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On Tuesday May 29, 2018, I got stuck at Public Storage on Lee Highway in Centreville, VA. I was there for about 3 hours from 8 to about 11. While there I called Public Storageโ€™s corporate and talked to people who did nothing but blame me for being stuck. I told them the door was malfunctioning. They told me itโ€™s not opening because I left late. That was not the case. Something was wrong with the gate. They berated me and yelled at me. One of the women I talked to was so rude scolding at me โ€œpay attentionโ€, but I was trying to talk to bother her and the police officer, who was on the other side of the gate to help me. Not once did any of them agree with me that the door was malfunctioning. After multiple attempts, I talked to a representative, who told me to call the local police, as they should have a code to open me. So I called the police who tried codes they had. None worked. He talked to them and spent two hours punching in codes to no avail. No one in that company told me of any plan to get me out of there. At around 11, I parked my car in the back and the police drove me home. The next day I called Public Storage about 20 times. Literally. I was nervous about my car being towed while I was working. At about noon I took Uber and got my car from public storage. When I got there the alternative gate was opened because the normal gate was malfunctioning like I told them. I went inside and told the employee that I had to leave my car overnight. Her response was โ€œOh, so that is why your car was there this morningโ€ I was waiting in line to talk to her about how I had to take uber and how I believe the company should pay for it. She then said to me โ€œSo what do you want?โ€ Stunned at her unempathetic response, I just left and got out of the line. It was so rude.

When I went home I wrote a review both on their Instagram page about what happened to me and them on Yelp and Google. The Public Storage Instagram blocked me. The next day (Thusday) I got a call from Public Storage District Manager Jillian Gonzalez. The very first sentence out of her mouth was โ€œhow do you feel?โ€ Bewildered by that question, I said I feel fine. Second sentence was to tell me that she called me because she saw my review and then told me to delete it because it would hurt her performance. Taken aback by the same apathy I got from the woman when I picked up my car, I said I would think about it. I didnโ€™t think they did anything to justify me removing the bad review. Because to me, if I knew someone got stuck in a facility I was in charge of and I couldnโ€™t find that person, especially a woman, I would call that person ASAP to make sure they are okay. She didnโ€™t do that. The other โ€˜managerโ€ who supposedly checked up on me didnโ€™t do that. The woman working at Public storage when I picked up my care couldnโ€™t care less as well. Jillian also told me she talked to me that night I was stuck. So she knew I was stuck there. No excuse why she waited till a negative review to check up on me. She then went to tell me she had someone come to check on me two nights prior. She never told me of this person that night that I called. In fact, I left that place believing no one would come to open the gate for me and that Public Storage, including Jillian Gonzalez, shrugged their shoulders and left me there.

Later when I got home, I saw a self-gratifying email District Gonzalez Jillian Gonzalez sent me where she said things to the tune of โ€˜I am sorry I tried so hard to help you and you couldnโ€™t be helpedโ€™, โ€˜I am sorry that I sent someone and when they came you were not thereโ€™ โ€œIโ€ฆ, Iโ€ฆ, I โ€ฆ, Iโ€ฆโ€. I emailed her back and asked her why she never told me that she sent someone to help me? I got off the phone with her thinking no one would come and that they didnโ€™t really care. I got off the phone with them STILL accusing me of leaving late, and still giving me new codes to put in the access system, after telling them multiple times that the gate was malfunctioning. She emailed me back saying she told the police officer she was going to bring someone. I told her why would you tell the police officer and not me? It makes NO sense. I am the paying customer of this storage facility who happened to have gotten locked inside because of a malfunctioning gate. But you tell a third party, who never told me, that you are bringing someone. I am a woman stuck outside of a gated facility that has NO lights, pitch dark and Iโ€™m frightened. Also the police officer told me himself that I should call them the next morning and โ€œlet them have it. I told her I wonโ€™t remove my review to help her work โ€œperformanceโ€, which I took to mean her BONUS check would be affected by me leaving a bad review. Her response to me was to tell me that her boss knows everything and sat there with her during her phone call where she told me to remove my review so she could get a better performance score. She also told me she has tried time and time again to apologize and make my experience pleasant. In the same email she told me about a man named Dilraj who โ€œwho left his 6 month old BABY at home with his wife to drive to the property.โ€ And I found that comment about the baby to be not only laughable but asinine. REALLY? I felt like she was guilting me by saying he had to leave his 6 month old to come get me. He is a manager doing his job. I am sure he doesnโ€™t take his baby to work. And Iโ€™m sure Jillian doesnโ€™t take her daughter to work. I donโ€™t take my kids to work. No one does. That is how it is. I never complained to her about leaving my family to be stuck, nor did I say how when I went home my family was asleep. Because I never blamed her nor Public Storage for being stuck there. Because I know it was a mistake. When you are a manager you are responsible for unintended problems that arises. That is what Dilraj and Jillian Gonzalez signed up for.

She then told me she offered to pay for my Uber fare because she felt sorry for me, but she can tell that cannot turn my experience around. No you should offer because you are LEGALLY responsible for paying it. You are not doing me a favor. I sent my receipt to her MULTIPLE times with NO reimbursement. I have tried calling her, because I felt her emails to me were her self-serving way of telling her bosses what she did, instead of conversing with me. She doesnโ€™t pick up. In fact she stopped communicating with me. Half her emails were also about how โ€œmy boss knows everythingโ€ โ€œI am forwarding this to my bossโ€. Which tells me she never meant to pay me back in the first place. Her whole purpose in contacting me, which she admitted to when she first contacted me TWO days after the incident, was to make sure I remove my review, for her to get a lucrative payday. When I didnโ€™t her boss and her obviously came up with a plan to ignore me, because they were going to lose money due to a bad performance review. Jillian Gonzalez knows better. She worked at Target as a team leader for 3 years after working there for another 4 years, and knows customer service. Iโ€™m sure having a degree in English from Stony Brook University didnโ€™t help much but she has worked in customer service enough to know that you donโ€™t dodge a customer for 7 months. I didnโ€™t know how to go about it because it was obvious she was upset, but why should I remove a review for a woman who did nothing but SCOLD me about someone leaving their BABY at home to take care of a customer who was stuck at a place for 3 hours at night? Having been a manager before. I would have made it right with my customer. And made sure to follow up. She hasnโ€™t contacted me, but I have made attempts to contact her. To me she is retaliating by ignoring me.

Please do not use this company. Jillian Gonzalez is a horrible District manager and the worst manager of ANY company I have ever dealt with. When I left public storage, my items had water damage ALL over them and also water was all over my items. And there are BUGS. I called them about that several times, and they never pick up. Public storage directs phone calls by if you are a current renter or not. If you are not people will pick up, if you are good luck getting someone. Once you are a customer they donโ€™t care. Jillian needs more training in being a manager. She has failed big time.

Reason of review: Poor customer service.

Preferred solution: Full refund.

Public Storage Cons: Jillians attitude, Cistume, Paying for my property to get destroyed, Poor customer service.

Location: Fairfax, Virginia

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Guest

Wow. Sounds like a horrible experience! Iโ€™ll never use them!

Guest

I can't possibly read such a long post in its entirety. Ma used to lock us in our rooms longer than your stated stay at the facility and we survived. Of course we let the county pay for the burial.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1617230

Our mother locked us out of the house. Same thing I guess, in reverse. But that old battle-axe will never die.

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