DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. — A Douglasville self-storage facility mistakenly auctioned off the contents of a metro Atlanta woman’s storage unit.
Chloe Hunter was living temporarily out of state, caring for her ailing father when she got a call from the manager of the Public Storage in Douglasville, asking why she vacated her unit.
“She said, well your storage unit is completely empty,” Hunter told Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray.
Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray obtained Douglasville police body camera video after Hunter reported to police that there must have been a break-in.
In the video, you can hear the manager say, “We do a lock check because it was found vacated.”
You also hear the Douglasville police officer suggest that maybe the storage facility auctioned all of Hunter’s stuff off.
And it turns out that is what happened.
Everything in Hunter’s storage unit sold, by accident.
In Hunter’s records from Public Storage the store manager wrote that she “apologized to customer that the unit was mistakenly given away as the incorrect auction unit.”
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“The only thing that they said to me was, Oh, we apologize and that’s it. Like, my family and I lost everything. Everything, everything we own,” Hunter said.
Hunter had moved everything she owned, from furniture to designer clothes, into the storage unit when she went out of state to care for her ailing father.
But all Public Storage will pay is $5,000, the limit of the insurance.
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“The only thing that they said to me was, ‘Oh, we apologize.’ And that’s it. Like, my family and I lost everything. Everything. Everything we own,” Hunter said. “And it’s so sad. It really is so sad.”
Channel 2 Consumer Advisor Clark Howard said he’s not surprised.
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“The coverage offered by storage facilities is very poor,” Howard said. “Terrible for the money you pay per month.”
For several weeks, Gray and a Channel 2 Investigative producer have been trying to reach someone by phone and email. Employees asked Channel 2 Action News crews to leave the property.
“I had no other choice but to put my things in storage,” Hunter said. “Had I known thing, I’d never have selected that storage. Never.”
Howard said that just about all you can do in a case like this is find a lawyer willing to take your case.
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