Abandoned Belongings in Storage Units

We are often asked about abandoned belongings in our Storage facility in Mere, near Gillingham and it’s an interesting question.  Interesting, because it beings into question our whole ethos.  Do we follow our own Terms and Conditions and dispose of peoples personal belongings just because they haven’t paid a bill.  How long do we let a client not pay, how much space are they taking up and what harm are abandoned belongings having on the rest of our business.

My guess is that a pragmatic approach is the best approach in these situations, communication is key.  Yes, we’ll write some pretty nasty letters about non-payment, but it’s important to remember these are largely designed to inform, rather than to scare. We are not Parking Ticket Collection Agencies.

But, that is also what makes us different from many larger franchise Self Storage companies, yes, we have systems and we try to be efficient, but that the end of the day one of the things that makes inStore Solutions unique in the world of Self Storage is our flexibility and our friendliness.   We are all humans.

So, abandon belongs can be a problem for us, we’ve played many a tune on the old Grand Piano and we cannot remember who owned, maybe one day they will collect it and at that point we’ll come to an agreement on how to be recompensated of all the years we’ve looked after it.

What I can promise is that we will look after everything within our storage facility with exactly the same care and attention as anyone else’s belongings, abandoned or not.  The reason for this is that it is simply not worth our while not to.  Everyone’s possessions are kept dry, safe, secure and protected.

But in terms of abandoned belongings, the solution is always communication.  If we know you still want your belongings and you explain to us the various reasons for delayed payments or why you are abandoning them, talk to us, however many letters we might send, it is always better to respond to them than to say nothing at all.