Another insult to the troops and Army Reserve Spc. Patrick Rogalin in particular came from the corporate world recently. Patrick went off to Iraq a year ago, putting $8,000 worth of his stuff into a locker outside St. Louis, Missouri. An automatic payment system was set up and off he went.
Patrick survived his tour unscathed, though all of his belongings had disappeared while he was gone. Apparently Public Storage had auctioned everything off!
Imagine going to war, serving your country, and a damn corporation screws you over because of circumstances out of your control. Where is the troop support here?
Here's the story, from the Army Times:
Rogalin said he put his belongings into a Public Storage unit near St. Louis before shipping out and set up automatic payments with the company. But while he was in Iraq, he said, someone accessed his checking account and wrote more than $900 in worthless checks, which caused his storage payments to bounce. After learning of the problem from his bank, Rogalin opened a different account. He resumed making payments to Public Storage.
“When I got back I called Public Storage to find out the status of my account and they told me the contents of my storage container had been auctioned off in June because the bill hadn’t been paid,” he said.
Rogalin said Public Storage never told him his account was in trouble, or that everything he owned — clothes, books, electronic gear, furniture, magazines and other property — was going to be sold.
You think that's bad? It gets worse. Even though the contract states that his stuff was insured for up to $5,000, all the company did was give him $2,000 and an apology. After not even bothering to let Rogalin know of what was going on with the situation they try and screw him over twice.
Rogalin didn't stand for this and protested to Public Storage. Did Public Storage realize the error of their ways? No of course not, they turned around and threatened him.
“I called them back and told them this isn’t anywhere near right,” Rogalin said. “They upped their offer to $2,500 and gave me seven days to accept it or get nothing."
He said he rejected the $2,500 but does not have enough money to fight the company in court. He said he’d like to get the $5,000 due him under the contract.
Let Public Storage know how you feel here!
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