Millions of Americans moved out during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. They rented storage units in hopes that their belongings would be safe.
However, customers who spoke to us said that while they were gone, unwelcome guests moved into their homes.
Geneieve Yue reports that her Rhode Island storage unit was infested in mice and many of her belongings had been destroyed.
“I had to throw out a kind of expensive couch,” Yue said.
Another woman claims that the vermin problem in her apartment was so severe that she set up traps and caught a rat.
“They had a fun time in my unit,”She said. “I carried my gloves and grabbed the sticky and walked right into the office.”
How big of an issue are rodents and storage rats? Inside Edition rented storage units from two of the biggest names in the business — U-Haul and Public Storage.
One Public Storage had rodent traps found in nearly every corner.
Several weeks after we rented a storage unit, we returned. We returned to find that there were no rodents or rats in the traps we had left, and that there was no evidence of droppings inside the storage unit.
Next, we packed up several boxes and loaded them into U-Haul storage units in New York City.
Two weeks later, we returned to find the dead rodent still attached to the sticky trap. Upon closer inspection, there were also maggots present — all right next to our boxes.
U-Haul says they prevent pests from entering their facilities. They also employ pest control companies and clean the storage units daily.