Telegraph Commons Apartments

Awful under SO many aspects. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. It’s absolutely overpriced and the management is the worst and most incompetent I have ever encountered. I ran away as soon as I could — I legally ended the contract and I never got my deposit back.
My best advice: don’t ever consider living here, there’s plenty of better housing out there.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE LIVING HERE
… because I don’t plan to, not anymore.
I am looking for off campus housing and found Telegraph Commons. Their website seems extremely appealing and I called in to get more information. No response. That afternoon, I decided to go to Berkeley (since I live nearby) to check out the location and hopefully get a room tour. I showed up right before the office hour ended but couldn’t get in. No one was there, so I called the office again. It was still office hour, but again, no response. Left a message. No response. Also, I talked to a girl who worked in The Melt and asked her if there are mice and bugs in the building (ahem according to reviews below), and she confirmed the rumor. The interior, though, looked very new and clean, from what I could observe outside the glass door, at least the elevator and the area right next to the door.
Another day, I called in again and FINALLY, someone picked up. I scheduled a visit and she told me to call her when I got there so she could let me in. I did exactly what she asked. No response, AGAIN. I called for about three or four more times before I finally gave up.
No one ever picks up the phone, responds to voice mails, or reads emails. Terrible customer service. I wonder if I would be able to find someone to help me at all if I ever lived there.

This place is getting less credit then it deserves. For the price, if you can live with minor cosmetic issues its a great environment where you can make friends with great people.

Telegraph Commons is a privately owned student «dorm» /​apartment building. It consists of single, double and triple rooms, much like typical dorm housing, and each floor has a shared bathroom and a shared kitchen. I lived on the 5^th (top) floor of this building for a semester when i was an incoming freshman at UC Berkeley.
Oh, TC. If only I had know.
I chose to live in Telegraph Commons my first semester of college because it was cheaper than univeristy dorm housing. Unfortunately, it’s still expensive. I paid 4500 a semester to share a room.
Both windows in my room were broken, and although they «fixed» one, it was impossible to open or shut. The other stayed unfixed for the whole semester, leaving the room either unbearably hot or cold, and allowing all the friendly neighborhood bugs to fly in and take up residence. Mind you, this floor had been recently «renovated» when I moved in.
The community fridge and freezer on the 5^th floor were supposedly new, but wouldn’t close properly. Food spoiled quickly, in part due to the kitchen being apparently the perfect temperature for mold to grow in, and in part due to the shitty cleaning service and age of the building. EVERYTHING got moldy quickly. We ended up placing the trash can in front of the freezer for half the semester just so our frozen food wouldn’t melt.
The «cleaning service» was a joke. I would have been much more comfortable cleaning for myself. On several occasions, I and other residents witnessed the custodian dipping his mop in the toilet and then using it to wipe down other bathroom fixtures. We knew that the shower stalls were rarely cleaned because a stepped-​on cockroach was once left there for over two weeks. A pregnant, two inch long cockroach.
Speaking of cockroaches, they exist here. These ain’t your cute, furry little fruit flies, folks. These are HUGE mo’fos. They come in the kitchen. They come in the bathroom. One crawled into my friend’s cup where she kept her toothbrush, and greeted her at 7 o clock in the morning. I found one in my soap dish while showering. TELEGRAPH COMMONS HAS A COCKROACH PROBLEM. anyone that’s considering living here, keep this in mind. As for other bugs, they exist too, but once you’ve dealt with cockroaches, you hardly bat an eye at other creatures. Mine and a few of the other tenants’ rooms were home to these flying bugs that looked like termites. They were pretty gross.
Maintainance was relative shit as well. Each room had a heater next to the electrical outlets that tenants had no control of, and several of them were broken. They made an unpleasant clanging sound, and mine started spewing out hot water onto my desk when I was studying. Several tenants called the landlord, who didn’t answer her phone, to ask her to turn off the heaters. She eventually turned them off, but it took awhile. The window in the study lounge remained broken for nearly the entirety of the semester. There was just a gaping hole, on the 5^th floor, and a freezing study room. The elevator broke frequently as well. The tv in the 4^th floor kitchen, for nearly the entire duration of the semester, received approximately two channels: news and espn. Wireless is basically non-​existant.
Before I wrap things up, I should mention a crucial component of the T.C. experience: the noise. If you are lucky enough to get a room facing outwards to Telegraph Avenue, be prepared to be serenaded to sleep by homeless people every night during the warmer months. I’d hear couples fighting, music playing… often times one would simply stand and scream, loudly, at the top of his lungs. Remember, the window was broken and could not be shut. During the day, one of the street vendors plays oldies and classic rock music loudly. I didn’t mind that so much, since I enjoy oldies, but if you’re trying to study, it really sucks. To be honest, I got used to the noise. When I moved, I SLIGHTLY missed hearing the sounds of Telegraph. It was charming, and amusing, in its own way. But I was pretty glad to be rid of it after a semester.
I realize this is a ridiculously long review. But, I remember looking for information on T.C. before moving in and finding little. So, I figured I’d do my part and share my experience. I’ve said a lot of bad things about TC, but they are in reference only to the building itself. The people I met there were wonderful. If the place was better managed, I’d recommend it. It houses students of all ages: freshmen (lots of FPF) up to PHD students, and also hosts a lot of international students. The people were mostly all friendly and interesting, and I look back on my experience there as a learning one, full of generally wonderful memories. As an incoming freshman, I didn’t look forward to the typical «dorm» experience of late-​night check-​ins and having a meal plan. T.C. allowed me to cook for myself, be more independent, and still meet people during my first semester. TC, it was interesting while it lasted.