Hello, my name is Doug.

November of 2022 I quit my job, packed up my 2-bed-2-bath apartment life and moved across the country to live closer to family. I only brought the absolute essentials with me in my car, the rest I packed into a PODS storage unit and had it shipped across the country to a PODS storage facility located near my final move destination.

A few months go by and I get a few calls sometime around March 2023 regarding my PODS account. Nothing that sounded too serious or urgent. A few weeks of phone tag go by, and I finally get connected with a representative. She tells me that my unit was found with a missing lock. A few days later, on April 6th 2023, I was able to drive into the facility and make visual confirmation that, indeed, my storage unit was burglarized. Roughly 80% of all my worldly possessions were stolen. From my drum sets, to all of my kitchen items, electronics, bathroom toiletries, vinyl collection, and so much more. The only things that weren't consistently taken were furniture and clothes. It was an estimated total loss of about $30,000. The pictures I have don't do justice at portraying how much was taken simply because I didn't take any "before" pictures. All you get to see is the aftermath. This unit was stocked to the brim with boxes. What's left was either ransacked or stomped on.

I called the police right away but they didn't offer much help. Neither did a lawyer.

Weeks go by of silence and I get a call from the local detective. Apparently I wasn't the only one that was hit in this scheme. I was the first to report it, so she asked me the most questions about the matter, trying to build a case. She started to look into it as I contacted the local news stations.

I had a gut feeling from the beginning that something didn't feel right. This felt like an inside job.

For starters, this local facility didn't have a single security camera, which was an immediate red flag. On top of that, alarm security was minimal. And the storage units weren't stored the way they were supposed to be stored (they're usually stacked so that two units' doors are facing each other, so that it's harder to break into them). What was always on my mind was that they didn't just take a few boxes from me, they took maybe 30 or so boxes. Heavy boxes! And I also had literal weights and training equipment in there! What I'm trying to get at is that there's no way this would've been a quick "smash and grab." There were either many, many people in on this at once, or this took a few people well over an hour to move everything. Either way, someone would've noticed. Additionally, the surrounding gates close every night. So, either I was being lied to and the gates didn't actually close at night, or the thieves were able to get through the gates somehow (smells like an inside job).

A week or so goes by and that's when the detective tells me what she's learned (not much). But she also had a hunch that it was an inside job. Especially because she found out that someone was fired from that facility in December of 2022 (one month after I moved) for being caught cutting locks. Take note here....PODS caught someone in the act of cutting locks and DIDN'T PURSUE LEGAL ACTION or even call the police! Whoever was caught was simply...fired.

We're now somewhere around May 2023. The detectives trails got cold, fast. The local news stations had an interest in my story a week or two prior, but have since stopped acknowledging my phone calls, emails, and texts.

The insurance company eventually paid me $10K, roughly 1/3 of the total worth of stolen items. But they were only semi-hasty about paying me because of the threat they felt from me calling the news stations (my insurance case was escalated quickly when I first contacted the news...interesting).

The hardest part of this is the things they took that weren't worth much but had immense sentimental value. Like an old pocket watch my grandfather gave me before he passed. Or my high school year books with many personal notes scribbled in them. I'd like to think they didn't take these things on purpose, but rather, they were inside of a box that had other valuables in them, so they just took the whole box. Nevertheless, it stings every time I think about it.

The grieving process also seems to never end. Just when I think I've gotten over it, I remember something else that was taken and it sends me right back down the rabbit whole again.

There's a big story here, and much detail that I left out. If this story generates enough interest, I'll gladly make a YouTube video that goes more in depth. Stories about PODS, the insurance company, and the storage facility, an itemized list of things that were taken, etc.

Now, it's currently October 2023. It took me a long time to decide to make this GoFundMe. As we all know, times are rough. Especially when you have to effectively rebuild the last 10 years of living on your own. But that's exactly what I'm trying to do.

All the money that's donated to me will be used to repurchase the essentials. Kitchen items, toiletries, towels, appliances, etc. Anything helps. That said, my main goal is to spread word about PODS strange dealings. So please share this with anyone and everyone so that they can understand the risks they take on if they choose to use PODS services.

Thank you for reading this far and listening to my story. Although the news didn't want to spread my word, I'm glad to know that at least some people can read about it.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Doug Berg