Gateway Apartments - YOUR view on them

Choco

You may have seen this email about Gateway going around the DCU mail server. Names blanked out to protect those involved.

---

X here,

This is a response to Y's email of gateway.

> Subject: RE: Gateway Ballymun
> Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 22:21:14 +0100
>
> Hey guys this is just an email to let you know that there have been a series
> of robberies in Gateway recently. I myself have been burgled, my laptop
was
> stolen from my appartment last night. This is particularly disturbing as
> my flatmates were in the appartment at the time it was burgled. If anyone
> is living there currently be on the watch. And for anyone who was thinking
> of living there next year it may be wise to reconsider.
>
> Sorry if I've scared anyone!!
> Y"

Here is another few things about gateway,

My girlfriend Z was living there this year and from the start of
the year they paid so much money for rent, a deposit, ESB and broadband.

Firstly their broadband did not work properly for the whole year. They charge
a ridiculous amount for it and it takes about ten minutes for a webpage to
load. A lot of the time when i was over there for a drink or other things
, everyone in gateway said they had the same problem, and it was ridiculous because how are students meant to complete assignments without a reliable internet connection. They complained on a number of occasions but they never done anything about it. One time i was beside Ciara on the phone and i heard them say "Well thats not really our problem, you will just have to go your local library and study now wont you?".

Secondly, at the start of the semester they were forced into paying 300 euro
each for electricity they had not even used yet. That was a total of 900
euros for the entire appartment and by january Z got a load of phone
calls and emails demanding another 100 euros each off the students and without reply gateway were threatening to evict her if she didnt pay within 3 days. I rang them up and pretended to be ciara's brother and they wouldnt even give her an extra 24 hours to pay up. Me and Z were broke and they just said "NO, if you dont pay the money we will have to throw you out without notice". ASSHOLES! it is totally impossible to use 900 euros worth of electricity in 3 months, i live on my own in Ballymun and my esb bill is only 80 euros every two months. She asked for an itemised bill and there were charges of 300 euro on the account from last may before they even moved in. When i rang them back they had the same attitute again they said " Well there is nothing we can do about it and if you have a problem you can find someplace else to live".

There is also a few other stories that are going around that i have no evidence of but im sure the people that are telling me are not liars. One of Z's housemates not naming anynames was asleep one night in the appartment on her own and two lads came in all dressed in white, turned off the lights
and sat at the end of her bed saying very nasty things to her. The girl was
petrified for her life and did not know what to do.

Also i have heard other people saying that security is ridiculous although
the security are nice people, they say that whenever you try and have a small
bit of a get together they are staright to your door and when you call them
bout a problem they are no where to be seen, most of the time never turning
up!

Last year, there was a person held up with a knife inside the appartments,
im not sure of the full story but i am pretty sure there was an article written
about it in college view.

Up until november last year i lived in the ballymun flats beside gateway
all my life and i always seen people throwing stones at the appartment and
breaking windows. In Gateway you are right in the heart of ballymun and there is a serious anti-social behaviour problem on the block i used to live. Drub abusing, selling, gang violence, im sure you all heard on the news in the
last few days about the seventeen year old that was put in intensive care
for just walking by and minding his own business, that was the block i used
to live in. And when i used to watch the people vandalise gateway the security used to come out and then go staright back in because they were afraid and out numbered.

All im saying is take serious consideration before applying for gateway because the managements attitude is very condisending and just "I Dont Care!". Im really pissed off with how they treated Z and so are alot of people with how they have treated them. I would love to see them loose serious business up there and then they my might start treating their customers with a little more respect.

---

That's the email that has gone around our course.

Now, next year myself and a few friends were thinking of living down in Gateway. Everyone I have spoken to doesn't seem to have anything but, on the whole, good things to say about the place.

But - if you have lived there - could you just say what your feelings are about the place. Was it good on the whole? Did you feel safe? Would you recommend it? That kind of thing - the good things and the bad things etc.

Anarking

Its a **** place to stay.

robby^5

Ive not been or lived there, but I have heard these stories or burglaries and that knife hold up that happened... really you'd need to be prepared to live in Ballymun at all, I used to work there for years and I can say that without a doubt its one of the last places in the world I would want to live.

Ste.phen

The knife thing definitely happened AFAIK, one of the guys in CA4 last year was stabbed (might have been a different incident, i'm really not sure), he was showing everyone in the labs his stitches a few weeks after it happened.

cooker3

Igy wrote: »

The knife thing definitely happened AFAIK, one of the guys in CA4 last year was stabbed (might have been a different incident, i'm really not sure), he was showing everyone in the labs his stitches a few weeks after it happened.

Oh yeah I remember hearing about that in labs day after it happened

carlowboy

Isn't the wireless internet in Gateway free?

alexjk

i've lived in gateway the last two years, this year purely cos everywhere else was booked out. i would seriously dissuade anyone from living there if they can help it.last year i got broken into ( i even had a brief conversation with the burglar!). my apartment was ground floor facing the ballymun flats and i asked to be moved, they refused claiming that there were no free apartments.my mum then rang them and they rang me back telling me could i not get my mum to ring them ( my mum in the room beside me at the time). it carried on until eventually they agreed to move me to another apartment on the top floor of one of the blocks overlooking the school.except my new bedroom had dried vomit on the floor and windowsill and the apartment was an absolute kip.this year when i moved in, the toilet was broken but there was a lovely "surprise" in it (and the toilet wasnt fixed for 3 months despite complaining the moment i discovered it) and the fridge had fungus in it.this is after they had the gall to deduct 150 euro from my deposit last year, claiming i hadn't left the apartment in a " ready to move in,clean manner" and that they had to pay for cleaners.

the apartment flooded in early january because of faulty piping but it was left to me and two girls from downstairs (whose apartment was getting fooded because it had gone through the ceiling) to get rid of all the water.it then took a week for a plumber to come in and fix the pipe.so that was a week without toilets,showers,taps and the washing machine.

they've also been really inconsistent with taking the rent out of my account, sometimes not taking it out at all, then taking it out twice the next month. because i had to pay it off each month rather than in a big block at the start of the year, i'm being made to pay roughly 4100 instead of the 3600 which is the "block" price.i don't have any idea how to complain about this though.but seriously, stay away if you can help it!

wahlrab

i lived in the big tower section of gateway this year and I haven't had any problems with break ins etc, BUT that is because I have been very very very lucky to get into that tower. The security, well one guy is nice and the other is a fool BUT they're both useless, it is a dangerous enough area to live despite what people say about ballymun improving, I know a number of people who have been attacked, gateway also charged me extra for esb but i think it was justified,

all in all i had a good year BUT it was because I was living in that main tower!

Volvagia

I too lived there this year in the big green tower and found myself to be pretty lucky.

The management are shockingly bad though, one of my room mates didn't have a desk or a chair in his room when he moved in and it took months of emails and requests until they finally provided it.

The broadband is not the best connection and ours was down for about a month, when we eventually got an email from an outsourced IT company telling us what the problem is i ahd managed to fix it myself. Since then it's worked fine. In terms of costs, i think its part of your rent so not techically free, but not an obvious extra charge.

In terms of the Area i was lucky in that i haven't had any trouble so far (touch wood). Although i have heard the stories from last year. I remember reading the article in the college view about the burglary at knife point in the apartment, however i think the stabbing incident was a different one that happened outside of shanowen (not sure though)

I too got charged for an oversized ESB bill and one of our neighbors who live on the top floor of the tour had to pay €900 extra for an esb bill (and there were only 2 of them in the flat)

One thing though is that it is around 25 euro cheaper per week than shanowen which was a big factor in where i was going to end up.

There are a lot of bad things, but it's not all bad, if you do go there just be prepared.

jhn_noln

anyone have any positives from the place or is it really a no go area full stop?

Limerick Dude

I know a good few people who live there and they have said nothing bad about the place.
Plus there is a brand new garda station going in right beside it so i presume that will solve alot of the problems that people have been going on about....hopefully.

Ill take my chances there next semester anyway because its cheeeap!

adamcp

Lived there this year and can't say I have anything bad whatsoever to say about the place, never had any problems and I don't know anyone who's got anything bad worth mentioning to say about the gateway either.

Shiny

Many of the problems above would never have happened if people actually
locked the front door.
I have lived in Gateway and there seems to be a tendency to leave the door
of the apt open to allow easy assess to friends next door etc.

The internet is crap due to the fact that p2p downloads are not completely
blocked resulting in a few people leeching all the bandwidth.

God help anyone on the ground floor thats all I say, even on the 2nd floor
they can still throw stones but if you always leave the curtins closed and
they cant see you, then they wont be motivated to throw something to
piss you off.

In terms of positives, there is plenty of room in the apts with two big
leather couches in the living room with loads of room for everyone
living in the flat and a load of visitors.

Its a 15/20 minute walk from dcu forcing you to get exercise and the
length of the walk deters you from going home early from college.

sillisome fiend

I lived in gateway last year and personally i think people are over-reacting. The only incident I ever saw was outside the apartment block, a man getting stabbed.. but it had nothing to do with gateway. I've had more trouble in the area I grew up in(Templeogue) then in Ballymun. I heard of a few break ins but most the apartments in my block left their front door unlocked and they never closed the main door either so friends could get in from other blocks. Most people living there were idiots. Someone mentioned parties being stopped... well there was a period of about 6weeks when all we could hear was parties from the apartment below us. And when we had people over nothing was said. Only problem was I was up for work at 8am mon-wed and my bedroom was beside the living room of the apartment next door.. alot of bad guitar playing until 6-7am some weeknights. So be prepared to not get much sleep.

As for the internet, when i lived there it was included in the price. It worked fine for me most of the time. I also liked the size of the bedrooms/living area, preferred them then The only problem I had was when it was time to move out my flatmate had planned on staying but they wanted another deposit up front before giving her back her first one. So she left.

Bowden

that sucks for C****

fairypixiething

Ilived in gateway from september until january of this year. My advice is to stay very far away from the place. Broadband is an extra €100 compulsary payment and the connection is pure s**t. The management company could'nt care less about students all they want is money and provide nothing for it, our washing machine broke took them three weeks to fix it after it flooded our apartment and they tried to charge us for it, we never had a balcony door key and so couldnt lock it when i kept on at them they kept saying they were trying to gey a lock smith.
etc etc apart from the violence i heard about but never actually saw the management company alone is enough for me to say STAY AWAY that or pervy creepy security guards.!!!!!:eek:

fairypixiething

oh and i forgot to mention when i moved out this year the €100 for the non working broadband was taken from my deposit so everyone else beware cause its supposed to be extra but included in the rent....have also heard the rent is going up to €500 for 08-09!!!!so cheap crap life threatening money laundering gateway will still be same minus the cheap part!!!!!!!:D

carlowboy

fairypixiething wrote: »

oh and i forgot to mention when i moved out this year the €100 for the non working broadband was taken from my deposit so everyone else beware cause its supposed to be extra but included in the rent....have also heard the rent is going up to €500 for 08-09!!!!so cheap crap life threatening money laundering gateway will still be same minus the cheap part!!!!!!!:D

€500 for what? The deposit has gone up from 600 to €800 though.:mad:

fairypixiething

carlowboy wrote: »

€500 for what? The deposit has gone up from 600 to €800 though.:mad:

yea thats for deposit but i heard the rent is going up to €500 i don't know for definate though just the girls in college that live their said they heard it was???

carlowboy

fairypixiething wrote: »

yea thats for deposit but i heard the rent is going up to €500 i don't know for definate though just the girls in college that live their said they heard it was???

500 per week?500 per month?

fairypixiething

carlowboy wrote: »

500 per week?500 per month?

oh per month but considering its what €400 now and nothing will change thats a hell of alot of money to ask for for such a **** service.

carlowboy

It's gone from €89 per week to €100 per week so about €400 per month around. I've my place booked for there.

fairypixiething

carlowboy wrote: »

It's gone from €89 per week to €100 per week so about €400 per month around. I've my place booked for there.

cool cool thanks the girls can stop worrying now!!!!!
good luck with that you may love it i know people that do.......i just had a bad experience with them and left after like4months because of them....i think if you have a good experience it can be great but if you have a bad one it's like not even moderately bad it's dire......don't let the management away with anything i threatened to ring the private residents tenancies board befor anything was done!!!

Volvagia

we all just got letters saying we have to move out on the 8th of june,not the of 15th june as the contract we signed said.we've already paid for this months rent INCLUDING the week to the 15th june
this is BULL****!!!
id encourage everyone living here to call or email about this,they're cant get away with this just because were students and they dont expect us to follow this up.

wahlrab

there's a discussion on this in life if you want to keep your opinion private, but yeah it's a disgrace! they'll make 32,700 euros out of kicking us out a week early, 327 tenants x 100 euro weeks rent, I bet they are using the week to clean the place for the next crowd despite the fact that when I arrived in the apartment the place was filthy!

fairypixiething

Volvagia wrote: »

we all just got letters saying we have to move out on the 8th of june,not the of 15th june as the contract we signed said.we've already paid for this months rent INCLUDING the week to the 15th june
this is BULL****!!!
id encourage everyone living here to call or email about this,they're cant get away with this just because were students and they dont expect us to follow this up.

try the PRTB private residents tenancies board........your students union in college will have the number or 11850 they will give you advice on what to do......

Ste.phen

Don't think the PRTB have any jurisdiction over these sorts of places.

That said, get onto SOMEONE. And FFS don't move out on June 8th, they'll only get away with it again.

Student Accomm

To all Gateway Students:

Unfortunately there was a misprint on some of the letters issued to you on Friday regarding your departure gate. As per your Licence to Reside, your departure date is 15th June 2008 and not 8th June 2008. (Dundalk Student Village departure date is 8th June 2008).

Apologies for any inconvenience caused by this "typo".

Regards,

SAS Team

Anarking

No apology for non-working broadband?

Student Accomm

Anarking,

If you are a resident in the Gateway and if you are experiencing a problem with the Broadband in your apartment, I would appreciate if you could please send an email to us to inform us of a problem so it can be rectified.
Thank you.

Kind Regards,

SAS Team

Volvagia

well said betafrog.

I emailed SAS 4 times over a period of 2 months waiting for my broadband problem to be "recified" eventually i resorted to fixing the problem myself.

Not to mention the 4 months it took to get a desk and chair for a room in an appartment.

Oh and their funniest part is on all their offical letters their slogan is "professionals in student accommodation"

if they're the professionals i'd hate to see the amateurs!

carlowboy

Isn't it libel and not slander anyway?

dregin

Ya might wanna link this thread on the life.dcu.ie forums.

Winters

As far as I know, it is only libel / slander if what is stated is actually made up, incorrect or untrue (I will check this later). In this case the person appeared to have lodged the complaints which they spoke about which (I beleive) absolves them of any libel/slander.

The fact that the company in question went to the trouble of checking their own records of the reported events the user pointed out (Proves none of the reported incidents were made up, but actually recorded and reported incidents) and cross checked them with the inhabitants and then personally goes out of their way to in some way coerce the person to stop voicing their own personal opinion about recorded incidents shows (to me) a very bad manageral system inpalce at the complex, poor treatment and assestment of complaints by residents and attempted censorship of critics.

I am thankful I am nolonger attending DCU if this is the sort of service that students in need of accomidation in the area can expect.

Will

I miss you Winters... ;_;

Anarking

Student Accomm wrote: »

Anarking,

If you are a resident in the Gateway and if you are experiencing a problem with the Broadband in your apartment, I would appreciate if you could please send an email to us to inform us of a problem so it can be rectified.
Thank you.

Kind Regards,

SAS Team

I did email you guys, you said that it was the company who provided the broadbands fault so you wouldnt deal with it.

They emailed me back saying that the problem was that you just split one connection between 20 apartments.


If this is true, why did we have to pay so much for our broadband?

Gone West

sounds like a fúckin kip.
Rather than get online and get the complaints "moderated" out of sight, you should really be spending your energy sorting out the actual issues...
By the way, this would be libel (were it untrue) not slander.

Suaimhneach

What a joke...

Paddy-Megans-Lo

I wonder if there has been an improvement this year during the first semester? Anyone care to comment?

..As i'm stuck with no accom as of yet and four 9am-ish starts this semester compared to my 9am, 2pm, 12pm and 10am starts last semester and I really don't feel like commuting anymore...

Attol

Please don't drag up threads that are almost two years old