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This is true of literally everything in the new economy. Internet? Wait until the moment your "promo" cost ends and your bill goes from $80 to $150, threaten t

This is true of literally everything in the new economy. Internet? Wait until the moment your "promo" cost ends and your bill goes from $80 to $150, threaten to quit, oh wow magically you can have $80 again and a free mobile phone line. Any subscription service is like this. I sometimes grab a Blue Apron when it's 65+% off which is anytime I want. My ex used to do this with clothing subscriptions, up to 80% off. There are laws against things being "always on sale". But now they're just being used to punish lazy customers who don't keep up on their promos. Only lazy or ignorant people pay the "real" price. Oh hey would you look at that, another billion dollar IPO with no plan for profitability went bankrupt. Weird.

nkozyra 2y ago
I had T-Mobile starting in ~2003 and it included unlimited tethering. After they introduced the Netflix included offer I inquired and they offered an "upgrade" that they swore up and down would not change my current service. After agreeing, I was traveling and tried to tether and boom nothing. Their upgrade that would change nothing got me out of this grandfathered situation. Over time the cost of Netflix resulted in a higher fee for Netflix and ultimately I pay more for less. Can't trust any company not to do anything in their power to squeeze another dime out of you.
- Merad 2y ago
  For anyone who might not be aware, this is true for most companies. Any changes to your plan will usually require the removal of any grandfathered features, regardless of what the tier 1 CSR tells you.
- Almondsetat 2y ago
  Why accept oral promises when a contract with the term is definitely available? I guess you didn't record the conversation so why not giving the papers a look?
  - nkozyra 2y ago
    It's a lesson we all have to learn at some point, that was mine. Recording calls is always tricky because of party consent rules, although telling people you're recording probably puts some guardrails on behavior.
    - bityard 2y ago
      "Your call may be recorded for quality assurance," is ubiquitous when calling the official sales/support number for any US company. However, every single one of those call centers _also_ instructs their employees to hang up immediately if they are told (or have good reason to suspect) that the _customer_ is recording the conversation. It sounds hypocritical (and it is), but this rule comes from the company's legal department, whose sole job is to shield the company from legal liability.
      - reaperman 2y ago
        When I’m recording (usually using the Rev app on iPhone if its not particularly sensitive or legally confidential information) I always start the human conversation with something like “hey so this call is recorded right? Thats what the message told me when I picked up. Just double-checking that we should consider this call to be recorded?” I figure that it is completely legally unnecessary but it guarantees there’s an understanding between all human participants to expect a recording, which brings it in line with my own personality morality when conversing with an “innocent / relatively powerless human” (my morality exceeds the ethical and legal framework we operate in).
      - anigbrowl 2y ago
        You don't have to tell them. You're dealing with the company, not the individual employee. If the company is recording the call, so can you.
        ixwt 2y ago
        I can't find an app that lets me record both sides of the conversation on Android. Only my side. When I looked into, it seems that Google has disabled that part of the API that apps cannot record both sides of a conversation. Does anyone know of a reliable way to record conversations?
nickff 2y ago
All this back-and-forth about promos and cancellations is just the latest form of haggling; there's nothing new under the sun.
ryandrake 2y ago
> Internet? Wait until the moment your "promo" cost ends and your bill goes from $80 to $150, threaten to quit, oh wow magically you can have $80 again and a free mobile phone line. Careful though. Companies are catching on to the "threaten to cancel" trick. Last time I tried this with Comcast, the support rep put me on hold, and then instead of sending me over to the "retention" specialist, just canceled my service and asked if I needed anything else. Oops..
- LegitShady 2y ago
  There's no need to be worried about it. Don't just threaten, actually switch when a competitor is having a promo and stop worrying about it. I switched internet service between a few providers almost every year for quite a while. It saved a lot of money.
  - vngzs 2y ago
    In the vast majority of America, there is no serious high-speed internet competition.
    - LegitShady 2y ago
      The they never had the option to threaten to quit and don't apply to this discussion anyways.
  - oopsallmagic 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - LegitShady 2y ago
      Hasn't ever been an issue. I live in Canada, though, so our competition sucks and all our providers are in collusion with the regulator (CRTC) to fuck over canadians.
    - WheatMillington 2y ago
      That's quite regional. I have my choice of over 20 ISP's offering virtually identical services. That's why pricing is so competitive in NZ.
accrual 2y ago
> "always on sale" Lenovo is great at this. Their absurd $3,000+ laptops are conveniently priced near market value after their perpetual 50% off LENOVOJUNE, LENOVOJULY, etc. coupons are applied. You don't even have to do work to use them, they're usually automatically applied at check out. Talk about cheapening your brand and pandering to people who only buy things "on sale" out of principal. It almost feels insulting to the customer. This is one thing Apple does right - there are no sales or discounts, it costs what it costs regardless of which US holiday is approaching. https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadp/thinkpad-p1-gen-6-(16-inch-intel)-mobile-workstation/len101t0072 https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadp/th...
- makeitdouble 2y ago
  Apple devices go on sale on other platforms (I only look at Amazon, but it must be the same for any other retailer), that's how they differentiate. As device registration and customer support still goes through Apple, it makes absolutely no difference wherever you buy it, and anyone looking for a lower price will wait for Prime day or any other bigger sales in the year. https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/17/24104233/the-m1-macbook-air-price-war-between-best-buy-and-walmart-is-on https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/17/24104233/the-m1-macbook-a...
  - ewoodrich 2y ago
    Exactly. When I bought a pair of USB-C AirPods Pro recently they were 70 dollars cheaper from Best Buy vs Apple's website and I was able to add AppleCare with no issue. They appear to currently be 60 dollars cheaper and have been in a sort of perma sale of varying degrees for the last 6 months (not unlike the Lenovo example). https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sku/6447382.p?skuId=6447382 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sku/6447382.p?skuId=6447382
jorisboris 2y ago
It’s a marketing tactic way broader than the “new economy” You know coupons in the newspaper? They serve exactly the same purpose. Some people take time and effort to cut them out every week. Others don’t and pay full price. It’s a way to make customers who are willing to pay more pay more Edit: referring to the “always on sale”, not to the cancellation promotions
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

nkozyra 2y ago

I had T-Mobile starting in ~2003 and it included unlimited tethering. After they introduced the Netflix included offer I inquired and they offered an "upgrade" that they swore up and down would not change my current service. After agreeing, I was traveling and tried to tether and boom nothing. Their upgrade that would change nothing got me out of this grandfathered situation. Over time the cost of Netflix resulted in a higher fee for Netflix and ultimately I pay more for less. Can't trust any company not to do anything in their power to squeeze another dime out of you.

Merad 2y ago
For anyone who might not be aware, this is true for most companies. Any changes to your plan will usually require the removal of any grandfathered features, regardless of what the tier 1 CSR tells you.
Almondsetat 2y ago
Why accept oral promises when a contract with the term is definitely available? I guess you didn't record the conversation so why not giving the papers a look?
- nkozyra 2y ago
  It's a lesson we all have to learn at some point, that was mine. Recording calls is always tricky because of party consent rules, although telling people you're recording probably puts some guardrails on behavior.
  - bityard 2y ago
    "Your call may be recorded for quality assurance," is ubiquitous when calling the official sales/support number for any US company. However, every single one of those call centers _also_ instructs their employees to hang up immediately if they are told (or have good reason to suspect) that the _customer_ is recording the conversation. It sounds hypocritical (and it is), but this rule comes from the company's legal department, whose sole job is to shield the company from legal liability.
    - reaperman 2y ago
      When I’m recording (usually using the Rev app on iPhone if its not particularly sensitive or legally confidential information) I always start the human conversation with something like “hey so this call is recorded right? Thats what the message told me when I picked up. Just double-checking that we should consider this call to be recorded?” I figure that it is completely legally unnecessary but it guarantees there’s an understanding between all human participants to expect a recording, which brings it in line with my own personality morality when conversing with an “innocent / relatively powerless human” (my morality exceeds the ethical and legal framework we operate in).
    - anigbrowl 2y ago
      You don't have to tell them. You're dealing with the company, not the individual employee. If the company is recording the call, so can you.
      - ixwt 2y ago
        I can't find an app that lets me record both sides of the conversation on Android. Only my side. When I looked into, it seems that Google has disabled that part of the API that apps cannot record both sides of a conversation. Does anyone know of a reliable way to record conversations?

nickff 2y ago

All this back-and-forth about promos and cancellations is just the latest form of haggling; there's nothing new under the sun.

ryandrake 2y ago

> Internet? Wait until the moment your "promo" cost ends and your bill goes from $80 to $150, threaten to quit, oh wow magically you can have $80 again and a free mobile phone line. Careful though. Companies are catching on to the "threaten to cancel" trick. Last time I tried this with Comcast, the support rep put me on hold, and then instead of sending me over to the "retention" specialist, just canceled my service and asked if I needed anything else. Oops..

LegitShady 2y ago
There's no need to be worried about it. Don't just threaten, actually switch when a competitor is having a promo and stop worrying about it. I switched internet service between a few providers almost every year for quite a while. It saved a lot of money.
- vngzs 2y ago
  In the vast majority of America, there is no serious high-speed internet competition.
  - LegitShady 2y ago
    The they never had the option to threaten to quit and don't apply to this discussion anyways.
- oopsallmagic 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - LegitShady 2y ago
    Hasn't ever been an issue. I live in Canada, though, so our competition sucks and all our providers are in collusion with the regulator (CRTC) to fuck over canadians.
  - WheatMillington 2y ago
    That's quite regional. I have my choice of over 20 ISP's offering virtually identical services. That's why pricing is so competitive in NZ.

accrual 2y ago

> "always on sale" Lenovo is great at this. Their absurd $3,000+ laptops are conveniently priced near market value after their perpetual 50% off LENOVOJUNE, LENOVOJULY, etc. coupons are applied. You don't even have to do work to use them, they're usually automatically applied at check out. Talk about cheapening your brand and pandering to people who only buy things "on sale" out of principal. It almost feels insulting to the customer. This is one thing Apple does right - there are no sales or discounts, it costs what it costs regardless of which US holiday is approaching. https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadp/thinkpad-p1-gen-6-(16-inch-intel)-mobile-workstation/len101t0072 https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadp/th...

makeitdouble 2y ago
Apple devices go on sale on other platforms (I only look at Amazon, but it must be the same for any other retailer), that's how they differentiate. As device registration and customer support still goes through Apple, it makes absolutely no difference wherever you buy it, and anyone looking for a lower price will wait for Prime day or any other bigger sales in the year. https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/17/24104233/the-m1-macbook-air-price-war-between-best-buy-and-walmart-is-on https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/17/24104233/the-m1-macbook-a...
- ewoodrich 2y ago
  Exactly. When I bought a pair of USB-C AirPods Pro recently they were 70 dollars cheaper from Best Buy vs Apple's website and I was able to add AppleCare with no issue. They appear to currently be 60 dollars cheaper and have been in a sort of perma sale of varying degrees for the last 6 months (not unlike the Lenovo example). https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sku/6447382.p?skuId=6447382 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sku/6447382.p?skuId=6447382

jorisboris 2y ago

It’s a marketing tactic way broader than the “new economy” You know coupons in the newspaper? They serve exactly the same purpose. Some people take time and effort to cut them out every week. Others don’t and pay full price. It’s a way to make customers who are willing to pay more pay more Edit: referring to the “always on sale”, not to the cancellation promotions

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]