Departments of Consumer Affairs
On February 10, 2026, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection announced that it filed filing a lawsuit against a national publicly-traded self-storage company that operates approximately 60 locations across New York City.
According to DCWP, after reviewing more than 100 complaints the agency’s investigation found that the company “consistently fails to provide the quality of services it advertises and uses predatory practices that exploit consumers and violate NYC’s Consumer Protection Law.” To address the company’s alleged illegal bait-and-switch scheme, DCWP is seeking to hold the company accountable for its alleged misconduct in New York by pursuing restitution for aggrieved consumers and civil penalties for thousands of violations of City law.
This is the first lawsuit DCWP is bringing against a self-storage company.
“This lawsuit aims to shut down [the company’s] deceptive bait-and-switch scheme, recover full restitution for consumers, and send a clear message to the self-storage industry that exploiting New Yorkers comes with serious consequences,” said Commissioner and DCWP attorney Sam Levine. “This Fee Free February and every month, false advertisements, hidden late fees, other and predatory practices are on our radar. The era of exploiting New Yorkers is over.”
“For too long, self-storage companies like Extra Space have used deceptive tactics to lure New Yorkers in with low introductory rates, only to jack up prices and hit them with hidden fees. This kind of behavior drains consumers’ wallets and undermines affordability in our city,”
On January 5, 2025, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, joined by Attorney General Letitia James, City Council Member Julie Menin, and DCWP Commissioner Sam Levine, announced that it has signed two executive orders: to combat businesses’ deceptive use of junk fees and crackdown on subscription tricks and traps that that drain money from New Yorkers and make essential goods and services less affordable.
Following the signing, DCWP will begin outreach to businesses to ensure compliance with city law and signal immediate consequences. Contact an experienced New York DCWP (DCA) defense lawyer if you have been contacted by the NY DCWP or the NY Office of the Attorney General relating your billing practices.
“New Yorkers deserve to know exactly what they are paying, how much it will cost, and whether they are signing up for an ongoing charge — before a single dollar leaves their account. Instead, too many people are hit with hidden fees and blindsided by subscription traps they never knowingly agreed to and cannot easily escape,” said Mayor Mamdani. “In the midst of an affordability crisis that is already pushing working New Yorkers out of their city, these deceptive practices put even more strain on household budgets. This executive order restores what should have always been the case: transparency in pricing, accountability for companies, and full compliance with the law.”
“New Yorkers are paying too much for everyday services because of hidden, unexpected junk fees and illegal subscriptions traps.
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Hinch Newman LLP’s advertising and marketing practice includes two decades successfully resolving some of the highest-profile Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general digital advertising and telemarketing investigations and enforcement actions. As FTC attorneys, the firm possesses superior compliance knowledge and deep legal advocacy experience in the areas of advertising, marketing, lead generation, promotions, e-commerce, privacy and intellectual property law. It has also been selected to author the Consumer Protection Section of the prestigious American Lawyer Media International Federal Trade Commission: Law, Practice and Procedure Treatise, a comprehensive resource for developments of concern to advertisers, marketers and legal professionals that practice before the Commission. Through these advertising and marketing law updates, Hinch Newman LLP provides commentary, news and analysis on issues and trends concerning developments of interest to digital marketers, including FTC and state attorneys general advertising compliance, civil investigative demands (CIDs), and administrative/ judicial process.