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April 2024 by Danny Patterson
Very good customer service and price
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April 2024 by Liam
Clean, secure, easy access, and super awesome staff. Amanda was especially helpful and accommodating!
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August 2023 by Paul Comrie
Avoid. The on-site staff is friendly, and the facility is newish (<10 years old) with high ceilings and plenty of light.However, the hours are very limited, and there's no early or late access after the office closes for the day. The handcarts are also in various states of disrepair, and the elevator (near the office) is misaligned, making smooth transportation of your belongings hit or miss.The worst part is the rent increases. The company is as bad as any in the industry at price-gouging its customers. You'll feel like the frog being boiled alive as your rent increases annually, until you're paying significantly more than nearby competitors charge. I did the math: my rent increased >73% over the past four years (when I moved in to a larger unit on site). The latest increase was a whopping 21% up from the previous monthly charge. The company's phone system made it difficult to contact corporate customer service, and neither corporate nor local employees were empowered to provide any pricing flexibility.CubeSmart greed drove me away to a nearby competitor after six years as their loyal customer. I'm now paying 60% less than my latest CubeSmart rate for a larger, equally nice storage facility and much more personal customer service.
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August 2023 by Jon Wood
Beware of CubeSmart and their advertised prices. Once you are in their system, they will take advantage of you at every opportunity. I will never recommend their services to anyone.
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August 2023 by Maria Freeborg
The employees were Very helpful and and my items felt very safe in your space
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July 2023 by Anne Hopkins
Aggressive rate hikes, sometimes multiple in a year, outpaced inflation by an enormous amount. They apparently have no interest in retaining multi-year auto-pay clients renting multiple units that lay mostly untouched for 7 years. The store manager is always fine, helpful and responsible, but they cannot even offer a support channel to discuss the situation with the regional manager who sets the rates. It's hard wipe the scowl off my face when I think of corporate CubeSmart.P.S. Ballard, please update your customer accounts with the correct gate code. Mine was never set correctly, which became a problem on one occasion.
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July 2023 by Josie Luino
Very helpful staff. Easy access.
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May 2023 by Misty H.
Amanda was very knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly! I got a unit same-day and she took her time to show me where it is, and the best way to use the (very convenient) facilities.
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May 2023 by Carolyn Major
Kept at a good storage temperature, easy to park inside and visit one's storage room, and polite front desk people.
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January 2023 by Scott Morley
Excellent! Friendly staff. Outstanding facility. Great security.
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December 2022 by NW Sun Mask
Aggressive frequent rate hikes (nearly triple the US inflation rate for my 6+ years) sully this otherwise fine Ballard facility with pleasant competent office staff. I see from reviews I'm not the only one forced to switch to an equivalent unit to save enormously on the monthly fee. National conglomerate CubeSmart seems adept at maximizing profits. The self-storage business model with off-site decision makers and (mostly?) short-term non-repeat customers seems ideal for ignoring broader customer service concerns and long term customers. I'm not anti-business; I'm anti-gouging and pro-customer experience. Below: my personal experience and a glance at CubeSmart's recent profit history, which I checked to make sure I wasn't being grossly unfair.Also: Avoid units on the lowest floor; it had a moisture problem and a strong moldy/musty smell that will permeate your belongings, when I toured it in 2016. Be aware of the parking challenges wrt your access habits.SUMMARY:=> CubeSmart is charging me 2 2/3 times the inflation rate on my 7.5' third-floor unit, which jumped from $179/mo to $288/mo, via several randomly timed rate hikes from July 2016 to Aug 2022. That's a 61% increase in 6 years.The "US Inflation Calculator" says the cumulative inflation rate was 23% during this month&year period. The US inflation calculator suggests a current price of $220 would be keeping up with inflation. Do self-storage ownership costs even rise as much as inflation? Would CubeSmart not be making at least the same healthy profit now as they were in 2016, by charging me $220 for my 7.5' unit? The $62/mo I'm paying them above the inflation rate, is what I consider an unhealthy profit.=> CubeSmart is charging me 2 1/3 times the cost of inflation on my 10' third-floor unit: jumping from $239 in July 2016 to $369 by July of 2022. That's a 54% increase in 6 years, or 2 1/3 times the 23% cummulative inflation rate. Due to inflation only, a $239 item in 2016 would cost $294 in 2022. I'm paying way more than I feel is reasonable.BACKGROUND:I thought my belongings would be in storage for 2-3 months, not 6 1/2 years, but I couldn't predict the health crisis of my late mother, for whom I abruptly left Seattle and lived 3000 miles away. I accepted bleeding a certain amount of cash on storage, given vastly more important concerns. However, I was naive to expect that rates would remain as "reasonable" as when I moved in, while I was too distracted to examine the increases.Midway through this period, I called after a particularly onerous increase, finding no recourse; the District Manager was buffered by the powerless office manager. In early Dec 2022, I called again, finally able to take a closer look at my costs and the frequency/size of the rate increases. The lovely Amanda said she "could try talking to the District Manager," and that he "might approve a delay in my next rate increase". She suggested helpfully that I could move/consolidate into a nearby 10' unit that was $288 (compared to $369 for my 10' unit!); because it was 5 units "further away from the elevator".=> So, as a 6+ year hassle-free auto-pay customer, I'm paying 28% more than the cost of an equivalent available unit a few feet down the hall, while understanding the District Manager has no interest in working with me or maintaining my business.I googled "CubeSmart gross profits" and clicked on the macrotrends-dot-net link. Clicking on the Gross Profit tab, I learned they had a 28% year-over-year INCREASE of gross profits for the twelve month period ending Sept 2022, and that their annual gross profit for 2021 was over half a billion dollars, a 25% increase from their 2020 profit. That tidbit doesn't define a entire history; I'm not an economist; and I've done little more than vet that macrotrends is a "legit" site. So feel free to add your own nuance, but their business model and profits
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December 2022 by I Like F.
Aggressive and routine rate hikes (nearly triple the US inflation rate over my 6+ years) sully this otherwise reasonable Ballard facility with pleasant professional office staff. National conglomerate CubeSmart seems very efficient and professional, adept at acquisitions and maximizing profits. The self-storage business model with off-site decision makers and (mostly?) short-term non-repeat customers is ideal for ignoring broader customer service interests and the concerns of long term customers. I'm not anti-business; I'm anti-gouging. See below for my personal experience and a glance at CubeSmart's recent growth and gross profit history, which I checked to make sure I wasn't being unfair.Also: Avoid units on the lowest floor; it had a moisture problem and a strong moldy/musty smell that will permeate your belongings, when I toured it in 2016. Be aware of the parking challenges wrt your access habits.SUMMARY:- CubeSmart is charging me 2 2/3 times the inflation rate on my 7.5' third-floor unit, which jumped from $179/mo to $288/mo, via several randomly timed rate hikes from July 2016 to Aug 2022. That's a 61% increase in 6 years. The "US Inflation Calculator" says the cumulative inflation rate was 23% during this month&year period. The US inflation calculator suggests a price of $220 would be keeping up with inflation during this period. Would CubeSmart not be making the same healthy profit now as they were in 2016, by charging me $220 for my 7.5' unit? The $62/mo I'm paying them, above the inflation rate, is what I consider an unhealthy profit.- CubeSmart is charging me 2 1/3 times the cost of inflation on my 10' third-floor unit: jumping from $239 in July 2016 to $369 by July of 2022. That's a 54% increase in 6 years, or 2 1/3 times the 23% cummulative inflation rate during that period. Due to inflation only, a $239 item in 2016 would cost $294 in 2022. I'm paying $75/mo more than I feel is reasonable.BACKGROUND:I thought my belongings would be in storage for 2-3 months, not 6 1/2 years, but I couldn't predict the health crisis of my late mother, for whom I left Seattle in a hurry and lived 3000 miles away. I could accept bleeding a certain amount of cash on storage, given vastly more important concerns. However, I was naive to expect that rates would remain as reasonable (for that location) as when I moved in, while I was too distracted to examine the size of each rate hike. Midway through this period, I called after a particularly onerous increase, finding no recourse; the District Manager was buffered by the powerless office manager. In early Dec 2022, I called again, finally able to take a closer look at my costs and the frequency/size of the rate increases. The lovely Amanda said she "could try talking to the District Manager," and that he "might approve a delay in my next rate increase". She suggested helpfully that I could move/consolidate into a nearby 10' unit that was $288 (compared to $369 for my 10' unit!); because it was 5 units "further away from the elevator". - So, as a 6+ year hassle-free auto-pay customer, I'm paying 28% more than the cost of an equivalent available unit a few feet down the hall, while understanding the District Manager has no interest in working with me or maintaining my business.I googled "CubeSmart gross profits" and clicked on the macrotrends-dot-net link. Clicking on the Gross Profit tab, I learned they had a 28% year-over-year INCREASE of gross profits for the twelve month period ending Sept 2022, and that their annual gross profit for 2021 was over half a billion dollars, a 25% increase from their 2020 profit. That tidbit doesn't define a entire history; I'm not an economist; and I've done little more than vet that macrotrends is a "legit" site. So feel free to add your own nuance, but their business model and profits don't suggest I should be understanding and sympathetic of their aggressive rate hikes and ambivalence to
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October 2022 by Nancy
When the measurements of a unit I had reserved and already checked into turned out to be way off the size advertised online, Amanda went far above and beyond to locate one that would work for me and then took the initiative to call manager Liz on her day off (Liz was kind enough to authorize everything) to allow me to move in the same afternoon. Crisis averted! Many, many thanks ?
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August 2022 by Nina M. Holmstrom
The staff is amazing, the facilities are always clean, and easy to access my belongings!
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June 2022 by Evelyn Root
Liz was very helpful on the phone explaining the rental process, personally checking the unit to ensure it had lighting before finalizing my reservation. After arriving on the property, Liz and Amanda showed me the unit, explained the security entrance/exit system before finalizing my rental. New, clean, high tech facility.
