In searching for apartments, I found one place that I was really pleased with. It was in my price range; had a dishwasher, washer, and dryer in every apartment; and was in a generally pleasant area of town. I just found out that they’re working out an agreement with a local cable company that would require residents to buy cable TV, though, which is a big part of why I’m leaving my current apartment. I don’t watch TV and I don’t want to pay for some service that I’ll never use! It’s so frustrating. The guy at the new apartment that I’ve been talking with told me it will “guarantee 252 customers for [cable company]“. Yeah, and it will piss off a bunch of your residents, I’m guessing, and perhaps make potential residents like myself pass by your apartments. Whose side are they on? Are they in the apartment business to have residents, or to line the pockets of x cable company? I’m entering an agreement with the apartment complex, not with the apartment complex and whatever other companies it wants to tack on. Let the cable company get its business from customers who actually want their service, not from people that just happen to live at an apartment complex and are forced to pay for television they do not want. Residents would get cable at a discounted rate, but why not let individual residents choose which services to buy and from whom? I don’t want to be locked in to cable TV for the duration of my lease, nor do I want to be required to buy it from a particular company. My apartment search continues, apparently.
Edit: I’ve been continuing my apartment search online and I’ve discovered one thing that is both baffling and annoying. Apartment complexes brag about all kinds of extra stuff, e.g., “We have a duck pond!! Come see our manicured lawns! OMG we have a fitness center!!!1” without having things like a dishwasher or washer/dryer. I would give up crap like the duck pond and fitness center in exchange for an apartment with a dishwasher, washer, and dryer.
Who actually uses apartment fitness centers anyway? I hate looking for apartments. They all make things sound like they have the best of this and that and are the most wonderful place to live, but once you sign the lease and end up there for a few months, they all end up sucking for one reason or another! I hope you can find something soon.
Admittedly, I would use a fitness center because I’m too lazy to drive to a gym but often not too lazy to use a gym within walking distance. :D However, if a gym comes at the cost of a dishwasher in the apartment, forget it. I’m still considering the place that wants to include cable TV because at least it has a dishwasher, washer, and drier in every apartment.
Oh that’s such a bummer, but at least you have the option of having Internet without cable (as in, there exists such a possibility). Here, whichever ISP you choose, they force you to pay for cable TV as well, because apparently they can’t give you internets sans TV. *grumbles*