WeWork Sucks
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WeWork is charging us for an office we can’t use, and refuses to change the agreement.
Meanwhile, they aren’t paying their own rent.
Background: We’d been a member of WeWork for over 1 year and were on a month-to-month agreement. When the COVID-19 crisis hit one of the first things I did was ask WeWork to defer payment for our membership, or reduce the rate for a few months while we made sense of our financial outlook.
March 31: They offered a 3-month contract at 50% of the regular rate. I took the deal.
April 1st: They charged us the reduced rate for April
April 3rd: They locked the building — without notice — and we could not access the space at all. There was no information in the app or on the website about the building closure, and they didn’t respond to phone calls or emails. So at that point we were paying for space we can’t access or use.
April 8th: After no response from anyone at WeWork, I emailed the community manager and asked that we cancel the contract altogether since we couldn’t access the space and the State of Georgia had issued a Shelter in Place order requiring everyone work from home for the foreseeable future.
We’d already paid for April so I let that slide. I just wanted to avoid paying for the next two months we couldn’t use.
Their response:
The agreement is through June, The next 2 months are at a 50% discount. The service retainer you have on file would be forfeited should you break the term, which would amount to more than the owed rent.
My question to them.
Can you guarantee that our team members and clients who visit us will be safe from contracting the virus while visiting the location? Why should we be held to a contract when WeWork closed the office and isn’t able to provide a safe and secure work environment, which is the service we signed up for?
They didn’t respond for 19 days. 19 DAYS! In the middle of a crisis.
April 27th: When they did respond … it was a form letter they sent to every member, which didn’t answer my question about access to the space or cancellation of the membership.
When I asked for clarification they responded with…
I am so sorry that this has been such a tough time. WeWork offered the discount in hopes that it would help with this period of financial unrest. Cancelling the contract is not an option at this time, as it is dated through June.
Summary
We were on a month-to-month agreement. They offered a 50% rate reduction for three months, but it was a 3-month contract they now want to collect on, even though we aren’t using the service.
They offered the discount in hopes it would help. Then they closed the office. They aren’t delivering the service but they still want their money.
They aren’t being reasonable, or helpful. It’s not a lot of money, it’s the principle that matters. They’ve now lost a customer for life over what amounts to one month’s rent.
I don’t want to do business with companies who do business this way.
Neither should you.
