Elmstead Place, colchester

Wouldn’t even give this accommodation a star. My biggest advice is to avoid this accommodation. What you sign up for is not what you get as. Our ovens, hobs and microwave have not been working for months, majority hasn’t been working since we moved in. Fridge in room either freezes everything or doesn’t work. If you have any problems or issues you get ignored. The office is never open and no one will answer your emails. My toilet constantly runs loudly and my bathroom light hasn’t worked since I moved in. After constantly reporting this I’ve been ignored. Fire alarms go off in the middle of the night and you have to wait two+ hours for them to be turned off because they have to travel from London. When I moved in my mattress was broken with metal sticking out both sides, bathroom was mouldy and room was dirty. Me and other people in our flat have avoided staying here and would rather commute. Even though there’s been a breach of contract we are unable to receive any compensation or finish our lease. There’s also been on going scaffolding which we was not made aware of which have no consideration for the people living there.

Overall I would definitely recommend staying in this place considering how close it is to the university for this price. I really like my room with the personal mini fridge and microwave and I would definitely rebook it for the next year if I am going to study for another year.

Every single time the fire alarm goes off there is no one to check it or stop it! Only the security can stop the alarm and they are 30 mins away from the accommodation and everyone has to suffer from the fire alarm for over 30 mins every time. Worst part is this not the only problem. Trash everywhere near the entrance then they charged me 50 pounds for forgetting my key inside my room and calling for help, no one works at the reception during weekends. They don’t even have a camera in the parcel room they do not care if someone steals your parcel

One of the worst student accommodation couldn’t satisfied and fulfilled the guidelines of providing the life of wellbeing for students’ quality of life. 1. Fire happened 3 times since moved it and security took 1.5-2 hours to arrive, what would be the case of situation if it’s a heavy fire? 2. The electric black out has occurred twice, which cause to serious food security issues and the inconvenience of electricity, meanwhile the major issue is the residents in this student accommodation couldn’t reach out for help, and get ghosted by either the receptionist or the securities. 3. Worst costumer service: staff was never appeared due on the working time written on the notice, parcel being stolen without proper care from staff. And when issues occurred, residents couldn’t find any staff to resolve the issues. Based on these 3 points of accusations, this issues were also reflected by most of the residents . Either train a receptionist with accountability or knowing the definition of being professionalism. And making sure to provide a better quality of living for the students at the first place, instead being a huge rip-off company. Thank you.

Enjoyed staying here. Love the layout of this accommodation. Gives a feel of private housing but with maintenance etc done for us. Close to Uni as well :)