WCRI Office - Waterloo, Ontario

Alex

I have been living at WCRI for close to eight months now at the Kershaw building (part of the CCK complex). For the price, location, community, constant events, you cannot beat the value at WCRI.

In my unit, we have a split-level with the common area downstairs and the bedrooms and bathroom upstairs. This has been a fantastic layout and a pleasure to host guests over for dinners and other small gatherings on the main floor without worrying about disturbing roommates upstairs.

Each room has individual heating control and extremely fast internet throughout the unit provided by Cloud Wi-Fi.

Just recently, they have begun renovations including new flooring and kitchens for these units. The flooring installation took one day and our kitchen renovation will be coming next month for our unit. I have shared some pictures of our space below 🙂

If you ever need anything, the staff at the office are super helpful.

We have thoroughly enjoyed making the space our own and look forward to many more years at WCRI.

N M.

I had a good experience staying at WCRI, but the management was extremely poor. I moved out in August 2024, and although I was supposed to receive my deposit back within 4 to 6 weeks, I still haven't received it—and it's almost February. When it comes to rent, payments must be made on time, or there's a penalty. If you don’t vacate on the exact date, they charge you per day. I had to leave in the middle of the month, which made it very difficult to find another place.

For the past three months, I’ve been trying to get my deposit back, but they simply don’t respond—neither to emails nor phone calls. On the rare occasion they do answer, they refuse to transfer the call to anyone responsible who can resolve the issue. Now, it seems the only way to get a response is by leaving a five-star review—otherwise, they completely ignore it. This kind of management is unacceptable, and I feel compelled to share my experience. I don't even wanna give one star ...... 🙁 -0.000000000000001 star

Asmita S.

My duration with WCRI was short but the time I have spent on the premises was absolutely amazing! I would love to stay for a longer time. The transits around the area to anywhere all over Waterloo-Kitchener is easily accessible and the GO trains have the stop right in front of the office. Perfect location!

Peter N.

Very affordable prices given how close it is to UW. Lots of international students and fairly clean. Single beds felt stiff but it was great that the rooms were fully furnished. The dining room and common space were well maintained by staff.

F. T.

Quite an unsafe place to live.

If you want to have a broken leg or a broken arm right before your final exams, welcome to WCRI.

They collect high rent, yet they do not clean sidewalks in winter.
These pictures were taken on April 17th; THREE days AFTER the freezing rain hit. What you see is not snow but ICE. It is the second working day after the stormy weekend, and they are too cheap to use some salt and remove the accumulated ice.

WCRI is quite a hazardous place, and I almost broke my left arm when I fell this morning. My back and left side hurt, and I am not sure if this is going to be a serious health issue for me.

I was heading to school to finish one of my major projects, and my final exams are just a few days ahead.

Stay away from this called "Cooperative" as it is just a poorly managed organization.
Stay away and stay HEALTHY.

Damira S.

My experience with this company has been very disappointing. As a parent paying for my student son’s room at one of their locations, I encountered several issues.
Despite making a payment just two days late in October 2024, I was charged a $25 late fee immediately, with no understanding or flexibility for new customers unfamiliar with the payment system. Also, it happened because the rental agreement was not (still is not) available for full download. It is inconvenient and very frustrating.
When I attempted to resolve the issue, I was met with unprofessional communication. The staff refused to speak with me directly, even though I am paying for the room. They insisted that my son email them instead, offering no real solutions and further escalating the situation.
This lack of transparency seems intentional, making it difficult for tenants to review the terms properly.
On top of that, when we moved in, the room was dirty—bathroom, shower, and floors—requiring me to clean it myself. The shower head was broken, and there was no mosquito net on the window. While the maintenance person did replace the shower head, these issues should have been addressed before we moved in.
Overall, the management staff is unfriendly, unhelpful, and the units are poorly maintained. It's no wonder many of their properties remain vacant. If I could leave a negative rating, I would.

Zhe S.

The management hosts events on a regular basis to build community within the coop, and they do the best for their tenants in order to make sure they have a good stay. I live in the Fenwick building, and the experience since my lease in 2023 has been excellent. Furthermore, their maintenance team does their best to ensure the buildings remain in their best shape.

soroush M.

I have been living at WCRI (A-dorms) from Sep22. I plan on staying here for the rest of my studies (~2 years). In short, I must say I absolutely love this place. To get into more details, WCRI is a coop, which means you will be living with a community. This place is always filled with students from all over the world, which you get to meet and interact with during events (they have plenty of) and your day-to-day life. The staff are very welcoming and kind, and try to help students as much as they can. They represent what a cooperative means. I have also had the chance to work with the staff myself which has been a great experience. This place has many options for people with different life styles (shared/single dorms, houses, apartments), I have chosen the A-dorms mostly because of their ridiculously cheap prices, and also because that's where you get to see the most people (due to the shared places like the kitchen). The whole place is just next to UWaterloo which is more than convenient (<3 min walk). I love the people here and enjoy every day of my student life. Sure the A-dorms is not the quietest place, or the cleanest for that matter (though we do have daily cleanings by WCRI staff in the dorms) and there are some minor issues here and there, but overall my experience with the dorms and WCRI as a whole has been a wonderful one that I will remember forever.