I Can’t Get In

A large number of our “manager” calls late in the evening are from tenants trying to gain access to their self storage unit. Many times the pin pad at the gate will not accept their individual code number. We believe that this may be because their have not paid their bill. There are other possibilities such as mechanical or electrical malfunction. We, of course, have no way to know which is the cause and are not authorized to call emergency numbers at many of the storage facilities even when the manager lives on site. While I can certainly understand that the store managers enjoying an evening off with family, just sitting down to dinner or perhaps sleeping after spending a hectic day on their self storage facility would not be agreeable to leave their home and go to try to solve a billing problem that could be solved when the office opens or to deal with an angry and abusive customer. I can certainly relate to that.

Many callers who cannot gain entrance will wait and follow another car in. This creates yet another problem as they cannot get out. Sometimes we have tried to reason with them when they could not get in and now when they cannot get out. When they are trying to get in we usually tell them “I am not on site, I am at a sister facility and have no way to reach the manager.” They don’t always take that well. The usual follow up is “What would you do if the building is on fire?” It is generally pointless and counter productive to let yourself be drawn into this argument. It is best to just stick to your script “I am very sorry but the office is closed and I have no way to reach the manager after hours. I will be glad to transfer you to voicemail or you can call tomorrow between the hours of . . .” Many times they are so angry you must repeat this time after time as they are not listening. It is necessary to keep a polite and even tone and not be goaded into anger. When they are inside the gated area because they followed another car in our only advice is for them to call the police non emergency number. It is always possible that this is really a customer who has made an error in judgment or someone who tried to get in to do vandalism or theft and got trapped in. In either case we just have to remain calm and unflustered. They shout, they scream, sometimes they curse and try to make it our fault. All you can do is hold your ground and wait for the nice person who will call next.