Hampshire Self Storage Rents Out Customer Parking - BITTER

If you ever had to load or unload anything from a door into a car (or vice versa) you understand that the closer the car is to the door, the better. And so starts the story of Hampshire Self Storage.

There are numerous entrances to the storage building so that you can enter as close to your individual unit as possible. Parking spaces line almost the entire outside of the building for customer convenience.

Unfortunately, somebody decided to start renting out the parking spaces without really considering the impact on the customers who actually have storage units. Today, I saw boats on trailers, snow plowing vehicles, commercial vehicle like plumbers vans, and numerous race team trailers and pickup trucks. These vehicles are all parked in the spaces closest to the entrances. While there are, in fact a few numbered spaces on one side of the lot, Hampshire has decided that there is more money to be made.

I actually have no problem with that. I just want them to do it in a way that has the least impact on customers. I went into the office and spoke with someone who was working. I asked if, as a courtesy to the customers, they could get the owners of these vehicles to park them in the spaces furthest from the doors. The response I got was very casual. "The thing is, there are no numbers on the spaces and these guys bring the vehicles in at night, so there's nothing we can do."

I couldn't believe what a defeatist attitude this was. Sure there is something that can be done. Paint enough numbers on enough spaces to allocate an assigned space to each person renting a parking space. Problem solved with about $10 worth of paint and a brush. Instead, they end up annoying the regular customers who actually have a need for those particular spaces near the door, some of which, like me, have been customers for almost 10 years spending thousands of dollars with them.

I know that the average person doesn't really feel empowered at work, but with at least 3 rival storage facilities within 5 miles, I would think that Hampshire would be more customer friendly.

I won't even get into the story about how I discovered that the prices on the units had been lowered only to be told that the onus is on the customer to find that info out and have their rental rate changed....

Hampshire Self Storage, for not caring enough to manage your parking lots properly, you get a BITTER.