5 Things you may or may not know about the Dave Hester News & Storage Wars Secrets

 So we're no expert on Dave Hester, but we certainly are experts on Storage Wars the show, storage wars the lifestyle, and we've met enough of the people who work on the show and seen enough of the places in real life (not just via television, folks) to feel like we have a pretty good opinion.

We're not going to sit here and trash Dave and throw around YUUUUPS and jokes about his dogs or his girlfriend, or whatever,  there's enough of that going on already,  but what we WILL do is point out a few things you may not know and then offer a solid, simple, opinion at the very end.

Here goes.

1.  Hester has a myriad of partners and ex-partners that he has pissed off throughout the years -  They include Steve Cox, of Suburban Pickers, and even his own BROTHER (Dave's not Steve's).   We don't have total details on all of the breakups, but what we will point out to you is that if you're one of those people pointing out that EVERYONE ELSE is stupid, it's usually you that has the problem.   We have spent a great deal of time working with Steve Cox, and we can tell you he's a straight shooter, but totally reasonable and very kind.   He's super patient with his young son and takes him to auctions and flea markets with him--  I can't imagine Steve ever being a douche to anyone.   And how on earth is it possible to make your own BROTHER not want to do business with you?    We've heard time and time again that Dave needs an attitude check, but as you are already here, you already watch the show, and you probably already know that-  so, moving on...

                                                 Dave Hester's brother, bidding against him

2.  Hester has a myriad of failed businesses, most of which failed because he tried to expand them too quickly (read, he's a greedy bastard) -
  He started out with Newport Consignment Gallery.  When he noticed his other auction rivals having thrift stores he changed half of it to be called Rags to Riches Thrift Store.  He put both stores up for sale to have "going out of business sales" (for a SUPER LONG amount of time) and then started Dave Hester Auctions (you may have seen the big obnoxious logo on the big, obnoxious trucks), which failed, because, we're not really sure why, but we imagine that he was trying to compete with many others (some of whom are even co-stars on Storage Wars)  in a field he knew little about.   Dave Hester Auctions has now become Dave Hester Entertainment  (see #3).   We can tell you that both Newport Consignment and Rags to Riches were super overpriced and had Storage Wars memorabilia everywhere (we'll get to that).  You can also read lots of unfavorable reviews here:  http://www.yelp.com/biz/newport-consignment-gallery-costa-mesa

Here are pictures of us at Newport Consignment Gallery / Rags to Riches Thrift taken in September 2011.   You'll notice how he has A&E Storage Wars all over EVERYTHING!

                                       

                                                        


3.  He has his own ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY.   --  Who the hell does he think he is, Oprah?    What the hell kind of entertainer is he?   Forget singing, dancing, dialects, or method acting- on HIS resume, special skills are listed as :  arguing, screaming loudly, wearing all black, and putting his name on EVERYTHING. If you don't believe us, you can link here:  http://davehesterentertainment.com   If you choose not even to give him another cent by clicking, we understand too.   Oh, and he also owns http://www.yuuuup.com.  Smart business man, maybe.   Greedy little shit, absolutely.   And what would he be without Storage Wars?  Why focus 90% of your business on something that just came 2 years ago, as opposed to focusing on your tried and true green, the core of your business for decades?

4.  He has a DUI    - Okay, so everyone makes mistakes, and can be forgiven, yadda yadda, but we find it useful as illustrating that he often has poor judgement.  After all, most people with DUI's have driven drunk at least a couple of times before, right?   Not to mention, it's helpful to include that THAT is how he got into the consignment business to begin with-- he had to do community service as a Goodwill in 2005 and it changed his entire business plan.  At least he's turning pain into gain?   And Hester is an expert at THAT, that's for sure.



5.  Hester has been disputing his pay (and the way he's been "treated") with the A&E executives since the beginning of 2012.  Here's a TMZ video of him bitching when he wasn't invited to the company Christmas party last year: http://www.insideselfstorage.com/news/2012/01/storage-wars-star-debates-leaving-show-over-contract-dispute.aspx  He's also been upset about his pay for a long time.  At some point the issue would have had to have been resolved.   No idea whether he was crying wolf, looking for attention, or just being Hester- but the money problems are NOT new.  Not even a little bit.

As far as the allegations that Storage Wars is fake and items were planted, we'll say this:

(if you haven't read that article you can click here:  http://www.wsoctv.com/ap/ap/entertainment/lawsuit-claims-aes-storage-wars-show-is-rigged/nTSfP/)

ALL reality TV shows have some amount of scripting.  You just can't have a super entertaining, well put together piece (with a concise script) otherwise.   We've done a lot of pilots and sizzle reels and things like that and we can say that basically what they do is interview you about who you are and what you do,  ask you where they see your story going,  make a few suggestions, and then let you go on with it.  They may say things like "please remember to mention that you are from New Orleans because we have a great shot of the French Quarter we'd like to show"  or  "please highlight the fact that you buy estates because that's a topic we'd like to hit in a future episode."   Some of the more unscrupulous producers may ask you to EXAGGERATE  "we know you wear dresses and heels to auction but can you let your boobs hang out and wear booty shorts instead?  We're trying to sell to a network that's 100% men" --  for example.... but A&E is NOT one of those networks.  The television show Storage Hunters, on TruTV, is 100% fake, and we have proof of that, down to them paying extras to be auction buyers, using facilities that aren't real, and using made up names.    Auction Hunters is 50% fake--  Allen and Ton do actually do what they do, but they weren't necessarily doing it before the show.  They both worked in TV, not necessarily in auction buying.   They film episodes NEAR large cities and pass them off as being IN the city (McComb, MS instead of New Orleans, LA for example), and worst of all, they highlight their high-speed cameras EVERY SINGLE EPISODE by finding both a type of firearm and/or knife AND a vehicle/boat/RV.   In EVERY SINGLE UNIT.  We  could go on and on about how Allen was pissed when a bunch of "lower class rednecks" (his words, not ours)  had the audacity to show up at an auction that "shouldn't have been advertised" -- but we'll leave it at that.      Storage Wars, on the other hand, has buyers that were doing this before hand  (with the exception of Barry who bought items but not necessarily from storage auctions),  uses real facilities (that we have met the owners and employees of),  uses American Auctioneers for all of their auctions who are licensed and totally legit (we have met their lead lock cutter John and seen him do lock cuts in person) and advertises all of their auctions to the public, as per California state laws.

Here are two more things to consider.   Storage Wars, unlike the other television shows, feature real-life professionals who display items they buy IN THEIR REAL LIFE STORES.   You are welcome to look at Mark Balelo's online auctions, walk into Brandy and Jarrod's store or look at their eBay page,  visit Nabila at the swap meets, and look at whatever mess Hester has on whatever store/site he has at the time.  How many other reality TV auction stars can you say that about?  Do Allen and Ton sell to anyone other than their character-like weapons experts?   Would anyone give Storage Hunters a bad appraisal with 5 cameras (and a Dog the Bounty Hunter looking dude) in their faces?  We think not.     When Brandy and Jarrod bought a unit that had thousands of Hot Wheels, had those items been planted,  you'd think they'd be returned to Mattel the very next day, right?  Instead they sell them on eBay, autograph them, and get a premium price for them.  That's using the show to your advantage, and there is nothing wrong with that.   Hester just always takes it to overkill.

Here are the ways we have witnessed and will admit that Storage Wars manipulates things:

1)  They have camera men and even cameras in odd places.   We've seen camera men on the roof and cameras on dashboards of cars and inside units, for example.  But they do NOT interfere with what is happening normally/ordinarily.

2)  They edit out TONS of footage -   These bidders attend THOUSANDS of auctions a year.  They don't have time in a single season to show you that.  They'll pick 8-12 good auctions a year and show you the best 3 or 4 units at each location.   Otherwise you'd NEVER get to see them dig the units and sell the items.

3)  Bidding is re-shot several times -   Think about it.   Bidding is open to the general public, people are usually so crammed in there you NEED the guy on the roof to get the entire line.    Since everyone is allowed to bid, and there are limited #s of cameras and microphones,  they may  not always be able to catch someone's bid, expression, vocalization, whatever.    They often reshoot the bidding but just say "okay, you remember what bids you made and make them again at the exact same moment".  We've done this and participated in it.  You'll reshoot the bidding a couple of times and then you'll do some generic bidding just so they can make sure they have all of your expressions and mannerisms with the appropriate lighting and angles.   It's a professional show for Christ sake, you don't want it to look like a 7 year old filmed it with a handy cam.

4)  Bidders are reintroduced to the audience, taken away, and reintroduced to try to drive ratings.   It's a reason why Jeff Jarred, Nabila Hanniss, and Mark Balelo will pop into episodes and then pop right out for a few episodes.  It's something the producers can't really make up their minds on and we know (firsthand) that it causes all three of them a great deal of frustration.  But there's nothing staged or wrong about that!

As far as the Elvis Newspapers being fake and items being added to lockers--  we can neither confirm nor deny that because we don't know.  We can tell you we are lucky enough to have a few copies of the newspapers autographed by the cast of Storage Wars that were given to us as gifts but we can also tell you that for a time, Hester SOLD those newspapers (autographed by him or non-autographed) at premium prices.  For someone who is outraged and appalled by a planted item, he sure as hell planted it right in a glass display case.     And here's something else to consider-   don't you think we would have heard from a prior tenant looking to make money selling their story to TMZ if items had been added to their storage units?

Here is an actual photo of the actual newspaper found in the units.  We have a few copies and have a way to get more...  let me know if you'd like to buy one!   storageheroes@gmail.com

Our final thoughts:   Hester is a greedy little monkey and it is finally catching up to him.  He gets paid THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS to do what he was already doing anyway,  he uses it to his advantage every step of the way in marketing and by selling autographs and Storage Wars memorabilia to make thousands more, and it's still not good enough for him.  If you were a dentist and someone offered you $5000 extra for each tooth you pulled from now on, would you decline politely and hold out for $10000?  Um, no.  

Dave Hester, be outraged and offended by "reality TV" and it's evil ways and "planted items"  OR continue to profit off of it and shut the hell up.    And why is your outrage JUST coming out AFTER you've asked for more money for a year?  Those staged units have allegedly been happening since day 1. You can't be outraged AND greedy.   One or the other, please.

A&E, if you're looking for new stars, you know where to find us.  We've been saying there should be Storage Wars New Orleans for forever.  Just think of the food your crews can be eating!

And meanwhile, maybe someone out there should buy www.NOOOPE.com.   Just in case.

* Disclaimer- we are in NO way affiliated to any of the shows described above.  We have worked for StorageTreasures.com who are affiliated with Dan and Laura Dotson of American Auctioneers and Storage Wars but we have no affiliation with Storage Wars directly.   StorageTreasures.com or Storage Wars or A&E or Dan and Laura Dotson (or anyone else mentioned here) had NO idea we were writing this and nothing to do with it.

PS - Here's a little lagniappe:   http://www.davehesterfraud.com


Until next time,

We put the POSE in EXPOSÉ,

Storage Heroes

Record Keeping

 We're at auction the other day and we had already bought one unit for $130, (and recovered our money just in a few small pieces of gold and silver),

 so we were feeling pretty ready to buy at the next facility (it was a caravan auction).

The door rolls open and we see this:

Who could pass up all of those records?  We've had a great deal of success in the past with records, both at our garage sales and with a few very good record stores and wholesalers in the area so we jumped on it.  I (Rebecca) immediately wanted to open with a $200 bid,  Brian wanted to start low at $50 and I think we both bid at the same time (first time that's ever happened, I think) so we ended up somewhere in the middle.  It went well over $200 though (I knew it would)  and things were slowing down around $300 when one of our competitors decided he would take it all the way up to $400.

We had previously agreed that $400-600 was going to be our stopping point, and I felt confident that we could get it for $400-500, so we were totally okay with going to $425 and that's where the bidding stopped.

Even if we sell each record at 25 cents a piece, we'll make our money back-- there are well over 1500 records, perhaps even as many as 2500.  That's yet to be determined.  There were about 5 large boxes,  6 medium boxes, 7 small boxes, as well as approximately 7 sterilite tubs (the long ones).

There's really no digging to be done on this unit, but we will tell you that a lot of the albums are older, many are shrink-wrapped, and a lot of of Louisiana bands (many are promo copies from before they were famous) so that's pretty interesting and a good sign.   So far, no rock, just jazz and classical, but we've got plenty to go through.  The owner was a dedicated collector, so they are all in alphabetical order by genre.  The boxes are even labelled for us!

 It's not as good of a buy as it would have been at $200, and there PROBABLY aren't any rare Beatles or Elvis, but it's definitely still a great buy and we're excited we have it!  We'll keep you updated.

And on the way out of the facility,  THIS happened:

Never a dull moment!


Until next time,


We bring the FUN to AUCTION!

-Storage Heroes

You're not the only one who wants to shoot something!

Just to warn you, this blog will have cursing.  Maybe not adult photographs or things like that- but definitely cursing.  Be warned.  Oh, and special thanks to the people at the Apple Store, who took my dying laptop, made it process it's last processes, sadly, but then replaced it with a brand spanking new one.  So man, not only are we back, but we're BACK!  It's nice to have a laptop that actually types at the speed you're typing and not 5 minutes later when it feels like filling in the characters.  Makes blogging difficult.  Back to the story:

 Let me tell you guys about the biggest asshole ever.    

We bought a storage unit awhile back that had a Tasco World Class Rifle Scope box in it, with what appeared to be a scope inside and another piece as well.  According to the box it was a pair of binoculars, free with purchase.  So you're getting like a $75-100 scope, with a bonus pair of binoculars.   Sounds like a pretty good deal, right?  All the pieces were there and it looked like it was in pretty good shape so we had someone we knew looked at it who confirmed it was in pretty good shape and we put it up on eBay.

I alway try to be as honest as possible in my listings because I'd rather someone not buy something than have to refund someone and deal with all of the foolishness of them returning the item, leaving feedback, contacting eBay, blah blah blah.  So, unlike other unscrupulous people who may just say whatever to get someone to buy and then disappear- I'm 100% honest.   Even 1000%.  Is that possible? :) 

Here's a copy of our listing.   I'll do you one better and post a screenshot of our listing, obscuring the douchebag's screen name and even the ID # just so you can't find him.  But if you're really creative and look up our store you might still be able to find him.  Here's a hint- he's the ONE negative feedback we have, but we'll get to that in a second.


FIRST, I want you to look at all of the pictures.  Sure we provide 3 or 4 of the box and the details on the box- but there are not one, but TWO of the actual products inside the box, am I right?

Second, look at our actual description.   Pay special attention to the VERY FIRST LINE that says: "unsure whether this one has been used or not.  Was acquired at auction."   Was there ANYTHING misleading or hard to understand about that sentence?  We'd love your opinion on this, seriously.

Now here's the e-mails from our dude and our responses.  

Here's the first e-mail from our boy genius.  We'll tell you that his screen name references a certain animal body part, a kill shot, and his name,  so we'll just call him LegShootIdiot

eBay sent this message to Brian Monk (storagehero).Your registered name is included to show this message originated from eBay. Learn more.

	This member has a question for you.

Do not respond to the sender if this message requests that you complete the transaction outside of eBay. This type of offer is against eBay policy, may be fraudulent, and is not covered by buyer protection programs. Learn More.

                       

Dear storagehero, Hey there, recieved the scope HMMMMMMM, not unused like your discription and there are no binoculars,what to do? this thing has deffenit wear on it .not cool - legshootidiot

***

First of all, learn to spell you MORON.

Second of all - does my DISCRIPTION really say it's unused?  DEFFENITLY?  Good Grief.

But we value our 100% feedback rating, so here was our response:

Dear legshootidiot,

Actually, the very first line of the ad said that we got it at an auction and were unsure about whether it was used or not... So it's really unfair to say that we advertised it a unused.

Secondly, I realize now that there was not binoculars but two scopes but only because several people have contacted us and told us that it was clear from the pictures. One guy even offered $75 buy it now but I declined as your bid was already in place.

Even though I advertise no returns in this case I will be happy to. You can send the item back to 1005 Central Avenue #B Metairie LA 70001 and I will refund you promptly.

Thanks,

Storage Heroes

- storagehero

We thought everything was taken care of, until the asshole filed a buyer complaint.   In his complaint to eBay he indicated his item was "not received"  as opposed to "not as described" which is completely different.  It basically means that the seller has to refund immediately, as opposed to refunding after they receive the item - which obviously the buyer can't return if they never received it.  He obviously knows this ( he has 41 or so feedback) so was trying to get past the system.  He also tried to escalate it to customer care by lying and saying that he had "never heard from us"  and that we had not returned his complaint even though, as you see above, we did- within 12 hours of his original message.

But wait, there's more.  He also sends us this little ditty:

Dear storagehero,

Hey look ,,the one scope is a Bushnell not a Tesco world class anybody can see that by just reading whats on the scope there both broke ,,the crosshairs in them are doubled,plus no binoculars,,list things right next time Srry storages hero's but that's bad business where I come from,if you dont know what a scope is supposed to look like then maybe you shouldn't be selling them.

- legshootidiot

 I wanted to immediately go off on him here... as he is such an idiot and obviously just does not get the point, and I KNOW that Brian would have gone off on him had I let him respond, but I was still remembering that you get more flies with honey than you do vinegar and really trying to protect our Feedback rating.  I never forget how that one C in school ruined my 4.0 average- once that happens, you can never, ever, ever get a 4.0 again, and that's how it is with 100%.  It only takes one to never be able to get it again.  I can't tell you how many times I have completely eaten my pride to try to save our feedback and usually it works.     Here's the nice, tactful response:

Dear legshootidiot,

I've already told you that once you send the item back I will issue you a full refund. No need to be derogatory or rude.

- storagehero

Dear storagehero,

It's on the way ,,Srry wasn't trying to be rude you guys have very good reviews this is a hiccup for both of US.

- legshootidiot

 RELIEF.  My niceness worked, and he obvious now has looked at our feedback profile and sees that we're not some kid selling stuff out of his garage (no offense) that never ships stuff out on time, we're actually a company and we value our reputation.   Here's my response:

Dear legshootidiot,

No problem! We buy estates and storage units, so a lot of times we come across items that aren't in our area of expertise. You can read all about our adventures at http://storageheroes.blogspot.com if you're interested. Thanks for the info on the scopes.

- storagehero

 See how nice that was?   I thanked him, plugged our company-- maybe he will like us even better,  and slightly even almost apologized.   Even though I was full of crap I also made him feel like he gave me information I didn't know on the scopes!  I was going above and beyond, or so I thought.    Then I get a notification, a few hours later ( 6am this morning, actually)  - that he's left us negative feedback.  Here's the screenshot, you're going to LOVE what the feedback says:

 That's right, our perfect feedback went from 100% to 98.1%, just like that, and it's not even REAL feedback.  He's still stuck on that "like new"  bullshit.  Oh, and to top it all off,  he two-faced was all kind and sweet and not an idiot in his last message and then did a complete 180 on me.  Usually you know a customer is going to be mad if they find out an item has been delayed in shipping or SOMETHING, and it's usually not your fault, but at least you can expect it.  This was just random.  Maybe he's on his hunting time of the month, or something?  Now, our feedback is ruined, and the only question left in my mind is whether or not it can be saved.  Can he edit it?  I'm not sure.  I literally want to write him back "good luck getting your refund, asshole"  and translating it so that he can understand, to "gd loook gitting ur refound asshole!!!!!!"   but I basically just try to CIVILLY make him feel like a loser and a jerk.  If he's a hunter he's probably somewhat of a country boy, so I figured maybe the whole honor thing may play a part.  Here's the response (and yes, I'm wasting SO MUCH of my time on this loser, I am sadly aware):

Dear legshootidiot, I cannot believe that after trying to be so nice to you and working with you and offering you a refund even though our policy says clearly no refunds, you leave us negative feedback, knowing full well that we had 100% positive because you mentioned it to me. What gives ??? If it was SO obvious what the items were you should have realized it from the multitude of pictures provided. You clearly didn't read it also because you told us that you read it was unused when I gave a full description completely honest in the listing. On top of that you told eBay you didn't receive the item at all instead of indicating that it was not as listed, trying to force me into a full refund without you having to return the item. Or did you not read that either? I don't know who you are or where you're from but I hope you have a lot more honor in the shooting arena than you do on eBay. Never once have we been anything but friendly and cooperative with you. I hope you can live with yourself. - storagehero

 I would have said more but eBay cut me off.  What is this, twitter?  Damn character limit!

He responds with the ever eloquent -- 

Dear storagehero,

your dad should have said " here are two really broke scopes,Im gonna lie to you and tell you their tasco world class ,when you receive your junk you'll see I lied one Is a Bushnell ( big difference) plus this comes with binoculars,but haha joke is on you cause your not getting them,, in my arena I couldn't hit crap with your junky BROKE!!! scopes. So come on people just stop!!!! . A second complaint will go in if im harassed anymore.Srry I listed your item like New that was my mistake,looked at alot of scopes I should have bought before I bought yours. Later storeage zero.

- legshootidiot

 My Dad?  WTF are you smoking, kid?  You best not be getting high while you're waiting for that deer, because you might accidentally shoot the mailman or something instead.   He also goes out of his way to be a jerk, throwing in words like "junk"   "lied"   "joke is on you"  "crap"  and so forth and so on.   He tells me I'm not getting the items back, and that he confused our ad with another one.  Frustration.  And yet I'm HARASSING HIM??  You haven't SEEN harassment yet,  boy.  I used to be a skip tracer.  I can find your address, phone number, mama's phone number, work address, and naked pictures of your girlfriend online.  That's a fact.   I'm a nice girl and I won't use them... unless I have to. Do NOT get on my bad side, especially when I'm trying so hard to be nice to you.  ESPECIALLY when you want a REFUND!   MORON! 

Oh, and Storage Zero!    Awesome. I  could never ever ever have thought of that one.  

  Time to be more forceful... a language he understands:

Dear legshootidiot, You need to change the feedback. You said in the feedback that we advertised it like new and it wasn't. That is a total lie. Do you realize that even if I make 500000 perfect transactions, I will never ever ever be at 100% again? Please tell me what I did wrong. I told you I would refund the money and without even giving me a chance to do that you leave negative feedback ruining my perfect score ? I have no idea what you're talking about referencing my dad. It's just me and I am a young single girl and her business partner. Maybe you have me confused with someone else again? Please change the feedback, send me back the item, and I'll give you a full refund. I have already offered this to you... - storagehero

 Let's get a reference in not only the dictionary, but also spelling, foreign countries, AND morals -  are you ready for this one??  Let's see brilliance in action:

Dear storagehero,

your ad not dad Srry here is the deal when im refunded I will grant your wish a change the feedback,because I have integrity,and good Korea's thats the deal , im hunting and my hands are cold Srry for the dad typo. Is this making you happy????? im not a jerk just give it to people straight!!!!!!

- legshootidiot

 And this guy gets to carry a WEAPON?   I'm ALL for the right to bear arms, but maybe not in his case?  Good Lord.  I'm so happy I don't live anywhere near New Jersey.  Oh wait, here's a clarification.  Guess Bambi doesn't come out for assholes, and he has some more free time:

Dear storagehero,

Integrity and morals not Koreas,,spell check Srry.

- legshootidiot

 At this point it's almost 8am, and I've about had it with this dude.  I don't even care about the feedback anymore:

Dear legshootidiot, You are being a jerk. I made a mistake, I didn't know what the item was. I admitted that from the start, offered you a refund and an apology as soon as you informed me of the problem, and you opened a case against me. We worked it out again, where you said you weren't trying to be rude and you could see I had great feedback and were trying to work with you, and then less than 24 hours later you leave me negative feedback. Then I ask what is going on because it was such a 180 from the previous conversation and you imply that I'm threatening you. Rather than waiting to leave me feedback until after the return was completed you left it without even giving me a chance to make things right. Everyone is viewing it right now and it's a total untruth. I'm not happy about this at all. I don't enjoy being up at 6 am on my day off to deal with you. I am just trying to start a new business and you are not helping or being the slightest bit cooperative - storagehero  In my final act, I report him as an unethical buyer AND escalate our case to customer support referencing all of his lies, the fact that he tried to defraud eBay by lying about not receiving an item, and the fact that he plans on telling all of his friends to buy stuff for me and leaving me "sucky feedback"  which you can see below:

Dear storagehero,

The feedback was left before any of our conversation,,,and I dont care what time it is at your house ,,you sent me a message this morning,,, sooooo I guess the feedback stays what you dont know is you suck as a buissiness person and I will get all my friends to buy stuff from you all day and give you sucky feedback so keep it up and you will be drowned in nothing but bad feedback Plus I just forwarded all your messages to the complaint department plus what I have sent you. PS check out my 100% feedback sweet aunt it. your a real trip by the way. take care storage zero's.

- legshootidiot

 So, that's our saga.  What do you think?  Should we have been ruder?  Handled it differently?  Sold it to the guy who asked me to Buy it Now on Day 1 (YES) -  ha.   Leave your comments below, and if you like you can even e-mail us at storageheroes@gmail.com -- but whatever you do, PLEASE do not leave us negative feedback on eBay.  Unless we really deserve it!

xoxo,

We put the RAGE in STORAGE,

Storage Heroes

StorageTreasures Video Shoot - Behind the Scenes!

Hey everyone,

Rebecca here! Awhile back we flew to California and spent a few days there because we were working on a "project" -- we didn't say much or share much because we didn't want to blow the surprise, but we can now say that we were working on a series of training videos for StorageTreasures.com that is going to be out of this world amazing.  And we're not just saying that because we're in it!    There were a lot of great people involved (including a few Storage Wars cast members) and even WE learned something, and we're pros-- so we know the training video will be helpful to absolutely everyone who watches it, regardless of their level of expertise.  We're super excited and the video should come out in just a few days-- (Update:  They've now been up now since October 1st)  so we can now share with you just a few of the behind-the-scenes details.

First of all, for the rest of our California trip pictures, you can read THIS blog:  http://storageheroes.blogspot.com/2012/07/californ-i-a.html

Now, onto the shoot.  The very first thing I had to do was stop at El Pollo Loco-- who can blame me, that place rocks?   Brian was nice enough to be patient enough while I ordered every single thing on the menu.

Finally getting to meet Quart Doodle was quite the experience!  I had heard so much about him--  he's a lot bigger in person than I expected!    Perhaps he really IS more than a quarter "real dog".

Brian and Quart got along famously, but it might have something to do with the fact that Brian always had a sandwich in his hand.

"No, Quart... I eat 82 sandwiches a day-- I need every one of them--  you cannot have this one."

Thanks to StorageTreasures.com I know where to find auctions!  This sign totally confirms that!

I also <3 Storage Outlet Fullerton - and I don't need a reason why.

 That is a very good looking mascot though!   Almost as cute as Quart.

 Now for a hilarious story--  Quart ADORES his Mommy Leslie-- so when she's around, he will do absolutely ANYTHING to be near her.  If she's not around, he will pine for her for a period of time and then eventually settle on his next favorite place-- inside a storage unit!   You'd figure this pup would be sick of storage units, but nope-- he loves sniffing them out!  We actually had to interrupt shooting a few times because Quart wanted in!

 Notice the drool puddles on the ground!

During breaks we went around Southern California visiting some very important places, like Brandi and Jarrod's store:

Back on set, and Uh OH--- Quart the Paper Shredder (as he is affectionately called, for good reason) has spotted something that I have:

He's chewing it up... what is it?

Oh!  It's a Storage Heroes business card!  Here is the after.   Haha... THANKS, Quart!  At least it gets us a shout out :)

Meanwhile, Brian was super impressed not only with Southern California's doggies, but also with their security measures.  This facility was SECURE.

One of the pieces from the storage unit was so amazing I just had to take a picture!  You'll hear all about it later and how much it sold for.  I really wanted to take it home for myself.

Ever wondered how they get the shots of people driving to and from auction?  Now you don't have to wonder about that anymore!

I will also mention that our California rental car was the exact year, make and model as Brian's car back home-- so it was VERY realistic to our actual auction day experience.


Shooting the lock-cut demonstration

Everyone just hanging around!    Between takes--   guess who that is in the middle!

 Nabila was so sweet---  I loved her shirt, and she ended up sending me one just like it!

See?

More videoing of the inventory/lock-cut procedure:

There is SO much talent under that tent, it is not even funny!

The talent is just indescribable-  you have Nabila Hannis, Suburban Pickers,  The Redneck Picker, American Auctioneers, and Storage Heroes all within just a few feet of each other.   Could you imagine the resource we could have put together if we combined all of our knowledge?  Oh wait,  we did!

One of our favorite guys-- he is so down to earth, which is funny because the way he "always keeps his head on a swivel"  you would think he'd be super high strung.  So laid back, so cool, so hilarious.  We love The Redneck Picker!

Brian and I

Hanging out with a Redneck Picker AND a Suburban Picker-- it's like being in some sort of movie where the city mouse goes to the country,  or something.

Storage Heroes + Nabila = pure awesomeness.   Can you question it?

Quart started getting a lot of attention... I mean, of course he always does...

a LOT of attention...

So I decided he needed to do some PR for us at sport a Storage Heroes shirt-- and believe it or not that is MY shirt and it fits HIM perfectly.  Should I be upset about that?

Smile for the camera, Quart!

Like one big happy... storage family?  This can be our first company picture when we finally get Quart to join us :)

Not wanting to be unfair, we added a StorageTreasures Hat!

Who could say no to that face?

Ooh... I would have loved to have heard what THAT conversation was about!

At the end of the day I just crashed onto a chair--  should have checked first because Dan Dotson was in it!

A picture with Brian as well

Another one with Nabila!  We were sharing clothes all day-  so cool that we're the same size!

At the end of the night it was time for Dan to ride off in style on his Motorcycle...

Only after getting a quick word from Nabila...

It was time for him to say goodbye!

Everybody was pooped at the end of the day!  And I do mean everybody!

All in all it was an amazing experience, and I'm so glad I got to meet the StorageTreasures family and all of the other knowledgeable people that worked on this project.  We met some new bidders and really were able to seriously help them out-- and hopefully the video training will help lots of others in the same way,  but I'm sure it will, because like I said, it helped me and I'm not even new to this by any means.  You can always learn from others-- especially when you have the best of the best all together-- it was an honor and a privilege to have been a part of that number.

We cannot WAIT until you guys see it!

xoxo,

Storage Heroes

**UPDATE**  You can now see the videos here:

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3