Thread: The 10 Worst Types of Self-Storage Customers

Alright SSTers,

Here's your chance to dish on those customer stereotypes that give you headaches and make you roll your eyes. Inside Self-Storage is working on a fun project for publication in which we need your help coming up with labels and definitions for the "10 Worst Types of Self-Storage Customers." We know many of you probably have nicknames or labels for certain customers or customer types. We would like to attempt to compile the best of the worst, which we'll share with the industry in the coming weeks.

Here's what I'd like you to do. Give me a customer type, such as "The Check's in the Mail Guy," "The Weeper," "Creepy Stalker Dude," or what have you, and provide a definition explaining the common traits and behaviors you associate with that particular customer label. Feel free to also share a true story that illustrates why the customer type is so infuriating, makes your job difficult, etc.

If any of the three examples I've given fit the bill, please run with them and give me definitions and examples. If someone suggests a customer label that resonates with you, please run with it, adding to the definition and examples as needed. The more we can use the same customer labels, the easier it will be to finalize a top 10! Be creative but tasteful.

Thanks for your help! Now let's start dishing!

Stinkers......

These are the tenants that come into your office smelling like they have not showered in over a month. I have several regular tenants that fit this mold. I see them coming in and I start holding my breath. Spray down the chairs after they leave.

The I am not a lawyer but I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express people......

The ones that seem to have a grasp of the laws and claim we are breaking them, but have no clue what they are talking about.

The down right @!%$#'s......

I have a normal customer that is just downright cranky and rude all the time (my boyish charm has weakened her meanness over the years), I usually try to make sure I am here on the days she comes in to make her payments to make things go easy. We have had several others that fit this mold but this one has been a customer over 15 years.

Smokers...

They have just finished smoking a cigarette, cigar or marijuana in the car with the windows rolled up and come into the office surrounded by the odor. After the smoker leaves, the office reeks! I have to open the windows even in cold weather. Sometimes burning a scented candle helps, too.

Yeah, smokers have to be one of the 10 worst.

How about the..."I couldn't pay my bill because I took my kids to Disneyland" customer. No--seriously. I get that one constantly. Drives me crazy. Do they really think I'm going to be sympathetic to that?

Or...

I know my bill is due on the first, but I don't get paid until the 23rd? Hello...you signed a contract that said you would pay me on the first of each month. You get to pay late charges if you are THAT stupid that you can't pay the bill that is due one week from the day you get paid!

Give me time...I could go on and on and on.....I could write a book!!

2nd generation wealthy. They seem to think that we owe them something, and expect to get it from us. Sorry. Not here.

Hey, now. I use The Holiday Inn Express thing on UHaul customers. I had one call me from Macon, Ga with a broke down UHaul, and asked me to come take care of it. Duhhh. I don't think so.

Drama Queens - They come in all varieties.

The ones who don't have to follow the rules, but damn you when you enforce them.
The ones who try (very unsuccessfully) to play dumb. (Customers, do NOT try this one on another female, it's a lose-lose proposition)
The ones who think if they scream, yell, curse, stomp their foot & cry they will win the argument. Yeah, I don't think so, this is my Fiefdom.
The ones who think the world owes them because they are downtrodden. (Insert your own picked upon preference here)
The ones who... Baskin & Robbins doesn't even begin to equal the number of flavors of Drama Queens.

I figured I'd do the post about the crazy females so our male members don't get beat up on for picking on "helpless" females.

Oh and don't forget the ones who are picked upon because the person behind the counter is a male and males just don't understand...!

This is a great start! Thanks to all who have submitted ideas thus far. Let's also think in terms of tenant behavior and bad habits on the premises (can't remember access code, blocking other tenants from being able to get to their units, suspicious behavior, etc.), not just in dealing with you in the office.

Let's see...it's Sunday afternoon (we're closed on Sunday) and my phone rings because you are denied access at the gate...because you are 2-1/2 months behind on your rent...but you need into your unit and you are trying to pay today, but no one is in the office---can I come down and take your payment so you can get in? NO!! Especially since you talked to my "Saturday girl" YESTERDAY when she called and reminded you that we still hadn't received your payment! Then, you want a discount since you drove all the way from your house, which is 25 miles away and I wouldn't let you in! Yeah--no discount!!

"The Last Surviving Relative" - This customer is always going late or into lien status because they are hopping around the US tending to funerals as their relatives are dropping like flies. (I had one former-customer that would burst into tears when I called and tell me her mom, grandma, etc had died and she had to attend funeral. This "poor lady" had about 5 or 6 mothers die in a year!). 9 times out of 10, they don't really have relatives dropping like flies and this is just an excuse to get us off of their backs. I usually ask for the name of the decedent and what the website is for the obit/guestbook so I can extend my condolences to the family, and that usually weeds out the false deaths.

Originally Posted by TonyISS

Alright SSTers,

Here's what I'd like you to do. Give me a customer type, such as "The Check's in the Mail Guy," "The Weeper," "Creepy Stalker Dude," or what have you, and provide a definition explaining the common traits and behaviors you associate with that particular customer label. Feel free to also share a true story that illustrates why the customer type is so infuriating, makes your job difficult, etc.

If any of the three examples I've given fit the bill, please run with them and give me definitions and examples. If someone suggests a customer label that resonates with you, please run with it, adding to the definition and examples as needed. The more we can use the same customer labels, the easier it will be to finalize a top 10! Be creative but tasteful.

Thanks for your help! Now let's start dishing!

"The Check's in the Mail Guy" is related to the "I'm Coming By to Pay Today Guy". And like his cousin who's check doesn't appear, he doesn't appear either.

"The Weeper" - There are soo many varieties of this customer. There's the Weeper on Hard Times, The Weeper a relative died (see my previous post), The Weeper my boyfriend left me....

"Creepy Stalker Dude" - I have one of these. He comes in my office for no reason and stares at me. He's older than my grandfather, and will sit in the office wanting to talk to me and ask about my personal life, all the while referring to me as "babe" *ugh I have to go shower the thought of creepy stalker guy off now*