Collegiate UK Omdömen 

It has been a wonderful experience. The room is pretty nice. Ashley has been an amazing host. He is extremely polite and respectful and like a friend who solves your problems.

My initial experience at Gateway Apartments in Edinburgh was pleasant; the staff were friendly and helpful and maintenance requests were dealt with quickly and efficiently.
However, as other reviews have stated, the company's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic was abysmal and exploitative. When I, along with other tenants, left the site and were unable to return to pack up our belongings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they repeatedly ignored our requests to send in a trusted friend or representative to pack up our belongings on our behalf. Instead, they forced us to pay for a packing company of their choice to pack up our belongings, claiming that the cost would be 150 pounds. This did not include transport, and my friends eventually had to pick up my belongings anyway (removing any doubt that this decision was about money rather than curbing infection spread). When I went through my boxes, multiple objects were broken, as everything was packed shoddily (e.g., nothing which was bubble-wrapped had even been taped up).
On top of this, after claiming that we would be charged 150 pounds, they eventually charged almost twice as much (290 pounds) for this pathetic packing. In addition to this, they charged 5 pounds for removal of items from the studio, although it is unclear what these items were supposed to be. Moreover, they charged 50 pounds for "cleaning", another mystery, as the flat was relatively clean and deep cleans always need to take place between tenancies in any case, and not at the cost of the previous tenant.

Overall, this experience was disillusioning and the behaviour of the company was morally repugnant. I strongly recommend making a different choice of accommodation.

Living at Bagot Street (Birmingham). Terrible impression of the company. Whilst the accommodation looks good on paper (overpriced, but its student accommodation so that's to be expected), all interactions with the company have been jarring to say the least. Collegiate appeared to have cancelled all the direct debits for rent that were set up when we booked the accommodation without informing anyone, meaning many people missed the deadline for the first rent payment. The website is one of the most counterintuitive websites I have ever come across; it is a mission to get even the most basic information (postcode, telephone number, etc...) and to the best of my knowledge is impossible to access things like tenancy agreements without directly contacting customer service. The majority of rooms had clearly not seen any sort of maintenance since the last tenants had vacated at the start of the pandemic; my room had bits of litter scattered around the room, multiple holes and marks around the walls, the shower handle jammed on hot (a consistent problem in the majority of the rooms), and the towel rail had been ripped off the wall and was missing. It took maintenance a good two weeks to sort the problems in my room and presumably longer for other rooms. After speaking to maintenance, we found out that this is due to the fact that maintenance were not allowed to go into rooms that they suspected still had belongings of previous tenants. Assuming this makes any sort of sense, we were not given any sort of prior notice that we would be moving into rooms covered in dirt and litter. Furthermore, we found out that the reason the maintenance took to long to service and repair rooms is that Collegiate is employing the most minimal maintenance staff I have ever come across, with 2 maintenance staff on shift at a time between 6 blocks (~180 residents per block). Facilities like the gym and common rooms are not open with COVID-19 as an excuse, despite the fact that gyms everywhere are open, clearly showing the company refuses to spend any extra money in order to fulfil what was promised to tenants, with no sign of a reduction in rent despite the reduced facilities. I cannot stress enough how unsatisfactory Collegiate as an accommodation provider, even for student accommodation.

I stayed at Gateway Apartments in Edinburgh, and it was highly overpriced for the value provided. The facilities are basic, the cinema is always down, and the gym is missing equipment. The study rooms were small, stained and littered with the garbage left all over the floor, desk and chairs. There were security cameras and gates, but no actual security personnel on-site. There was not much socializing done in the common room or throughout the apartments unless their friends were invited from outside. Those people were loud and noisy. I had a studio, and it was okay overall, but the bed was uncomfortable and lacked a proper oven. The heating was insufficient for space, and the room was colder than it should have been. Because of the location, mobile signals are almost non-existent in your room which wouldn't have been a problem if the Wi-Fi did not crash so often. The flat on arrival was not pristine as there was leftover food under the microwave from the previous tenant. I found this funny because they want you to leave it spotless or they charge you a ridiculous amount for less than 5 minutes work. As many of the other comments eluded to, they value profit over student well-being, and during the pandemic where people would have left, they reduced services and made sure to demand their full payment for the rest of the tenancy. As I had already made payment and planned to stay till the end, they wanted payment did not affect me, but it was how they demanded and expected to be paid without any consideration for the students, who would have received a partial refund or paid only for an additional month as notice if they went with the university or private housing. Also, it is essential to know that if you start tenancy after the date on the website, they still expect you to pay for the weeks you did not stay there, this should have been a red flag for me to their lack of flexibility.

An overall expensive provider to stay with, so considering the amount students pay them you would expect them to offer more support in a time of crisis. The pandemic has really showed some company’s true colours and Collegiate is one of them. Very poor management above - they refuse to answer emails to anyone and when they do respond it is generic cut and paste copies they send to everyone. I have specifically emailed about my personal circumstances numerous times but they simply do not care. My good experience with them in the past has just gone down the toilet due to their handling of the pandemic. It really puts things into perspective. I regret ever staying with them and wish I went with a provider who DOES take students wellbeing into account. So please think about that before you decide to stay with them. I’ve explained the toll this has taken on my mental health but they don’t care. I’ve explained how I simply cannot afford the full rent and the affect this will have on me but they don’t care about that either. Forcing students to pay for utilities they aren’t using when their utility bills is lower due to many students leaving is disgusting. So it doesn’t matter how great an accommodation may seem on paper or even how glamorous it may be - when push comes to shove the most important thing is an establishment that cares about you and not just your money. They refuse to answer any questions regarding their handling of this. However they are happy enough to send out emails ensuring they get their money. COVID-19 will most likely not be gone by September and rest assured many of us students will remember this experience and will not be back to Collegiate! Stay with a provider that puts students before profit. It’s truly disgusting.

Moved into Nova (Nottingham) for my first year at uni. It looked great when we viewed the accommodation and all the promises on the website but after moving in there were a lot of maintenance problems that never got fixed for weeks on end. They state they will put you in a flat with similar people however I was the only first year put in a 5 bed flat of 3rd years! There were no socialising events as stated there would be on the website so if I had not already known some people from my hometown staying in official uni halls my freshers week would have been spent alone as I would not have met anyone in my accommodation. All of the extra social rooms always had issues for example we were promised the use of free printers in the study room however these were broken when we moved in and didn’t even get fixed by the time we had to move out due to COVID19. Their attitude towards students and the pandemic is awful. They are ignoring any emails asking to cancel the tenancy agreement and are demanding payments for the final term even if you are no longer residing there. All of the uni owned accommodation has cancelled rent for their students and I really wish even before the pandemic I had of just gone into normal halls as I feel I would have had a much better experience over all. Extremely disappointed in this accommodation provider.

Collegiate head office are doing nothing to support student health and wellbeing during covid-19. They are not responding to any emails but continue to send out rent reminders. There are plenty of other student accommodation providers such as Unite who are looking after their students in a mature and responsible manner. In times of crisis, there are those that step up to the challenge and do the right thing and then there are others like collegiate who put profit above everything and treat their tenants with utmost contempt. Remember this and choose your provider carefully.

Residing in Nova (Nottingham). It looks great at first but once you start living there are a lot of maintenance problems start to happen and they don’t seem to make students priority. Very bad service towards students and especially with Covid 19 and not cancelling rents

Appalling service head office don’t ever get back to you. Incredibly over priced for what you actually get compared to the promise on their website. Avoid and find alternative accommodation.

Resident in Edinburgh's Gateway Apts for two years. Good service (And excellent repairs guys), but staff turnover seemed rather high and prices out of kilter with comparable facilities offered in other student accommodation in Edinburgh.

Had nothing but stress and problems since moving into my accommodation. Staff are incompetent and have no understanding of the meaning of customer service. If you're considering staying in any of their accommodation I would strongly recommend you do not!! Not worth it.

Awful company. Their charges are excessively expensive and their customer service is non-existent. Their manner is rude, aggressive and may be intimidating to some.