LACS - Conde d’Óbidos

Timmy McCarthy a week ago

Theft, a broken promise and an unprofessional workspace Do not use this co-working space if you are seeking a suitable, focused, professional place to work. Theft - A charging cable for my laptop/ monitor display connection was stolen at a weekend when I wasn’t there. Despite the space (and building) having security and cameras. This necessitated me taking time off (I am self employed and so lost income) and finding a suitable shop in the city to buy a replacement cable. I was eventually reimbursed by LAX for cost of the cable. They identified the thief as a staff member of the restaurant on the roof who used the kitchen attached to the co-working space as a changing area. Broken Promise - I was told by email prior to paying for FIX membership that “ The FIX member is entitled to 1 locker”. Despite several requests while working there (for 5 weeks) none was provided. Even after the theft I still wasn’t given one. Unprofessional Workspace: The workspace is a former cafe turned co-working space that doubles as a canteen for some of the businesses in the building that have their own work spaces. Meaning that from 12- 2.15 or so each day it’s busy and noisy with no concern given to those who have paid to use it as a workspace. Also some of the businesses use it as a break-out meeting area despite meeting rooms being available in other parts of the building. I had paid my membership before arriving in Lisbon. I was given a tour of the building the day before I began work. During the tour I asked was the cafe still used as a cafe. I was told no, however I was not told that it was used a canteen. Overall I found the experience of working there extremely poor as despite phone booths being available to take voice calls a lot of people choose to stay in the co-working space and conduct lengthy interviews, daily hour long client calls. Some people practically lived on video and voice calls in the coworking space with no consideration for others and the management did nothing to police it. I wasn’t the only person using the space that was annoyed at this and at use of the space as a canteen. The desks and chairs were far from ergonomic. The co-working space is located in the basement. The virtual tour on the website is misleading as it shows the co-working space as another area and instead calls the co-working space the Cafe. The amazing views and photos on the website are of private office space and/ or restaurant and rooftop views, not at all representative of the co-working space. Overall LACS is a place more interested in how it looks on Instagram (filming without asking people’s consent) than providing a professional co-working space.