After a fire devastated our church, we decided to use Public Storage in Burtonsville, as it was…read morereasonably convenient for grabbing items from storage when needed. However, their pricing model borders on predatory. We just received notice that our price will increase for the third time in a year. We moved units last time, to try to quell the increase, but the increase still came. This time, a 40% increase. 40%! That's about what it was last time as well. We'll be looking to move away from PS, and my goal is to warn people that unless you're using it as transitional storage for only a few months, be ready for some SERIOUS price increases! It is climate-controlled, which is nice, and the location is convenient, but it's not worth the exorbitant increases.

I visited at least 4 public storage locations in the DM area. At 4001, Ashley and Angelica were the…read moreonly employees that regarded my items as their items. And gave me the assurances that if they are there and have anything to do with my items in their locations it would be safe. And the environment will be clean and secured. Ashley even checked me when I suggested something in my view as small but her view NOT considered. They care. If you want people to care for your items like that are their own. This is the location to go. I am a very particular person with my items.

Very mean business to the other community businesses…read more There was a massive shutdown of route 29 today. Access to a very large and reputable daycare/summer camp could not be accessed for parents to pick up their young ones. The closest parking was ezStorage. When parents started parking there and then walking to get their young children, the ezStorage decided to start having cars towed. They didn't even care about children being left into late hours from their parents. What kind of business does not help fellow businesses in the same community. If anything if would give ezStorage free marketing. Dumb move. Please avoid. Immoral business management.

My husband and I rented a unit with the intent of only having it for 3 months. Unfortunately, our…read morecontractor went under and we had to pick up all the pieces, which means we had our unit for nearly 4 years! We signed a paper contract when they dropped off the unit, although I don't really remember signing a contract. But then 3.5 years later, they sent us a digital contract and asked us to sign it. But because I don't remember the paper contract, I refused to sign the digital contract. Even though we were paying every month on time for the last four years, they refused to give us one more month with the unit because we refused to sign the contract. Additionally, after returning the unit, my credit card was charged two months in a row, and I had to call the company to get a refund on my credit card. I would recommend the business because the delivery and pickup of the unit was simple. But everything else involved with renting this unit, I don't recommend.

My moving experience was amazing due to American Portable Storage!! Their communication is…read moreimpeccable and they were prompt and friendly and very reasonably priced. Highly recommend!!

Be aware of the following (long term renter). Owner says he can't (won't) negotiate…read more 1. Changing Prices National self-storage companies use a system called "revenue management" to set their prices. At the national storage conventions, owners take classes about how to use this software to increase revenue by raising prices on customers. What is revenue management? This practice is what airlines and hotels use when they quote you a different rate for the same flight or room based on demand. Big storage companies do the same thing, reassessing their prices hourly. This means if they only have one 10 x 10 unit at the moment you check, it might be priced at $200 a month (compared to $100 last week). You can get the same unit at a company that is not using this software for much less. Why are they doing this? To make sure they are charging you the highest price they can get away with to maximize their revenue. 2. Increasing Rent All the Time When you sign a contract with one of these companies, you think that you've locked in a price for the rest of your lease, right? Not true. Almost all contracts in the self-storage industry are month-to-month. This means they can increase your rent at any time with a 30-day notice. National companies increase rent for current customers frequently, oftentimes twice a year. So, a unit you thought would be $70 per month suddenly costs you $115 per month. If you stay a year with that new rate, you'll be dishing out an extra $540 you hadn't budgeted for originally. 3. Charging High Fees National self-storage companies often reel you in with attractive pricing or a special but get you with fees. You may think you're paying only $70 per month, but wait, there's more: Admin fee ($20-$30) Lock charge ($20-$30) Late fees ($50-$60 for more than 30 days late) Deposit fee ($25-$45) Those fees add up, especially if you stay in your unit for a long time. Your bill inevitably ends up being much larger than you initially planned. 4. Ripping You Off with Insurance The big storage companies try to squeeze every possible penny out of you. One of the ways they do this is by requiring you to buy their storage insurance. While it seems like it adds value for customers, storage insurance is just an additional revenue stream for storage companies. Often, the insurance provider is the self-storage company. Other times, it's a third-party provider that gives the storage company a monthly kickback for selling policies. Public Storage automatically enrolls you in its insurance program, and you have to opt-out later to get out of it. They don't even offer good coverage. When you try to make a claim, you'll find the policy is selective in what it covers. Storage insurance is just an easy way for national storage chains to make an extra $15 to $25 per month from you. In fact, most renters have homeowners or renters' insurance that automatically covers items they've put in storage without additional cost. Our experience in managing 5,000 storage units is that it is very rare -- under 1% -- for something to happen that affects the contents of a storage unit. If you wrap your furniture in thick plastic wrap available on Amazon, and pack all your other items in plastic crates with tight lids, you will avoid almost all of the possible incidents that can affect your contents. That effort would eliminate rodent damage, mildew, and water damage, plus protect against absorbing the smell of the unit. The only thing left that could happen is theft. You have dropped your risk to .1%. Let's look at what would happen if you somehow incurred a loss: If you buy their insurance and stay for two years paying $25 extra a month, and if their policy covers the damage you incur, you have paid $600 for the insurance plus the $100 deductible. So you would have to experience over $700 in damage for it to help you. Do yourself a favor and spend $100 on packing supplies and rely on your homeowners or renters policy. 5. Making You Buy Their Expensive Lock Unfortunately, most national storage companies require you to buy their lock for $15-$20 (or more) instead of providing one to you free of charge. You can get the same lock at the local hardware store for $6.

So easy to register online. Spotless 5x7x8 unit, perfect for OOS student at UMD-CP to store larger…read moreitems for summer. Made our end of year move so much easier! Thank you!

Although customer service experience at the location has been pleasant, the overall experience…read moredealing with this company has been detrimental due to their abusive corporate decisions. In the course of 2 years, company decided to raise my agreed rental rate 3 times for up to 50% more than initially agreed. After confronting the manager, I was told this is out of their hands since corporate decides when and how much the rental increases occur. Instead of moving my business elsewhere, manager offered a smaller unit at a much lesser rate, taking into account that "rate will not increase for at least a year and even if it does, increase will be marginal". Trusting this company I decided to go ahead with the downgrade. To my surprise, less than 4 months later I receive ANOTHER RATE INCREASE NOTICE!! This time the increase would be for more than 50% starting next month. This increase like all the others happen for NO JUSTIFIABLE reason. As expressed by many others, this company has a long history of PREDATORY BILLING PRACTICES. They purposely wait for you to be settled with your storage to increase your rates, not by a marginal amount but increases of over 50% of your agreed rental agreement. I appealed this with their superiors in writing but they failed to even respond. I am now in the process of starting to take legal action against this company and needless to say I recommend everyone to stay away from this corporation completely!

This place is garbage. First the pics are fake on Yelp. It is far from clean. It's completely nasty…read moreand disgusting. They increase the rent by 40% every 4 months. They tell you to move to a bigger unit to lower rent then 4 months later it is increased. The elevators work occasionally. The temperature control doesn't work. It's very dim in the building in certain areas. There is never carts available and trash is always lying around. I wouldn't waste my time or money. They make the front lobby look nice but the rest of the area is nasty and outdated. It's not a safe area. Pick a newer storage place. There are so many nearby.

I moved this past weekend and hired Bookstore Movers for the job. I can honestly say I was blown…read moreaway by the professionalism, efficiency, and expertise of the moving crew. I worked with a different moving company 2 years ago that left me scarred for life with how rude and unprofessional they were. I ended up having to finish the job myself (moving my giant couch up four flights of stairs), so when I knew I was moving again, I did my due diligence and sought out a few quotes. Another company quoted me almost $800 and required a 3 hour minimum for the job!! $800 seemed steep and I knew the job wouldn't take that long... Along came Bookstore Movers who quoted me a reasonable $470 minimum for two hours of work and a maximum of $680 for 3.5 hours of work (price breakdown: $140 per hour with 2 hour min. plus a $190 truck fee). I received a quote within a few hours of requesting it. There was no deposit required and the date was booked. I received detailed emails leading up to the move about FAQs, tips for a seamless move, and the names of my crew including contact info for the crew lead. Abdul (crew lead), Niiwayo "Y.O", and Milly were SO fast and friendly. They wrapped every single item with care in drop cloths and got to moving immediately. Despite the 90 degree heat and a total of five flights of stairs, the job was finished in 2 hours. I was SO impressed. I was so traumatized by my last move that I literally had to walk away while they moved the couch in but before I knew it, I got a text from my boyfriend telling me they had fit it through the door and our living room was all set up. I was so relieved and happy to work with them. If and when we move again, (hopefully not anytime soon, lol), I will 100% be contacting Bookstore Movers... and you should too!

We had a great experience with Bookstore Movers. Responsive and friendly staff. They took GREAT…read morecare of our stuff. Arrived at our new place on time. A great experience over all!

I was renting from them, but I started off paying in the 100's and every august or anniversary date…read moreit would increased to where I was paying $300's. Glad I'm out

The staff is friendly and extremely helpful. Even though I only needed storage for 4.5 months, the…read moreexperience was pleasant. I especially like the fact that the units are inside and you can drive your car within the storage facilities. Never had any issues with rodents and it was always clean. Would definitely use them again if I needed storage.

I was happy with the kind, fast and helpful service I received from the storage manager Bryan…read more Thank you and keep up the good work.

I showed up to pay my storage at 5:25 pm because the office hours online and the office hours on…read morethe door say 6pm. Granted my storage facility is on Fenton in Downtown Silver Spring, but I've been told that I can pay at any public storage location. I went to this location because I knew that I couldn't make it to the one in downtown before they closed at 6pm. This location had a sign that said the manager would be back at 5:55pm so I waited and no one showed. The lights shut off at 5:50 and I thought someone was playing a prank on me until I finally decided that this place had been abandoned and wasn't even open for business during it's stated business hours.

From my experience so far with this contee road branch, I'll recommend Public Storage to anyone…read moreseeking a safe stash away for their stuff. Martha was amazingly helpful, the facility was always clean and serene (rather than spooky). Irrespective of cost, the value of anything is in the quality of its production. The service here gets an A from me (being modest).

Extremely friendly and they even remember who you are. Professional and courteous which is hard to…read morefind these days in customer service. Crystal is amazing don't get rid of her! Thank you

I'm having trouble finding the right words to describe our experience with Potomac Moving Company,…read morebut "amazing" and "game changers" come to mind. This was an interstate move (DC to PA) in less-than-ideal conditions (we had to move an adult family member out of the apartment). The crew, Roberto and Harry, were empathetic, caring, and incredibly efficient with packing, loading, and unloading the one-bedroom apartment. I spent the day worrying (needlessly) that the storage unit I had rented was too small. The crew fit all of the items neatly and safely into a 5x10' unit with room to spare. I've never seen anything like it. I also want to give kudos to the front office. They were the first company to respond to my inquiry, answered all of my questions patiently, and kept us informed about when the crew was arriving. The value that we received for the price was off the charts. Put Potomac Moving Company at the top of your list. I would not hesitate to call them again for a move if the need arose.

PMC was invaluable for my move from one Arlington neighborhood to another. They worked hard, were…read moreprofessional and took good care of our belongings. Roberto was our crew lead and he was a great communicator and team leader. I was so comforted by their approach and impressed by their focus. I would recommend them without hesitation and will gladly call them on future moves. Andy M. Arlington, VA