Why ‘Take Your Time to Sign’ was bollocks

If anything ‘Take Your Time to Sign’ caused the housing hysteria. I hadn’t thought about housing until I heard about the campaign…and then it occupied most of my thoughts. Maybe if the DSU had followed their own advice and taken their time to launch the campaign it might have worked, but they didn’t and it didn’t. Now some students are stuck with crap houses in the middle of nowhere.

Asking around about the campaign, nobody really knew what it was apart from a catchy slogan and the odd poster on Kingsgate Bridge. Our uninformed, albeit gorgeous, Livers-out Rep said nothing apart from ‘it’s bollocks, really’ (yet the only decent bit of info he gave us was that Paddy’s does student discount before 10.30pm).

You could be living hours away from Paddy

This week I popped into a Students Lettings Agency, ‘Bill Free Homes’ and spoke to Sean.  I questioned Sean about the rumour that house prices increase after Christmas. He thinks that students who wait to sign until after Christmas often end up paying more, as the cheaper houses have been snapped up by second years by that point.

I found out that a property on the same street as mine, with the same number of rooms, is now going for £101 a week. I got it for £94 in December. So it seems that those who followed the DSU’s advice now have to dig deeper into their pockets.

‘Can’t buy me love’ (shack)

Still wanting answers, I tackled the DSU themselves. Marketing and Communications sent me back an essay of an email, saying ‘feedback from students who did take their time to sign and waited before signing has been very positive’. I’ve yet to meet such a person.

In the email they mentioned a student who openly supported the DSU, saying that to sign with a group of strangers who you’ve only known for a month could lead to disaster. Reading around, I realised that this particular student later openly slammed the DSU for cutting back its Sunday hours, saying ‘…when you get nothing back it is like a slap in the face’. I don’t know where the DSU is getting its recruiters from, but they’re doing a shit job.

So the DSU’s answer to the failed campaign? ‘Find-a-house-mate’. A meeting where you sign with a group of strangers you’ve only known for a couple of hours.  Makes sense. And considering the DSU wanted people to take their time, the ‘Find-a-house-mate’ meeting was early in the second week of Epiphany term.

Two friends of mine, Lana and Fran, followed the DSU’s campaign to ‘take your time to sign’ and ended up at ‘Find-a-house-mate’. With no apparent leadership, nor a timetable for a meeting, it was a waste of time. They described it as freshers’ week all over again, but apart from asking people what course they’re on, it was more about asking people how often they shower.

Like something out of Hitchcock

It wasn’t even that the campaign was crap because people didn’t follow it; a group of my friends refused to sign until after Christmas directly because of the DSU’s campaign. The cheapest house that they could find in town was £125 a week. To avoid being skint second years, they will now live so far out of town Faye says ‘it’ll be an hour round trip to Klute and back’.

Faye (left) won’t be looking so cheery next year

The advice that the DSU were giving out completely contradicted word of mouth. My college parents told me of their panic at having to sign in January, and our Livers Out rep told us to sign quickly to grab the best houses. And anyway, did the DSU really think that their shitty posters could compete with our dreamboat of a Livers’ Out rep?

In the email, I asked the DSU what their plans were concerning the campaign for next year. They didn’t even acknowledge the question.