Incompetence at a level never seen before

These are probably the biggest bunch of clowns I have ever had to deal with.

I started renting a unit from their Atlas branch in November 2017. Payment was done monthly via debit order. I had one occasion where they tried to debit my account twice, but I reversed this from the bank. I also never had any issues with the actual storage of my belongings.

The fun and games however started when I cancelled my unit!

On the 23rd of October 2018, I notified them that I will be cancelling and vacating the unit the end of November 2018. This is 1 calendar months notice as stipulated in their contract. I send this email to 3 of their employees, none of whom responded. Fair enough, I don't really care as I have given them my notice.

On the 30th of November 2018 I went to collect my belongings but then get told that there will be a penalty to be paid because I didn't give them a months notice..... I then very calmly present the email I send on the 23rd of October to the manager and explained that I will not be held liable for penalties if their office staff is to *********** to reply to their clients. She then apologizes and allowed me to remove all of my belongings.

On the 12th of December 2018 the same manager that was there sends me an email asking for certain details so that they could repay my deposit. Now you know people are *********** if they ask you how much they need to pay you! But that is what happened.

To be fair I saw that they are all just a bunch of idiots and had a very strong feeling that I was never going to see my deposit of R700. I send them my details i,e. banking details, ID, etc. So I thought if they pay me back my deposit, Great. If not, I am not going to raise my blood pressure over this. Needless to say, I never received my deposit back.

So all of this has been forgotten and a distant memory until yesterday, the 12th of December 2019. Where I have received the following email from Van Wyk / Van Deventer attorneys. And I quote:

"Dear Sir/Madam,

Kindly take note that you are currently in arrears with regards to your storage facility as mentioned above.

The arrear amount is R7 207.00

Please ensure that immediate payment is made to avoid legal steps being taken against you. Please see below the banking details for the Atlas account:-

Failing to make any payment herein, or failing to contact our offices to enter into a payment plan, will result in our offices proceeding with legal action against you. This will include and is not limited to sending you a letter of demand and auctioning your goods without further notice to you."

Needless to say my response to them was less than pleasant.

So in short, if you are OK with *********** people. Don't mind paying double some months. Don't mind never receiving you deposit back. And then a year after you have cancelled and vacated your storage unit being threatened with legal action by their attorneys, then I would highly recommend these clowns.