Public Storage — Local services in Highland Village

Unacceptable Billing Practices and Poor Customer Service at Public Storage

I have had multiple storage units with Public Storage at the Highland Village and Lewisville locations, but my recent experience has been beyond frustrating and unacceptable. On 1/15/25, I made an online payment of $885.60 using my AmEx.

Later, I realized that I had been mistakenly charged for a unit I had vacated more than two months prior at the Lewisville location. Thankfully, the Lewisville staff handled the issue professionally and refunded the incorrect charge of $295.20 without issue.

Then, on 2/28/25, I received a text saying my units were at risk of lien, but to disregard the message if payment had already been made—which it had been on 1/15/25. The next day, I received a rude voicemail from Pam at the Highland Village location stating that my lock had been cut, liens had been placed, and my unit was going up for auction!

When I contacted Pam to clarify the mistake, she insisted she could not see my payment confirmation but oddly could see the refund of $295.20 from Lewisville. I repeatedly informed her that my payment had been made, but she refused to acknowledge it and demanded a letter from my credit card company as proof—not an email, not an online statement, but a mailed letter! Meanwhile, my unit and belongings were at risk of being auctioned off due to their incompetence.

To make matters worse, on 2/1/25, Public Storage refunded my AmEx $590.40—essentially returning the rest of my original payment without explanation. When I logged into my account, I now owed $1,302.20 in storage fees, late fees, and lien charges! I paid this to ensure my items would not be auctioned off.

This entire situation is unacceptable. Public Storage’s system is clearly flawed, and their customer service at Highland Village is disgraceful. I paid on time, yet I was treated like a criminal customer and forced to jump through hoops to prove a payment I had already made.

If you’re considering renting with Public Storage, beware of their questionable billing practices and lack of accountability. I will be escalating this issue further, but I want others to be aware before trusting this company with their belongings.

#PublicStorage #CustomerServiceFail #BillingIssues #StorageNightmare...

I'm in the midst of trying to decide if the low rate from when I rented is really worth the hassle. Good, old-fashioned used auto sales tactics on the front end to upsell the size of unit, buy their locks, purchase their insurance and set up auto pay. I've been in the unit for about 4 months and have seen a 10% increase in my rate so far. Rate increases seem to be a recurring theme in several of these reviews. You'll also enter your code once to get in the gate, once to get in the building and once to use the elevator . . . every single trip in or out. Secure? Yes. Convenient? Obviously not. I mean . . . the elevator . . . really? The provided carts are an incredibly awkward size, neither wide enough or long enough to hold much of what you'll likely be storing. You'll make a lot of extra trips and carry a number of things by hand because of the cart size.

My biggest issue, however, comes from the way in which your payments are posted. I pay about 15 bills per month using my bank's online bill pay service. 14 of those get to where they're supposed to be, on time, every time. The exception is the Public Storage payment. It seems to magically post on the day that a late charge is due, sometimes as much as 12 days after the bank shows the check being delivered. Probably not a coincidence.

Nice building and a very clean, climate controlled facility. Other than those things, beware. For goodness sakes . . . this is a storage facility. It shouldn't be a thorn in my side, but it is and it will likely be in yours as well if you decide to rent here. I'd suggest paying a few dollars more and renting elsewhere. You'll probably lose any savings after a few months anyway as they increase your rate.

Edit: After this review, management did make some credits and adjustments to my account, which...

Frustrated by a bad experience today...planned to move out over the weekend and went through the trouble of renting a truck, coordinating moving help, etc - showed up and the elevator was broken. We weren't notified at all beforehand, and as a result the day turned out to be a waste of money and time, not just for me but other customers who were there moving in/out too. Elevator breakdowns happen, that's totally understandable and not the issue...what is upsetting is 1) They failed to notify anyone properly (there was only a paper out-of-order sign posted on the elevator - but that wouldn't stop anyone from still renting a truck and everything before arriving to then see the sign), and 2) We asked politely if they could reimburse any portion of our wasted expenses since they failed to notify before we arrived with the truck; they flat out refused, and the employee there simply said "Corporate doesnt do that." Not just the truck, but I'll have to pay extra for more rent time I don't need, since I won't be free to come back for a bit. Asked if any reimbursement for the forced extra rent was possible, but again: "that's not our policy." 3) Asked if it was possible to try to use their (locked) stairwell to at least get a few smaller items out; the employee said no, they don't let anyone use the stairs because of insurance liability. Why have stairs then? All in all, in just under an hour we learned the company has frustrating and seemingly less-than-ethical policies. As a separate frustration from today, they've also raised my rent price 3 times randomly in just the last year without any...