Sheffield, The Pinnacles

I stayed her for my first two years and loved it, met loads of great people. Only a short walk to Uni and close to the city centre. Decent sized bedroom with ensuite which some of my mates at other halls didn't have.

I have stayed with the Pinnacles for my first and second years of university. The facilities are well handled and clean when you move in, most things are provided and not having to worry about your bills is another great factor. This is as well as being able to make lots of friends in the process. Admittedly during the warmer days the Pinnacles can get a little hot, but that is due to the heat rising on the higher floors. I found a fan fixed this, and seen as bills aren't paid for it made very little difference to me. As for charges to my room, it's understandable that I got charged because I didn't fill out my inventory, although I appealed some of the damages and they were refunded. I enjoyed my stay here and it's a great place to start out and get a taste of what living away from home really feels like.

Class A drugs are allowed to take place in many of the apartments unhindered. Despite trying to switch to a more appropriate halls several times throughout the academic year, they still charged me over £100 for the damaged caused by others.

The kitchen surfaces were filthy and often contaminated with illicit substances.

Avoid these halls at all costs!!!!!

One of the best features of ‘The Pinnacles’ is its unique and unrivalled ability to provide a sub-tropical climate in Sheffield. The accommodation blocks get so hot that its the perfect environment for exotic rainforest plants to grow. The windows have been perfectly designed to open 2 inches, which offers residents the undeniable opportunity to suffocate. The ventilation is so poor that residents are often found to be walking around half naked.

The Pinnacles makes very real and active contribution to the local economy. Reports suggest fans and deodorant sales have increased by up to 70% since opening.

The nice thing about the Pinnacles is the abundance of staff that are completely unwilling to address the heat problems. This is a shame as excessive heat can lead to: Heat edema, Heat rashes, Heat cramps, Heat exhaustion, Heat syncope Heat stroke and hyperpyrexia.

If you would like to talk to Pinnacles staff about the heating arrangements onsite, please preparer yourself for a load of management speak. The staff should consider living in the Pinnacles for one day, using kitchen equipment, computers and other heat generating devises.

The management relies on the quick turnover of students to not address any of the issues outlined above.

dont be fooled by all their leaflets, posters, general marketing and 'this is your place' slogan. The place is designed to Give you the minimum possible and rip you off before you leave.

they will try to take up your deposit claiming you have damaged the flat in various ways, for example,

they use the thinnest lowest quality paint ever discovered all over the flat, to the point if you even touch the wall it will stain, and scratches will be left no matter how careful you are. - you will then be charged something ridiculous like £30 for a single mark on the wall as they claim this is the repair cost - 4 blue tack marks ? thats £30 pounds please etc (you can imagine how this escalates) a fingerprint will also be charged for on the wall.

Your mattress will likely have a stitch or a tear in it which you will be charged with the full replacement cost if you dont check very carefully (bearing in mind these have been used dozens of times)

the whole place barstools, sofas anything you can think of has been desined with the cheapest quality so it wears down and so they can charge you for it.

YOU will basically be fine until you check out and realise they have tried to take your deposit.

Other issues

2)the ground floor flats dont have properly insulated exterior walls so there will be a draught from the outside.

dont stay here - what they do is seriously wrong.

The Pinnacles may at first seem like a pleasant student environment, but quickly you become aware of its numerous faults.

Location wise the Pinnacles is superb, with quick and easy access to the University, the high street, and world class sporting facilities. There are, however, some drawbacks. Located on Broad Street, the Pinnacles is on the fringes of some rough areas of Sheffield. While crime does not appear to be a massive issue, it is particularly unsafe for women to walk around at night. Park Hill roundabout plays host to a number of dodgy personalties.

The facilities of the Pinnacles are good, but nothing exceptional. If you were to judge the place by its 'youtube' videos you would believe its a hive of activity. The common room is permanently empty, and theres no bar. Having a party is unthinkable, not because they are not allowed, more because the ventilation within the flats is terrible. Get used to stocking up on deodorant! The en suites bedrooms are large, and the living space is nice, but its all pretty typical. Theres no point picking the pinnacles because its 'newer' then other halls. You get the same as anywhere else in reality.

The maintenance team do a good job at looking after the site, they are largely friendly. They are let down by the office team, who don't seem to do anything constructive. It always surprised me that the office is surrounded by large windows, because it makes it quite clear that facebook is the webpage of choice for the office staff. Post is often lost, much to everyones frustration.

The Shop has good and bad features. The Staff are friendly, the prices are rubbish. Expect to be paying 40% more then your average shop for core foods such as meat. This, perhaps, is to be expected. Nobody uses the shop for their weekly food shop, its lacking stock. You can't get cashback or the lottery either. The ATM charges near enough £2.00 for each transaction.

The worst element to the Pinnacles is the charges. They can easily rinse you of a few hundred quid for a few marks on the wall. It would seem the amount you pay is dependant on how attractive you are, so my advice would be bring a pretty girl around for your checkout appointment. They may try and fine you for something during the year, the best thing is to contest it. All that happens is that they pretend to investigate the issue then back admit they are wrong.

Its important to remember that your going to have a good time at Uni regardless of where you stay. The Pinnacles will not be a disaster, but theres better places in Sheffield to live, places where you wont have your bankaccount robbed either.

Pros -

Good Size

Good maintenance team

Can get a nice view of sheffield

good location

cons -

Cost

washing machines barely work

shop closes early/ is expensive

incompetent staff

tvs need to be retuned on a daily basis

internet isnt as good as advertised

parking outside will get you fined

rooms are boiling hot or freezing cold, take your pick.

PS: You pay for cleaning but nobody cleans anything.

My issues with The Pinnacles were ongoing from the start.

Before we had even moved in the admin staff lost our paperwork twice, then we were hounded to solve the problem. Not the greatest first impression.

I was misquoted on room price by a member of staff twice; I was told I was to pay the higher price despite being quoted by a senior member of staff for cheaper.

I requested a room with a group of people I had lived with in first year which is something you normally do with flats of large numbers; this request was written on a post it and subsequently lost. I was placed elsewhere in a different flat and block, they were reluctant to correct the mistake when I rang.

Once in the correct flat, the company they had used to handle deposits had gone bankrupt and instead of checking their records to see who had paid they sent threatening letters a week before Christmas asking for £300 to be paid immediately whether you had paid or not or risk being chucked out over the holidays.

My flat was not cleaned upon moving in which we then paid for upon moving out. They use the lowest grade materials so general wear is more obvious and they can justify withholding your deposit.

The rooms are freezing in winter and roasting in summer.

They don't offer money back on electricity you don't use like University halls.

Reception sold my key fob data to another resident when he lost his on a night out. Great security.

The secure gates don't lock, neither do the flat main doors, people often loiter around and follow people in. Any vandalism is not controlled by security staff but is paid for by all residents.

Security will not help you get to hospital should you need to, whatever the reason.

Overall pretty poor service. Not worth the money, we found cheaper private flats nearby. We will not be rebooking, and neither is anyone from our floor.

When on earth have the pinnacles staff asked any guests to sign in? What a ridiculous comment! The place is frankly p*ss poor.. expensive for what it is and just makes people feel very depressed being there. The staff are horrible and after hours you don't feel safe walking out of your own front door! the staff couldn't give a monkeys whether someones breaking into your room as long as you pay your rent, and you will never get a penny back from your deposit, regardless of the state your room was left in. I wouldn't recommend this place to someone I hated, let alone a friend. If you're reading this review and have already booked your place than I'm sorry, try to make the best of it...

I would not recommend The Pinnacles to anyone!!!! the kitchen area is tiny, with hardly any side space at all, we had to use our table for storage! The security was awful, fights took place in the court yard quite often and if I could see and hear it why did it take the security team up to 15 minutes to get outside and break it up?!!!

Staff were very friendly but not always helpful, had to complain every week about our fridge that leaked and it was never sorted! The water had to be turned off several times to carry out repairs, an inconvienience! Extremely expensive for what you get. The phone system (supposedly 24hour) wouldn't always work at night time when there was a problem. During exam period reception allowed people to have an unsupervised all night party.

The location is the only positive thing, I was literally counting down the days until I left! The charges from the deposit were awful, considering some damage had been caused by the maintenance team; however it came out of our deposit! Awful!

I have just read the above review of The Pinnacles and am wondering if this person is living in the same place as me!! I have been here since September and have had no issues. The staff are really friendly and are always willing to help me with any enquiries that I have. In regard to the Sky TV- there is only Sky Sports but this is more than most other student accommodations have in Sheffield! Plus the fact that there is freeview means I have all the channels I need- and the license is paid for so how can someone complain about something that is free!!? It is true there aren't any aerial sockets in the bedrooms but there is free internet access and you can watch TV over the net. There is also a huge flat screen TV in the common room so there are plenty of ways you can watch the box.

The cost for the smaller apartments has increased but then when I looked at other places to live, I realised that The Pinnacles is still way cheaper than most other places!

I have rebooked here for next year as I have found my stay here trouble free and excellent value for money. Anyone looking for accommodation for next year should definitely check this place out- and is somewhere that puts security first and asks visitors to sign in not a place you would like to live?