Storage facilities come in helpful in many instances. These include times when you are moving or just need temporary space for excess items lying around the house.
The security that comes with such facilities also gives people peace of mind should they need to store valuables.
Unfortunately, this was not the case for a woman in Singapore who decided to keep her stuff in one such facility when relocating.
After roughly a year in storage, she came to retrieve her items only to be faced with mould and water damage. Apparently, water had seeped into the walls of the storage unit, and cost her roughly S$16,000 in damages.
She took to the Complaint Singapore Facebook group to vent her frustrations on Tuesday (28 Feb).
The woman, who wishes to be known by her Facebook display name YT Ong, was in the process of moving when she got a storage unit at Lock + Store Ang Mo Kio.
In her post, she explained that she had stored most of her possessions there from January to December 2022 and paid S$4,075.82 for a year-long storage.
Source: Lock + Store
“I had filled up the storage unit with my possessions from my old home and boxes were stacked up to the ceiling against the rear wall,” she wrote.
When she came to retrieve the items at the end of the storage period with her movers, they realised that the rear wall of the unit was damp. That was when she discovered that her items were “irreparably damaged”.
Allegedly, there were indications of water seepage on the wall and condensation on Ms Ong’s items. As a result, the wet boxes tore as the movers tried to load them onto the lorry.
Source: Facebook
Ms Ong reportedly broke down when she saw the damaged items. “I was extremely distressed and cried upon this horrible sight.”
She shared that her leather products, such as bags, wallets, belts, accessories, and luxury goods, suffered mould damage. Even the dust bags holding the items were torn too.
Source: Facebook
Items of sentimental value to Ms Ong also bore damages. She said that those items were “extremely close to her heart and can neither be replaced nor bought again”.
“I am still very heartbroken. Having to relive this feeling of loss and anguish by writing this is bringing tears to my eyes now.”
When she was unpacking what she could salvage, Ms Ong had to do a lot of extra cleaning at her new house. She found that her clothes, bedsheets, floor mats, and other fabric items were mouldy and damp to the touch.
Source: Facebook
In the end, Ms Ong had no choice but to fork out another sum of money to wash all of them at an industrial laundromat.
She estimated the total value of the damaged items to roughly be a whopping S$16,000.
Ms Ong wrote that she contacted Lock + Store for compensation but to unsatisfactory results. The company allegedly offered her a goodwill sum of S$2,000 and S$500 to restore some of her damaged items. “This offer is an insult to what I have lost and what I have gone through,” she expressed.
Source: Facebook
In her post, Ms Ong shared that she will be filing claims with the Small Claims Tribunal against Lock + Store.
She also urged readers to share the post so that people can be aware of the possible risks of using such storage spaces.
Responding to queries from MS News, Ms Leona Lo, the Head of Marketing and Customer Experience at Lock + Store, apologised for the frustration that Ms Ong experienced.
According to Ms Lo, the company looked into the incident as soon as they received Ms Ong’s feedback. Their country manager had also reached out to Ms Ong and provided regular updates on their investigation.
Ms Lo added that handbags should not be stored in non-air-conditioned units due to the risk of mould developing from humidity.
“We would like to take this opportunity to remind current and prospective tenants not to store valuable items such as, but not restricted to, jewellery, artworks and luxury handbags in their storage units.”
Additionally, she urged people to visit their website for more information on what not to store in a self-storage facility.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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