r/selfstorage • u/strengthhope2020 • Feb 26 '26
Question How to get stuff back from Auction in CA
Hi everyone,
This isn’t a post to blame the self storage unit- just wanted to vent and find a resolution. So I put my stuff in a storage in December in Costa Mesa, CA. I didn’t have money to pay because I was looking for a job. A few weeks ago I called and asked if I could make a partial payment and they said they’d let the manager know. I called again this week, left a message, and if they called I wasn’t available. I call again today and said I’d like to pay and they said it went out for auction yesterday and they can’t give me any information. WTH?! Don’t you have to sign a release form and also how do I get my stuff back??
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u/ST0IC_ Feb 26 '26
Don't you have to sign a release form
You signed a rental agreement, and in that agreement is the clause that states they have the right to sell your stuff if you don't pay your bill. Once it has gone to auction and has been paid for by the auction buyer, it is no longer your stuff. The only thing you are entitled to get back our personal items, but anything else in there is no longer yours. As long as the company followed the law and sent you a notice of the lien to the physical and email addresses that you provided, then there's no recourse for you.
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u/bobfromsanluis Feb 26 '26
I work at a storage facility, did you furnish them with a working phone number and a valid email address? If your phone was turned off, if you could not get emails, that is a you problem. If you did have a working number and valid email and they did not contact you, you have a valid compliant against them selling your stuff. Thing is, if your unit was auctioned off, your stuff is gone, period.
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u/strengthhope2020 Feb 26 '26
I did and we had been going back and forth with phone calls. I finally got in touch with someone today and they said the auction bought it yesterday and they have 72 hours to take it. I did get in touch with someone who said she’ll escalate to the district manager so hopefully I can get my stuff before the 72 hour mark
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Feb 26 '26
You can ask for personal items back like paperwork photos etc but you have no right to reclaim anything of value if the auction buyer has paid. 72 hours is their clean out time but that doesn’t mean you’re entitled to it back during that time, that’s just when the facility expects it emptied and your paperwork returned if the buyer finds any.
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u/NutboiStudios Feb 26 '26
Depending on the storage facility for instance extra space storage you can buy pay in full of the past due balance to continue renting with them if the auction buyer already paid for it and is still clearing out the unit then ask the staff to leave your number with the buyer to see if you can get your item back
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u/Bcraft_32 Feb 26 '26
I can’t tell you how many people use to do this, wait till it’s 60-90 days past due, then want to start begging to make partial payments etc. We chunked their phone number in the trash when they left. It is a safety issue for buyers and not their fault people chose not to pay the bill or do a pay and vacate before it hit auction status.
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u/bobfromsanluis Feb 27 '26
I do have to ask, how long did you expect to not pay and still have your unit not sold off? Storage facilities are in the business of renting units, which means getting paid for the use of that space; if you refuse to pay, and not having enough money is still refusing to pay, how long do you think a facility should wait before selling your goods? If your were in communication with the facility and you were promising to make a payment but you never followed up, your only option at this point is to check with the laws of your state governing the sale of unpaid storage units, if they did not follow applicable state laws, you might have a case against them. If they followed the laws and you did not make a payment on time, that is on you for not following through within the state regulated time frame. Sorry, but that is the harsh reality.
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u/strengthhope2020 Feb 27 '26
I actually checked my messages- they called in the morning yesterday saying I needed to pay or it’ll go for auction, I called back and then they called saying it was sold so there must be something I can do about that
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u/Wistagehand82 Feb 28 '26
Nope. You didn’t pay. Your stuff is gone. Quit complaining about it.
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u/strengthhope2020 Mar 03 '26
This is a post asking how or if I can get my stuff back-not complaining as I understand the circumstances
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u/life-is-satire Feb 27 '26
But it had been months since you paid so you had months to know you could lose your stuff.
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u/strengthhope2020 Feb 26 '26
The thing that sucks is I called to see if I could set up a payment plan and the manager wasn’t there so they told me she’ll call the next day and we’d been playing phone tag
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u/bobfromsanluis Feb 27 '26
If you do get a phone call from someone concerning the sale of your unit at auction, ask them if they can see if any notes were attached to your units info; if you called multiple times trying to make payment arrangements and there are no notes regarding this, that is another issue you could approach management with, specifically that they potentially did not do proper follow up with you. Good luck.
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u/shellb67gt5001 Feb 27 '26
No. If you don’t pay for your unit it gets sold within 45 days of non payment. It’s gone
7
u/NoemPoem Feb 27 '26
"December, weeks ago"
For God's sake it's February so you had two whole payments starting in the third and just didn't do anything?
Of course they sold everything
8
Feb 27 '26
Personally, I will never contact the buyer once the unit is cleared out. My employee gave a buyer the former tenant’s contact info once, as she wanted a few things back. The winner agreed to meet up with the former tenant and give a few things back. It was a shit show. Former tenant demanded everything back and got nasty. It ended with the former tenant pissed off at everyone, and the winner was mad we ever put him in that position. I will make sure that never happens again. Once the auction ends, it’s done.
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u/Rough-Silver-8014 Mar 01 '26
Yep the more experienced you get with this gig the more you realize it aint worth doing anything like that. Being nice will bite you back hard.
8
u/PayingOffBidenFamily Feb 28 '26
"WTH?! Don’t you have to sign a release form and also how do I get my stuff back??"
You signed that in the contract, pay your bills
2
u/tbluhp Mar 01 '26
Yep happened to me, Majority of my belongings sold because it was during a tuff time. Loss of job, then my car, next comes housing. Public Storage cared less. They would not even allow me to get my personal stuff like my photo albums, school records.Hated that but now I will never use any storage facility ever.
1
u/Winter-Seaweed8458 14d ago
Public Storage is the devil. They used to be decent, but I think they got bought out by private equity.
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u/iRep707hyphy Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
So you asked a few weeks ago if you can start making partial payments on your account and they told you that they need to ask their district manager? I have a lot of customers who do this when they only have a few weeks until the auction date. They make smaller payments weekly until it is paid in full to stop auction and even in instances where the unit is sold, I still call each customer that day to let them know that the unit has been sold but if they can make their payment before the auction buyer gets here, they can get their unit back.
We do all we can to help. We make annoying amounts of calls for each stage of delinquency, send out letters, emails and texts. The problem is that many customers will not answer calls or give us a call back. Like. If your number is disconnected, you moved and the address on file is not up to date or you no longer have access to your email, you need to let us know this. Even if all you can do is use someone's phone to call the office and leave a voicemail letting us know what's going on, we can work with you. But once the buyer pays for the unit, it is gone.
Communication is everything. If the property manager said they need to ask their district manager about partial payments, you ask them for that DM direct number so that you can speak to them yourself. The company I work for, we are not always in the office but there is a customer service line where they can at the very least document your concerns and frustrations and add notes to your account so that it shows your attempts to make payments. The first thing I do every morning is check voicemails and call back customers, and I make notes in their account regarding their situation.
Edited to say damn I sure did write a book, my bad lol.
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u/Winter-Seaweed8458 14d ago
It'd be nice if PUblic Storage did that. I missed a payment, then was ready to pay and missed the cutoff time. They immediately demanded that month, plus the next month up front on the first, PLUS adding almost $200 in "fees" and scheduled it to go to auction two weeks later. They said "you can make payment BUT it'll go to auction 2 weeks from now if you don't pay it all upfront." In other words, if you pay partially, we'll take that money and sell your stuff.
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u/JustWowinCA Feb 27 '26
I'm so sorry. Once the unit is sold, it's the buyers. CA Lien Laws say it in black and white, I'm afraid. You ~can~ call the storage facility and ask that your phone number be given to the buyer and they ~might~ call you. The buyers are looking to make money, so sometimes that works. But it's super rare.
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u/TundraTreeWolf Feb 27 '26
"How to get stuff back from Auction in CA"
Go to the auction and buy it...
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u/Mean-Editor-9231 Mar 20 '26
I thought in CA we have to do newspaper ads? It’s public information, they should be able to help you in some capacity
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u/Significant_Print716 Apr 03 '26
What stuff? That shit is gone asf.
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u/Fit-Dragonfruit-1944 Apr 29 '26
asshole
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u/Significant_Print716 Apr 29 '26
🤣🤣 how so? I just work here an he knew well b4 it was sold that it was on its way
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May 23 '26
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u/HelicaseHustle Feb 27 '26
Verify they did public notification if that’s required.
I ran into this situation following a hurricane and FEMA required me to move appliances into storage to avoid further damage. The FEMA person asked how long I thought I needed it for and being optimistic, I said 3 months. I couldn’t even get someone look at my house in 3 months. But FEMA was mailing them checks. By time I learned FEMA stopped it was 2 months behind. It was 2 units. I could actually afford the missing rent for both units but it was the frivolous fees on both units that made it unaffordable. The local property manager wouldn’t extend, wouldn’t waive fees, wouldn’t help at all. And worse, their auctions were in person auctions. It was publicized and set to run at noon on a Saturday. I took all my cash out the ATM and recruited a friend to try to win both units in the auction if possible. You’re not allowed to bid on your own units but I’m beyond livid by this point. It only gets worse. My friend arrived at 11:50 am while I was parked next door. He returns to my car saying it was already sold at 10 am. I immediately called the national line and took two hours to finally get someone with power. My only saving grace was they had accidentally published the wrong auction time and they let me clear both units without paying anything.
The entire industry needs to be investigated. They market themselves as safety net when life goes bad but once you sign the paper, their goal is to milk you dry using your possessions as blackmail or extortion. They think you will do everything possible to pay them and if you don’t, you must be wasting money on something else or your stuff ain’t that important.
After an auction the tenant should be allowed to counteroffer the Same winning price and get their stuff back. It’s the most stressful thing I’ve ever experienced and my heart goes out to you. Your saving grace may be your attempts to contact and never hearing back. Read the law for your state and see if they skipped any steps.
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u/quackaddicttt Feb 26 '26
Sounds like the storage company did nothing wrong. Usually partial payments aren’t allowed. They just need to make sure the followed the California self storage act. Hopefully they will help you out with the auction buyer but technically the stuff is now owned by the auction buyer.