th that said my bill would be ready for payment on June 1st then I wouldn't be here writing this email to you they made the mistake by sending me the invoice and by that I was in full belief that my storage unit was at the least safe and sound until June 1st because that what it said they didn't address the question of did they send the bill to me intentionally because if they say yes then they would be admitting to breech of contract so if they didn't send it to me intentionally then they made a mistake and that also would make them responsible for replacing all of the things that were inside my storage unit so from what I can derive from the exhausting letter they wrote and used twice to you and the attorneys generals office was them downplaying and attempting to go around the fact of the email and invoice by diverting the subject to pass interactions and things other then the subject at hand which is simple as black and white they made a mistake and auctioned of my storage and they are responsible for compensating me for my losses because of that mistake so all I want is to them to make the wrong a right and replace my property that was sold in a compensation amount that both parties reasonably agree on asap so I just wanted to illustrate to you in full to let you know what the situation is at this point so moving forward we are on the same page transparently thank you for your time and I will be waiting to hear back from you soon have a great day 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩