[imabotbeep2937]

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]

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]

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]

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?

[accrual]

> "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/th...

[makeitdouble]

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-a...

[jorisboris]

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

[ryandrake]

> 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]

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.

[nickff]

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