Booked student living plus on accident HELP

Original post by Anonymous

Hello, really panicking because under the stress of booking my room I somehow opted for student living plus which I do not want. What can i do!?!?!?

What's student living plus? :holmes:

Is this a service offered by Birmingham accommodation?
Do you have to pay for it?

Can you ring up the accommodation team and ask them to remove it?

Reply 2

OP

Original post by 04MR17

What's student living plus? :holmes:

Is this a service offered by Birmingham accommodation?
Do you have to pay for it?
Can you ring up the accommodation team and ask them to remove it?

It's like their catering. Essentially, you pay £64 a week extra, for them to add £64 to a card that you can only spend on site... It's quite a scam and I've tried all morning to remove it but no look they won't do it.
It does sort of seem like just a way for them to make money, it makes no sense but sadly I am stuck with it.

Reply 3

Original post by Anonymous

It's like their catering. Essentially, you pay £64 a week extra, for them to add £64 to a card that you can only spend on site... It's quite a scam and I've tried all morning to remove it but no look they won't do it.
It does sort of seem like just a way for them to make money, it makes no sense but sadly I am stuck with it.

Which department are in charge of this?
Accommodation?

ring them up, speak to a human, explain that it was an error and you want it removed - you are not stuck with it

Reply 4

alisonmb7

3

I'm the mum of a new student and we sat down at 7pm last night to "choose" a room and they were pretty much all gone. I cannot tell if we did it right or wrong but all his preference places weren't visible and I assume they had been released in batches and we needed to log in at 4pm on the dot. It seems like a horrible process, and it was completely pointless filling in preferences a few months ago - the idea of picking your room by other flatmates was just laughable, the whole thing was really stressful.

In the end we booked in Maple Bank - and were forced to go with student living plus - there was no self catering available. Even with SLP this accommodation is cheaper than the other stuff in the Vale (or the other Selly Oak rooms which were still there), so we have just taken the hit to get the room in the right location. It seems that they have the same facilities in all flats so I cannot understand why some are forced to be catered. It seems clear that you cannot unsubscribe from it, although I would be interested to know if you manage to do that. We've been going back and forth about getting in touch and seeing if it can be changed, but he now seems happy to buy sandwiches every day and I feel we are fighting to pay thousands more and have him total self cater all for the sake of an en suite bathroom. I'm sure we read that you could cancel within 7 days of the booking, but of course this would be enormously risky if you want accommodation, so your best bet is to call their accommodation office and see what they can do.

If you are in Maple Bank do check out how the prices compare as you may find you are still paying less than other Vale accommodation and then you would have to buy your own food all the time anyway.

I'd really appreciate it if you can let us know how you get on if you do give them a call.

Reply 5

OP

Original post by 04MR17

Which department are in charge of this?
Accommodation?
ring them up, speak to a human, explain that it was an error and you want it removed - you are not stuck with it

I did ring them up, and they've said that it is sort of 'attached' to my room in a way and it can't be removed. I've been back and forth with them a bit but no luck. It still doesn't make sense why they can't remove it, as the flats are all the same - this one won't even have a smaller kitchen or anything.

Reply 6

Original post by Anonymous

I did ring them up, and they've said that it is sort of 'attached' to my room in a way and it can't be removed. I've been back and forth with them a bit but no luck. It still doesn't make sense why they can't remove it, as the flats are all the same - this one won't even have a smaller kitchen or anything.

Who did you ring up?

Reply 7

purrlet

3

I'm in the same position haha, I set Chamberlain as my preference with self-catered in about May I think? But I was an hour late to booking, when I went on the website to book a room the only flats available in Chamberlain were the ones with Student Living Plus, which I didn't realise until I had paid to secure it. I emailed some help desk about the situation and they said they couldn't remove it. I'm aware I can cancel it but I would no longer be in the guaranteed room scheme :")

I'm just firming it now, I suppose it would be nice to have a back-up if I'm not bothered to cook or something, even though I believe the restaurants included in the card are a bit of a walk away from my accommodation. Still quite the scam though lol, and it's added an extra £2k to the total cost of the rent :headfire:

Reply 8

Original post by purrlet

I'm in the same position haha, I set Chamberlain as my preference with self-catered in about May I think? But I was an hour late to booking, when I went on the website to book a room the only flats available in Chamberlain were the ones with Student Living Plus, which I didn't realise until I had paid to secure it. I emailed some help desk about the situation and they said they couldn't remove it. I'm aware I can cancel it but I would no longer be in the guaranteed room scheme :")

I'm just firming it now, I suppose it would be nice to have a back-up if I'm not bothered to cook or something, even though I believe the restaurants included in the card are a bit of a walk away from my accommodation. Still quite the scam though lol, and it's added an extra £2k to the total cost of the rent :headfire:

It's a massive scam and personally I am finding this ridiculous. How set are you on Chamberlain?

Reply 9

OP

Original post by 04MR17

Who did you ring up?

The student accommodation team at the university.

Reply 10

OP

Original post by purrlet

I'm in the same position haha, I set Chamberlain as my preference with self-catered in about May I think? But I was an hour late to booking, when I went on the website to book a room the only flats available in Chamberlain were the ones with Student Living Plus, which I didn't realise until I had paid to secure it. I emailed some help desk about the situation and they said they couldn't remove it. I'm aware I can cancel it but I would no longer be in the guaranteed room scheme :")
I'm just firming it now, I suppose it would be nice to have a back-up if I'm not bothered to cook or something, even though I believe the restaurants included in the card are a bit of a walk away from my accommodation. Still quite the scam though lol, and it's added an extra £2k to the total cost of the rent :headfire:

Agh i know, the price is really annoying me more than anything. However, there is one grocery store we can use it in - cost cutters on the vale. So althought their prices are a little higher than most supermarkets, at least we can hopefully still make the allocated money stretch. Still so annoying though.

Reply 11