Gateway Apartments - YOUR view on them

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

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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.

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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.