Considering buying in Riverstone...Relocating from NY (Miami, Naples: fit in, custom home)

[movin1]

We had to have GL (Riverstone) remove and replace the backsplash in our kitchen because they did a bad job and it looked horrible.

They allowed us to pick a new tile that was more expensive for no cost to us.

They messed up some countertop and cabinet issues in the master bath and gave us a lot of free installed material to make it look good.

They seem willing to go a long way to make things right and keep you happy. Tell them what you want and stand your ground. Talk to Tambra Wolfe if you have problems, she's the boss.

[Inspire1photos]

All is good they are going to allow us to keep the existing tile and add hardwood to the missing areas and stairs. Going tomorrow to reselect tile for the first floor bathroom.

[CH183]

For those living in Riverstone already, do you use Comcast, Century Link or Direct TV? What is better?

[movin1]

Comcast Xfinity Triple Play package. The internet speed is normally 75-90 Mbps, the HD-DVR and other hardware boxes are awesome, the modem is built like a tank and rock solid and we got a landline phone line for the security system GL provides. We have had very few problems once we got it all going.

As much as I like DISH and Direct TV (we've had both), I would not use satellite here. It rains too much from June through September, you could lose signal for hours every day.

[Southbound2016]

Originally Posted by CH183

I definitely have a recommendation. PM me and I will give you his name and contact number

Who can you recommend? I am looking to get a built in desk in my den and crown moldings done? I will be closing in Marbella Isles in a few weeks. Thanks

[Figgy 44]

I currently live in NY and my wife and I just bought in Stonecreek which is next door to Riverstone and part of the GL home family. We are in mid 30's and looking to start a family soon and we absolutely loved what they had over there so I would def check it out. Since its new construction we don't expect to be into the house till oct/nov so depending on your timeframe on moving that could be an issue for you.

[Tripower455]

Originally Posted by movin1

Comcast Xfinity Triple Play package. The internet speed is normally 75-90 Mbps, the HD-DVR and other hardware boxes are awesome, the modem is built like a tank and rock solid and we got a landline phone line for the security system GL provides. We have had very few problems once we got it all going.

As much as I like DISH and Direct TV (we've had both), I would not use satellite here. It rains too much from June through September, you could lose signal for hours every day.

When we built our house in '99, we put in direct TV. We had it for about 5 years, and overall, it worked very well. We did lose service during heavy rain, but the rest of the time, it worked great.

When the Tennis channel came out, it wasn't available on DTV. My wife is an avid tennis player and fan, so we switched to Time Warner, which was an immediate downgrade in reliability. In the end, the amount of time our service was unavailable was about a wash but instead of only going out during rains storms, the cable would go out randomly, sometimes for days at a time. It got exponentially worse when Comcast took over, and XFinity is a downright nightmare. Spotty internet dropouts, DVR shows have intermittent blank spots, VOD shows inexplicably restart to the beginning at random intervals (fast forward is not available on this program. Uggh), random boxes in the house work one day, and then stop working the next day, the boxes/modem are constantly locking up requiring a restart etc. etc.. I'm actually surprised when I can watch a show on the first try without having to mess with something.

I can't count the number of times I've had to wait all day for service, only to be told they couldn't fix it that day, requiring me to wait another day, and afterwards, it's still the same crummy service.

Just our experience with the wonderful world of Comcastic service!

[Fltaz]

The last few years that we still lived in Naples we had switched over to Prism for TV. It is through Century Link. Best thing we ever did. There product runs circles around Crumcast. And their service when needed is prompt and efficient. Wish we could have them here in Tennessee. Here we have Charter which is not too bad. It's much better than Crumcast but not quit up to Prism standards.

[Russman3000]

I currently live in Chicago and my wife and I just bought in Stonecreek which is next door to Riverstone and part of the GL home family. Riverstone still has a few Merlot units available but I think they're pretty full. Anyways, Riverstone is a great example of what GL has done and can do. Thank you to all those who posted about Riverstone.

This thread will essentially become a Stonecreek thread, I believe.

[relocatingtonaples]

- at the height of season

Originally Posted by Tripower455

When we built our house in '99, we put in direct TV. We had it for about 5 years, and overall, it worked very well. We did lose service during heavy rain, but the rest of the time, it worked great.

When the Tennis channel came out, it wasn't available on DTV. My wife is an avid tennis player and fan, so we switched to Time Warner, which was an immediate downgrade in reliability. In the end, the amount of time our service was unavailable was about a wash but instead of only going out during rains storms, the cable would go out randomly, sometimes for days at a time. It got exponentially worse when Comcast took over, and XFinity is a downright nightmare. Spotty internet dropouts, DVR shows have intermittent blank spots, VOD shows inexplicably restart to the beginning at random intervals (fast forward is not available on this program. Uggh), random boxes in the house work one day, and then stop working the next day, the boxes/modem are constantly locking up requiring a restart etc. etc.. I'm actually surprised when I can watch a show on the first try without having to mess with something.

I can't count the number of times I've had to wait all day for service, only to be told they couldn't fix it that day, requiring me to wait another day, and afterwards, it's still the same crummy service.

Just our experience with the wonderful world of Comcastic service!

Comcast is working well for us and they've greatly improved from a few years ago.

By comparison, up north we have a smaller family-owned cable company. While the customer service people are friendly, the speed and technical elements simply can't compare with Comcast. Trying to do Skype calls where every 60 seconds it cuts out for 5 seconds makes calls extremely unpleasant. ("I'm sorry, I didn't catch what you said.") Watching streaming video is equally frustrating. Multiple service calls, new modem, resetting modem a half dozen times, etc etc have never fixed the problem. The smaller company prides itself on being friendly (and they are) but it doesn't make up for lousy technical infrastructure.

I note that there's a huge emphasis on customer service these days at Comcast. I was pleasantly surprised this year to discover that wait times at the local service center are much less than I remember them from a few years ago. Instead of a 1.5 hour wait, the two times I've visited the Xfinity center on 41 this year have each been around 10 minutes - at the height of season. Phone support has had almost zero hold time.