Gunhill sent me a letter that’s addressed to all of the housemates indicating an amount of money we owe, giving us 3 days before legal action. These people are ridiculous. None of us are living at Gunhill right now so obviously we wouldn’t have received any previous notices in our Gunhill mailbox – they KNOW this, the asses that they are. The manager even called me the other day to indicate repairs were finished (much later than originally indicated, when I was considering staying in Ithaca for the summer). No mention of this money. Perhaps if they just called instead of sending threatening letters, I wouldn’t be so peeved.
I called up the housemate who owes the money, he finally picked up his phone, and I told him to pay the amount and he said he will. But Gunhill also took our deposit, so now I have to ask him to pay me my portion of the deposit. It seems every time I contact him now is to talk about money he owes. Very frustrating for both of us, I’m sure.
If Gunhill thinks I’m going to pay anything more than my deposit, they are kidding themselves. There is NO WAY IN HELL I’m going to fork over ANY money that I don’t owe and for damages I had nothing to do with. If they had just handled the situation better instead of just trying to squeeze any one they can for money, they’d be better off in the long run because obviously I told everyone I know about this debacle.
EPILOGUE
The purpose of the above was to blow off some steam because I was quite frustrated with the situation. But here are some other criticisms of Gunhill Residences:
Horrible Customer Service
First off, the customer service at Gunhill is horrible. The head of their maintenance staff is condescending and can be outright mean. I don’t think he works there anymore because I rarely saw him during my last few months living there. For example, during the annual Gunhill BBQ, which is supposed to be a fun event, he specifically singled out my roommate for getting a second helping of food. Let’s note that my friends and I have all gotten seconds along with many other people and he singles out one person in front of everyone. He did this 2 years in a row. There was a lady in the office who was rather cold and emotionless. She answered questions in a matter-of-fact kind of way, like you were supposed to know the answer. She often used short, curt responses which a lot of people (not just me) thought was rude.
Cheap Apartment Materials and Bad Location
The apartment itself is decent but the walls are very thin. You can hear noise from other apartments very easily and vice-versa. Additionally, the apartment does not retain heat in the winter and your electric bills will skyrocket when it gets cold. The rent is cheap compared to Collegetown but the location is inconvenient, which is the main reason rent is low. You definitely need a car. Also, Gunhill is situated on a rather steep hill which makes the road very dangerous during the winter when it snows. There’s a bus service but the morning driver is a complete asshole – you get the impression that he hates his job driving snobby college students around.
Excessive Fees
And you better keep the apartment spotless because they add an excessive 15% administrative fee to all cleaning bills at the end of your lease. Overall, it just really shows that they see you and your housemates as a single unit of revenue, and not as people. One housemate forgot to pay the rent? They don’t say who, they just send a notice to the apartment mailbox saying you owe rent. They send this notice by postal mail from their out-of-town company headquarters a week or more into the month, after late fees have accrued for a while. The office lady emails you if you still don’t pay a week after the notice is sent out. If that doesn’t say BULLSHIT, I don’t know what does. I mean okay fine, someone forgot the rent that month, but wow way to go leeching as much late fees as you can. We live literally 30 seconds from the on-property office! Is it so much to give us a call or even knock on our door? You don’t need to send a letter from your corporate headquarters. And for the record I made every single one of my rent payments on time.
Conclusion: Live Somewhere Else
The only positive things I can mention about Gunhill is the private garbage dumpsters (unlike Collegetown where you have to buy tickets) and cable & internet services are included in the rent. Other than price, there’s really no reason to choose Gunhill over an apartment in Collegetown. Factoring in what I mentioned in this post, I’d definitely say Collegetown is worth the extra cost.
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