National Storage Garbutt, Townsville 399 Woolcock Street, Garbutt, Queensland 4814

"I received a rent increase today for a 3x5m unit on the upper level. The price new price is $234 per month. On the website, the exact same size unit on the upper level is $185. In the rent increase, they informed me that: "We have carefully considered these pricing adjustments against current industry demand". Which is just a complete lie given that the exact same unit on the same level is $51 per month cheaper on their website. There is actually a bigger unit at 3.2x5m for $213 per month, still cheaper than what they're charging me. I spoke to them on the phone and they said I have to pay them a $24 admin fee so they will let us move all of our stuff from our current unit, to the exact same size unit a few rows down so we can pay $185. I honestly don't see how this is reasonable of them. Other than that, they said the only other thing I can do is fill out a feedback form online. The lady on the phone at the Garbutt center was so rude on the phone. When I was trying to explain what was going on and why this didn't make any sense, she told me not to speak over her while she was talking. I would then let her talk, and then she would just talk over me and wouldn't let me speak. She demanded my name, then told me I was abusing her and that she couldn't help me anymore. I never swore or raised my voice and certainly didn't abuse her. I started to ask her what other numbers I can call to help sort this out. She told me not to talk over her, finished what she was saying and then hung up when I started asking her about other numbers to call. I'm baffled and so disappointed. I don't understand why they're being so unreasonable here. If they would just allow me to pay the same price as everyone else, I'd be happy."

"Helped my brother move all of his belongings out of the storage unit. Very safe. Lockable and clean. Easy to drive in and out. Lifts were such a great help. Staff was.very friendly and helpful. I would use this company again most definitely. I will highly recommend to others."

"It was fantastic service with very helpful staff and my sister in-law was very happy with her storage shed and the friendly help she got. It was clean tidy well presented with very friendly staff."

"Antagonistic and rude. Was parked on the grass while waiting for a friend to finish up at the shed's. security guard came out full of attitude and being way ruder than needed to be. As soon as he told me I couldn't park there I moved my car. There was no dramas. Flat out turned his back on me and walked away when I said "have a good one mate thanks for letting me know" I know guards aren't there for customer service etc, but absolutely no reason to just be rude either."

"My brother rented a storage unit to store some of my mother's furniture 11 years ago in Garbutt. Mum died in Sept 2021 and my younger brother died unexpectedly in May 2022 before we had emptied the unit. I was listed on the National Storage contract as the backup contact for my brother and he used my residential address on the contract. Apparently, this means nothing because I could do nothing with the unit or the contents when he died so what is the point of having an emergency contact? The first problem was they kept sending invoices to my brother's widow. When I pointed out the contents were nothing to do with her (she already had enough to deal with) they didn’t care. After 2 months, multiple emails and numerous unpaid invoices they finally redirected the invoices to me so I could redirect them to mum’s estate solicitor for payment. The next problem was when we found that National Storage would not accept cheque payments from a solicitors trust account. This meant every month we incurred additional legal fees as the solicitor paid the invoice then had to get us all to sign off on the transfer from the trust account funds to the solicitor’s accounts. The next issue arose when they decided my brother's death certificate was not sufficient evidence to give us access to the unit. Yet again we had to involve the solicitor incurring more legal costs to presumably satisfy them that that he had died and his widow should get access. Then they decided that the letter from my sister in law’s solicitor stating the contents were part of my mother's estate should have stated the contents were part of my brother's estate so we incurred even more legal costs. They finally granted us access - 4 months after they were initially advised my brother had died and, of course, 4 more months of storage invoices. When we were on site would you believe they asked if my brother’s widow wanted the unit in my brother’s or her name? Seriously what is wrong with these people? The locker was transferred to my sister in law’s name and I am the emergency contact. We know “emergency contact” just means the next person who will pay the storage invoices - they can do nothing else. When I looked through their demands and I realised we had spent >$30k for storage over the years I realised they have absolutely no idea what customer service is and their inflexible rules and demands reminded me of the Banking Inquiry."