A few weeks ago I received a flyer in the mail from Charter, which is my cable/internet provider. The flyer offered their bundled package for $86 per month. Wait what? Why am I paying $150 a month for the exact same service? This prompted me to give Charter a call and I told them about the flyer I received and that I was interested. Well the CSR than began to tell me - "This deal is only available for our new customers."- Wait what? You mean to tell me that because I'm already an existing customer that I have to pay almost twice the amount for the same service? Wouldn't you want to keep your existing loyal and paying customers satisfied? Needless to say I'm looking into other providers.
Ok so it seems a similar scenario has been presented by Ryan Homes- Our neighborhood just opened 16 sites in their Phase 2. This was advertised via flyers that were posted in the neighborhood. On this flyer RH offers not only the free finished basement (which we received) but also a FREE stainless side by side fridge and a washer and dryer! Wait what? So again the "new customers" get an additional bonus? Aren't we technically still a "new customer" since our home isn't even complete? Shouldn't Ryan Homes offer this bonus to the families and new customers that have just started construction or are still in the process? I hope I'm not coming across as greedy because that's not my personality, but it would be nice if Ryan Homes said," Hey, since we are offering this bonus to potentially new customers, we would also like to offer this to our already new customers that are still building with us." There hasn't even been any lumber delivered to our site and already we're being considered as "old" customers? One would think that Ryan Homes would want to keep customers that are still in the building process happy and satisfied since the surveys won't be completed until the building process and closing is done. My feelings are hurt and I'm feeling a little discarded- shame, shame RH.
I'd take that flyer over to the SR and see if they can do it! And I would threaten to cancel my service with charter and restart in your or your husband's name (whoever the account isn't currently in). Money is money and its only fair.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you think :)
DeleteUgh that is so frustrating!! I'm jealous of your finished basement though. Our only incentive was a 4,500 credit on the morning room.
ReplyDeleteI hate all cable companies and am not looking forward to the battling to figure out if Comcast/Verizon/DirectTV will give us the best deal.
I just went through this. We've had Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse and absolutely loved both products. Our new home and community do not have either one available and we are back to Basic cable or the big ugly dish hanging on our house an extra wires being drilled throughout our new house. We opted for Time Warner, and after going through the hassle of just ordering service, we already regret it but we have no other choice. For us, if you want internet speeds greater than DSL, then you have to go with cable and they make it soooo expensive by itself, you wouldn't even consider not bundling it with TV.
DeleteOBTW, the homeowner is responsible for getting the cable/Telco from the street to the house. Time Warner is only charging us $19.95 but we have to schedule it and pay for it. I haven't even called the telephone company. Mostly because we aren't going to pay for a home phone anymore. The only ones that call us on that line are telemarketers. I've yet to get a call on my home phone that was anything else.
For our internet service, I usually call every 6 months to see what new promotion they can apply to our account. It's rarely as good as waht they're offering new customers, but it's always less than what i'm currently paying at that time (once the current promotion i'm under expires).
ReplyDeleteAs for RHs promotions, I would always ask our SR if I saw a new one offered (especially for appliances). I never got a yes, but I figured it wouldn't hurt. One thing that made our case weak was that as soon as we signed, the base prices of homes in our community went up $5,000. Since we signed a few months ago, they've gone up almost $30,000. You might be in a different situation if your base prices have been fairly constant.
I exactly know what you are talking about but J and M made a good point. That's what I heard from our SR when we mentioned the February promotions posted on their website, as we signed our agreement on Jan 31st! He obviously kept comparing January promotions that we received, added equity etc etc etc for a day's difference! But the point is I can do basic math! Anyway,they are very good at saying "NO".
ReplyDeleteSo I emailed our SR(who is beyond great btw) and said, "I would like to request the free fridge and washer/dryer." Her response was, "Sounds great! Your base price will increase 10K at the same time." I told her that I would like to recall my request and we could just forget that we ever had the conversation lol.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar conversation with my SR a while back too. I guess if it was a fair price when we signed, then it should still be a fair price now. Since we've signed, the prices of homes in our community have gone up while the incentives have gone down. This is mostly a function of the time of year...homes sell better in Spring and Summer than they do in Winter. I suspect however as interest rates climb, sales will drop and incentives will go up. An early lesson in Economics for me...prices are not based on cost but rather on what the market will bare.
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