University City Housing

I have two bathrooms that are pouring water from the ceilings. This has been going on for four months. The sad thing is that this apartment is costing me over $1,800.00 a month.

THE HEARTHSTONE HOUSE, owned by The University City Housing Company are not just slum lords in Pennsylvania, they own other properties across the country and MISREPRESENTED this property we stayed at as a Frank Lloyd Wright property. IT IS RIDICULOUS!

THE HEARTHSTONE HOUSE was the most horrible property I have "EVER" stayed where I had to pay money. No hot water. Television only 13 inches. Hey, some of us want to watch TV when we are on vacation! 13 inch television for $350.00 or more per night! We went to THE HEARTHSTONE HOUSE as a group. Some of our group members paid more then $400.00 for the dark, damp rooms at this property. You could barely read in the room as the light was so poor.

I even went to the hardware store and had to get a wrench to fix the leaky faucets as it was driving me crazy...how can you sleep with drip, drip, drip all night long.

Also, the help, Scott and Shannon need to realize that as guest, we are not interested in them participating in our conversation while in the living
room area. They listened to our conversations and even participated in them. How rude is that?

Folks you work there...you are the HELP, for you to interject in conversations with your guests is rude. I am not paying $350.00 plus dollars per night to hear your opinion. If I want it, I will ask for it! YOU ARE THE HELP! It was invasive.

Many of the services did not work, wireless Internet, (buy a better booster for wireless) and the property had one computer to use. And if their staff was on the computer at the front desk searching the web or working on their personal FACEBOOK OR MYSPACE sights then you could not log on to the Internet since they had no juice to make it even upstairs. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?

Scott, the (Manager) was intimidating to me while my husband was out skiing. I am not sure if he did not like Asians and felt he could walk all over me. He made snide and rude remarks to me as he was well aware that I was not happy at THE HEARTHSTONE HOUSE and we asked for a refund to move to another property. Of course they would not refund us our money and I feel they deserve this review. ANY DECENT PROPERTY WOULD ALLOW YOU TO CHANGE HOTELS OR ACCOMMODATIONS IF THEY WERE REALLY LEGIT!

We had asked Scott to rent us a microwave for our room prior to our arrival. It was not there when we arrived and never made it for the 5 nights we were on this property.

If you want a HAIR DRYER, you have to ask. Even the HOLIDAY INN has a hair dryer. The furniture, the leather chair in our room was missing leather. Really it was to much! In LA we call it GHETTO!

This is a WARNING FOR ASIANS, they may not like us there. Was that the reason why Scott was so passive aggressive to me? When the husband was around, Scott was as sweet as pie kissing my ass.BUT WHEN I WAS ALONE HE MADE SNIDE REMARKS TO ME.

Also, I found on the Internet that this property, owned by UNIVERSITY CITY HOUSING COMPANY has even been fined for DISCRIMINATING against families with children and had to pay more then $700,000.00 in fines to ONE family who lived in one of their properties in Pennsylvania for forcing them to move to a BASEMENT when they had a baby. Who wants to give money to someone who discriminates against children?

UNIVERSITY CITY HOUSING COMPANY is owned by Michael Karp. Basically, they are SLUM LORDS! The National Fair Housing Advocates on line has articles regarding the settlements and unfair discrimination to families. Basically if you have a kid, you have to live in a basement on their properties. What the hell is that?

Today I called the phone number to their offices that I had found on line in Pennsylvania. When I called to ask if this was the office of Mr. Michael Karp OWNER OF UNIVERSITY CITY HOUSING COMPANY I was given the a phone number and a wrong address to his office. When I asked for the name of the man who I was on the phone with, he said he did not have a name. What does that tell you? He then told me his name was "FRANK" and of course that was not his name.

I called the number to Mr. Karp's office I was given and spoke to Jackie. She did not recognize the name of any "FRANK" and I told her, what a first impression I am getting from the UNIVERSITY CITY HOUSING COMPANY! I asked her to check on this matter and I would call her again.

DO NOT STAY AT THIS PROPERTY! THEY ARE FRAUDS AND SLUM LORDS. I FEEL SORRY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE WRITTEN REVIEWS AND HAVE BEEN DISCRIMINATED AGAINST BY THIS COMPANY. I FEEL LIKE I WAS DISCRIMINATED AGAINST AS WELL.

WARNING DO NOT STAY AT THE HEARTHSTONE HOUSE IN ASPEN, COLORADO. THEY DO NOT EVEN DESERVE A STAR FOR THIS UNETHICAL COMPANY.

I have lived in a UCH building for 4 years now. I stayed that long because it was cheap, but now things have become unbearable. I went to the basement laundry room over a month ago and saw a rat - I complained to the management and they said they would send an exterminator. A week later I saw a rat again - UCH has not done anything and even an exterminator would not do the job as there are holes in the basement windows that they have not fixed!

My ceiling is water-damaged - I asked them to fix it but they have not - it has been months. My shower water knobs fell off - I asked them to fix it and someone actually came, only to yell at me while he fixed the problem. Every other time I have asked for something to be fixed, it isn't. I really recommend that you keep looking - don't move into one of their apartments; it's just not worth it.

www.universitycityhousingsucks.blogspot.com

Having lived in a UCH maintained building, you realize that the only upside to living there is the low rent. Otherwise, it is simply not worth the hassle. Ill start my review with day 1.

Lease agreement:
When signing their lease agreements, you will be expected to move out 3 or 4 days before the end of you last month. What residents are expected to do/store their stuff, since most leases begin on the 1st of the month is beyond me. They also charge you 1 months down payment, last months rent and a security deposit, so essentially theyre holding over a grand of your money hostage while youre living in their undermaintained building.

Move-in:
Trying to work out a convenient time to move in is not acceptable. Even though my apartment was empty and cleaned 4 days before my move-in, they would not allow me to move in on the evening of the 31st of the month. Prior to the move-in, I was promised that during those 4 days, the apartment would be cleanedthe room upon move in was completely dusty, the stove and bathroom dirtyessentially, it was untouched since the previous tenant moved out.

Heating:
This is by far the biggest complaintexpect your apartment to not have heat in the night and afternoon hours, their regulator simply shuts it off completely during those hours no matter how cold it is. Other residents have called to complain to UCH and to city of Philadelphia authorities, which have cited them numerous times, but nothing has been done to change the situation.

Pests:
Multiple reports of roaches and mice in the building, calls to UCH for exterminator have gone unheeded.

Repairs:
Their maintenance stuff is simply incompetent, not showing up to do basic repairs and not having the proper skills to make those repairs as well.

Fire Alarm:
The building has faulty wiring that UCH refuses to fix as well, so the fire alarm usually goes off at least several times a month at all hours of the day.

Mail/Entrance:
If you want to receive UPS mail, you have to drive down to Philadelphias Oregon Street facilities. The buzzer at the entrance is non-functional and UPS will not make drops for fear of package being stolen. Residents have asked UCH to provide UPS with the keys, as other buildings have, but they refuse and make hollow promises.

If I had known how poorly maintained this building was, I would have much rather paid more to live in a better, more convenient place. More importantly, Ive come to realize that UCHs promises are almost always empty, so if this is what youre looking for in a landlord, then this is the place for you. If you are apartment hunting in Philadelphia, my advice to you is that you look elsewhere.