smartstopselfstorage.comReviews of smartstopselfstorage.com

CONTRACTUAL FRAUD & MISREPRESENTATION (DEC 9, 2024 CONTRACT) Management is utilizing a contract dated December 9, 2024, to support a legal lien, yet they have systematically violated every term of that agreement. While the contract rate is $125.50, they have hijacked the ledger to $228.00, representing an unauthorized 100% hike. They are further misrepresenting fees by charging $170 "Lien Notice Fees" (capped by law at $20) and $42.40 "Gate Lock Fees" not found in the original agreement. II. THE MARCH 2025 "CREDIT-STRIPPING" DATA CONVERSION In March 2025, management performed a fraudulent "Data Conversion" on Units I077, A285, and C029. During this process, the facility intentionally "ate" hundreds of dollars in legitimate credits that would have covered rent through April 2025. To conceal the embezzlement, they relabeled credit card payments as "cash" while continuing to charge a "50-cent recurring fee"—a physical impossibility for cash transactions that proves Document Forgery and Audit Tampering. II. THE JULY 2025 DOUBLE-THEFT & ILLEGAL RENT HIJACKING In July 2025, the facility withdrew two separate payments from my account: a POS withdrawal on July 19 and a regular debit on July 22. Management intentionally withheld the July 19th payment from the ledger to manufacture a false deficit. This was used to facilitate an illegal rent hike—violating the contract rate of $125.50w/t $119.00 w/o and plus $12 insurance premium then jumping $212.00 in October 2025 ballooning further to $228.00 with a forced, unauthorized $16.00 "Fake Insurance" hike in May 2025 (after I explicitly provided proof of my own insurance). Going from a $23.84 "6 Day Gate Lock Fee/charge". to a $42.40 "6 Day Gate Lock Fee", which according to my receipts is charged on the 1st of the month. However. on two different documents the dates are different as well as well as its representation charges. III. THE NOVEMBER 24, 2025 IDENTITY THEFT "PLUG" On November 24, 2025, management manually entered a payment of $159.06 into the ledger. They fraudulently recorded this using a credit card reported STOLEN on November 13, 2025. This is a felony act of Identity Theft (Texas Penal Code § 32.51). This payment was actually the stolen funds from the July 19th POS withdrawal, recycled onto the ledger 128 days later to hide their embezzlement and the unauthorized rate hikes. IV. THE FEBRUARY 1st ILLEGAL LOCK-CUT & EXPLOITATION On February 1, 2026, the facility cut the locks on my units without providing the mandatory 14-day Notice of Claim (TPC § 59.042). Management is knowingly exploiting Barry Dyson, my contractor, who is a terminally ill, incapacitated elderly man (Hospice/Kidney Failure/Pancreatic Cancer). Despite recognizing me as the primary payor on recorded lines, they are making illegal demands for a Power of Attorney (POA) from an incapacitated individual to block my access to my property as a natural disaster victim. V. MARCH 11th EXTORTION & CONTINUOUS ILLEGAL LOCKOUT On March 11, 2026, I paid the full demanded "ransom" of $981.20 ($981.10 via Cashier's Check marked VC and .10 cents in cash). Mack accepted the funds but has illegally denied me access for 22 consecutive days. He removed the green lock but not in my presence and not before I made sure that I secured my unit immediately after being given receipt with a 0 balance. After I left for having waited an hour for Mack to remove green lock I left and returned after hours only to find Mack replaced it with a Red Overlock specifically to hide the theft of my inventory. Since March 11th, the facility has changed my gate code three times, eventually providing a bogus, non-functioning 13-digit code (1212121212...). VI. APRIL 1st FRAUD & THE "14-DAY" STALL TACTIC Yesterday, April 1, 2026, the facility accepted $228 for April rent via the app. Despite taking my money, the red lock remains. I found a fraudulent "14-Day Vacate" notice (signed by Patrick Shields and Angela Lawson) attached to my unit. Accepting rent for a service you are actively denying is Theft of Services and Consumer Fraud (DTPA). DEMAND FOR DAMAGES: Immediate Access to I077 Today: Remove the red overlock and provide a functioning code. The lien was satisfied on March 11th. Audit of all Transactions: Account for the July 19th POS withdrawal and the source of the manual November 24th credit card entry. Triple Damages: Under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA), I am demanding $300,000 (3x the $100,000 inventory value) for the illegal conversion, damaged property, and emotional duress caused to a natural disaster victim. Criminal Investigation: I demand a police-escorted inspection of I077 to document the property Mack and his team have stolen during this 22-day illegal lockout violating ch 59

Everything that can be wrong was every time. I was charged for locks I didn't need.had to wait month for refund.charged for wrong units.was unable to pay online cause they didn't put in computer correct. And finally onlineupon telling them I was leaving they overcharged me again and refused to return my $ .worst place ever!

To all customers who store belongings in this facility. Please take photos of your items each time you visit your storage unit. I recently had a very unfortunate experience in which one of my executive chairs went missing from my unit. The authorities are already investigating this matter.

My stepson had a storage unit at the Port StLucie location. He unfortunately passed away suddenly. His friends vacated the unit, removed the lock and informed the manager . Because an empty cardboard box was left in the unit, the manager continued to charge the deceased tenants account for 4 months. After providing pictures the DISTRICT MANAGER agreed to return the over charged rent, but they only gave back 3 months not 4. I was a self storage manager myself from 1988-2018 and would have never done this to a family who lost a child.

If I could give this place ZERO STARS I absolutely would bc this company (Smartstop Self-Storage) will break the law, break your contract and break your heart with their horrendous business practices.. After entrusting my property to four different storage companies in 3 states since 2016, I could not have imagined that any company could be as callous, careless and cruel as Smartstop proved to be by inflating my rent arbitrarily from $101 to $188 to $204 within a 40day period, not applying my money orders to my account, charging $136 in late fees for one month(NV restricts late fees to $20 or 20% of rental fee, whichever is greater), refusing to deduct the illegal fees and, therefore, keeping my property held hostage. Even when I did pay the "ransom", this company is so corrupt that they added late fees to my account on the same day that I paid the balance, keeping me forever behind and justifying their auctioning of my unit. It didn't matter that it contained the property of military members, a nonprofit agency, the contents of a museum, my oldest daughter who has been murdered the year prior and myself who filed bankruptcy just to keep my property from being auctioned. I paid in money orders and when they didn't credit my account, I had the money order cancelled and reissued so that there would be no excuse for threatening me with auction. They didn't lower my rental rate to the contracted one, didn't apply my payments in a timely manner, ignored the law and the emails I both sent and printed out so they could be delivered to their location, refused to let me pay with a credit card and after 8 years of paying nearly $12k for storage in three states, this company auctioned my property without ever sending a certified notice as required by law for $60. They were so terrible that when I obviously had no clue they had sold my property and kept dropping money orders off, they didn't tell me my unit was gone nor did they return the money orders. I'm suing them now for over $10,000,000.

Extremely disappointing experience. I had stored several items in a 10x5 unit for almost two years, only to discover most of them missing. I realized this while searching for my hurricane preparedness supplies, which were nowhere to be found. A more thorough inspection revealed that many other belongings were also gone. To make matters worse, the unit was infested with termites and rodents, forcing us to discard several items that had been damaged and contaminated.