Daylight Robbery at Rent-a-Store Midrand
I have been a tenant at Rent-a-Store Midrand for over a year now. I know this because they just increased my rental by 13% per annum as of 1 February 2017. Their first line of defense is that I signed a contract for an increase of 12%. Yes I did, but they have rounded up to 13%.
I accepted the increase but cannot accept the manner in which they conduct business. This month, March 2017, my debit order did not go off on the 1st of the month, which I was unaware of. When it was brought to my attention by the account manager Heinrich Janse van Rensburg (via e-mail which can be found HERE), on the 6th March 2017, I spoke with my bank to rectify it and I subsequently paid the outstanding amount on 7th March 2017.
On the 8th March 2017 I received another e-mail from Heinrich to state that I needed to pay a late payment which was 30% of my monthly rental.
When questioned of the late payment fee, I was told by Heinrich that the payment was not reflected in their account on the 7th it was only reflected in their account on the morning of the 8th.
In the email (which can be found HERE), you will notice that there is no indication of by when the account needs to be settled nor is there any indication of the amount that would be charged should there be a late payment. In short, no warning, nor a notice was given.
I sent a reply to Heinrich (which can be seen in the e-mail attached above) which he did not reply.
On 17 March 2017 I still hadn't received a response to my mail on the 8th of March 2017, but rather, received another invoice for the late payment fee.
I replied to the e-mail (which can be found HERE) and once again did not receive any response back from Heinrich.
Today, 20 March 2017, as there was no response I assumed that everything had been resolved and updated. I visited my storage unit only to find that I had been locked out.
I immediately went to the security and they advised that it had been locked due to an outstanding amount, and I should visit the offices down the road.
On visiting the offices, I explained my situation to Clare Kinley, to which she replied she cannot assist as she does not have any authority to open and all the managers and owners (The Touché Family) were not available today as tomorrow is a holiday. She explained that the only way I could contact the managers/owners was via a portal on their website to log complaints.
It's sad that we are here to promote businesses in South Africa but now we have to expose a business for the disgusting service that they offer.
To summarize the situation at hand.
1. I have been charged more than the stipulated escalation rate.
2. My storage has been locked without notice
3. The storage unit was locked but my rental has been made and up to date
4. I have not been able to use the service that I have paid for, for almost a full calendar month, when payment was made 7 days late
5. I have been charged a late payment fee because the monthly rental reflected a few hours later than Rent-a-Store expected
6. I was not made aware of the cut-off date for the late payment nor was I made aware that my storage unit would be locked
7. As a result of no communication, I have been inconvenienced by going to the my unit and unable to use it as well as having to go to the offices to sort a problem out that could have been done via mail or over the phone.
8. I know have to wait an extra two days to have the issue resolved as the managers/owners are on holiday and tomorrow is a public holiday.
