CubeSmart Self Storage — Local services in Norristown

⚠️Unfortunately, as of June 9, 2024, this Norristown Cubesmart facility has an active mouse infestation that they're not able to control. (see photos)

In light of this ongoing situation, it's not safe to store your things in this Cubesmart facility.

Here's what happened:

1 On June 9, when I came to move my things out of my storage unit, I found mouse droppings on my couch, TV stand, wall unit, and all along the floor where my other furniture had been stored. (see photos)

2 I was not happy about this. :-(

3 When I told April, the current facility manager, she said she would do an incident report and call me back. :-)

4 April is quite busy and didn't get a chance to call me back. So I followed up with her about a week later. Here is the conversation we had: APRIL: "Hello." ME: "Hi! I'm just following up about the incident report regarding the mouse droppings in my storage unit." APRIL: "Yeah...nothing happened." ME: "Nothing happened...?" APRIL: "Nothing happened. I did the incident report and nothing happened, because it was under wear and tear." And then, April ended the call.

5 FYI: “under wear and tear” means that finding mouse droppings on your things falls under “normal wear and tear.” In other words, Cubesmart considers mouse droppings “normal.” (Let that sink in.) 🐀

6 Also...I kind of got the impression that April wasn’t particularly concerned about what happened to my furniture or interested in helping me find a resolution.

7 *But I totally get it. April is super busy managing a storage facility. She doesn’t have time to deal with customer problems. I just thought that, since she’s the manager she might be willing to help me. (?) But I guess her hands were tied.

𝗦𝗼, 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹, 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗖𝘂𝗯𝗲𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁:

1 ⚠️ The Norristown Cubesmart facility has a mouse infestation. 🐀If what's happening there can be seen as representative of Cubesmart as a whole, it's probably safest to steer clear of Cubesmart altogether.

2 ⚠️ If you're really desperate, only consider Cubesmart as a last resort...and only store items that you don't plan to keep. That way, when something happens to them, it won't be a huge loss to you as the customer. (April won’t be able to help you because it's not her problem.) 🐀

3 ⚠️ ALSO NOTE: The storage insurance you pay for through Cubesmart is Great American Insurance Group (GAIG) - and they do not cover mouse or rodent infestation.

(When I contacted GAIG about filing a claim for my damaged furniture, I received this email from Andy Virzi, Senior Claim Representative at GAIG: "Unfortunately, rodent damage is not a covered cause of loss in the policy. Due to that policy language, we are not able to extend coverage for your claim.") 🐀

4 But, honestly, the mouse droppings issue isn't Cubesmart's fault. That's just the risk you take as a customer when you pay to store your things at Cubesmart. Cubesmart provides the space, but they don't protect your stuff from things like mice 🐀 or other rodents.

5 Providing a clean, secure storage facility is not Cubesmart's job. So it's not reasonable to expect this of them. Just ask April - she'll tell you.

6 In fact, I could tell that April is overworked and stretched thin. Each time I spoke with her, it sounded like she didn’t want to be on the phone and didn’t really like her job. (*Totally understandable given that she manages a mouse-infested facility - that's rough!) And anyway, April is just one person. She doesn't have the bandwidth to help customers with issues like unexpectedly finding mouse droppings on your furniture the day you move out. So I understand why she treated me the way she did.

7 But I do think April could have been a tiny bit nicer to me given that about $2000 worth of furniture was ruined in her facility. 😅 But, again, she’s just the Cubesmart manager. It’s not her job to be nice to customers. Or help them with problems. 🐀

Anyway, I hope this info is helpful to you. 💚

Watch out...

I won a storage locker at this facility today through an online auction because the owner didn't pay for it. The staff at the facility are nice, at least at first. However, upon opening the storage locker and trying to sort out its content, hundreds of roaches started moving around in the locker and on all the items in the locker. There was also a bunch of mouse droppings and shredded paper in the locker as well.

I went up front to the woman at the counter and informed her of the issue. She told me that I could abandon the locker but I would lose what I paid for the locker plus the $100 security deposit they have you pay to make sure you clean it out. I told her that wasn't acceptable and that I wanted the owner's phone number so that I could speak to them and that if this wasn't handled properly that I would take it to the media. She told me "I can't give you the owner's number" so then I asked for the manager's number. She then called the manager and told him about the situation. He had her go back with me to look at the locker where I had to disturb more of the items in the locker to show her the roaches which she got to see. She then called the manager back and she told him I wanted a full refund which he finally decided to give me.

These storage facilities are supposed to be routinely treated for rodents and bugs but obviously this one isn't doing what it is supposed to do. If you don't mind mice and roaches in your stored belongings then this is the...

I found this location to be very clean and the staff to be very friendly and informative. However, when I was showed the "7.5 ft x 10ft" unit I had reserved and wanted to lease, I expressed that the unit did not appear to actually be 7.5 ft deep. I was assured that it was a 7.5 ft x 10 ft unit and I could measure the dimensions. Since I did not have a tape measurer and already had a truck full of my belongings, I opted to go ahead and load my things into the unit. When I returned the next day with another load of things I brought my tape measurer and found that the unit was actually 6ft x 10ft. I spoke with one of the managers and asked for a reduced rate since the unit is 20% smaller than advertised. They told me they are unable to offer me a reduced rate and that the dimensions of the unit are an approximation.

I do not understand how a difference of 1.5 ft (20% size difference for the unit) from the advertised size and the actual size can be an approximation. Especially when all the other dimensions were accurate. I also do not understand how they cannot offer a reduced rate for a unit that is significantly smaller than what is advertised. Make sure you measure the unit you are looking at before signing anything. This is clearly false and misleading...