Hey guys… As many of you know I’ve been spending a lot of time over at the Trains forum and haven’t really participated in any discussions over here in a while. That’s not to imply that I’m not interested in model railroading anymore… I am. It’s just that the railfanning bug has gotten me good. I have a good camera, radio scanner and a wireless laptop with ATCS Monitor that I use trackside to monitor trains on the line. I’ve been having so much fun and since I don’t have money or a place for a layout my HO model trains are all boxed up.
This is where I vent…
I got a call from Public Storage, where I have things stored. Apparently there was a break-in last night and my unit was one of the affected. Whoever it was cut a hole in the fence, disabled the cameras and broke into seventy five units located in the center of the compound. SEVENTY FIVE UNITS!!! According to the property manager the thugs entered on foot; no vehicle. They (I’m assuming there was more than one person involved) then proceeded to pop the locks on an entire row consisting of 75 individual storage units and managed to steal items from each of them, shuttling the loot back and forth through the fence, I’m sure.
The good news is that the last time I was there I removed my three BLI/QSI locomotives and all my cars to have them with me at home. Something told me to take them with me. My unit is over 100 miles from where I live, but, that’s a story for another day (I was going to move, but didn’t). They didn’t get my trains, which is good. The bad news is those @#$!$ stole my Dremel, jig saw, sander, cordless drill and all of my power tools. I’m mad! But what
I really hate thievies, be sure to check the contract with the storage company to see if they are liable. This looks like an inside job. If they have time to hit 75 units then they have alot of time and alot of people. I find it strange the security system was disabled and the security company did not react once it went down. Seems all to easy. Sorry for your loss, I am glad you have your engines though.
I bet that if you get your contract out and read it you will find that you agreed that they were not responsible when you rented it.
If they were able to bypass all the security, I would start my search among people who have recently worked for either the storage facility or the company that maintains the security system. If you have a way, like serial numbers, to positively identify your stuff, check the pawn shops and yard sales near the facility.
Insurance would be a good investment.
A law suit against the facility might cause them to make you a settlement offer just to avoid the bad publicity of seeing the insecurity of their storage facility on the front page. Picture the headline: 75 former customers file claims against (storage facility name here) in small claims court for failing to provide reasonable security. It’s unlikely that you can win, but it doesn’t cost much to try.
Have you considered submitting a guest editorial to the local paper where they are located, asking what, exactly, they are offering if not a secure environment for your “stuff”.
Any one with lots of trains or other valuable stuff other than the most measly amount of household goods should have renter’s insurance. In most cases and especially if you requested they cover stored goods, you’d have been covered.
It does sound suspiciously like an inside job. 75 units worth of goods had to have been hauled away in something other than someone’s arms.
Your only other recourse sound like a class action or joint suit with the others affected against the management. Whatever they told you about liability, you’ll most likely have a hard time prevailing based on what I’ve heard about the contractual language at most such places.
Good luck and count you’re lucky starts you had a hunch that you needed some of your trains close.
Definitely has the delicate aroma of an inside job —
Check your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance. Mine covers a reasonable quantity of personal property in extended off-site storage. Yours might, also.
If you have any back yard space and it’s relatively secure, one of those inexpensive outdoor storage lockers could prove to be a good investment. I had been using off-site storage. When I got notification of a 15% increase in rent I priced several storage options. The assemble-it-yourself locker I bought from a home improvement center paid for itself in less than five months. Not only that, but it’s right outside the master bedroom window. Add in the home-brew door alarm I assembled from twenty bucks worth of odd parts…
The bad news is that big sign - The management assumes no responsibility for loss or damage to property stored in this facility. Courts have usually found it convincing. It hit me some years ago when the facility roof failed under a heavy rain and released a cascade into my unit. The managers didn’t even bother to notify me…
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - and storing everything at home)
I’ll ad my voice to the inside job theory. I’ll bet all that stuff was put into a van and driven out the front gate and the hole in the fence was a decoy. I remember the cops busting quite a few managers of those places for theft when I lived in FL.
Did it happen late on a Sat or Sun night by any chance?? (less traffic)
I’ve heard more than one attorney say that signs posted at a place of business saying something like: “xyz company is not responsible for …blah, blah, blah” are not worth the paper they are written on. Something about one not being able to sign away their own negligence…but, I’m not a lawyer!!! [%-)]
I would certainly try to pursue some kind of action against them…Good Luck!
Your right that the sign serves only to keep people from filing a claim. It has no contractual authority, but like I said before, if you read your contract I bet you specifically waived any right to claim, and probably assumed liability to them if something in your unit caused damage to their property or other clients’ property.
I prefer a building on my own property, but recognize that is not possible for all people in all circumstances.
Most of these storage companies have rammed laws through in every state by hiring some high-powered lobbyists, saying that they are not responsible for any loss you might suffer.
When you rent space from them, most don’t even have working security cameras, and anyone who has ever rented a unit since day one knows the entry gate pass code because they never change them.
My son has had items stolen out of storage facilities in two different locations and both said that it takes a court order to review the security camera tapes, provided they have operational cameras. Most don’t. One of the facilities told him that the cameras were not real.
I got renter’s insurance for 100k for a “garage” type unit and a pair of mobile units all for $18 per month. Also check with your homeowner’s insurance (if you own, of course) it may be covered.
I always go for the places where the manager/franchisee lives on site.
A lot of the security cameras out there are either placebo’s or connected to third party monitoring.
75 units was an all-night affair. Maybe the facility had painters or roofers working for them, not necessarily one of their own employees who told their friends, etc. Nobody breaks into anything unless they know there’s a prize inside, good luck.
You may want to check with the others that had stuff stolen. More than likely, the thieves had very specific units targeted, many contrators keep high value stuff in places like this (some even work out of the units). They just hit the other units to make it hard to detect what they were really targeting. Of course they stuff they were getting to cover their intentions will still get them some cold hard cash.
Ted, sorry to hear about your loss. I’ll agree with most here in saying that the job seems to have been performed by “inside” men.
As far as insurance goes, I happen to be renting a unit from Public Storage and they required me to get insurance when I signed the contract. I’m surprised that they didn’t make it a requirement for you as well. I’ve been considering getting a storage unit elsewhere since I’m not too happy with how PS runs their business. The unit I have is one of those “climate controlled” ones and every time I go check up on my stuff (once a month), it’s always hot inside the building as if the A/C is never on, or one of the two elevators isn’t working (I have a 3rd floor unit), or one of the gates is open. I’ve brought it to their attention before, but they always give the “we’re working on it” rap. For what I’m paying, the property should be better managed and taken care of. Again, sorry for your loss and hopefully you can work something out or at least the criminals get caught.
A general piece of advice is to use an alarm- I used to work for a while as a security consultant so I’ll might be damaged by that but an alarm is a cheap investment that works to keep thief’s away.
Before I put anything in my train room I put in an alarm. If someone goes there while I’m not at home or while I’m sleeping I will know about it. And, my gun armed neighbours will be stopping by in about 3-5 minutes as well. Nothing beats that.
The there is of course the 90 pound German shepherd to negotiate entry with before even entering the area where the train house is.
Sorry to hear about your loss and as others say, insurance is apparently part of the cost of storing. I’m not a lawyer, but maybe you could sue for breach of contract - failure to proivde adequate security which by having cameras was at least an implied part of the deal.
Allow me to add my [2c] to this discussion. My father taught me about the importance of insurance, unfortunately, not in life, but in his death. When he died, he had enough insurance to ensure that my mother would be well taken care of, especially mortgagor’s insurance: the house was paid for on his death. With that being said, I encourage all of you to:
Check with your insurance company about out of home storage.
If you rent, BUY renter’s insurance that has a “collectibles clause”. It’s a small price to pay for a little piece of mind.
List ALL of your model railroad equipment for insurance purposes. There’s a program called RRTrains, that allows you to list ALL of your inventory. It’s downloadable at RRTrains
Engrave all of your tools with your phone number so it can aid police in the retrieval of your property. They used to suggest your SSN, but I’m not sure about that anymore.
When checking out storage companies, and it may cost a little more, check to see if they do background checks on their employees. Ones that bond their employees are probably the best ones.
And yes, this DOES sound like in inside job. I hope they catch the thieves and they are drawn and quartered. And the fact that 75 units were broken into, points to a point made in a previous post, that the hole in the fence was probably a diversion. They didn’t haul all that stuff through it.
Self appointed “experts” used to recommend engraving your SS number on your “stuff”, but police never did.
If you have found your missing item and need to prove that it is yours, the SS number will work, but if a Police officer finds it and needs to know to whom it belongs, the number is of no value. Social Security files are not a police searchable data base. The law creating Social Security specifically prohibited using the data base for that purpose since it is essentially a database of all residents. Back then they respected individual rights and privacy.
A few states used to use your SS number on your driver’s license, but the courts have since prohibited that.
Police advise you to engrave your driver’s license state and number. Any police officer anywhere can run that number and find your current name and address. That is your best chance of getting it back.
A lot of stolen items turn up at pawn shops, yard sales, and on E-Bay.
Such things happen here once in a while when the power goes out, rendering security systems worthless. Sometime items can be found at local pawn shops but usually the theives take items to pawn shops and/or flea markets out of state to make a clean sale. Things like tools and jewelry make for quick cash.