Contents insurance whilst in storage?

Geedoubleu_2

I've just been ripped off by this scam.

All the storage companies I called, Lok n store, SafeStore etc all quoted pricing without insurance and then all said I had to take out their compulsary contents insurance, which I don't need. SafeStor even't went as far as putting riduculas restraints on what type of padlock they will accept, until me brain went into meltdown and accepted the £11 padlock they provide.

I went with SafeStore as they are a short walk from my house and they charged me £20 a month for £3000 coverage, I found superior insurance online for £2 a month.

Surely there is some law that they have to quote pricing that includes all compulsary charges?!

I'm impressed with the facilities, but shocked at that blatant scamming on pricing.

mrsv05

are access self storage any good? my brain is now mush after big yellow and safestore and its the insurance thats taking the p, almost the sme as the storage itself. we thought it would be cheaper than a removals company. ther is an access at barking isnt there?

mthdo21

Which insurance company did you use to insure your stored goods?

Anybody know which household insurance companies cover goods in storage... I know HSBC does but it is only for 7 days and items have to be "professionally removed"

HELP...

Shirty_Girl

Hello,
Insurastore seems like the way forward for selfstorage insurance. I wonder if it's too good to be true. Does anyone have any experience of making a claim with them - the acid test. Shurgard told me they had heard that customers in another facility had had problems making a claim. However the person I spoke to wasn't specific and she didn't say that they wouldn't let me use them, she just said check the small print. Maybe just scaremongering? Any feedback appreciated.
Helen

louisa_keith

0dd8a11 wrote: »

I have shopped around and found Big Yellow, I read every single word of their websites sales pitch, and "Key Requirements" and FAQs. No where does it mention that you have to take insurance through them, and them alone. They go as far to say in the FAQs

"What is included in the price - are there any hidden extras?" The answer is it includes everything but a padlock which they can supply at a cost or supply your own.

They do however say "Don't forget, your goods need to be insured to the full replacement value whilst in storage. We can arrange this in store."

It is not until after you have put a deposit on a room do they reveal the true value of the storage, changing the pricing from one of the cheapest to one of the dearest I researched.

As soon as I read the new conditions I telephoned to cancel and was told I couldn't, I requested that an area manager phone me back and was promised he would - they didn't.

It is a rip off and a headache I could do without during my move - although I am in daily talks with my solicitor at the moment so maybe something I will bring up with him tomorrow to look into.

Do NOT use BIG YELLOW - when shopping around ask for the price including insurance and as I have found if it is a condition of storage that they supply the insurance it will be more expensive the other top brand companies.

We were ripped off by them on Friday.

I searched for storage facilities to store some items for 1 week. BIG YELLOW came up first on the Google search. I had an online chat with a member of their staff, plus a telephone chat afterwards. He quoted one price which I thought very good competative and reasonable, but to my horror I paid more than 50 per cent extra than price quoted and they are now looking for more money. There were hidden costs i.e. the lock, insurance, money to stay later than 6pm which we did not intend to do. A further deposit (where they refund the orginal and charge more). The rep said "you will need to purchase our lock as your goods will not be guaranteed if a break in occurs without this specific lock" and gave me the size of a lock if we fetched our own (which we did but it did not fit so we were compelled to purchase their lock) Re: Insurance costs we were told it would be £5 when I booked it online just after I paid the £10 deposit, we also told about the insurance after paying the deposit, but on Friday they charged us £10 and extra £5. We were told to arrive by 5 pm in order to store your items immediately, but filling in the forms took ages and we had to wait in a queue, the rep said we had to pay an extra charge for the whole week of £5.oo for staying after 6pm although we only needed it on Friday evening to unload. I was told when first booking the space, to leave a deposit of £10 but they credited this back to me at the store and said I had to leave a £29.50 deposit.

I was becoming angry and said to the rep we are being ripped off and showed her a print out of my live chat and orginal agreement where I was offered a discount and showed her the agreed total amount payable which also stated I would have to pay for four weeks but would get a refund when I vacated after a week (the period I wanted it for) she said that she would have to speak to a member of staff and said "that this is head office not the store you booked with online." She said she did not give a discount for a four week period only 8. she then said should couldn't get hold of anyone to verify my original agreement after a while she said she would honour the four weeks. She also said she could not give us an invoice and wrote down all the charges due on a Big Yellow A5 piece of note paper which I asked her to sign, and said to her "is this is the total and final amount payable" she said "YES" . We were not happy as the first rep said that this was the agreed price showing her the online chat of one week earlier of 50 cent less than the amount she took from us. My husband wanted to store his stuff so we felt compelled to pay and dispute this with a manager later. She wanted payment there and then and a direct debit set up immediately. we paid the money.

The next day on looking at my emails we were very angry to receive two emails from BIG YELLOW from her manager stating we owed them a further £79 which will be taken by direct debit. I did not want to speak to the store so I telephoned their customer services and spoke to a lady, who verified that they do offer a four week discount don't know why she was trying to charge you for 8, I told her we had been ripped off and misled and that there were extra and hidden charges, said she would get back to me within 10 minutes, as this is not their policy, she did not get back to me.


Also today I realised that The rep at store did place invoices (which were incorrect with further charges of 75 per cent more) in the folder she gave me although she told us she couldn't print them off, hence writing down the amount of money taken from us itemised on a piece of paper. She also said we had to take up the insurance and would not tell us the minimum insured she asked us to write down the costs of all the items. We said we did not do an exact iternary and would do it when we place them in the storage she wanted it there and then and said the contract would not be valid. She them mumbled afterwards that we could add items to the iternary and said the minimum amount insured would be £2,000 why couldn’t she have told us that in the first place.


I will need to telephone them first thing tomorrow as I do not want another 75 per cent extra charges which they state on the invoices are due to come out of my bank. What a bloody hassle, I wished I had just stored them in my garden

david.austin1979

When I was looking for storage, i came accross a site comparethestorage.com and saved an absolute fortune... one company was quoting £ 270 a month including insurance @£4.50 pw! i settled with aylesford self storage @ £150 a month! they advised me to use insurastore @60p a week!! what a saving highly recomend comparing storage prices first, seems like compare is the way for everything!!

pararct

Alleycat wrote: »

The storage companies do not let you rent from them without insurance cover so not an option I am afraid.

I had a capital self storage unit for about 3 years and never had to prove any insurance.

It was acquired at the time of a move but kept on for additional storage.

AtticSelfStorage

This thread was brought to our attention by a client, after they had encountered similar problems and then came to us. They suggested we post something so here we go!

Attic Self Storage is an independent self storage operator, and we are a member of the Self Storage Association of the UK (SSA UK). We regularly compete against the well-known brands, so here are a few home truths when it comes to insurance:

1. It is indeed a requirement of membership of the SSA UK that all client's belongings be insured while in storage
2. It is not obligatory to sell insurance to clients, or for clients to take out the member operator's insurance; but the client MUST be insured, one way or the other
3. All insurance companies despise what they call "uninsured losses", which means losses that occur to people who are not insured. Believe it or not, even though they are not insured, these losses result in claims that the insurance companies then have to spend money fighting off... far better to have the client insured in the first place, and simply assess the claim & then pay out
4. Many of the main multiples insist on clients using their own insurance. They can do this as it is a contract between you & them; you don't have to store with them, if you chose to do so, you will have to abide by their terms & conditions, which means using their insurance
4. Some self storage providers offer you the choice of using their in-house insurance or an external provider. If they do this, they will usually insist on seeing proof of cover, in order to ensure they are abiding by the terms of membership of the SSA UK & the terms of their own insurance cover

Now this is the thing; everyone says their belongings aren't worth much, until there is a claim. Then all of sudden, everyone discovers the contents of their unit are suddenly valuable... Suddenly Great Aunt Mable's vase was in that unit & it's irreplaceable!

Some people ask why are you not covered by the self storage company's own insurance, or indeed why a claim might arise - after all, this is secure storage, right?

Well the answer is that our own insurance will cover clients goods for any loss caused by our direct negligence or wilful neglect, but it won't cover their losses if the building floods, catches fire, or falls down for some other unknown reason. Trees can fall on buildings, cars or trucks run through walls, fires be caused by any number of things, hurricanes or storms rip roofs off, etc etc. We actually include terrorism cover in our client contents insurance as well, so whatever happens, clients are safe in the knowledge that they are covered.

One of the reasons why self storage operators insist on clients taking their in-house insurance is to make sure that clients are properly covered, and to avoid lengthy legal battles between insurance companies and loss adjustors in the event of a claim. Here at Attic, we like to leave the option with our clients, but not all operators will do this, and if they don't I can understand why.

Clients also sometimes ask why they need insurance at all; well, if it's worth storing, it's worth insuring, and as I have written above, in order to avoid uninsured losses, it's better to be covered than to be sorry. This is partly down to the "claim culture" that has developed, and operators need to be careful to make sure they have their backs covered against any potential claims.

What about the cost of the insurance, why is it so much more than quotes from online brokers etc? Well there are one or two new online brokers who are looking to capitalise on this market space and are operating loss-leaders to grow their business and compete with the self storage operators. In addition to that, if we administer the policy and any potential claim that may result, that takes time and administrative hassle and understandably we need to cover our costs in that regard.

Think of it like this; you are spending potentially thousands of pounds on a house move, hundreds (if not thousands) of pounds on self storage, and you aren't happy because someone wants to make sure you are covered if anything happens, and charges you £10, £15, £20 for the privilege? That just doesn't add up.

In the final instance, the best thing to do is to educate yourself on the right questions to ask when you are calling around asking for quotes, and make sure you are comparing like with like. We often get clients who simply don't understand that we are cheaper than our competitors, once you take account of the insurance position, and they go with someone else... only to find they are getting stung for a little more than they had anticipated.

Always ask the following:

1. what is the special offer rate per week, and how long does it last?
2. what is my ongoing rate per week after that?
3. how much will the insurance cost me?
4. do I need to pay a deposit?
5. how do you take payment?

Here's a tip: negotiate. If you are taking a small unit, there isn't much room for manoeuvre but if you rent 100sq ft or more, you might be able to get the insurance thrown in the deal... I shouldn't say this but many people don't ask for a deal

And finally, please remember that 4 weeks is not the same as a calendar month... there are 12 months and 52 weeks in a year, giving you 13 periods of 4 weeks. I've lost count of the number of people who compare a "monthly" rate with a "4 weekly" rate - for the avoidance of doubt, stick to the charge PER WEEK!

I hope that's helpful for people, even if only one person does find this post helpful it will have been worth the time to register & write it!

Good luck all with your various moves etc.

Best wishes

Fred.
(Managing Director, Attic Self Storage Limited)

muskoka

Attic Self storage is absolutely correct. I rented a 150 size room for 4 years admittedly from Yellow Box & negotiated on a regular basis. Also, you can take in a more competetive quote & they will always match it. As for Insurance, I just transferred my home policy to the storage unit - cost me peanuts for the insurance

jayne62

Can someone tell me which insurers are willing to cover contents in a storage unit other than insurastore and the storage unit's own? My insurance company wouldn't cover and I'm struggling to find a company that will apart from insurastore or storageboost which I'm using to store my stuff.