It seems I'm pretty unlucky when it comes to accommodation in London (see my previous blogposts if you want to find out why).
However, these past 3 years it's been too much, even for me.
I'm usually pretty good at adjusting. For example, I lived in university halls in the middle of a forest for 3 academic years, and even though there were a couple of issues whilst living there it was alright.
I don't expect university accommodation to be a five star hotel, especially the cheaper end of it.
It's one thing for university halls of residence to not be a five star hotel, and another thing to be like a drug den of 1930s though.
So, let's see what happened straight after I moved in to -let's call it- A1 (in 2014). A1 is one of the university halls of residence of my university.
Basically I had to move in to A1 for 2 and a half months (that was the contract).
A1 was like a dream (appearance wise). The room was like a hotel and it was ensuite as well. The kitchen was big and the flatmates (only 6 of them) minded their own business, which was great.
There were a couple of incidents when I had my ice cream stolen -as most of my flatmates were stoners and they probably went for my ice cream on their search for munchies in the kitchen- but other than that, all was cool. Well, all apart from the wifi issues. In the 2 and a half months I was there at least 4 or 5 times there was no wifi. Sometimes for almost half a day. And that's a pretty big deal. Another issue was that the laundry rooms weren't on site and you had to go to a different place. Also, you couldn't do your laundry 24/7.
Anyway, 2 and a half months flew by and I had to move out. I made arrangements to move to A2, another residence of my university. The day of the move I was told I had to put all my stuff in a room that would be locked, and then a van would come, I would put my stuff on the van and they would take them to A2. I was told I wouldn't have to wait more than a couple of hours. I actually had to wait for more than 8 hours. I was told there would be no van for me because I was the last person to move. People started grabbing my things without my permission to put them in a trolley even though I told them I felt extremely uncomfortable and I wanted them to stop. I realised some of my cutlery was missing and my suitcase was broken. I told the person who was in charge. Not only was she dismissive, but she said they would move my stuff in a trolley. I told her I had been waiting for 8 hours for the van and that I didn't want the staff touching my staff and moving it in a trolley. I was ignored.
So I moved to A2, already feeling uncomfortable and violated.
My room was big, the ensuite toilet was huge, the flat had 5 rooms, but I was alone for the most part of it. I stayed there for 1 month and a half. I could see the high street and the entrance of the building and unfortunately I had to put up with extreme noise levels, drunk people and people urinating on our door. When I moved in the oven wasn't working. I complained. I had to wait for almost a week before they brought a small replacement oven. It took them another week or so to fix the oven. After 20 days of me being there people from summer school started moving in. Those people had all came from Asia. The university didn't give them any info or advice prior to their move. I had to help them settle in, complete their inventories, explain how things work etc. In some flats there was no water in the kitchens, in one flat the boiler was on fire, in other flats the boilers were uncovered, in some rooms there were problems with the showers... In general many many health hazards. There was no security on site and security personnel patrolled 4 -or less- times a day around the building. And of course, there were wifi issues. Later on after I moved out, I found out there were mice in the building as well... The only good thing about these halls was that you could do your laundry 24/7 because it was on site.
So, I returned to Greece for a couple of months and then I made arrangements to move in to A3. A3 is the cheapest hall of residence owned by my university. Mind you A1 and A2 are quite expensive and supposedly fancy.
I heard a few things about A3 prior to moving in. There were many incidents where rooms had been broken into, there was a mice problem... And in general, I had been actively discouraged from moving there. However, these were the only halls I could afford.
So, I move in. Before entering the building I was in awe of how disgusting it looked from the back (where the entrance was) and how unsafe the area and the alley it was on looked. The inside was worse than anything I had seen to date from any university halls. There were too many stairs (for no reason) and the way the stairs were built made it extremely hard to move my stuff in to my room. Also, the structure of the halls was just bizarre. You had a semi-floor with 3 rooms and a shower, then a floor with six rooms and a toilet, then another semi-floor with 3 rooms and a shower, another floor with 6 rooms and a toilet with a bath and lastly, the top floor with 2 rooms, the kitchens and a toilet with a bath. My room was quite small. Some other rooms in the flat were twice its size though. The minute I moved in I was welcomed with gossip about the flat, the fact that flatmates didn't get along and argued a lot, and the fact that there was a flatmate meeting on that night -which I attended. I'm not going to get too much into the drama, but it compromised my experience for sure. However, when you live with 20 people you can't expect no drama I suppose.
So... what were the issues in A3? Well...
Update:
Since when I posted this my macbook was stolen from inside my room. Since there has been no security since before Christmas the thief got no issue entering the premises and our flat, coming to my floor, breaking into my room and stealing my macbook. This was the only time when they actually were cooperative since they knew I could easily sue them. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to do that.
Three days before that a student was beaten and got robbed outside the main door of the building.
Three weeks after that a person died inside the university. They fell off a university building, but we haven't been informed of whether it was an accident or not.
On top of that three flats -including mine- had no wifi for the past 7 days in the university halls. We have had connectivity issues in the past, but none lasted more than a day. Finally, after 7 days of everyone complaining they sent a technician. He said there is water leakage and that they don't how much longer we won't have wifi for. And they only reason I found out it because I kept going to the IT helpdesk. They lied about calling me several times so I had to waste my time and physically go there. Mind you we're all masters students doing our dissertations right now...
And of course they haven't given us any alternative to access the internet or any refund.
The office said we should expect those issues and be patient.
!!!
That was their official response...
Then they said they'd do a general refurbishment, including changing the cables, but we'd have graduated by then. They expected us to have no wifi until we graduate, even though we still had deadlines.
After 2 weeks and me complaining constantly they fixed the issue. Which they could have fixed a lot earlier. I have to admit though the office was nice towards me and offered to move me to another flat to have wifi, but at the time that was impossible for me to do.
However, these past 3 years it's been too much, even for me.
I'm usually pretty good at adjusting. For example, I lived in university halls in the middle of a forest for 3 academic years, and even though there were a couple of issues whilst living there it was alright.
I don't expect university accommodation to be a five star hotel, especially the cheaper end of it.
It's one thing for university halls of residence to not be a five star hotel, and another thing to be like a drug den of 1930s though.
So, let's see what happened straight after I moved in to -let's call it- A1 (in 2014). A1 is one of the university halls of residence of my university.
Basically I had to move in to A1 for 2 and a half months (that was the contract).
A1 was like a dream (appearance wise). The room was like a hotel and it was ensuite as well. The kitchen was big and the flatmates (only 6 of them) minded their own business, which was great.
There were a couple of incidents when I had my ice cream stolen -as most of my flatmates were stoners and they probably went for my ice cream on their search for munchies in the kitchen- but other than that, all was cool. Well, all apart from the wifi issues. In the 2 and a half months I was there at least 4 or 5 times there was no wifi. Sometimes for almost half a day. And that's a pretty big deal. Another issue was that the laundry rooms weren't on site and you had to go to a different place. Also, you couldn't do your laundry 24/7.
Anyway, 2 and a half months flew by and I had to move out. I made arrangements to move to A2, another residence of my university. The day of the move I was told I had to put all my stuff in a room that would be locked, and then a van would come, I would put my stuff on the van and they would take them to A2. I was told I wouldn't have to wait more than a couple of hours. I actually had to wait for more than 8 hours. I was told there would be no van for me because I was the last person to move. People started grabbing my things without my permission to put them in a trolley even though I told them I felt extremely uncomfortable and I wanted them to stop. I realised some of my cutlery was missing and my suitcase was broken. I told the person who was in charge. Not only was she dismissive, but she said they would move my stuff in a trolley. I told her I had been waiting for 8 hours for the van and that I didn't want the staff touching my staff and moving it in a trolley. I was ignored.
So I moved to A2, already feeling uncomfortable and violated.
My room was big, the ensuite toilet was huge, the flat had 5 rooms, but I was alone for the most part of it. I stayed there for 1 month and a half. I could see the high street and the entrance of the building and unfortunately I had to put up with extreme noise levels, drunk people and people urinating on our door. When I moved in the oven wasn't working. I complained. I had to wait for almost a week before they brought a small replacement oven. It took them another week or so to fix the oven. After 20 days of me being there people from summer school started moving in. Those people had all came from Asia. The university didn't give them any info or advice prior to their move. I had to help them settle in, complete their inventories, explain how things work etc. In some flats there was no water in the kitchens, in one flat the boiler was on fire, in other flats the boilers were uncovered, in some rooms there were problems with the showers... In general many many health hazards. There was no security on site and security personnel patrolled 4 -or less- times a day around the building. And of course, there were wifi issues. Later on after I moved out, I found out there were mice in the building as well... The only good thing about these halls was that you could do your laundry 24/7 because it was on site.
So, I returned to Greece for a couple of months and then I made arrangements to move in to A3. A3 is the cheapest hall of residence owned by my university. Mind you A1 and A2 are quite expensive and supposedly fancy.
I heard a few things about A3 prior to moving in. There were many incidents where rooms had been broken into, there was a mice problem... And in general, I had been actively discouraged from moving there. However, these were the only halls I could afford.
So, I move in. Before entering the building I was in awe of how disgusting it looked from the back (where the entrance was) and how unsafe the area and the alley it was on looked. The inside was worse than anything I had seen to date from any university halls. There were too many stairs (for no reason) and the way the stairs were built made it extremely hard to move my stuff in to my room. Also, the structure of the halls was just bizarre. You had a semi-floor with 3 rooms and a shower, then a floor with six rooms and a toilet, then another semi-floor with 3 rooms and a shower, another floor with 6 rooms and a toilet with a bath and lastly, the top floor with 2 rooms, the kitchens and a toilet with a bath. My room was quite small. Some other rooms in the flat were twice its size though. The minute I moved in I was welcomed with gossip about the flat, the fact that flatmates didn't get along and argued a lot, and the fact that there was a flatmate meeting on that night -which I attended. I'm not going to get too much into the drama, but it compromised my experience for sure. However, when you live with 20 people you can't expect no drama I suppose.
So... what were the issues in A3? Well...
- Our backyard, where the entrances of the building were, was also the backyard of all the shops of the high street. Which meant people who weren't students had access to the premises.
- Security was usually sleeping in the security kiosk or watching tv series during the night. We lived on a very dangerous road so knowing that security wouldn't be able to help if something happened was scary. Actually, after a point security stopped being in the kiosk and was only patrolling 4 times a day, which meant that technically there was no security at all. The reason why? The security personnel felt lonely when they had to be in the kiosk compared to being at A2 where there are other security people too...
- We have had numerous issues with the wifi not working. Once for 2 weeks amidst dissertation period.
- We had issues with cockroaches and mice. Issues that weren't permanently resolved.
- We had problems with sink blockage multiple times. To the point where it became a health hazard.
- We had problems with heating a few times. And once we didn't have heating or hot water for a whole week.
- We have had issues with electricity a few times.
- We have had numerous issues with hot water in the showers.
- We had very serious problems with the boiler. Once it actually made noises as if it was going to explode.
- The cleaning lady hated us all for no reason (we're one of the cleanest flats in the building). She was rude to us multiple times and never cleaned communal spaces properly. She also never reported any of the issues in the flat (eg. heating, hot water problems) which challenged our credibility with the office when we reported the issues. In the end she said we were her favourite flat (go figure).
- The repairmen many times had no clue what they were doing, as many of them aren't specialists, but general handymen.
- The Estate Facilities manager had attitude and was extremely rude to students, going as far as to hang up the phone on them and insult them.
- The office staff and especially the managers were extremely dismissive of students' concerns and sometimes were talking down on them, always ignoring the issues in the halls.
- Reports from certain students were ignored.
- The laundry room was a 10 minute walk, which was an extreme burden. Also, the laundry machines/driers price was raised 100% within the span of 2 months. Plus there had been a few issues with the machines.
And the worst part of all that is that we never got any money back or any rent discounts.
Another fun fact is one of the shops that had its back door on our backyard was a drug den and last year the police made arrests in university premises of people that didn't belong to the university, but since their shop's back door was on the premises the police raided their shop from our backyard.
I could go on and on to tell you how many people I've seen urinating on the alley behind our building, or how many people have been robbed there in the past, but you get the point.
The fact that both entrances of the Halls were on that alley was a threat to our safety.
Update:
Since when I posted this my macbook was stolen from inside my room. Since there has been no security since before Christmas the thief got no issue entering the premises and our flat, coming to my floor, breaking into my room and stealing my macbook. This was the only time when they actually were cooperative since they knew I could easily sue them. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to do that.
Three days before that a student was beaten and got robbed outside the main door of the building.
Three weeks after that a person died inside the university. They fell off a university building, but we haven't been informed of whether it was an accident or not.
On top of that three flats -including mine- had no wifi for the past 7 days in the university halls. We have had connectivity issues in the past, but none lasted more than a day. Finally, after 7 days of everyone complaining they sent a technician. He said there is water leakage and that they don't how much longer we won't have wifi for. And they only reason I found out it because I kept going to the IT helpdesk. They lied about calling me several times so I had to waste my time and physically go there. Mind you we're all masters students doing our dissertations right now...
And of course they haven't given us any alternative to access the internet or any refund.
The office said we should expect those issues and be patient.
!!!
That was their official response...
Then they said they'd do a general refurbishment, including changing the cables, but we'd have graduated by then. They expected us to have no wifi until we graduate, even though we still had deadlines.
After 2 weeks and me complaining constantly they fixed the issue. Which they could have fixed a lot earlier. I have to admit though the office was nice towards me and offered to move me to another flat to have wifi, but at the time that was impossible for me to do.
My last day there I saw two humongous rats in the backyard.
Not going to miss this place.
Not going to miss this place.
