Waterloo Student Apartments

THIS PLACE IS THE WORST RUN STUDENT HOUSING IN THE COUNTRY. I have 3 children at 3 different colleges. I have never had a worse experience with administrators of any business ever. LUCKILY my daughter did not end up attending UT so we didn't end up having to contend with the reputedly dirty facility and non operational elevators. But the process of transferring my lease has been the 10th circle of hell. All Waterloo wants is your money. They have no interest in serving families. They are still hounding me with random bills, which I can get no explanation for - yet they are threatening me with a collections agency. But again, noone will answer a call or an email. This place is a complete nightmare.

Do not live here. You will be waiting 30+ minutes to go down or up the elevator and will be waiting in long lines just to get to your room. There are currently 1-2 elevators working for a building with 30 floors, and management seems to not have a problem with that. Elevators are untrustworthy and getting stuck in them is a possibility. Consistently late because of them. Way better options in west campus than this apartment.

In addition to the consistent issues of broken elevators, circulation issues within our unit causing my bedroom to be reaching 80 degrees due to lack of airflow while my roommate’s is 15 degrees cooler with severe mold growth because of high levels of humidity, gym equipment and saunas that do not work, a poorly maintained pool that is oftentimes green, a hot tub that is constantly drained with no water, and the broken front doors where anyone can just walk in without a fob posing a serious safety concern to the residents, my unit now does not have furniture in the living room for over the past week. Waterloo is in the process of replacing furniture in many of the units, however, my couch was taken without notice 9 days ago and they have yet to replace it. I have reached out to management multiple times over the past week and continue to receive empty promises with no delivery. Hannah, the leasing manager, personally messaged me and said that couches are being delivered at the discretion of management and maintenance and they will get to it “when we are able to.” It is extremely frustrating to be paying for a furnished apartment and continue to be ignored and blatantly disrespected by management. The couches are on site in boxes throughout the building and maintenance has been installing them in other vacant units, yet a resident without furniture has continued to be neglected despite their knowledge of the situation. If you want to live somewhere where you pay $1,800 for a “luxury” apartment but is a constant nightmare, then Waterloo is the place for you!

Living at Waterloo has been a tumultuous, frustrating and unsatisfactory experience. The elevators are constantly broken — it’s a nightmare. They frequently have 1 or 2 elevators working for 30 floors and 700+ residents. Management claims they’ll be fixed but it’s been almost a year now and no change. Multiple people have gotten stuck in the elevator, one resident even being in FREE FALL as the elevator plummeted several floors. I had to carry my 30 lb dog down almost 20 flights of stairs just so she could use the bathroom during one of the countless times the elevators were down. The parking garage is criminally tiny, every single car in the garage has matching paint scratches from the humongous concrete pillars that are just several feet apart at each turn. It is physically impossible to navigate through the garage without reversing and readjusting to get around the corners. Then, to make matters worse, random people tailgate into the garage and park there that do not pay the (300 DOLLARS A MONTH) that residents are charged to park there. Management also lets people park in the handicap accessible parking even if they have no placard. The amenities they claim on their website do not work. The coffee shop that they so proudly advertise, “Daydreamer” closed down and moved to Rambler (I don’t blame them) before I even moved in, and in replacement management promised a self serve coffee bar. This has been in “progress” for literally 8 months and will probably never be finished until well after I move out. The sauna only half works, the hot tub doesn’t work at all, they don’t actually host any yoga classes, the spin bikes are broken, and random non-residents occupy the study rooms. Lastly, the leasing process is extremely predatory and confusing. Waterloo will find every way possible to make money, including charging incomprehensible fees for: having a window in your bedroom (despite it now literally being ILLEGAL to not have a window in a bedroom), wanting to live above floor 8, having a downtown view, having a campus view, AND having a hill country view (so literally having any view at all). They also charge a trash fee monthly despite the fact that the trash chute works less than half of the time and residents are forced to pile their trash in the trash room effectively stinking up the entire hallway. The only positive experience I have had living here is with the STUDENT leasing office workers who are probably being exploited in the same way by Yugo higher ups. Morgan in the leasing office is an angel, and the other students are nice as well, but clearly overworked, as there are frequently no other adults in the office. The maintenance staff is also very nice and respond quickly to maintenance requests. I also find the cleaning staff to be extremely friendly as well. The problem is the higher up management who are greedy and gluttonous, and only care about the unfathomable amount of money funneling into their grubby evil hands. Do not live here if you prioritize your mental health and living conditions, spend your money somewhere else. Yugo does not care about us or our well being, no wonder a literal SUICIDE occurred here last year and they failed to mention that before I signed.

This place is terrible. I've lived here for 3 years, and the leasing office has only given me one good experience. - I had a fruit fly infestation, and they promised to call a fumigator. They never did anything, so I had to handle it myself. - The elevators are constantly broken, and I've been stuck in one that free-fell 10 floors. Other friends have been trapped for over an hour. - Amenities are useless: the hot tub doesn’t work, the spin cycle machines are broken, and one of the saunas is down. - The hot water has been out for two weeks. I’ve been getting lukewarm water with terrible pressure. The excuse? "Cold weather and students returning." Never been an issue before. I spoke to Katie (a manager) about the hot water, and she promised to submit a maintenance request. She never did. Then I called and talked to Cynthia about Katie not submitting a request, who told me that because of the cold weather, their hands were tied. She then gave me an attitude when I mentioned other people in Austin who are experiencing the SAME weather we are likely had hot water, saying, “Cool, thanks for telling me that.” I’m paying $1100 a month plus utilities for this place. Broken elevators, no hot water, and unhelpful, rude staff. It’s not worth it. It must be SO annoying having residents call because they’re unhappy about their living conditions, almost as annoying as paying $1100 a month plus utilities just to live with no hot water, shitty elevators, and bitchy leasing agents, hope this helps! 💓