Disgusting service and unfair charges

My brother has been a student living at Campus Key for a few years now.

Around August of 2022 my brother informed me that he was in need of R1350. This was an administration fee that he required to re-book his Campus Key room for the year 2023.

Usually, as his Guarantor, this is an easy enough payment to make as we make it through the Campus Key website.

My brother, however, recieved a message that the website was experiencing some difficulties so we were more than welcome to pay R1350 through direct EFT and email them the proof of payment.

Because my brother was planning on keeping his previous room, I made an EFT payment and I forwarded him the proof of payment which he in turn emailed to the relevant administrative people.

We had thus concluded that he was able to secure his room for 2023.

Late December of 2022, my brother emailed me two invoices that he had received from Campus Key.

The invoices in question were for the following : R750 for cleaning services rendered and R1500 for painting recovery.

I asked my brother what these invoices were for as I have never received these charges before.

He stated that he was also not sure, so I urged him to call Campus Key and find out.

He stated that he was having difficulty reaching anyone in the office and we assumed that it was because this was happening over the holiday season.

We figured that we would get more clarity once we were back in Potchefstroom and back at Campus Key.

Fast forward to the 16th of February 2023, my brother is back in Potchefstroom to check into his room at Campus Key.

He was told that he would not be able to go up to his room because there were amounts that were in arrears, including R750 for cleaning services rendered, R1500 for painting and also R500 for the storage of personal items.

The money for the above expenses was taken out of his R5000 deposit, and so we needed to pay the difference to make up the deposit and we had to clear all of those expenses before my brother could be allowed back into his room.

He was also informed that all of his belongings had been moved out of his room and into storage.

This was shocking to us because my brother had been assured after payment of the administration fee that he is a rebooker and his stuff will remain in his room.

We were further told that my brother's belongs were removed from his room because the administration fee was never recieved by Campus Key offices, which as you will recall from my previous statement this fee had already been paid by us and proof of payment had been emailed to Campus Key offices. Let me reiterate again that payment was made by direct EFT and not through the website, because their offices were experiencing problems with the website.

When my brother was finally able to access the storage facility to retrieve his personal belongings, he found them in very poor condition.

My brother was told that they had packed his belongings "in boxes" but they put his cooking pans into a garbage bin he owns, his clothes that he left behind were all tossed into black bags that were torn/had holes and actually the "storage room" is just a ba*****t area right next to the underground parking lot and it is teeming with dust and ****roaches.

I am absolutely disgusted and appalled by Campus Key.

1. Why was my brother's belongings removed from his room when he was a re-booker and he had also paid the administration fee?

2. When my brother called and asked countless times, why was he informed that he had been confirmed as a rebooker and that his belongings would still be in his room upon his return?

3. Why was he never sent an inspection email or at the very least the courtesy of a call to be informed that they were removing his belongings?

4. If they did indeed have to remove his personal belongings, why did they have to be stored in such deplorable conditions if he is being made to pay R500 for storage?

It was through no fault of our own that Campus Key offices never received that administration fee, and we therefore feel that we should not be liable for any charges that they have made us pay up to and including cleaning services, storage and painting recovery.

We would like to be fully refunded for the above charges. We contacted Jaco, the site manager at Campus Key Potchefstroom.

He is completely useless. It is now over a month and he is yet to respond to my email.

We are also really disappointed with the state that we found his personal belongings in and it has become clear that their facility has no regard for the students living there.

I would urge people who are considering living at Campus Key to seek accommodation elsewhere.

If I could give them a negative rating, I absolutely would.