Broken washing machines in the Parkside residence halls are causing some students to do their laundry off-campus.
Ashley Ector, a sophomore sociology major, lives on campus in Parkside, but she does her laundry at a laundromat off campus. She has to pay $1.75 to wash one load of laundry when it only costs $1.50 to wash and dry a load on campus.
Ector chooses to do her laundry off campus because some washing machines in Parkside are usually broken.
“What the hell am I paying for to live on campus when the washing machines are broken?” Ector said.
Other residents, like Alexia Rhoe, a freshman dance science major, also find it annoying that the same machines keep breaking down.
According to Elson Browne, associate housing director, campus housing does not own the washers and dryers that the residents use. The machines are rented out by Wash Multifamily Laundry Systems.
“The reason why the washers keep breaking is because they are high-efficiency washers,” Browne said. “Students are probably not using high-efficiency detergent or too much of their own detergent, which causes the washers to over-sud.”
Some students like freshman Adam Brunette think that there should be an on-campus technician who can fix the machines and do routine maintenance.
Browne said that students could report broken washers by filling out a service request at washlaundry.com. Students simply have to enter the broken washer’s six-digit machine ID, the problem of the machine and the machine’s location.
Although this solution allows washers to be fixed within 24 hours once the service request is submitted, there is nothing posted in the laundry room to inform students of what to do when a washer breaks or even how to use the machine correctly.
“Some people do not know how to use the washers properly,” Jake Asaro said. “There should be something posted to at least show students how to use them correctly.”
Browne encourages students to use the website because it does take longer for the machines to be fixed when residents report broken machines to the housing office.