Laundry trouble

In August, all student villages connected to the Foundation for Student Life in Oslo (SiO) went over to a new laundry billing system. Instead of paying 12 kroner per wash, which is then added to your rent, residents must now pay online to their own laundry account with VISA or MasterCard, and money is then withdrawn directly from your bank account. The payment system only works in Internet Explorer, so those using Macs, or PCs with Linux or Mozilla, are not able to log in.

Miss the old system

Henning Vangli lives in Sogn Student Village, and is exasperated with the new laundry system. The stories of troublesome laundry experiences are numerous. On several occasions washing machines have not functioned properly, other times there has been trouble with the payment system.

– The first time I logged in, the «payment provider» had trouble with its server. I phoned SiO, who said that it was VISA’s fault. VISA said that it was Nordea’s fault. Nordea said that it was not their fault, as I was a customer at Skandiabanken. Skandiabanken said that the mistake would be corrected within a few hours. However, it was so late that the laundry would have been closed by then.

Vangli’s neighbour, Ebuvekir Kacapor from Serbia, who studies medicine at UiO has also experienced laundry trouble.

– Two months ago I was unable to wash my clothes because my laundry card did not work, even though I had paid online. Other times I was unable to log in, because I had forgotten one of the many passwords that the system demands. The old laundry system was a lot easier, he says.

Vangli has helped several foreign neighbours who have not understood the system.

– One was an exchange student who did not have a VISA card. She gave me 200 kroner in cash, so I could transfer it to her laundry account, he reveals.

Other residents that Universitas has been in touch with say that the laundry system is the biggest drawback of living in a student village.

Wanted to cut costs

According to Tom Olstad, head of Student Housing , SiO abandoned its old laundry system due to a new administrative financial system.

– The administrative costs were bigger before, partly because we lost up to 300 000 kroner a year due to tenants not paying their bills when they moved out, Oldstad says. This is now prevented by tenants having to pay in advance.

Oldstad points out that there is a solution for residents who struggle with payments online.

– They can pay cash for a laundry card at the SiO centre at UiO, or in the reception at Kringsjå Student Village, he says.

Vangli was not aware of this.

– The information fromSiO has been insufficient, he says.

– Have you given out information about this, both in Norwegian and English?

– Yes, just like all other information we send out. Often tenants only stay in the student village for a short time, and others move in. A lot of the information must be sent out over and over again, and this is something we can get better at. Tenants have to deal with a lot of information at once when they move into a student village, so they might not be able to remember everything, Olstad admits.