I am not poor but I hate being screwed out of an available deal. I always look for money saving opportunities. Some of those just involve getting on the phone and telling the rep that you aren’t going to pay full price and to make it better. They usually do.
Two examples are:
Comcast - I know most people hate them but I don’t. I called them today and told them I was going to switch to Verizon Fios if they didn’t reduce my bill that had just dramatically increased. They offered me 100mbps internet (really the only thing I care about) plus cable including HBO for $69.99 a month. My home phones are already free for all domestic calls because I run them through my internet connection already (it is easy if you want to know how). I can run everything in my home from that connection including multiple TV’s, phones, computers and everything else. That is not a bad deal and it is a lot better than they intended on charging me (take the two year contract if you do the same and don’t intend on moving; it still saves money even if you cancel in the middle).
Sirius-XM - I have to call every 5 months and explain to them that I don’t listen to it much and I want to cancel. After a careful negotiating verbal ballet, they reveal that they have a special promotional offer for people just like me. It only costs $5 a month for 5 months - just call back when it is over. I have done that for 7 years now. It beats paying twice that or more every month.
Here in the UK it’s certainly possible to get a reduction when your contract runs out by threatening to move supplier in a short phone call.
I do this for:
Internet
phone
house insurance
From what my friends tell me, it works on all companies and also for car insurance.
Sprint has been my carrier for 20 years almost. I was looking for something cheaper when I retired and a fella in an independent phone store told me to go muscle Sprint. So I told them that I would go else ware unless they got me down to $50 a month ( I really didn’t want to leave, I am comfortable with them). So magic-they did. I’ve noticed no difference other than I gave up the hot spot with I rarely used any more anyway.
Oddly, State Farm wouldn’t do it for me. I took them a quote I got from Geico, told them I’d been a customer for decades and had no desire to leave, but that I was paying five hundred bucks a year more than I would if I switched and that that was unacceptable. They just shrugged. Fine, I left.
Same, apart from home and contents insurance. I used to work for a large financial group, and still seem to be offered staff discount rates for this, even though I’ve not worked for them for well over a decade. Which is nice of them, I suppose.
But yeah, mobile phone providers always want to deal. It helps if you ask to be put through to Retentions, in my experience. They’re the ones that have the authority to actually do the deal.
So we “negotiate” for promo rates/deals for: cable, newspaper and natural gas*. Probably left out some. Used to do this for garbage collection but the local bribe-takers “fixed” that.
It now takes seconds of “negotiation” to get these deals. Not counting waiting on the line.
Many years ago I called up Comcast because I noticed my bill had gone up substantially. The nice lady on the phone explained that I had an introductory rate that was only good for 6 months, and this was the normal increase. Just joking, I said “can’t you extend my rate an longer”? She told me to wait a minute, and then came back and told me they’d give me another 6 months at the lower rate. Moral of the story: It never hurts to ask!!
