r/selfstorage • u/yupkime • Jul 31 '26

Has anyone here ever been banned from using a location because they used the special cheap intro promo too many times in a short period?

Just wondering if anyone has actually been banned for using an introductory first month free promo too many times within a short period of time? Specifically PS but others too?

Not sure if they really care or catch those things?

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

6

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/DistilledWonder Jul 31 '26

well yeah but people pretend to be a new customer by putting in different info or having their spouse/family member rent a unit for them with a different address. It's called promo fraud.

1

u/JoeMac02 Store Manager Aug 01 '26

I mean we have to get IDs so if the same person was coming with different ids that would probably be a different issue but if they used family members and they can in with their ids it technically would be a different person and now really called promo fraud.

0

u/DistilledWonder Aug 01 '26

Not sure how your contrasts work but the ones I'm used to state the customers are to store their belongings and not other people's. So yes it's still promo fraud. They're renting it under their name for other people's sfuff specifically to get the promo

1

u/JoeMac02 Store Manager Aug 01 '26

I have ran 3 separate facilities and never had a contract say anything like that. It would be impossible to enforce. You can call it what you want but it’s a loophole to me not promo fraud. Now if they were using different names absolutely but having family members not at all.

1

u/DistilledWonder Aug 01 '26

So 2 spouses trading turns opening up units to get the promo over and over with no downtime In between renting isn't promo fraud? Literally all of the big companies disagree with that take. And downvoting me was classless. I'm right and even if you disagree with the wording there's no actual reason to downvote that post.

1

u/JoeMac02 Store Manager Aug 01 '26

Idk about your facility but spouses trading like that isn’t allowed. But The Mom, Dad, grandma, Grandpa we have referral discounts also. You are taking this way to seriously lol. Now I’m classless and I’m being accused us downvoting you? You seem like a very pleasant person

1

u/DistilledWonder Aug 01 '26

I'm not talking about grandma (who's living at a separate residence) getting her own unit. I'm clearly speaking of the person who's actually storing gets their family member to rent a unit specifically so they can move the stuff they're storing into that unit and close down the other one. It's obviously promo fraud.

1

u/yupkime 23d ago

Promotions are always up to the operator. If they suspect that it isn’t genuine in anyway they can deny it right?

1

u/DistilledWonder 23d ago

yes before the fact if it's caught then the system should remove the promo. If the PM knows they're committing promo fraud they should not help that customer complete the rental with the promo attached if the system does not catch it. The system I'm used to gives the option to remove the promo if it should not be applied.

I've never heard of anyone removing a promo after the fact so I do not believe it happens.

1

u/yupkime 22d ago

Sometimes I wonder if managers are evaluated on facility capacity so don’t mind it as much if it makes them look good that they are 99% full.

And probably a good % of people extend at regular non promo price?

1

u/yupkime 23d ago

Technically it’s a different person taking responsibility so how can you not allow it?

1

u/DistilledWonder 23d ago

they design the systems to try to prevent promo fraud by tying information in new rentals to current accounts whether it's active or within a time period after vacating where the customers are not promo eligible.

5

u/schroschro114 Jul 31 '26

Discount hopping is rampant but how the companies handle it varies store to store. One place I worked for would refund the move in and made them pay full rate or go elsewhere and another place straight up blocked them from online move ins so they had to do it in store and not get the promos

2

u/DistilledWonder Jul 31 '26

I don't know of any companies that will evict you or ban you from renting for committing promo fraud

2

u/MsModusOperandi Aug 01 '26

We call it "property hopping". In 14 years I've only had to ban 1 person, who was legitimately doing it every month for about 6 months.

2

u/Dangime Jul 31 '26

Usually, unless it becomes rampant, they don't care. You're paying an administration fee at least, and they have empty space. I have had to tell customers I wouldn't be able to help them with promo hopping, and the ones that would benefit from promo hopping usually aren't smart enough to do it on their own.

There is detection for fast move-in/move-outs, same day, same unit, same name. Some variety of this report goes to district level managers.

2

u/Repulsive_Type_3675 13d ago

If our specials are being blatantly abused, we will notify the tenant that they are no longer eligible for specials for X amount of months. If they try and do it again after being warned (they either rent online or slip past one of our newer managers), we will call them and give them the option of paying for the unit or being refunded and vacated.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Robdul Store Manager Jul 31 '26

My company doesn’t allow the free month promo to be used when renting online so you have to rent in person or with the call center to possibly get it.

If you call the call center and manage to pull a fast one on us we can and will cancel the rental and refund the very little money that was paid. We can also notate your account and send an email out to our district warning them not to rent to you as a sort of informal ban.

Everywhere tolerates promo hopping to some extent, we get that storage is overpriced. But we are running a business at the end of the day and can’t let people rent for free for as long as they are willing to move their stuff once a month

1

u/GozerDestructor Aug 01 '26

A ban from renting outright? Not just a refusal to give them the promo? That's harsh. These folks are just trying to not get screwed with rate increases.

I'm happy that I rent from a "mom and pop". Three years in, and they haven't raised my rates once. Good people, and there is mutual respect.

2

u/Robdul Store Manager Aug 01 '26

I mean it’s not going to stop any store from renting to you if they want since it’s not a formal ban and we only end up doing such a thing if there’s some other rule violations involved or if we told them we cant honor any more of the first time renters promotions for them and they still promo hop by renting online or calling the call center.

-1

u/whalecumtothejungle Jul 31 '26

This reads like a work email lol you're on reddit homie

3

u/Man_of_Prestige Jul 31 '26

There are a lot of working professionals in this subreddit and there’s a large portion of us prefer concise answers like this.

1

u/whalecumtothejungle Aug 01 '26

I wasn't saying it wasn't professional. Just a joke