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This has to be one of the dumbest ideas ever...

MartyMcFly3

MartyMcFly3

Lifer
So I'm apartment hunting and I found the only one in both the neighborhood i want and at a decent price/quality of living ratio. They advertised at 885/month with "subject to change" written on it. That's typical.

I went there yesterday and they had this rubber duck promotional offer. What it entails is the ducks have numbers written from 889-930. You pick one and thats the price/month. I wasn't too thrilled about that but again this place is one of the only ones around here that I wouldn't mind living in.

I went today and told them about my reservations. No dice. They switched the deal today where rent is flat out 930 and the ducks range from $100-$500 and whichever duck you pick, you can use it to take off the total year long amount of rent paid. Basically, if you pick the $500 duck you get the 889/month rate.

So basically my future was in the hands of a rubber duck and I ended up getting the $200 one. I mean, what the hell is that?

Normally this would be a deciding factor of whether or not I move in (as in I wouldnt), but too be honest, i'm jammed up. Its cheaper than a good number of places and overall a decent place but I still think that duck thing was idiotic. Unfortunately no amount of bitching about it would get them to drop the duck offer and give $889/month.

I have never been as pissed off at a rubber ducky as I am right now.

End of story.
 
Well do they all know you that well now? Can't you just turn down the offer, and come back later and hopefully get the $500 duck? I don't really know how many there are or the odds here, but I'd at least try something like this.
 
did you make them prove to you that there was actually a 500 dollar duck?

/tinfoil hat

its a conspiracy!!!!
 
Originally posted by: gorcorps
Well do they all know you that well now? Can't you just turn down the offer, and come back later and hopefully get the $500 duck? I don't really know how many there are or the odds here, but I'd at least try something like this.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was the same lady twice in a row.

Thing was, they made you put down a $60 non-refundable application fee before picking the duck. So if I decline, im about $60. When she left the room I did check all the ducks and there was indeed a $500 duck. 🙁
 
Originally posted by: MartyMcFly3
Originally posted by: gorcorps
Well do they all know you that well now? Can't you just turn down the offer, and come back later and hopefully get the $500 duck? I don't really know how many there are or the odds here, but I'd at least try something like this.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was the same lady twice in a row.

Thing was, they made you put down a $60 non-refundable application fee before picking the duck. So if I decline, im about $60. When she left the room I did check all the ducks and there was indeed a $500 duck. 🙁
Click to expand...

Should have payed her $60 to have another shot.
 
I bet you wouldn't be bitching if you got the $500 duck

Chances are all of the ducks had the same amount written on them
 
Originally posted by: DainBramaged
Originally posted by: MartyMcFly3
Originally posted by: gorcorps
Well do they all know you that well now? Can't you just turn down the offer, and come back later and hopefully get the $500 duck? I don't really know how many there are or the odds here, but I'd at least try something like this.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was the same lady twice in a row.

Thing was, they made you put down a $60 non-refundable application fee before picking the duck. So if I decline, im about $60. When she left the room I did check all the ducks and there was indeed a $500 duck. 🙁
Click to expand...

Should have payed her $60 to have another shot.
Click to expand...

Should have paid her $600 to have 10 more shots.
 
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: DainBramaged
Originally posted by: MartyMcFly3
Originally posted by: gorcorps
Well do they all know you that well now? Can't you just turn down the offer, and come back later and hopefully get the $500 duck? I don't really know how many there are or the odds here, but I'd at least try something like this.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was the same lady twice in a row.

Thing was, they made you put down a $60 non-refundable application fee before picking the duck. So if I decline, im about $60. When she left the room I did check all the ducks and there was indeed a $500 duck. 🙁
Click to expand...

Should have payed her $60 to have another shot.
Click to expand...

Should have paid her $600 to have 10 more shots.
Click to expand...

:laugh:
 
Would you be upset if you got the $300 duck, what about the $400, or would you only be satisfied if you got the $500 duck.
 
Originally posted by: ICRS
Would you be upset if you got the $300 duck, what about the $400, or would you only be satisfied if you got the $500 duck.
Click to expand...

$400 i would have been ok with. Still would have thought the whole thing was ridiculous, even if I got the $500 duck.
 
Originally posted by: her209
Do they treat all their new tenants like mentally-challenged quadriplegics?
Click to expand...

that's pretty f---ing offensive to quadriplegics. I'm rather inebriated at the moment, but...well, to quote will arnett...

"Come on!"
 
When I went apartment hunting, I found alot of places had a real low rate that ranged to a normal-to-high rate. And when I inquired about the low rate, it was for an apartment that was already taken or 'an old ad' that they had forgotten to take down. I looked around and found a nice apartment close to everything, and they gave me 1 1/2 months free rent, so I was happy.

Stupid ducks
 
Originally posted by: CptCrunch
When I went apartment hunting, I found alot of places had a real low rate that ranged to a normal-to-high rate. And when I inquired about the low rate, it was for an apartment that was already taken or 'an old ad' that they had forgotten to take down. I looked around and found a nice apartment close to everything, and they gave me 1 1/2 months free rent, so I was happy.

Stupid ducks
Click to expand...

No kidding. I was looking like a year and 1/2 ago and I had the same issue, I couldn't find hardly anything at the price they advertised. They do all kinds of "teaser rates" that are no where near reality.
 
Thats pretty much standard.

When I got out of the Navy I was living in a small town in California, way out in the middle of nowhere. Even so I was paying 525 a month for a small apartment.
I heard the guy who moved in after me had to pay a hundred bucks more.

Found a job up in Oregon and had to pay 815 a month for basically the same apartment only lacking a garage. Found out the hard way Oregon is NOT cheap.

Lost my job in Eugene and found one in Beaverton. Apartments up here are about 1.5 times as expensive for equivalent space and features.

Before all 3 moves I spent a whole weekend online looking at price quotes.
Then I would spend a whole week actually running around looking at apartments.
They were always, always, ALWAYS at least a hundred bucks more than the web price.
And I got the exact same story at every place: "Oh, I guess we havent updated our prices yet, huh?"

Fucking assholes.
But they can get away with it. Apartment complexes know that people cant afford houses right now and they are loving it.

EDIT:
Back to the ducks.
This is just another scheme that only works on people who havent figured out how greedy the apartments are.
They over inflate the price and then give you a chance to not get screwed as badly. They were charging too damn much to begin with. The cute game was designed to distract you from the reaming you would recieve.
 
When I was hunting apartments last year, the first one I went to check out was advertised as neat/tidy, only downside was it was electric heat with a pellet stove to offset the heating costs. I go there with my girlfriend to see it and the place is in a shambles. It looked like they had started renovating the kitchen by tearing stuff out and then started on the living room before they had even finished the kitchen. The land lord was like "It wasn't supposed to be all torn apart like this, the contractor told me it would be all finished, blah blah blah...". Then we go to check out the bathroom and she flips the lights on and they come on at about 1/3 intensity and she's all "hmmm that's not supposed to be that dim". I'm thinking great, wiring problems, crappy heat, who knows if they'll finish the work before I'm looking to move in plus a nitwit land lord, I don't think so!

The next place I went to see was the complete opposite. Land lord that had his stuff together, it was neat, clean and well kept. Dishwasher and washer/dryer in the apartment, score! What a difference. And it was cheaper rent per month than the other one. And he didn't fool around with any kind of bait and switch. The price he advertised was what he was asking for.
 
Originally posted by: MartyMcFly3
Originally posted by: ICRS
Would you be upset if you got the $300 duck, what about the $400, or would you only be satisfied if you got the $500 duck.
Click to expand...

$400 i would have been ok with. Still would have thought the whole thing was ridiculous, even if I got the $500 duck.
Click to expand...

No kidding. That's just stupid. Why don't you just let the person have the $500 off? Playing games for lower rent is just dumb. Unless the place is already that good of a deal, I would have just kept looking.
 
Originally posted by: Injury
Originally posted by: MartyMcFly3
Originally posted by: ICRS
Would you be upset if you got the $300 duck, what about the $400, or would you only be satisfied if you got the $500 duck.
Click to expand...

$400 i would have been ok with. Still would have thought the whole thing was ridiculous, even if I got the $500 duck.
Click to expand...

No kidding. That's just stupid. Why don't you just let the person have the $500 off? Playing games for lower rent is just dumb. Unless the place is already that good of a deal, I would have just kept looking.
Click to expand...

my guess would be that whoever makes the "sale" pockets the difference between $600 and whatever value duck the "buyer" pulled.

i.e.

$600 - ($500 duck) = $100 commission
$600 - ($200 duck) = $400 commission
 
I just concluded my apartment search, and I've never been so happy to complete a process in my life.

Realtors/Leasing Agents are scum, their bait and switch tactics are ridiculous, and they are likely the fakest people I've ever encountered in my life.
 
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