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Our Dorm's Laundry Card Reader Hasn't Worked in a Month

I am a freshman living in the dorms and to do our laundry, you have to use a machine that puts money on your laundry card. You put in your card, a $5, $10 or $20 bill and then it credits that amount to your card. Sometime mid-January, the machine keeps erroring out and will either eat the money and not properly credit the card or will flat out not work.

Okay, things malfunction all the time, no problem. Well, it's been more than a month since the thing has worked and the laundry cards are the only forms of payment the machines accept.

There is a sign on it that says to go to another dorm and fill it up there. There are two problems with this.

1. You have to leave your dorm and go to another dorm to fill up. This is suitable if the thing were down for a week or so. But having to go to a different dorm to fill up your laundry card because it hasn't been fixed in over a month is ridiculous.

2. The keys you have only work in your dorm. None of the dorms are connected. All dorm buildings are locked to the outside. Getting into another dorm during the weekend (when most people do laundry) is near impossible because no one is ever in the little common area to open the door for you and you don't have any method of getting in.

I really wouldn't care if they weren't such nazi's when it comes to damage fines. They fined us $50 to clean up a streak on the wall (it was a streak like someone had a black soled shoe and rubbed it against the wall... it took 409 and a towel to remove it), $90 to fix a clogged toilet (clogged toilets happen), $90 for a small blood stain on the carpet where my roommate scraped his knee [they used a steam carpet cleaner], etc.

If they're charging near $100 for every little thing that happens in the hall, there should be some ramifications for the administration not getting their act together. What is the best way of going upon this? Formal complaint with list of signatures? Should the residents be entitled some of their money back?
 
Originally posted by: TallBill
put $100 on your card so you dont have to walk 100 feet to recharge it.
Typical ass-hat response.

I think some kind of formal signature-laden petition would suffice if taken to the right person. If that doesn't work, raise hell, go to the local paper, do something to make them fix it. If you are honest in what you say about the crap fees they are charging, then don't take this lying down.
 
Originally posted by: blurredvision
Originally posted by: TallBill
put $100 on your card so you dont have to walk 100 feet to recharge it.
Typical ass-hat response.

I think some kind of formal signature-laden petition would suffice if taken to the right person. If that doesn't work, raise hell, go to the local paper, do something to make them fix it. If you are honest in what you say about the crap fees they are charging, then don't take this lying down.

Typical asshat response. My dorm's machines didn't work period, so I had to take my laundry to a different building every time period. And the floor had like $1500 in damage charges. And guess what, I'm still alive.
 
Originally posted by: blurredvision
Originally posted by: TallBill
put $100 on your card so you dont have to walk 100 feet to recharge it.
Typical ass-hat response.

I think some kind of formal signature-laden petition would suffice if taken to the right person. If that doesn't work, raise hell, go to the local paper, do something to make them fix it. If you are honest in what you say about the crap fees they are charging, then don't take this lying down.
I'm not kidding, here is the latest email from our RA:
Hey guys,

Noticed that some people are enjoying playing with other people's peep holes
on their doors. Just thought you should know this info.

Nick


______________________________________________________________________________

Hey,

For your residents' info, at this point it costs between $15 and $90 to
replace peephole parts.

Mary
Nick is our RA. Mary is the head of Student Affairs or something. $90 to replace the peephole parts, that doesn't even include labor.
 
Originally posted by: TallBill
Originally posted by: blurredvision
Originally posted by: TallBill
put $100 on your card so you dont have to walk 100 feet to recharge it.
Typical ass-hat response.

I think some kind of formal signature-laden petition would suffice if taken to the right person. If that doesn't work, raise hell, go to the local paper, do something to make them fix it. If you are honest in what you say about the crap fees they are charging, then don't take this lying down.

Typical asshat response. My dorm's machines didn't work period, so I had to take my laundry to a different building every time period. And the floor had like $1500 in damage charges. And guess what, I'm still alive.

<waits for blurredvision to get added to TallBill's Official Asshat list>
 
Originally posted by: TallBill
Typical asshat response. My dorm's machines didn't work period, so I had to take my laundry to a different building every time period. And the floor had like $1500 in damage charges. And guess what, I'm still alive.
Sucks for you. But this is my thread and I'm not going to put $100 on my laundry card.
 
Originally posted by: blurredvision
Originally posted by: TallBill
put $100 on your card so you dont have to walk 100 feet to recharge it.
Typical intelligent response.

fixed, although $100 might be a little much for a semester of laundry.
 
Originally posted by: MrCodeDude
Originally posted by: TallBill
Typical asshat response. My dorm's machines didn't work period, so I had to take my laundry to a different building every time period. And the floor had like $1500 in damage charges. And guess what, I'm still alive.
Sucks for you. But this is my thread and I'm not going to put $100 on my laundry card.

Its college. Shouldn't you be out drinking or having unprotected sex?
 
Originally posted by: TallBill
Originally posted by: MrCodeDude
Originally posted by: TallBill
Typical asshat response. My dorm's machines didn't work period, so I had to take my laundry to a different building every time period. And the floor had like $1500 in damage charges. And guess what, I'm still alive.
Sucks for you. But this is my thread and I'm not going to put $100 on my laundry card.

Its college. Shouldn't you be out drinking or having unprotected sex?

Now he won't just to piss you off. Should have just let Darwin run his course.
 
Originally posted by: TallBill
Originally posted by: blurredvision
Originally posted by: TallBill
put $100 on your card so you dont have to walk 100 feet to recharge it.
Typical ass-hat response.

I think some kind of formal signature-laden petition would suffice if taken to the right person. If that doesn't work, raise hell, go to the local paper, do something to make them fix it. If you are honest in what you say about the crap fees they are charging, then don't take this lying down.
Typical asshat response. My dorm's machines didn't work period, so I had to take my laundry to a different building every time period. And the floor had like $1500 in damage charges. And guess what, I'm still alive.
If you pay thousands of dollars for an education, and another few thousand over the course of a typical 4-year program for living, the least you could expect is for a lowly laundry card reader to work correctly.

Just because you laid down and was a pussy about it doesn't mean the OP should or should be. Don't settle in life, or the big people will walk all over you.
 
Originally posted by: blurredvision

Just because you laid down and was a pussy about it doesn't mean the OP should or should be. Don't settle in life, or the big people will walk all over you.

:roll:
 
Originally posted by: TallBill
Originally posted by: MrCodeDude
Originally posted by: TallBill
Typical asshat response. My dorm's machines didn't work period, so I had to take my laundry to a different building every time period. And the floor had like $1500 in damage charges. And guess what, I'm still alive.
Sucks for you. But this is my thread and I'm not going to put $100 on my laundry card.
Its college. Shouldn't you be out drinking or having unprotected sex?
Not with dirty clothes, he shouldn't.
 
Two things:
1) About the fines, read your student handbook. In there it tells you exactly what can be fined and what can't. You're living in the dorms, they can fine you pretty much whatever they want. You're their tenant, and you signed a form when you moved in that said you agree to their rules. Their rules include all the fines. Sucks that you don't have time to read it all during move-in eh?
2) About the laundry thing - does a 3rd party do the laundry services? At GVSU where I'm an RA a company called AAL does our laundry services, so anytime things are wrong we call them and they come out in ~ 1 day to fix it. Check and see if there's a sticker and call yourself. That'l make your RA feel sh$tty 😉.
If there's nothing there, then who have you complained to? Just your RA? Go above his head. Email that Mary person in the emails above, or find a directory and email your Dean of Housing. They should have an obligation to get that fixed ASAP for you guys.

Just my two cents as a current housing lackey from another school...
 
Originally posted by: blurredvision
Tell me how you really feel.

I feel that working in a college dormitory has to be the crappiest job on earth. They have to deal with constant damage being done by students, and probably quit after a year. Obviously this person knows the cost to the school to replace peep holes, which is why the peep hole warning got out. They wouldn't be warning them if it hadn't already happened.

And unless the housing contract gets highly detailed, I highly doubt that the university has to do anything to make the card reader work. Should they? Well of course, why have tools that dont work. Do they have to fix it? Hell no.

So, not getting what you expect, and being "walked on" by the big people is a big difference.
 
Originally posted by: TallBill
Originally posted by: blurredvision
Tell me how you really feel.
I highly doubt that the university has to do anything to make the card reader work. Should they? Well of course, why have tools that dont work. Do they have to fix it? Hell no.
Living expenses were most likely paid for the dorm under the guidance that there was laundry services at the dorm itself. Therefore, it is the university's problem to make sure the laundry service works. 1 month out of a possible 8 month overall school year proves to be a terrible percentage of down time, don't you agree? Your logic for the laundry machine can be applied to the heating of the dorm. By the way you think, if the heat breaks, then the university doesn't have to fix it if they don't want to.
 
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