At blue self storage, our ethos is all about offering great customer service, where we go above and beyond to provide high quality, affordable storage.
Because of that, we provide transparent pricing – keeping our costs honest and easy to find & understand.
What is ‘transparent pricing’?
Simply put, we display all our storage prices on our website and across our marketing collateral – because we strongly believe in honesty and transparency with our customers.
You may have noticed that most of our competitors, including high street brands, ask you to submit your data and personal details before sending you an automated quote – this is hidden pricing.
Why does transparent pricing matter?
Sadly, many companies employ complicated pricing tactics to bamboozle customers, and they’ll continue to do so during times of hardship.
At the time of writing (March 2022), the cost of living is going up and the news is dominated by the inflation rate rise and the subsequent increases in living costs, including energy & utility bills, food prices, gas and petrol and more.
From April 2022, Welsh Water are raising their prices by up to 7% more for some customers and households across the UK will soon have to pay £693 more per year for their energy bills.
And just this week petrol prices have hit an all-time high, meaning it now costs more than £90 to fill a family car according to the RAC.
Keep reading as we explore why transparent pricing is so important and uncover the underhand tactics you should watch out for when you’re looking for self storage ↓
Why the hidden quote model can be dangerous
#1 – Hidden or automated quotes are all based on your private data
It’s hard to shake the feeling that the storage quote you receive is somehow dependent on your submitted details, rather than being a fixed price applicable to everyone.
Customers shouldn’t have to pay differing prices based on their private data or requirements, but you’ll never be able to verify whether you’re being offered a good deal compared to another enquiring customer or not.
TOP TIP: When searching for goods or services with fluctuating prices (like storage, holiday deals, insurance etc) make sure to repeat your searches in a private or Incognito browser window as well. Without your stored cookies and data to hand, you may find the suppliers offer you a surprising difference in prices!
#2 – You’ll be bamboozled with dramatic price drops
Hidden quotes also make it easy for competitors to drastically drop the price and offer you increasing discounts if you don’t then book quickly.
So, what does that mean? Well, if they can drop the prices so quickly and easily, that must mean the original price was too high for what the storage is actually worth!
We’ve all received big flashy emails offering us high discount price drops for a ‘limited time only’ and psychologically, these are designed to make us panic and book quicker.
But when do the discounts end? At what point will the price stop dropping?
When companies employ this tactic, any customer paying the first price advertised has been taken advantage of.
How dynamic pricing structures are designed to cheat you
Lots of big storage brands also offer dynamic pricing, which is where they’ll slash prices for the first X amount of weeks when you sign up before hiking your prices back up to pre-enquiry levels.
Many of our customers have previously used well-known brands and now feel very negatively towards the dynamic pricing structures these businesses employ, because your storage costs will always go back up.
It’s easy to get swept up in securing what seems like an incredibly good price, knowing we can afford it – but can we afford the inevitable price rise in a few weeks or months?
Brands count on customers not thinking ahead and forecasting budgets so far in advance, so when the price rise does occur, they know you’ll be too committed and settled with your storage to bother looking elsewhere.
How our unique pricing helps customers to afford their storage
During this kind of national crisis when all other prices are going up, it’s critical that some prices remain easy to understand and as fixed as possible.
That’s why we keep our prices open, honest and easy to find.
#1 – All of our costs remain ‘set’ for customers, with no nasty surprises
We don’t drop prices only to increase them again weeks later – and all our customers pay the same for each specific service.
We don’t offer favourable prices based on arbitrary customer details!
#2 – We review our prices annually, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a price increase
In 11 years, we’ve only raised our prices 3 times! And we spend a lot of time considering any potential price increases.
When we do increase prices, it’s simply to reflect inflation rate increases, never as a profit-making opportunity.
#3 – You’ll always be able to easily find our prices online
We advertise all our costs in multiple locations on our website, and you can find location-specific prices easily.
#4 – All our storage prices are easy to understand
Each price is broken down to a weekly and/or monthly amount, and you can easily understand the size of the storage unit for each price.
Any available extras (like racking, or contents insurance) are clearly laid out as extra costs to add on top if you want them.
#5 – All our storage prices include VAT (20%)
All our storage prices include VAT (20%) – so there are no hidden charges or nasty surprises there either.
Remember – if a price seems too good to be true, it probably is! We pride ourselves on our transparent pricing and we’ll always endeavour to keep providing the same great customer service you’ve come to expect.
Want to book self storage, or share some feedback? We’d love to hear from you!
029 20 361 361 (Cardiff storage)
0191 258 0286 (Tyneside storage)
info@blueselfstorage.co.uk
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