On Oct. 16, Nick Johnson highlighted accurately the grievances of residents against The Pointe at SIU.
However, this isn’t just an issue of not having amenities — it is about lies, deceit and disrespect to residents. Many of the residents of The Pointe at SIU feel they have been lied to, including me.
On one occasion I was told the post office was refusing to deliver mail, and that was why we did not have mailboxes. When I asked the Post Master he explained to me that The Pointe was not compliant.
At one point, I was told the reason we did not have the shuttle was because of the decal process. Yet, upon delivery, not one decal was on the shuttle.
When I was being convinced to live at The Pointe I was told there would be no towing of residents or guests because they “didn’t have time for that.” However, tow trucks have towed residents who have decals and guests because of the lack of guest parking every weekend.
In fact, there are only 25 guest parking spots for a nine-building complex — that is roughly two guests per building.
Deceit would include the false advertisement ploy to entice students into a lease with The Pointe. When The Pointe at SIU began its advertising campaign to get residents, we were sat down and told of the wonderful things about The Pointe and given a brochure with all of the reasons to call The Pointe home.
Residents were enticed into a lease based on the premise that amenities would be provided the day of move-in, July 31, 2009. However, most of the amenities are still absent.
In September, I asked Muriel Walker, the general manager, why we did not have some of our amenities, and she told me that it was part of phase two of the build and “by next year everything should be done for all to enjoy.”
When I asked why residents were not informed of phase two when The Pointe found out about it, she told me there was always a phase two to build and it was none of our business to know that.
However, for The Pointe to be completely aware that things would not be complete and not inform residents is deceitful. They enticed us with amenities so that we would live there but have not followed through with their word.
Disrespectful barely describes the way staff at The Pointe at SIU treats its residents.
Nearly every encounter I have had with Muriel Walker has been unpleasant. Usually she responds negatively to a complaint by rolling her eyes, walking away, giving attitude or all of the above. In fact, she expressed to me that “(residents) need to stop complaining because the most important thing is that (residents) have a roof over (their) heads, and that is what we have provided.”
A roof over our heads was not the single reason we signed a lease — it was because of the amenities we were enticed with.
Most of the time when an issue arises, they act as if our problems are the least of their concern. Anytime a work order is issued, it takes a ridiculous amount of time for the problem to be addressed.
For example, it took a month for my roommate to get a doorknob, and when she did receive one, it was clearly not intended for that apartment; it was gold, and every fixture in the apartment is silver.
To further point out their disrespect, on Oct. 2 they changed all of the locks in our apartment because my roommates correct doorknob was finally available.
However, they did not inform us they were changing all locks, including the front door and every bedroom in the apartment, and then we were expected to comply with their business hours to receive our new keys — if not we would be locked out the entire weekend.
With all that being said, the biggest form of lies, deceit and disrespect was issued on Sept. 25, in the form of a letter to the residents of The Pointe at SIU.
It legitimately addressed our concerns outlined in the petition against them; however that letter has proved to be completely false in many respects.
The letter stated the basketball court and hammocks would be complete by Oct. 2, and the tanning should be available by Oct. 9. We have yet to receive the basketball court or hammocks, and when I asked when we would be getting them, I was told there were three new buildings being constructed and they were a priority.
The tanning bed was not available until Oct. 16. Many of us feel that letter was issued in an attempt to quiet us.
Living at The Pointe at SIU has been a cause of stress for many of us, and I would venture to say it has even been a nightmare.
This letter does not even scratch the surface for what residents are facing. I have given accounts of my experiences, however there are residents who have similar or worse situations than I have.
Arielle Thibodeaux
Sophomore studying social work
