Locked out!

[3catsandcounting]

DD has been in halls (private) for all of 7 days, and tonight locked herself out of her room, and had to call Maintenance out, who charged her £50 to open the door.
Her room is one of 5 in a flat, and she nipped out of her room, after a shower, to go to the kitchen, wearing just a dressing gown, so forgot her access card.
The door doesn't seem to have a latch, so I see this happening again (she knows of 6 other people that this has happened to today!)
Anyone with any experience of this, and how to get round it? Obviously, a door wedge, but it just seems unfair, and seems like a way of extorting money from skint students!

[3catsandcounting]

Good idea! I think it was just the fact that she'd got out of the shower and quickly nipped to the kitchen.
She said two boys in the same flat locked themselves out around the same time today. They called Maintenance,who came and charged them £50 each!! Easy money, eh?

[BackforGood]

Door wedge to leave it open?
Tape round the locking bit so it doesn't lock when she's in the shower?
(Presumably all flatmates can trust each other)
Otherwise just needs to gt into the habit of wearing a lanyard from the moment she gets up until she goes to sleep.

[3catsandcounting]

Oh I like 'tape around the locking bit'. Instant solving!
Yes, all 5 girls are good mates already so no issue with internal security.
Wondering if she could get a 2nd key card?
(and hide it in her biscuit tin in the kitchen!)
If it happens during the day, then she can get a new keycard from reception - at a mere £15!
I've told her that if she does it again, out of hours, kip on next doors floor til Reception opens!

[yeOldeTrout]

propping fire doors open will be against the rules (not that we routinely do this, oh no...)

[3catsandcounting]

Hmm, I wondered about propping the door open too.
They can't find any door wedges in any of the shops locally (cos they've all been bought by freshers already!)

I'm glad I don't have to cope with this (I may have locked myself out of many a Premier Inn room in the past!)

[stonecircle]

Can you order a rubber door wedge from Amazon and have it delivered to your dd? I did this for DS last year as the door stop he took didn't hold his heavy door open. Of course they will be fire doors so you're not meant to do that! Is there no way of putting it on the latch when you pop out?

£50 is extortionate!

[Squirrills]

That's outrageous! Can they punch a hole in the key card to put it on a key ring?
In the absence of a door wedge just a sock in the doorway should stop the door from locking.

[serin]

Door wedges are outlawed in some uni residencies.
DD had her lovely tweed dog one (that her brother had given her as a leaving gift) confiscated and only got it back at the end of the year!

£50 is totally over the top. It is £15/£20 at the ones where DD's friends study.

Name and shame OP?

[OhFuds]

£50 that's ridiculous!

My DD locked herself out and she wasn't charged, thankfully. I don't think she'll make that mistake again as she was left sitting outside in her corridor for someone to come and open her door for an hour.

[ImperialBlether]

I know the £50 charge is to teach them a lesson and I know it's a pain for anyone to have to let them into their rooms, but £50 is really excessive. And given the fact most students are living off loans, it's awful to think the university's making money in that way.

[hellsbells99]

That is an awful lot!
I think DD's is £5. She got locked out of the flat the other day and didn't get charged anything - apparently the first couple of weeks they are letting them off. They have changed the system from last year though and their individual rooms no longer lock automatically as last year people were constantly locking themselves out just going to the kitchen.

[3catsandcounting]

I know £50 is extortionate, but I think it was because it was 'out of hours'.
She said a replacement card at Reception is £15. She reckoned she'd just buy one of those, as a spare, but I think that would invalidate her original card?
It's a private halls too, so Uni not involved financially for the fines.

[morningtoncrescent62]

Door wedges are outlawed in some uni residencies. DD had her lovely tweed dog one (that her brother had given her as a leaving gift) confiscated and only got it back at the end of the year!

Does someone come round and check? Or are students encouraged to dob each other in or something?

£50 is a joke, even out of hours. Especially given she's probably paying a small fortune to live there in the first place. Is there no end to the ways that companies can find to wring money out of young people?

[Smithy1234]

They charge £50 for someone with a master key to come and open the door?! In my old halls this was done for free

[littlemissneela]

Its prob a good idea that she has her keycard on a lanyard and wears it all the time. She'll soon get used to it. In the meantime, I thought maybe putting a towel on the floor to stop the door closing. I think the high charge is to make students think about their actions. If it was free, then they'd be doing it all the time, but even so, £50 is quite steep Even though it is a private halls, see if the uni accommodation have any say over it? I think some places vet the student accommodation halls just so the students are protected.

[mumeeee]

All 3 of my DDs have been to uni and not one of them were ever charged for someone coming to let them in if they locked themselves out. That includes the one who was in private halls. There was also a warden/security person on sight 24hours.
DD3 is Dyspraxic and quite often mislaid her keys. They did charge £35 for a new set though so she did try and be careful

[3catsandcounting]

Having a lanyard round your neck is the most sensible idea, but the very times she will most likely nip out of the room quickly is when waking up first thing (dopey, and not wearing lanyard), going out for the evening (glammed up, not wearing lanyard), or jumping out of the shower (like the other night - not wearing a lanyard.)

She has said she's been VERY careful since, but can't get to see anyone in Reception cos it's never open!

[Ilovelearning]

I'm in private halls and I think £50 is the going rate these days. I have a list of 54 !! charges that can be applied ranging from Fire door wedged open £50, evidence of use of chip pan/deep fat fryer £50, smoking in any part of the building £50 throughout to Replace door lock £100, Replace toilet seat £25, replace blinds £100+ and finishing with end of Tenancy Period cleaning that ranges from £30 to £150. It's no wonder my DH thinks I'm being paranoid about keeping it clean.