Apologies if this has been discussed previously and I have missed it.
I've decided to try and raise awareness about an issue I have had with a local firm, which they seem to be getting away with scot free. Most of us don't use storage facilities on a regular basis, and people may not be aware of some stumbling blocks, which, if I'd known about, I would have done things differently. At the same time, how can I have been so stupid not to hear warning bells ringing.
My father died 10 years ago, having been pre-deceased by by mother. He had lived with us for about 3 years before he died. During that time, their lovely cleaning lady had gone in once a week and kept the place nice, and let us know any problems. We used to stay there quite a lot for odd days and weekends, as it was closer to the city if visiting for events, but eventually, upkeep costs got too much and we decided to sell.
Unfortunately, completion coincided with me slipping a disc, being out of active action, and we decided that the easiest thing to do was get everything removed to a removal and storage facility near our home, about 2 hours from my parents place. We chose a firm about 5 miles down the road from us, intending that, as this was close to home, I would take my time to sort things out once my back was better. We were shown a storage locker of the type our stuff would be removed to, and we would be given an access combination lock.
Warning bell 1. The chap we dealt with didn't visit my parents' house before the removal, which I now understand is standard practice. I told him there was a lot of furniture from the 4 bedroom house plus my Dad's workshop with lathe, circular saw, other big tools and a couple of workbenches. He sent a pitifully small van, not the pantechnicon I was expecting, and refused to send a second van. I ended up giving several pieces of furniture to our lovely purchaser, but it was not what I had intended to do. She let us leave Dad's stuff in his workshop/garage for a couple of weeks, and DH had to go back with friends with a horse box to bring it down to our place.
Warning bell 2: we visited the storage about a week later, were given the key and went in to the locker to check, only to find some other person's stuff in with ours. The man's response? he didn't think we'd mind! We did. OK, he would get the other stuff out. But presumably the other person had also had access.
Warning bell 3. We visited one day, to find that our stuff had been moved to a different storage locker on the other side of the warehouse. Obviously he had a master key. We did not have a satisfactory explanation, they were "Clearing out". In retrospect, I should have removed the stuff from the place then and there.
The intention had been to leave the stuff in storage for 6-12 months while I sorted it out. We were paying by monthly standing order. Initially receipts came, then stopped, despite my prompting, but I had the bank records, so wasn't too bothered.
Then things went downhill. DH was diagnosed with cancer, opted for radical radiotherapy, didn't get rid of the tumour, was started on medication, initially worked then stopped working, we were back and fore for hospital visits, scan locally and in London, and eventually he was advised to undergo major, quite risky, rescue surgery, which does seem to have worked, though path reports said some tumour remains. However, new medication seems to be working and he is as fit and well as can be expected, active around home and garden. But it all took time. We then decided we would get a long-planned renovation done before getting the stuff out of storage. Then lockdown hit.
So it was 6 years, not 1 year before we arranged to get the stuff out of storage (I should mention we had given a friend's son some bedroom furniture in the interim). We arranged for a friend with a van to make 2 trips to collect the stuff. When we arrived, our storage locker had been moved to a different building, on the first floor, some time during lockdown. This building was a shambles. loose furniture sitting around in corridors everywhere you could see.
A young lad was detailed to get our furniture down from the first floor by fork-lift. When he was finished, the van was only half full. I asked where the rest of my stuff was, he said that was all there was. A lot of my furniture, including a nice 2 piece suite, a lifter chair, some other bedroom furniture, a TV console table, and in particular a gate leg table that had been my grandparents', of sentimental value, was simply not there. There was no sign of the owner manager, and he was not answering his phone.
I asked the lad if the rest was elsewhere I the building, he directed me into a large room and said "There's a lot of stuff in there, we don't know who it belongs to!!" My things weren't there.
To cut a long story sort, they denied all responsibility. The chap, when he eventually got back to me by email, said very quickly it was my word against theirs that it had been there in the first place, I hadn't signed an inventory (they hadn't asked my to, though I had given them a list all the stuff to be moved originally, of which I still had a copy, which I updated to show what was missing). But why need an inventory when I was supposed to have sole access to our storage locker?
He then said he had taken over from his brother who had taken over from his father (the firm's name, and his surname and the location were the same), that it was now with a new insurance company, who didn't cover stuff stored by the previous owner, and that paperwork and organisation were now much better organised under him. Apoplectic, I pointed out that I had been paying the same firm monthly all these years, but it got me nowhere. I involved to police, but they all said, after visiting the place, that it was my word against his. I spoke to Trading standards, well, Citizen's Advice (CA) actually, you can't speak to trading standards direct , to whom they reported it, but there is no feedback, either to CA or to me from Trading Standards. CA said if the police drew a blank, to go to the Removals Ombudsman. I filled in their online form, only to receive a reply stating that , as the firm had never been a member of their scheme, that they had no jurisdiction over them. So a total deadend, and that rogue has got away scot-free. Were they were just careless with the stuff I was paying them in good faith to look after, paying much more than the value of the furniture over the years, or they have sold it for personal gain? The gate leg table was probably quite valuable. Even the stuff which remained was damaged, badly scratched. Or the other people with access to our locker took it. Who knows?
Hence I am trying to spread the message. Beware of storage rogues. We have since heard of larger storage firms which have proper sole access lockers, with photo or fingerprint recognition for access to both carpark and warehouse. Probably more expensive, but depends how much you value your stuff.
My next move is to write to our Member of Senedd and suggest that membership of the Removal Ombudsman Scheme be made mandatory for removal firms. It's not much of a regulator if it only regulates members of its club. But look out for membership of it if you are booking storage, ladies!!
Sorry for such a long post
Horrible bacteria C. Difficile
