If I could give this no stars, then I would. Please, whatever you do, don't book to stay at Raffles House. They ask for the first rent instalment in August, way before you get any type of maintenance loan, so this may be difficult to afford for some people. I found the staff to be quite rude and unwelcoming - they don't seem to care very much about the mental health of the students staying there, many of which it would be people's first time away from home. The whole place is extremely dirty - the area surrounding the bin shoots constantly had rubbish piled on the floor due to people being too lazy to break down their rubbish to fit into the shoots, my mum and I had to deep clean my room before I properly moved in because it was so dusty and dirty, the walls in the kitchen had massive black marks across them (someone came to paint over it a few days after I had moved in, but this should've been done way before anyone moved in). The walls are also extremely thin, so you can hear the people in the rooms next to you as if they were in your room with you, and the rooms are so hot all the time that you have to either have a fan or have your window open 24/7. My mattress on my bed had stains all over it, so that also was dirty. Maintenance are also poor at dealing with requests. My room was on the ground floor directly opposite the courtyard. This was a huge issue as the courtyard was noisy every night up until around 4AM as the security were terrible at enforcing any rules regarding noise, so it was impossible to get a good sleep. I understand people obviously go to uni for the social aspect of it, but how do you cope with not sleeping all the time? In the information booklet and agreements, they appeared to be quite strict on noise enforcement between certain times, but they just seemed unable to control it. I had tried to ring reception and security multiple times but nobody picked up the phone. I asked Laura at reception if it was possible for me to move rooms to a quieter area as it was badly impacting my mental health, but she was very cold towards me and said I couldn't, but she never even tried to solve this issue for me, so I had to take it further and have a meeting with the manager, Tom, and he was quickly able to move me rooms, so this was never a problem in the first place. However, I will highlight that Tom was very helpful and continued to ask me how I was getting on with my new room, which was nice. I also think it would be beneficial if more thought went into who you were put into a room with, as I know some student accommodations do questionnaires when applying for a room because it really is pot luck if you get placed with people of similar interests - if you're a shy person and quiet, this can be really helpful. In general, Wembley Park is a great area and I would recommend Wembley for students as I enjoyed what it has to offer, but just look at other student accommodations in the area that have better reviews before thinking of staying at Raffles House. For the lack of standards, I think you pay way too much rent for what it is actually worth. Overall, my experience at Raffles was not a pleasant one and I wish I had paid more attention to previous reviews as, from experience, I realised how true most of them are.
While the location is good, the rooms are nice and spacious and maintenance staff are quick to fix problems, the security in this place is ridiculous. Since i've been here random people off the streets have gained access to the building while pretending to be staff without being stopped by the actual staff at reception, someone managed to get a key that accessed my room (fortunately i was in at the time and the chain was across the door so they couldn't enter), i was told it was likely to be a contractor that had been doing work on the building the year before as they had access to universal key cards, and one of my deliveries has been signed for and taken by someone who does not work in the building while being told by a receptionist there was nothing they could do and sometimes delivery drivers just don't care where they send things to. Don't book here, there are better places in London.
Raffles house may seem like a modern, fun accommodation to live in but their true nature is soon revealed. Don't get caught up in their welcome party or other 'fun' events they have planned for the first 2 weeks of your stay. Signing their contract is essentially signing a contact with the devil himself, advertised as a weekly rent, payments are paid in unfair intervals. After paying the £250 deposit they expect you to pay £1100 on the 1st of September and then a further £3000 on the 1st of October. Bear in mind that the highest student loan available in that area is £3500 until January. Upon truly reading the Terms and Conditions after signing (Stupidly) I realised that there is no cooling down period and you are (or your guarantor) have to pay the full 42 weeks no matter how long you have lived there or the reasons why you have left. It is therefore your responsibility to find another student to move in- with no help from Raffles (Advertising or otherwise). The age range of people ranges to older adults and you are placed in flats with people of random ages and mixed backgrounds. This proved to be a problem for me, as a member of my flat was charged with claims about sexual assault. Raffles house offered no support and no empathy- no matter how many times I have been in contact with them about my decision to leave. I was simply told to leave the key at reception.
Before you move in they ask for £1000 rent as well as the deposit. When you first move in obviously its exciting because moving into a new place usually is; the first 2 weeks the staff put effort in and it is fun. However Raffles House is a poor excuse for student housing. We didnt have working wifi until mid-February, there are 2 security guards to look after hundreds and hundreds of people, and these security guards are not legit. I was never informed when i had a parcel, i have had countless issues with maintenance that are addressed at some point. Unless you go to University in Harrow, it takes an hour to get to central London University, and Central in general; including the walk to the station, the area does not seem safe, due to the football events, and also being next to the Hilton, where there has been very rowdy parties with people speeding up and down the roads in sports cars right outside my window. The hygiene of this place is disgusting, i dont think the corridors have ever been properly cleaned. Do not live here. Also the price is ridiculous- i do not know what all my rent money has really gone toward.
The welcome party was alright. Staff were friendly and useful upon arrival but 2 weeks down the line they completely stopped caring about the residents living in their halls. Management is about as useful as Captain Hook at a gynaecologist convention. They do not respond to any requests made by the residents. They advertise 100 Mbps internet speeds but in reality, we have only been able to get about 2.5 and then they tell us to call the wifi provider (Velocity) if we have any problems. They have refused numerous times to talk to us students directly and always refuse to give us the head office's phone number so we can talk to them. The state of the flats/rooms when we moved in was unclean and had reminiscences of the previous tenants. The windows do not open more than about 2 inches and do not allow proper ventilation throughout the ensuite rooms or the kitchens when we cook. The bin shoots in the middle of our courtyard are locked during the weekends and so we wake up to a beautiful mountain of trash every Saturday or Sunday morning. This is of course accompanied by a sumptuous odour that infests the entire place. The management team are extremely quick to send out emails when it comes to anything that has to do with rent but then when we have any problems they take all the time in the world to answer. Finally, maintenance logs put in by students are not respected. I had to spend one week with no working lights and toilets when I moved in and it took them over 5 days to send someone up to take a look at it. Even so, the only way I got anyone to come was by staying at the reception until an engineer came up to my room with me. Other than that, there's a Tesco around the corner and the transport links are decent. All in all, I implore that no one move into these halls. You will regret it and it will make your university experience that much worse.
The moment you get there you receive a welcome pack which has all you need and the overall experience of the first day gave you an insight of what's to come. I like this accommodation for its location. You are in the heart of all there is to do in Wembley, so you can literally eat and be home in five minutes ( a student's dream). The only downside is that you are quite a distance from the tube stations, I never really got used to it, but there is a bus stop that takes you there, should you need it. And you will during the winter time. I love the idea of having different wings in the building, it kind of makes you feel like you're part of a bigger family. The atmosphere overall is great and you will meet a lot of new people, especially during the first few weeks, don't be afraid to socialise outside the courtyard. The rooms are quite big and the wardrobe space is generous. The best thing about the rooms as well is that the windows are pretty much sound proof, so you don't hear much noise outside.
My doors been broken for 2 months and the management are rediculous and don't fix it even not I've been down and reported it several times, it's a security risk as anyone can enter my flat. There's been a flood which hasn't been fixed properly and several times there's been a maintanence issue that ain't fixed until I've complained 2 or 3 times minimum. The furniture is terrible quality. Only great thing about this place is the people here and atmosphere of the students.
When I arrived staff were really friendly and offered help with everything and snacks were at the reception. The Ensuite rooms however are really small and mine was very dark, which the light could not compensate. Also, the experience you have really depends on the flatmates you will share your kitchen with. There were some reoccurring problems like lifts which were not working or the internet, which does not properly work since my arrival. The studio experience is nicer because you do not have to share a kitchen. The price for the studio is quite reasonable. Furthermore, the trip with the tube to central London takes only about 20-30 minutes. Some of the staff are nice and helpful, others however are not.
This property is apaling. Raffles house has been capable of distroying the my mostly anticipated experience of my life of moving alone in my studio. No help, no internet, dirty, dangerouse, and rude. Advertisement advertises features which building does not actually have like working internet or cleaning and reception 24hours. Contract has many hidden terms which on their behalf are not even respected. Management does not care about students problems and tries to respond that they do take all feedback whilst not doing anything. Rooms are goven to students in conditions which are disgraceful. Over 200 pounds was needed to call a company to come and clean the room once I moved in due to its condition. Very dissapointed and saddened that the carelessness and uncaring attitude of management and raffles house has managed to distroy my long waited dream. Any accommodation is better than raffles house as peoven by majority of students moving out following a few months. Stay away from this accommodation, students do not deserve this kind of treatment. I do not recommend !!!
Raffles house is located right by Wembley stadium and Wembley Park station so is a great environment for students - especially considering most would not be able to afford in an area like this without living in halls. However, the halls itself have had a few problems e.g. the lack of internet, some areas not cleaned properly before new students move in and problems with shower/toilet flooding. However, management are very freindly and helpful and work hard to try and get things sorted.
Management was brilliant at the start of the year, but went downhill as the year progressed. Rooms were of a fine size, but bathrooms were often broken. The halls wouldn't fix breakages for about 4 months.
My partner and I have lived at Raffles house for a year in a (very small) studio flat. When we viewed a studio before moving here, it was much bigger than the one we were given, despite them being the same price. The studios are too small for two people, and the facilities are inadequate. The kitchenette (2 small cupboards, a microwave-oven, a small sink and two plates on a hob) is tiny, we don't have any work surface space to cut vegetables or take hot items out of the oven and put them down. The room is very small and the ventilation is poor. There is one window that opens approx 5 inches, so when you've used the microwave oven, or boiled something for dinner, or had a shower, the room gets really hot and never cools down due to terrible ventilation. It's hot all year round, but in the summer the rooms get painfully hot, it's unbearable. There is no table or chairs to sit and have your dinner, so you have to eat off your lap on your bed, which isn't the most hygienic or civilised. We are in the West block, over looking the designer outlet. It is really noisy ALL DAY, with music from shops and restaurants, and there are often very drunk people in the outlet until 4am ish, who are extremely loud. We have had many sleepless nights due to noise from the outlet, and we couldn't close the windows because it was already way too hot in our room! The laundrette is shockingly bad, very expensive and unreliable. I'm a student nurse, and my uniform is light coloured. I've had to repeatedly wash my uniform due to the machines on site, as when washed on a hot wash, they came out dirtier than when they went it. It costs £2.80 to do a load, which last 34 minutes. Clothes are not clean after 34 minutes! On one occasion I had to wash my uniform 3 times on site, and they still weren't clean, so I took them to the laundrette down the road. It's a lot more expensive there, but after one wash my clothes were clean. I complained to the staff on reception, and they said it was nothing to do with them and to call wash station. On multiple occasions my clothes were not clean, when I called wash station, they offered me a refund for all of the money I had wasted when my clothes were not clean. Despite calling them on several occasions, I'm still waiting for my refund....... When we first moved in, the staff were nice and communicated well. But a lot of the staff have left and new staff have come. Communication is shocking now. We have been without any laundry facilities for over 3 weeks and no hint of an email from the staff. I came home from a 13 hour shift in hospital to find we had no water supply. I went down to reception to find out what was going on, and they knew all about it, but didn't think to inform the residents that they would have no water supply for the day! I have had a few issues with maintenance people just walking into our flat too. The staff did send an email to inform us maintenance would be carried out across the site, and so access to rooms/studios would be required over a specified 2 day period. However, 4 days later, whilst asleep after a night shift, a maintenance worker just walked into my flat. When I questioned that it wasn't done 4 days ago, he said that they were behind. The staff didn't email to inform us entry to our homes was required after the specified date. The attitude of some of the staff is awful too. There is very much the attitude that once you've paid, they don't care how happy you are, because they have your money! Some of the staff are incredibly rude, and talk to you like you are an inconvenience. There is Wi-Fi on the site but it is very unreliable and has been down a lot of the time. We have had an issue with our door due to the lock not working, and have had to ask staff to let us into our flat on SEVERAL occasions using a manual key rather than a key fob, but it still hasn't been fixed. The area is great, great transport links and the buzz from the stadium on event days is exciting, but the noise does tend to continue until the early hours...... I would not recommend this accommodation, and I am very much looking forward to moving out.
I have enjoyed my time here, staff are friendly except the night security. The rooms are good quality but the furniture is cheap and breaks a lot. Windows don't open more than a inch and some of the higher levels of the building 7,8 and 9 it become horrifically hot in the summer. The area is safe however very far out and are fairly expensive but are considered cheap compared to other halls run by the company and similar student housing companies in London. The day time staff are very helpful and friendly. I enjoyed my first year of halls here very much however because of the price i'm moving to private accommodation closer to central London for my second year.
Well located for easy transport links to Central London. But it's in Zone 4 so tube fare is a pain. Management is always friendly, although they have been recently replaced. So idk about the new management. Postage system annoys me. Letters and small items that can get through the slot on the door are delivered to the flat by a postman but the large packages are left at the reception. But management doesn't email you to inform you when you get it so you have to constantly check. On the plus side, any maintenance issues I've had (broken toilet seat, dimmed light bulb) were resolved quickly and efficiently. I've never had any problems with management coming into my room for no reason, the only time was for an inspection so... Room quality is pretty okay, ensuite seals the deal. Big bed. Ample amount of sockets and storage space. In-room radiator isn't the best and they only switch it on when it gets colder so be prepared for chilly nights. Kitchen has reasonable cooking facilities. Good fridge, ample space. Lots of cupboards for your stuff. Hoover and ironing stuff provided. But the kettle provided was inadequate due to limescale buildup. But management will replace them if you ask. Sofa is uncomfortable though. Be careful about which room you pick, there's pros and cons to both. My room (east block) faces the outside and has a better view but it can be really noisy during event days. For rooms facing the courtyard, there's been a lot of complaints that it's really warm and noisy from all the people traffic (i.e drinking in the courtyard/common room). Also, lack of privacy if you're in a courtyard facing room, you can literally see into the rooms in the opposite blocks. The window situation is also a pain. The room has one huge tilt window that opens at the top. A lot of complaints that it doesn't provide good air circulation but I've had no problems with that. On-site laundrette is expensive and not particularly good. Very basic settings, nothing fancy. It'll wash your clothes though. Had bad experiences with other residents taking my stuff out of the washing machine and putting them on the seats. Situated near the London Designer Outlet which is convenient and nice. Gym around the corner. Tesco, Sainbury's, Lidl and Asda all within walking distance. Wembley High Street is only a bus ride away, it's got Boots, TK Maxx, Tesco Extra, Poundland, Primark etc. Good working opportunities at SSE Arena/Wembley Stadium. On event days however, the area can get extremely busy and noisy (especially when there's a football game on), and the tube station gets pretty packed. Social life wise, there's always a flat party going on somewhere. Overall, it's expensive but it is London. Good stay.
The atmosphere was great the first two days because everyone was together all night in the courtyard, but then management ruined it and told us we weren't allowed to be out after 11pm a few days later due to 'complaints' that were never actually real... So management weren't too great, but the security guards were very nice and helpful and i felt safe with them there. Wembley was an okay area, it won't be my first choice for the future but generally it wasn't bad being right next to the stadium as that created an awesome atmosphere on game days etc. Rooms were amazing, en suite and kitchen (if kept tidy) were also a good size. I really enjoyed my time in wembley and met some pretty great people at those halls at my first year of university that i'm still living with to date and whom i'm still close with.
The rooms here are great and bigger/newer/nicer than most other halls. However there is no air-con so in summer it gets too hot. I would recommend staying on floors 3-5 if you don't like the heat, floors 6 and above get way too hot. The management inspect the rooms 3 times a year which is fine. I always had problems with opening the doors to the flat as they get stuck. I didn't live here when the designer outlet was open so wasn't disturbed by the noise but North block and East block don't back on to the outlet so pick those if you are worried by the noise. The central courtyard is advertised as a roof top garden but it is definitely not. Theres 5/6 floors above it. The studios here are not much bigger than the non-studio rooms and the kitchen part of the studios are right next to the bed which isn't great so I would suggest getting a shared kitchen as they are bigger than most kitchens in halls with less people sharing them as well. It is zone 4 which makes it expensive for travel but halls in zone 1 are about £200 more a month and the travel is only about £30 more a month so it still works out cheaper. Baker Street and Great Portland Street are only about 20 mins on the tube which is fine for London. There is a big ASDA nearish Wembley Park tube, and a Tesco express on the corner. Wembley high street is about 15 mins away with most shops and restaurants if you don't want the shops in the "designer outlet" (which aren't very good). Wembley stadium only has a few events a year so don't worry about that, and Wembley arena across the road doesn't hold that many people with few events so it doesn't make a difference. Everywhere in London is busy anyway so you get used to it. When there is no events on its very quiet anyway. It is a lot cheaper than other London halls so I would definitely recommend it.
