CORRECTION: We have ammended the article to include a statement from LSE residential services, which was sent to The Beaver after the article’s original publication.
There have been numerous complaints lodged against various LSE student accommodation sites by residents, which site management staff have allegedly failed to address in timely or well-communicated manners, The Beaver reports.
On 10 October, there was major flooding in Butler’s Wharf, an LSE property, due to a leak in a flat kitchen. After resident Chris* complained, the receptionist contacted a plumber before saying that they were off shift in five minutes. After the plumber’s inspection, Butler’s Wharf management told students in the flat to not use the water for two days. The same student also reported their bathroom hot tap not working as a separate issue.
There have been further reports at Butler’s Wharf of broken doors going unrepaired indefinitely, and complaints of poor Wi-Fi in two courts, which management were slow to address. The general attitude of staff is reportedly not always amiable, and they are not generally cooperative unless complaints are stated in severe terms, Chris told The Beaver.
While the Subwarden is helpful, they only act as ‘a middle-man’. It seems to be a “reflection of the facilities”, given their relative value for money in London, and a matter of “staff not seeming valued in their positions”, the student shared.
Bankside, LSE’s largest catered student halls, has also faced allegations of mismanagement. Bankside resident Dung has complained to The Beaver of intimidation and abuse by staff at a dinner service on 9 October.
Service staff claimed that he was not entitled to dinner due to his name being ‘ticked off’, before proceeding to shout at him, alongside kitchen staff, for ten minutes in the dinner queue. If not for intervention by Bankside’s reception staff, “it was certain [he] would not have received dinner”.
Dung was offered a meeting on 16 October to address the incident, but was offered little opportunity to explain the experience from his perspective. Instead, the situation was “misrepresented” by the staff member involved, “explaining his side of the story” and turning the conversation into one about students stealing food.
Poor communications from Bankside management meant that Dung was effectively having to “beg for any steps to be taken”, while the staff in question refused to offer an apology. On 31 October management apologised in an email “for any discomfort you may have felt”, but denied to offer any form of compensation, instead directing Dung to Bankside’s formal complaints procedures.
An LSE Residential Services spokesperson commented, stating that their “priority is the wellbeing of our students.”
“We investigate all complaints we receive fully, in line with our procedure, and in a prompt manner. While we won’t comment on individual cases, if any resident feels they have not received an adequate response to a complaint, we encourage them to contact us at residences.admin@lse.ac.uk so that we can investigate further.
“Residential Services also have an online fault logging form which we encourage residents to use to log any facilities issues quickly. We strive to deliver excellent customer service and as such, we encourage and value all feedback from our residents.”
*Names have been changed to preserve anonymity.
Photograph from the LSE Website
