Homes for Students The Forge — Attraction in Sheffield

Booked a classic studio and it's quite possibly the worst place I have ever had the displeasure of staying in. Haven't had internet for the 4 weeks I've been here. Technicians from the WiFi company tried to get site access twice to sort the issue and the onsite maintenance team ignored their request both times. I was told by the WiFi company that they gave the onsite team 3 days to respond both times and got complete radio silence.

Rooms aren't cleaned properly before you move in. Places that are slightly inconvenient to clean like the top of my fridge or the inside of my microwave hadn't been cleaned. Both my kitchen and bathroom sink hadn't been cleaned and were heavily clogged. The walls all have scuff marks and dents in them. They're also incredibly thin. Thin walls + windows that don't shut properly means you will hear every drunken idiot throughout the night. The beds they provide hurt to lay on and feel solid.

I've seen a few rats running around outside, the place just feels dirty wherever you go.

Also, pray somebody doesn't trigger the fire alarms at night because there wont be any security or staff present to turn them off. Absolute nightmare for people like me with sensory issues. The fire alarm went off for almost 9 hours a couple weeks ago before somebody came to turn it off.

Communication with maintenance and higher up staff is awful. I tried to move rooms and was told I hadn't booked with homesforstudents (despite having done that) and to chase up my university to solve the issue (despite the forge previously telling me that i had to pay a £50 "admin" fee because i did book with homesforstudents and had to defer my rent payment dates). The university obviously told me I booked with homesforstudents and I haven't heard back from the staff at The Forge at all. My refrigerator was broken from the moment I moved in and it took maintenance 2 weeks to finally get to me. They only showed up because I had to bother reception three days in a row.

All the 5 star reviews you see are because people are encouraged heavily by staff who are forced to badger people at events. I've scanned a few of the reviews with an ai detector and the majority of them get heavily flagged for ai lol. If you're gonna make bots to write positive reviews at least humanize it...

It's really a shame that this place is so miserable because they hold a diverse range of fun events and the staff at reception are really nice.

I would only recommend booking with The Forge if you're some kind of masochist...

Shocking. When I first moved in the flat was filthy, tuna left in the fridge, milk and takeaway boxes spread across the flat. Actual PISS on the toilet seat and around the floor. Complained at reception, they said the cleaners aren’t around - bear in mind I moved in later in the month, so they had plenty of time to have someone come in and clean. No excuse for it. Me and my mother had to clean the flat and basically decontaminate it. This isn’t my first year as a student and I have never had a problem like this. It is not acceptable. Also, the shelf in my fridge is broken, no sign of that getting fixed, curtains is also broken, no surprise. Now my door doesn’t lock (a studio so it has only one door) which is rather unsafe. I have asked and asked when the locks are being reprogrammed but no one at reception seems to know? Kitchen tap is absolutely burning hot so can’t even properly wash the pots without getting burnt- again complained about that- no sign of that getting sorted. Heard from other residents they don’t have running hot water or electrics. I work 12 hour shifts on placement and do not have time to be messing about with this. I have phoned the reception phone line whilst on my breaks and it just rings and rings and rings, asked today at reception why no one is answering and it’s because they had “training” surely the training isn’t going on the entire time i’ve been phoning, and whatever training is going needs improving. Also emailed twice about the door locking- again silence…) Absolutely disgraceful. Do not book this accommodation unless you want problem after problem after problem. I’m not usually one to complain and like I said, i’m not a first year student, I know how a student accommodation should handle and deal with things. This is unacceptable. Sadly had to resort to leaving a bad review, if someone answered the phone it could’ve been resolved. Kept my name on here, so if the forge management team want to contact...

The contract is a scam, no where on the website is it listed that the bills included has a limit of practically nothing (£11 a week) and the limit of no 200W+ devices is incredibly deceiving, even a basic laptop can surpass that limit - forget any games consoles. I would avoid booking here at all costs it was a mistake. If you have a desktop PC you are completely screwed over.

They also have not responded to my email after a week so querying any kind of information is rather difficult. Moving in I had to wait an hour in the queue only to be told the keys were not printed in advance and that I need to come back in an hour. This is frustrating since they make you pick a time slot to move in.

The floor in the bathroom is so week I can feel it bend underneath my feet as I stand on it. I am not overweight so this is definitely concerning.

The room had a total of 4 plug sockets in the room on the desk opposite the bed. If you want to charge your phone and lay in bed it's basically impossible unless you have a 3/4 meter cable.

One fridge between 5 people is less then both the Pinnacles and the university of Sheffield provide on their cheapest offering.

The radiator is electric and controlled by an ecostat thermostat accessible from in the room.

They host competitions to write the best 5 star review in exchange for money (vouchers) without disclosing this publicly so If you read one be wary of review fraud.

If I could go back in time I would have rebooked the pinnacles the contract is...