I wanted to write a proper review about my experience with Bloom (aka Greystar). Adding my notes to a Google Review or Trustpilot wouldn’t do it justice. I’ll keep this updated with my experience throughout the year.
My summary is that they overcharge for a lovely idea with terrible execution.
In short; the amenities are fantastic, but the management team is a comedy of errors — think Basil Fawlty running Soho Farmhouse.
Highlights:
- The location is fantastic
- Communal spaces are generally great; pool areas, gym, terraces
- Lots of good bike storage
Lowlights:
- With no explanation, increased the rent 12% between quoting and preparing the lease
- Pool area on a sunny day is busier than a Soho House pool
- A member of staff "accidentally" let themself into our apartment without knocking
- Management team completely unresponsive once lease is signed
- Entertainment rooms can be rented but no music can be played in them - silent disco lovers encouraged
- The parcel room gives post-apocalyptic wasteland vibes
The main things I wish I had known before moving in are:
- The management team, particularly when we first moved in, were completely useless.
- The pool and event spaces are not as good as they are sold.
Over-sold
Bookable Event Spaces
One of the perks of Bloom is there are bookable communal spaces. We booked “The Sky Bar” for a party for around 30 people. It’s on the 17th floor. People live on the 16th. Surely you’d sound-proof between the floors. Nope. We aren’t allowed to play our own music because the residents on floor 16 complain (understandably). Their suggestion was that we can use the three channels in the room which play lift music at a quiet background noise. More like a tea party.
To make matters worse, we booked and had confirmed one of the rooms. Two days before the party(!), we were told they had double booked the room and that we had to move. They booked us into another, before realising that one had also been booked already, so we got our third choice of room, even though we booked the first one 2 months before. Competently using a calendar is too much for this team.
As expected, the noise from the music was too much for the 16th floor residents so we had to kick everyone out at 10pm. As did the engagement party in the room opposite.
Pool
The pool, particularly in Bloom East, is incredible. So good, in fact, I have heard from several people in the area that they have found ways to get into the building to use the pool.
When a sunny day arrives, it gets so busy that people put their towels on a sunbed from 9am (when it opens - no pre-work early morning lengths allowed btw) and don't turn up until the afternoon. By the time midday hits, expect every single seat to be taken by a person or a towel.
The team decided the best time to close the Bloom East pool was juuuuust as the weather started getting lay-outside-able in April. So, for the first half of the driest May on record, there has been no pool in Bloom East. I don't know what maintenance needed carrying out but I'd suggest it happens earlier in the year next time.
Pre move-in
This bit is mostly to show it was a fight to even get the apartment - I should’ve spotted the red flags.
I first viewed an apartment at the start of June 2024. They gave me a price. It was a show apartment so they needed some time to clear it and do maintenance checks. That suited me as I was selling a property which was still a few weeks away. The next day I agreed to proceed and put down the holding deposit.
After chasing three times, a week later I finally got confirmation of my deposit with an email saying:
Just waiting of some final details but all is good to go and thank you for sending over the holding deposit so quickly. I hope I shall get some more details today and will chase the relevant person in charge of handing this back over to us.
After this email, I heard nothing for a month so started chasing them up again. Another five days later, I got a response saying nothing concrete except:
I hope that we can get some paperwork over to you this week and if you have any questions, please do let me know.
Several* phone calls later, I ended up travelling across London to chase them up in person as I was getting nowhere by phone or email. Unsurprisingly, the person I needed to speak to wasn’t available so a message was left.
Two weeks later, I finally received an email confirming we could move in on 3rd August 2024 because the apartment needed furniture moving out, cleaning and maintenance checks completing.
A few days before our actual move in date, we finally got our lease. There were a few things wrong with it so we had a bit of back and forth. There were several “£[amount]” numbers on the summary page so it wasn’t clear what the monthly figure was. It turns out they had increased the rent 12% since we got their original quote. At this point, we were hours away from selling our property and didn’t have time to find somewhere else. I was hoping I would be able to speak to someone about it. Two months later, still nobody has replied to the multiple emails I have sent, and nobody is ever available when you ask to speak to them.
I have since discovered that the "sales person" who quoted me the original price, and was unresponsive for weeks and months at a time, shares a surname (an uncommon one) with one of the very senior people in the company. Details ommited here for privacy reasons. "We hire the best son for the job" - not good optics.
*I checked my phone records and it was 130 calls I made to the multiple Bloom East numbers over the two months between viewing and moving in. Most of them were simply not answered. When they were answered, I rarely managed to speak to the person I needed to and was promised a call back that never came. I didn’t keep track of the call back quantity but I would estimate in the 15-20 callbacks were promised.
After move in
It became clear once we moved in that no maintenance checks had been completed. There was still plenty of furniture in the apartment from its previous life as a show apartment. There were still marks on the walls.
The general manager’s email is set to sent a feedback email a few weeks after move in. I sent an email with various issues to him and heard nothing back. I sent another chaser. Still nothing. No acknowledgment. Nada.
Private Apartment
On Friday 6th September, my partner and I were working from our apartment and a member of staff used their fob to open our door. Realising we were in, closed the door quickly and hurriedly walked down the corridor. I chased after her and asked what she was doing. She said she had made a mistake and got the wrong apartment. I had two questions at that point; do staff just let themselves into our apartment while we’re out? Have they not been taught to knock on doors first, just in case?
Things are not tested or thought through
Parcel Room
The parcel room is the least organised part of this building, which is saying something. In theory, delivery drivers use an iPad to register a parcel is being dropped off. This gives them access to the parcel room and sends a message to the resident. There are shelves labelled for each floor for delivery drivers to put the parcels.
Except almost none of that happens.
Delivery drivers are paid per delivery. They drag their Amazon bag into the parcel room, clicking any random resident for delivery. Then dump all parcels on a table by the door. I have genuinely spent 30 minutes looking at every single parcel in there, trying to find a parcel before.
It's like the world's worst scavenger hunt.
Rules are rules, until they're not
We use a dry cleaners who have a pickup/dropoff service. It's obvious others in the building use the same service. They would drop off clothes and put them on a small desk by reception. On my way home from work, I would collect them. Until one week, without warning, the building decided it was no longer allowing items to stay on this side-desk. I received a call from the courier saying reception were no longer accepting dropoffs. Reception said management don't like that people leave their clothes on this desk for days. First of all, I'm not sure that was ever happening. Secondly, maybe speak with the people who do leave their dropoffs there, rather than WITHOUT WARNING just stop accepting all clothes.
Why am I doing this?
The combination of the sheer incompentence shown before I moved in AND the last minute increase in rent price frustrated me to such a point that I started making notes as I predicted we would have more issues with the management team during our lease. Quite quickly, my suspicions were confirmed. I wanted to write this review to warn others that this beautiful building is run by a management team that are clearly not up to the task.