summer storage for students, any reliable companies?

[dauntlesscrusader]

DD1 needs to store everything she can't fit into two suitcases for the summer. She has found something called "student storage.com" . The website looks fine, but there is no business ID number, and the only certificate on the website is for being carbon neutral. I can't find anything that looks like an independent review.

In the age of the Internet, how do you find out if a company is actually reliable? Nothing she has is precious, but it would be painful and expensive to have to replace all her books, winter clothing, pots and pans etc.

Have you looked at normal storage places rather than ones specific for students? They usually have a wide choice of spaces & may be more flexible if you only need if for a few weeks (which we would need, between vacating one house & getting the keys to another)

As Decorhate says, if it were me I would look at the bigger name storage companies ( e.g. BigYellow , Safestore , Access etc) . Many of them have a rate for students over holidays etc. We've used a couple of those whilst moving house and they were absolutely fine.

Thanks Decorate and Basilisk. I've looked at Safestore and BigYellow, but neither is close and she doesn't drive, so would need to find a friend with a car or take a minicab with her boxes. The Student Storage places offer boxes, as well as pick up and drop off (they know their student market!).

The parent company of the service she has found is Green Man & Van, which does at least have a business ID number so I think it must be legit.

I'm thinking of suggesting that she takes anything precious (or of sentimental value) to her grandparents and leave the rest for her to figure out. After all, isn't this supposed to be one of the benefits of their new-found adult independence??

How much stuff is involved? It might be worth looking at boxing up and sending home by courier - you can get good deals via sites like ParcelMonkey.

Thanks Random. That's a really good suggestion. It's about five moving-boxes. She's decided to go with Studentstorage.com which is part of the Green Man & a Van company. I'll look into Parcel Monkey and maybe suggest that she ship home (or give away) anything she hasn't used all year instead of storing it.

My DS used a company off a list recommended by his Uni. He used a large cab to get him from halls to the storage unit and then a smaller cheaper cab to get him back again.