Julian T.
Yelp
ZERO STAR! BED BUGS! SCAM! RUN!
This is literally the worst place I've ever lived in, and I regret my decision to lease here every day.
BED BUGS ALERT. Bed bugs are absolutely rampant in this building, and stop wishing their management team could solve the issue for you by treating the unit effectively or relocating you to another unit. After multiple failed attempts to treat, they refused my request to terminate the lease early or even relocate to another unit. So I had to rent another apartment, while still paying UG's rent.
Details: Since I moved in last August, on and off, I mysteriously felt itchy after going to bed. At first, I thought I was just having some allergic reactions until the situation got worse since this March as I almost could find myself sleepless every night, waking up to excruciatingly itchy bites. I finally realized this building is infested with bed bugs after having done some research online, read others' yelp reviews, and visually spotted bed bugs crawling on the walls and my beddings. I reported the situation to the management team, and they asked Orkin (an exterminator) to come. After the first treatment, bugs came back, and I had to stay with my relative to escape the sleeplessness between treatments because they unapologetically and explicitly said there would be no relocation. So Orkin came the second time, and the treatment was still not working!!!! The leasing manager even tried to bill me for the third treatment because she said Orkin came too many times only to find my unit was not in good shape for treatment. I live in a private room, and I prepped my room according to the guidelines provided. Orkin said my room was ready for treatment. I had no control over what my roommate does to his room, and he's not reported any bed bug infestation in his room. Also one day, I noticed there were signs on doors of other units, which I had not paid much attention to, indicating bed bug treatments. This whole building is f infested with bed bugs!!! Mark this: they bring the bed bugs to feed on you, and you will need to pay for THEIR negligence, incompetence, and mismanagement physically, financially, and emotionally! Simply preposterous! Also, now I might have ptsd due to this. I will sue you if this gets worse.
DANGEROUS BUILDING. Also, I certainly do not feel safe living in this community as homeless people not only dwell downstairs but also in the staircases and hallways near the parking lot elevator (which has been out of order for months). There's no security entering the stairwell there, and I personally came across homeless people several times. There's foul-smelling trash, dirty and torn clothes and underwear, and bottles filled with urine everywhere in the stairwell. I feel so scared, and it almost feels like living next to a dumpster.
RIDICULOUS RENT CHARGES & SCAMS. My rent is nearly $2300 per month for a private room. The rooms in this building are designed to accommodate two people, and you basically need to buy two bed spaces for a private room. If you had the money for this, find an apartment downtown, which will be 100 times safer, cleaner, more well-managed, and more luxurious but cost not much more or even less. Also, first month rent is not prorated. You pay 12 months' rent to stay from August 15th to July 25th the next year (11 months). This is absurd. It is simply not worth it to pay this much to live in a trashy place like this. Also, their rent payment system is a mess, especially for people who have private rooms. I needed to set up two accounts to pay rent before they switched to the new system. The account manager asked us to pay rent on one account, and then he would split it. However, for one month, he didn't, and I got charged the late fee. Like what the? I didn't bother to call them because they were so unresponsive. But just know that, Gateway, you owe me.
POORLY BUILT. The units are poorly furnished with the cheapest materials. When I moved in, the stoves were broken, the water pipe in the bathroom was leaking, and the drain was clogged (water literally wouldn't go down for 5 minutes). The carpets were dirty and stained. There was trash in the drawers. They apparently did no cleaning and spared no effort to renovate the units. Also, there's no in-unit washer and dryer.
...the list is too long to complete
Literally the only reason I chose to live here was its proximity to school, and I hated everything else about UG. And yes, I have already moved out. Karma is real, and I hope UG goes out of business after COVID.
PLZ AVOID AT ALL COSTS if you don't want to relive my trauma.