I reserved a climate-controlled 5x5 unit on Metro Storage's web site. I was prepared to pay the full price ($41/month) because similar units in my area cost $70 and up. But the web site offered a "manager's special" $19/month rate and "$1 move-in". Great, I'll take it.

Someone from Metro Storage called me the next day to find out when I was coming. She'd received my reservation and she mentioned during the course of our conversation that I'd requested a 5x5, so she'd obviously received my reservation and knew what I wanted.

When I arrived at Metro Storage, I told the counter clerk (I didn't note names, but I swear her voice was the same as the person that called me earlier that day) that I'd reserved a 5x5. She immediately tried to sell me something larger, even though she didn't have any idea what I was storing. I resisted. Then, she asked if I'd received some sort of special offer. I gave her a copy of the "coupon" I'd printed from the web site which outlined the rate I'd been quoted, the "$1 move-in", etc. She pretended (poorly) that she'd never seen such an offer. Then, she told me that she didn't have any more climate-controlled 5x5 units. Instead, she could offer me a standard 5x5 unit for the same price, but she couldn't honor the "$1 move-in". I left.

As I said, I would've paid full price for the unit. I could've done without the "$1 move-in". I would've even accepted a standard unit. But I won't do business with a company that employs sleazy, bait-and-switch tactics. Buyer beware.

Company information: Metro self storage/ Metro storage LLC; Boulton boulevard, Lake Forrest, Illinois; Affiliations: Self storage association, Inside self storage, Florida self storage association, Alabama self storage association, Southern wayne county regional chamber, River north association; Locations: Illinois: Batavia, Bedford Park, McCook, Chicago, Country Club Hills, Grayslake, Lake Bluff, Lake Zurich, Lincolnshire, Northlake, Oak Brook Terrace, Orland Park, Palatine, Round Lake Beach; Atlanta, Georgia; Decatur, Douglasville, Lithia Springs, Lithonia, Norcross, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Stockbridge, Stone Mountain, Tampa, Florida; Fort Myers/ Summerlin, Tamiami Trail South, Lakeland, Largo/ Belcher Road/ Starkey Road, Lehigh Acres, Lutz, Pinellas Park, Port Charlotte, Riverview, Sarasota/ Cattleman, Seffner, Spring Hill, Tampa/ Bruce B. Downs/ Carrollwood/ Fletcher Avenue/ West Fletcher/ Wesley Chapel