I've been storing stuff at Extra Space Storage in Chicago for over 2 years. I've read a lot of nasty reviews about many of the company's locations, but I have to say that I've been very pleased with the people, the facility, and the service at my Extra Space location at 1255 S. Wabash in Chicago.
BUT when it comes to money WATCH out. There are frequent rate increases, "discrepancies" always in their favor between online rates and the actual rates (which they fix after several complaints), but my really big issue is with late charges and "lien fees". Lately they've been using these "lien fees" as an additional source of profit. If you're 32 days late, in addition to two late fees, they charge you $85. I've encountered these fees before at other facilities, and I understand that a lot of people abandon their stuff and don't pay, so something has to be done. But now this company seems very eager to supplement their earnings with lien fees and late fees. If you're renting a smaller space, these fees are more than the rental. BE CAREFUL. Don't dare be more than a few days or late or you'll be soaked. I consider the financial practices of this company to be sleazy, "gotcha" capitalism at it's worst. I examined their website carefully and found no mention of late fees or "lien fees". Warn your friends to find a place with late payment poliicies that are more fair. Caveat Emptor!

My car was damaged by their swinging gate because the gate did not have a security device. My car has 3 long dents on it now. I asked to speak with the manager 5 times, I never got a call from the lazy guy. On top of it all, the front desk girl thinks she ownes the place and had the nerve to tell me "the gate was doing its job, it was closing AND YOU WERE IN THE GATES WAY! Besides cars get hit by the gate all the time, I don't understand why your making such a big deal!" Rude Service, Lazy staff, Dirty, and so not worth a penny.

After renting a unit in Lakewood, Co. I decided to downsize. Between being told there was a no choice insurance policy, then later finding out a waiver could be signed, and the on site manager decideing to give her hold a bath 30 min before closing time so that the line of people could not pay thier dues, or the fact that I was told by Shay, that because what's owed to me was less then 15$, They would not be refunding it to me and it's a company policy.

My review would be to RUn as fast as you can from this company.

Oh and apparently gone are the days when a customer is rewarded for loyalty, I understand rates increse... But allmost 10$ a month?

I had been at the Auburn Blvd. facility in Sacramento for two months when I discovered what the manager and employees already had known for months prior ---- they hadn't maintained their units and a number of them were leaking from the roof - in fact, one could easily see after (or during) a rain which units were affected by the runout under the rollup doors. However, they never told the tenants until they themselves discovered it --- in my case after substantial damage to my contents which happened to be the contents of an antique store. It seems to me that that's the type of claim that should be handled by the owner's insurance - not the tenant's. That's only one of the issues - every single month I've been there it's been a hassle paying my bill because it's never been "corrected". I got an alleged "special rate" by reserving online but for some reason they can't seem to get it together with their computer system or upper management. Last month they asked me to wait to pay until they got their district manager to correct the rate. I went ahead and paid online. This month it still wasn't corrected so now they're charging me a late fee, in addition to a "leaving a couple of mildewed, damaged boxes outside my unit" fee when I had to move due to their negligence - mind you, now all of a sudden they won't let the tenants use the onsite dumpster unless they pay a fee and I'm not taking some dirty, mildewed boxes with me - I don't have a dumpster at my house. And they're trying to charge me a "staying after hours" fee - because a few times I got stuck inside the gate so when the manager's husband came to make his rounds he let me out. The only reason why I was there "after hours" was because they were only giving me a few days to move to another unit due (again) to their negligence! It cost me thousands of dollars to pay people to move me to the first unit ----(I had just gotten out of the hospital from a terrible car accident and couldn't walk) now I was supposed to move again all by myself in a few days after it literally took over a month for professionals to move me! And now I had to go through everything, inventory it, take photos and find a way to dispose of it (not on-site), re-pack what was useable AND move it to another unit? CRAZY! I'm moving on - who needs this kind of incompetent unprofessional storage facility when there's so many who would welcome new customers. They're looking at a class action lawsuit, I'm afraid.

I have a long, long string of complaints against this place, where I had a storage space for 12 years. I'm going to write about only one of them here.

A $5 piece of flashing would have saved me a lot of hassle after I accidentally spilled a big bunch of personal files down a gap between the stairs and the wall as I moved out of a so-called "mezzanine" space. For 12 years, I assumed they had access to that space because it was so obviously an accident waiting to happen. By any reasonable standard they were liable for negligence for not putting something over those gaps, and they should have borne the expense of providing access to that space.

They disagreed. After claiming that they'd made an effort to reach the files, the manager (who, in fact, had no idea where the files were--so much for making an effort) simply announced to me that they weren't giving my files back.

I was furious. I took it two steps up to the district level and was told they had made a reasonable effort to get the files, so any other time or expense was my problem, not theirs. At this point we were talking about having to take the stairs apart to get to the files. (There were a couple of too-lazy-to-look assumptions on their part as to how the stairs were put together, btw.)

Turned out the files were accessible if you had two hours, some determination, and a garden tool on a pole. (The only help they offered was the use of a grabbing bar--the kind you use to get jars off a high shelf--which actually was useful.)

My impression was that these knuckleheads had no idea they were negligent, even at the district level, and obviously that they didn't care.

So be warned: Stay away. They're negligent about your sanity too.