A “devastated” Colorado man lost nearly all his belongings, including his wife’s ashes and treasured family photos, after a restoration company failed to pay for his storage unit, leading to the contents being auctioned off without his knowledge.
Jeff Hersh of Broomfield says the situation began in the spring when a burst pipe in his upstairs neighbor’s unit flooded the Broomfield condo he had shared with his daughter since 2001.
ServPro, a damage cleanup and restoration company, handled the cleanup, Hersh said, packing his belongings and moving them to an Extra Space Storage unit.
Hersh stayed in a hotel from April to October while his condo was being renovated. When he tried to retrieve his belongings to move back in, a ServPro employee told him he needed to speak with his boss first.
Hersh said a ServPro manager then explained that the storage facility had changed ownership from CubeSmart to Extra Space Storage, but ServPro was never notified, resulting in the unit being emptied and all his belongings lost.
"I literally just kind of sat there,” Hersh recalled about hearing the news in an interview with 9News.
“I didn't want to have to tell Kate, my daughter, that everything, all her childhood memories, all the pictures of her mom and her while they were growing up," he said. "I had to tell her everything was gone. That was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to tell my daughter since I had to tell her that her mom died.”
However, an investigation by 9News’ Steve On Your Side suggested that ServPro did know about the storage facility’s change in leadership.
Text messages Hersh shared with the outlet show that a ServPro employee had access to unit details in June, and Extra Space confirmed the employee paid for the unit in May.
The company also told the outlet that they tried seven times since late June to warn the ServPro employee about the pending auction through calls, voicemails, emails, postcards, and an online notice for the upcoming auction.
Despite those efforts, the balance remained unpaid, and the unit was auctioned on September 3, with the sale closing three days later.
Extra Space Storage said the ServPro employee called on September 7 to inquire about the auction and again on September 10 to request the winner’s contact information, which the company’s privacy rules do not allow it to reveal.
"All we know is that they were from Colorado Springs and that they emptied the storage unit and went on their way," Hersh said.
ServPro Team Olson, which owns ServPro of Greater Boulder, said it was “heartbroken” over the situation. They first blamed the storage facility’s ownership change for the mishap in a statement to 9News, but issued a new statement after being presented with additional findings.
"After an internal investigation, we determined that a human error on our part led to the notifications going unanswered and the unit being auctioned," the statement to 9News reads.
"As soon as we realized what had happened, we did everything we could to reach the buyer through the auction house in hopes of recovering Mr. Hersh’s cherished belongings, but that information was not released."
The Independent has also contacted ServPro Team Olson for comment.
Hersh, who has nothing left but three pairs of pants, two pairs of jeans, and “a half a dozen work shirts,” is sharing his story in hopes that the auction winner can reunite him and his daughter with their treasured possessions.
"All we really want is our personal stuff back that has no value to anybody else," Hersh said.
ServPro is in the process of evaluating Hersh’s belongings and will reimburse him, according to the news outlet.
Anyone with information about the buyer of Hersh’s belongings at the September 3 storage auction is asked to contact Steve Staeger at SteveOnYourSide@9news.com to get in contact with Hersh.
