Defective washing machines inconvenience students

Machines in the University Forest Apartment laundry rooms have been defective for the past couple weeks, yet students have neglected to call the company that is designated to provide the appropriate repair services, Caldwell & Gregory.

Students must report any problems regarding the laundry machines directly to Caldwell & Gregory, said Kristan Wun, senior account executive for University of Richmond at Caldwell & Gregory.

Wun said she had not been receiving many calls pertaining to any breakdowns recently.

However, there are students who have been affected by various machine failures.

Franny Edmundson, a Richmond senior who lives on the 800 block of UFA, said she typically went to do her laundry at the 1900-block facility, but it was currently closed. As an alternative, Edmundson went to the 500-block laundry room, where there were two broken washing machines out of six total.

“They always have standing water in it, which is foul,” Edmundson said.

Edmundson said she had called University Facilities to report the broken washers a few weeks ago, and had left a message over the weekend. She never heard anything back.

Dana Manheim, another Richmond senior who lives on the 800 block, drives to Lora Robins Court to do her laundry. This facility has ten washers and ten dryers.

“I find it frustrating that I have to go so far out of my way on typically a Sunday when I’m doing homework to find an open washing machine,” she said. “I also feel that proportionately it doesn’t make sense that there’s so many more students to the laundry machines than there are laundry machines to the students. I think that for the amount of money we pay for the school, we should be able to have a lot of washing machines.”

“If people are having problems [with the laundry machines], they need to report problems to Caldwell & Gregory. They will expedite the repair,” said Francine Reynolds, manager of One Card Services.

“We will fix everything within 24 hours,” Wun said. “Sometimes, it’s even shorter. We’re located in Manakin-Sabot, which is pretty local.” Wun said students should not contact University Facilities or the physical plant with these types of issues.

Caldwell & Gregory not only provides maintenance to Richmond, but to about 200 other colleges and universities throughout the east coast as well. About 90 percent of universities in Virginia, including James Madison University, Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Virginia, use the company’s laundry services, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. A local site is situated by each school.

During reconstruction on campus this past summer, the 1600-block laundry room was torn down, which reduced the number of UFA laundry rooms from four to three. Each facility has five washing machines and six dryers, except for the 1900-block facility, which has five dryers.

Wun said the life expectancy of the machines varied, but generally they lasted a little more than ten years.

“Richmond’s machines are six years old,” she said. “But we do provide maintenance on them every summer to make sure they last as long as they last.”

The information for contacting Caldwell & Gregory is posted in each laundry room. Their contact information is 800-927-9274 and service@caldwellandgregory.com.

Contact reporter Alyssa Gunville at alyssa.gunville@richmond.edu