Storage facility increasing costs to existing users by 60%!

Ammolee2868

Hello everyone, 

I'm renting a storage unit while I'm between permanent homes. 

7 months in, I get a cold email from them saying:

Following a review of list prices across our stores and unit sizes, the following will take effect from your next invoice due on or after 06 August 2021.

The cost per week is going up from £41.70 to £66.66 - this is a whopping 60% increase in cost! The insurance is also going up by 10%. 

I asked them the reason for such a steep increase and the reply was:

I have looked at the account and I ran a new quote for the same room and insurance and a new customer coming in would pay more than you are. The price increases are decided by head office and sent to you. I think this is why the increase has been sent.

I also looked online and the current offer is £56.50, much lower than my new cost, so I'd argue that this isn't true.


My question is, are they allowed to hike up these costs this steeply? I've won battles with landlords before when they tried to extort us, but annoyingly I didn't learn from this and find their terms on price increases (which I still can't!). Is there anything I can do about it apart from submitting a complaint and/or moving to a new facility (which I don't particularly want to do!)? 

Big thanks for any thoughts on this. 

cymruchris

I've always thought that these self storage places all do this - offer a low price to get you in, and then once you're in, a bit further down the line raise your price as you're unlikely to move all your stuff again somewhere else. 

If they won't knock the price down to the current rate - could you rent a new unit and move your bits from A to B? 

(You might not think that's worth it - and that's probably what they're counting on)

user1977

Assuming you're not locked into the contract after the price increase, yes this is legal. Don't like it, end the contract and move your stuff somewhere else.

Aylesbury_Duck

Nothing you can do about it if you're not in a fixed-price contract and they're not breaching the existing contract.  You have a choice to make: pay the rate they're asking, or move your things elsewhere.

Brie

When we moved I secured an 8 week deal thinking that that's all the time required.  Apparently this is part of the money spin for storage as the majority of individuals don't get their new homes sorted quickly and the full price kicks in.  And goes on.  And on.

But in your case if they are lying to you I'd think you would do well to move on.

Brie

Another thought....do you have to have insurance with them?  Wouldn't it be cheaper to have some kind of contents insurance?

Ammolee2868

Thanks everyone.

I have good news! I sent them a very upset email and a few phone calls later, they've offered me a better deal. We agreed on an 8% increase in costs which isn't ideal but a hella better than 60%! 

cymruchris - That's exactly what I said to them - get me in on a 50% off deal for a few weeks, then once I've been on full price for a few months, hike it up even further to recoup the costs! 

Brie - That's our situation alright - we only thought we'd need it for a 2-3 months, yet here we were 7 months later! And yes, we do have interest with them but that's a separate cost. They were also trying to hike this up by 10% but we settled on 5%. I might look into a different provider.


I'm glad I got the price down, but still furious they tried to rise them so steeply. I wonder if they did this to everyone and hoped that most wouldn't be bothered to complain. 

Bradden

cymruchris said:

I've always thought that these self storage places all do this - offer a low price to get you in, and then once you're in, a bit further down the line raise your price as you're unlikely to move all your stuff again somewhere else. 

If they won't knock the price down to the current rate - could you rent a new unit and move your bits from A to B? 

(You might not think that's worth it - and that's probably what they're counting on)

I used to work for one... andf that is their busines model. Discount to get the occuplancy and oncve they are in hike the prices. We used to do it in increments .. a single big hike is likely to lose customers.. a few percent now and then is easier to sell.