Someone can pay their storage rent on time month after month and then, one day, they don't.
It happens.
Maybe the credit card on file expired.
Maybe they forgot.
Maybe something unexpected happened that month.
We don't always know.
What we do know is that one missed payment doesn't suddenly tell us everything we need to know about a person.
That's particularly true with longtime customers.
When you've dealt with someone for a while, you start recognizing names. You know who's normally on top of things. You remember previous conversations.
So when someone who's normally reliable suddenly shows up on the past-due list, we notice.
That doesn't mean we pretend the balance isn't there.
Pack Away Storage is still a business.
We have property expenses, maintenance, security, and plenty of other bills that don't disappear because someone's rent is late.
We have to take care of the business so we can continue taking care of our customers.
But there's a way to do that without treating every late payment like the beginning of a courtroom drama.
We communicate.
We remind people.
We listen.
And when circumstances allow us to reasonably work with someone, we try to be considerate.
At the same time, we're clear about what's owed and what needs to happen next.
We think that's fair to everyone.
There's sometimes an idea that customer service means saying yes to absolutely everything a customer asks for.
We don't think that's true.
Sometimes good customer service is simply having an honest conversation.
"Here's where your account stands. Here's what needs to happen. How can we get this taken care of?"
No runaround.
No pretending policies don't exist.
And no forgetting that we're talking to an actual person.
That's the balance we try to maintain at Pack Away Storage.
Take care of the customer.
Take care of the business.
And whenever possible, find a solution that accomplishes both.
It might not be the flashiest thing to put on a billboard.
But it's the kind of business we'd want to deal with ourselves.