The Summit at University City — Local services in Philadelphia

Don't be fooled. This place is dressed up all new and shiny, but it's a shitshow underneath. Finding a place to start is the most difficult part.

TL;DR: This place is a goddamn venus fly trap for students.

Management is helpful in the same way that a shepherd helps his lambs to the slaughter. Just like in all the UCrossings reviews (these are the same hacks) they exist for no purpose other than to wring money out of you. Expect no helpful solutions to any of your problems, and certainly don't expect your lack of help to arrive any faster than a fat kid to the marathon finish line.

Everything is shiny and new yes, but it might as well be made of tissue paper. Our shower head broke within the first two weeks, and in a similar period we saw the wall paneling peeling off. During move-out week there was actually a light fixture hanging out of the ceiling. There was a once-monthly water leak that would flood part of the lobby, and since our unit happened to be directly above it that meant once-monthly visits from maintenance asking if we had a flooded toilet or shower (we didn't). To top it off, there was a water main that burst during the winter flooding and disabling ALL the elevators.

The website advertises units designed for "comfort" and "privacy", so I can only surmise that whomever wrote the content must have been trying to market the place to sardines. The entire unit I lived in (which will be $850 next year I believe) was almost certainly no bigger than 800 square feet (shared between 4 people), and that includes the other bedroom (which you don't have access to), and the bathrooms (which are comically oversized compared to the cramped bedrooms). There's really no way to get around that these units were designed with the sole purpose of cramming as many units into the land area they possibly could. I don't own a lot of stuff, but I couldn't fit it all in this place.

Hell, even the ceilings aren't finished; HVAC and fire sprinkler piping are both exposed, and above that is lovely, lovely CEMENT. Even some of the WALLS are bare cement. I don't give a good god damn about your "aesthetic", that's just god damn LAZY.

The fire alarms in this place go off on average about once a week, but in reality it'll be that every two or three weeks you'll have one night where the alarm goes off two or three times. It's absolutely ridiculous, and will ruin your sleep. Even more paradoxically, the "hey, the building might be burning down" alarm tells you to stay in your room.

Security is just attentive enough to be a pain in your ass, but at the same time so hopelessly and obviously porous that it would never actually stop a legitimate intruder. It's laughably easy to slip by when they're distracted (which is often), and even the key access locks on the elevators or stairwells can be easily circumvented by just waiting for another clueless student to come along.

Riding off the previous point, it's worth mentioning that all the packages delivered here are LEFT IN THE GODDAMN LOBBY WHILE THEY'RE BEING SORTED (which takes forever). Literally, 100% exposed, not even behind the counter. Literally anybody could walk through, nab a package, and instantly escape into the stairwell without anybody noticing.

At least in my unit, the Summit's idea of a full kitchen (what was advertised) is a single portable induction cooking surface and a microwave convection oven (what we got). To top if off, there's about 3 feet of counter space. I saw "full kitchen" and went into the lease expecting to be able to cook, but unless you don't plan on cooking anything but microwave meals and maybe a few eggs, you'll be...

*Went to the package room 3 times now at around 7:50 p.m. as it's supposed to be open until 8p.m. Closes early more times than not.

*Lost 2 of my packages

*Wouldn't let a family member sleep in my apartment while receiving surgery in the hospital (even if I signed them in with security before I left)

*I do not like the fact that it's the luck of the draw when it comes to where you are placed in the building. Someone that pays the same installments can have a significantly better view, higher ceilings, closer to elevators etc.

*More expensive floor plans are only on Floors 2-8 which doesn't make any sense to me. If i'm paying over $1000 a month I should have the benefit of a decent view

*Woke up this morning to random men hanging outside my window. Received no notice/email from the summit notifying that Window Cleaning would be happening. An extreme violation of privacy

**The ceiling in my apartment is significantly lower than last years (Different floors)

**Was asked to move into my new unit 2 days early last minute because a girl was moving into my room the same day I was scheduled to move out. Because of this, missed out on their offer to have moving people transfer my stuff from room to room. Came to Drexel in the middle of my break to move my stuff to accommodate them and was told that there were no carts and I had to move my stuff by hand.

**Another update~ was just locked in a study room at 3 a.m. because the door handles don't work. Could not find the number to the front desk online to ask security for help. Good thing someone was in the room next to mine.

*Update to one star: Was told on Friday I would get a new roommate and that she was moving in today, Monday. Two days notice is extremely inconsiderate. There is no way that this girl signed her lease on Friday (if it's a girl. I don't even know as they told me nothing about the person that I will be living with) so why they told me 2 days before is beyond me. They don't care about their current residents but jump at the opportunity to have more money rollin' in... which doesn't surprise me, but is disappointing *

I have signed a new lease for next year and am already regretting it. While this place is seemingly nice with all its fancy chandeliers and bells and whistles, it is not worth the money. The fire alarms go off at random and inconvenient times often due to something at their fault (construction dust? really?). Their prices change by the day. When I signed my lease for next year I signed for $1129 and within a week the price for the same suite was down to $1049. My door jams/barely closes because it is not leveled which maintenance said they would come back and fix and never did. I have run into other issues due to poor construction which i will probably be fined for in the future. Their WiFi sucks and their printers and computers downstairs almost never work. The people in the leasing office seem clueless. I have yet to experience this but have heard that there is a two week gap in between leases which will be a huge issue for me. The only pluses I will give to this place is the gym and the location. I was so excited to move in and, especially given the high price, have been vastly...

I was forced to move into The Summit due to how Drexel runs housing. I encountered minimal issues aside from routine occurrences such as fire alarms and cockroach problems that appear to be prevalent for all residents. I ended up paying about $1,400 a month, after everything, due to how much they charge for electricity and the $20 service fee every time you pay rent (I pay $5 service fee at my new apartment, for reference). I was wary that they were charging a lot for electricity but I had no frame of reference to be sure. It wasn’t until I moved into a studio that I realized they were charging me 3x what I pay for my own studio. I was naïve to think that I was actually using about $75 of electricity each month no matter the season. Upon moving out, I meticulously cleaned the apartment and documented its condition in a video to preemptively dispute potential charges, because I did not trust them to be honest and would attempt to take more money from me. Despite a seemingly smooth move-out process, I received an unexpected email from The Summit a month later, indicating a remaining balance. They proceeded to add about $140 of cleaning charges to my account. I emailed them and asked them to provide pictures of the so-called condition of my apartment post-moveout. They emailed me back the attached pictures. The attached pictures they provided were not only unrelated to my apartment but were also not sent as individual files, raising concerns about their authenticity. It appeared as though the images were copied and pasted from elsewhere in an attempt to deceive me. After I provided my evidence proving them wrong they then proceeded to “send” it off for about ten business days with no update until I reached out again? Communication was lacking and all they can be seen in the attached picture. After that email I never heard from them again. A day or two ago I signed into my account and saw that they had removed the cleaning charges without an apology or acknowledgment of their mistake. It's very sneaky that they did this and seems that they wish to not admit responsibility for what they attempted to do. Terrible communication overall from them. In conclusion, they are a greedy, sneaky, dirty company that will try to screw students out of every cent with no remorse at all, and I do not recommend that anyone sign a lease with them if they can afford not to. Also, if they charged you for cleaning and sent the same pictures they sent me then they likely screwed you and...