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Family's storage unit emptied in Auburn Hills
When a couple relocated from Phoenix to Clarkston, they temporarily placed their belongings in a storage unit as they searched for an apartment. But when they went back about two month later, everything was gone.
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (FOX 2) - A young couple lost all their belongings after they trusted a storage facility with them.
Their unit was completely emptied, and some valuables can never be replaced.
"I feel like a stranger in my own life now," said 27-year-old Hailey Haynes. "The teddy bear I had with my unborn baby's heartbeat on it, I mean that's irreplaceable."
According to the company, Public Storage, the Haynes family's unit was "abandoned" and scrappers were given free rein.
About $50,000 worth of items – all gone.
"You can't comprehend the stress that I've put this baby through," said Haynes, who is currently six months pregnant.
In June, she and her boyfriend moved from Phoenix to Clarkston and chose to place their belongings at Public Storage in Auburn Hills for a couple of months.
Hailey Haynes and her boyfriend.
"They make it very easy to sign up online, and it was just quick, and they did a buy one, get one month (free)," Haynes said.
Assigned to unit 507, the couple packed it with furniture, purses, paddle boards and everything in between.
On Tuesday, it was moving time – Haynes and her boyfriend got an apartment and were ready to fill it up. But when they got to the storage facility, they noticed a new lock was on their unit.
So they called Public Storage.
"The property manager came down, and it was just craziness after that," Haynes said. "We were able to open the unit and see that all of our stuff was gone."
Property Storage allegedly mislabeled the unit, according to Haynes. The property manager insisted the unit the couple was asking to access was not 507, it was 501; the numbers were written with a marker.
The numbers at Public Storage's units are written in marker.
"A scrapper disposed of the unit because it was considered abandoned," the soon-to-be mother said she was told by the facility.
Three days later, and that is the only information the company has given the couple.
FOX 2 attempted to get in contact with Public Storage, but was not able to. No staff were at the facility in person, and a worker via video said she would not put FOX 2 in contact with anyone at corporate either.
FOX 2 called corporate anyway but did not receive a response before the story aired.
"We had family members that had to open up lines of credit to get us furniture because we've been eating on the floor in this new apartment," Haynes said.
The couple filed a police report. They are still unsure of everything that took place, but are hoping that, perhaps, someone might recognize their stuff and return them.
"I hope you have it in your heart to come forward in someway and give us our stuff back," Haynes said. "Give us our life back."