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Pointers on achieving  the most for your self storage dollar!

  • Comments are Closed Blog April 16, 2019

Before we address price/promotions, we would like to address our five star service and just being a good neighbor. Storage facilities have a sliding late fee that charges on the 11th day of the rent being late. These fees can be expensive and irritating. El Camino Self Storage has a policy where we will waive your one month late fee one time only if you make a request to have the fee waived while making your payment. We know of no other competitor in Santa Clara who makes this offer.

Some of our large competitors offers a low price online which does not include any free or partially free months.  The same competitors offer much higher in store prices and will then give you the one month free. Bottomline is you are not getting the deal you think you are! Once they have you at their facility, they know it is a hassle to keep looking or at worse you believe all self storage facilities have the same rates. This is not true. It pays to compare pricing as well as their terms.

El Camino Self Storage offers the same great promotions on line or if you rent at our facility. We offer 50%   off our published standardized rates for the first 3 full months. Many times our 50% off rate is half the price of our competitors special rate. No one offers better terms. Many new customers believed our promotions were a scam … that is until they came in and discovered our promotions were legitimate.

Most competitors will not guarantee your contract rate in writing after the first month. It is not usual for the customer to receive several increases in their unit rate over the year. Most contracts state, “rates are subject to change.” This usually guarantees rate increases soon after you move it. Many competitors rely on customers not wanting to go through the hassle of finding a new facility and the hassle of relocating their belongings after they receive a rate increase. Most customers will move out only after they have received multiple rate increases over the year.

El Camino Self Storage states in writing on their website that your standardized rate will not be increased for your first 6 months and the reality is we make every effort to maintain your rates for a full year.

Ask if you can look at the all units available in your desired size/location (floor) and then choose the unit you want.  Most competitors when advertising low rates will assign you their least desirable unit. They won’t allow you choose from available sizes. This is usually due to the unit’s location. Their best locations usually fetch premium rates.  Many facilities state their special is only for “select” units, not for multiple unit rentals, only one special per household or only for new customers. 

El Camino Self Storage near you allows the customer to choose from any of the available units in the size and floor from which you are renting. We allow our customers to use special pricing for more than one rental and for additional rentals while the promotions are being offered.  We do not allow tenants to unit hop. That is taking advantage of a special, moving out and then re renting or renting a second unit when your special ends and then moving out of your first unit so as to perpetuate the special.

Compare the square footage to unit pricing. You do this by dividing the monthly unit cost by your unit’s square footage to obtain your approximate cost per square foot. 

Comparing the monthly rate divided by the square footage will tell you what you are paying per square foot. You must compare units on like floors as generally the first floor units usually rent for more then second floor units. If you are in doubt, contact us and we will compare the numbers for you.

Security …..  Inquire about the number of unit break ins over the last year.  Inquire into how many cameras they have and are they high definition cameras. Cheap cameras usually don’t provide the required details to make positive identification for the police to take action.  Ask if they have security patrols after hours. Ask if their cameras record 24/7 and for how many days are the recordings retained.

El Camino Self Storage takes security very seriously. We have many times more HD cameras than any of our competitors in Santa Clara. We hold the recordings for approximately 30 days. We have a security person who visit the property at various times when the facility is open for access and the office is closed.

Verify the hours in which you can access your unit. Different facilities have different access hours.

El Camino Self Storage Memorex Dr.  facility allows you to access your unit 7 days a week, 365 days a year from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM. This excludes emergencies like power outages, etc.

El Camino Self Storage De La Cruz Blvd. facility allows you to access your unit 7 days a week, 365 days a year from 6:00 AM to 12:00 AM. We believe the access hours at DLC are the longest available access hours in the City of Santa Clara. This excludes emergencies like power outages, etc.

Inquire as the weather the facility has on site a highly visible blue light emergency phone so as to help inform the police or fire quickly in the case of an emergency.

El Camino Self Storage believes in promoting safety and security. Each of our facilities have a blue lighted emergency call station to help summon emergency police and fire services.

Inquire if they will guarantee to beat any locally advertised competitors pricing in the same city. 

When initially renting a storage unit we guarantee the best promotions in the City of Santa Clara. If you find a better advertised promotion and we have that size unit available, let us know. We will make it right.

Inquire if the facility has a Kiosk? Kiosk’s allows you (weather the office is open or closed) to make payments, rent units and purchase locks if you so choose.

Both El Camino Self Storage facilities have top of the line Kiosk’s which includes a live agent call button to help answer any of your question’s  related to the Kiosk operation.

El Camino Self Storage has other payment options, these include mailing payment, call in option, Kiosk, online options, in person, drop box and website.

 

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