I went into my usual sticker-shock rant last night when opening the household bills. Specifically, I got upset when I realized that the monthly cost of my bundled TV cable, DVR rental, and internet access package exceeded what I once spent on my monthly mortgage payment.
Rather than browbeat my family, I called Company-to-Remain-Nameless, Inc., and politely asked if there was anything I could do to streamline and reduce the cost. Amazingly, they replied quickly, “Oh yes, we have a promotion going on now. We can reduce your bill by $23.75/month for twelve months, effective immediately!”.
Says I: “And what do I sacrifice?”.
They: “Nothing. We always have some kind of promotional offer going on. Call us again in twelve months, and we’ll see what we can do then, as well”.
So, OK, that was easy. Am I the only chump that just tends to pay whatever these companies ask for?
We have been trying to get DSL in our house 3 weeks have passed and hours of the same flow chart “support” The phone company has been surprisingly good about all of the calls, but not the provider.Once one month hits we would be nailed with some kind of fee so we called up to cancel My wife contacted them. 30 minutes passed and I over heard more questions until finally I picked up the phone (with the wife’s permission) and started to talk. I am the jerk in the household and really don’t mind if people like me.
“I said, no more of this, we want to cancel our subscription”
But if you only check this…
“We want to cancel our subscription this is a was of both of our time.”
It is not a waste of our time…
“Forget I said anything about time, we want to cancel our subscription”
“But…”
(Things continued like this for a few more rounds)
“Look, the contract said we could cancel in 30 days, can we or can’t we?”
“Yes, I’ll start to deactivate the account…”
I can be assertive, but this lady knew more ways to get a person off track than I can think of. I am sure that many people continue service just because it is not worth their time and energy. It seems sleazy. The promo thing seems like the same thing. You have to waste your time and effort just have what should be a simple subscription.
I love to negotiate it’s fun. Practically a sport. I have a good-natured guy face, a very serious analytical face, and from all reports, a very effective ugly face. I have seen my morning face and give folks a heads up when they may see that face coming their way.
I hate to negotiate, I want a deal that is fair and open. I want to spend little to no time because usually what ever kinds of gains I get are not worth it. For example my apartment.
Right now I am trying to get heat in my apartment. It is currently hovering at 63°F. Talking to the landlords, this could take up to 3 days even though it is a code violation if it drops below 68°. I could take them to court, (Yeah! have a chance to be singled out for a rent increase!) but that will do nothing to get the heat fixed and only save, what, 26 bucks a day (assuming that they would award the full percentage of a day in the month) no fines, nothing punitive, nothing. Just a “This will pay you off”. Worthless, spineless government regulations that do nothing.
So how do I negotiate this service? Threaten to take them to court? It would cost me more to take a day off of work to fight this. I fulfill my end of the contract (and they have a deposit to make sure I do) and they don’t (and I have little to no leverage).
All I want is a contract that is fair and works for both parties. I don’t want every bill sent to me to be filled with advertisements as my phone, credit, and energy businesses do. I don’t want introductory prices that involve a 2 year contract that involve a penalty to quit, I don’t want free crap or anything else, just an honest straight forward deal that I can look into, budget, and think about.
It is a sad commentary on modern times when companies with friendly smiling people in their advertisements deliberately structure their business activites to mislead, confuse, and victimize the people they are supposed to be serving. I dare you to read and understand the contract that you must sign when you apply for a credit card. I worked for one of the largest banks in the USA for several years. I needed the job, but I had to hold my nose when I was forced to impose penalities on the poorest customers who had understandably fallen into the mine fields set by the company. Penalty fees are a lucrative source of income for the bank.
Another example of when you need to be on your toes, if you happen to have a CD (certificate of deposit) that has reached it’s term and rolls over, the bank will not automatically give you their best interest rate. You have to contact them in the ten-day period after the rollover and ask for their best rate, otherwise you may well get stuck with an interest rate that is half what you could get if you were knowledgeable and on top of the matter. The bank is interested in their bottom line and not your personal prosperity.
I must admit I was a little shocked when I read the over-arching mission statement of the bank, when it arrived in my mailbox for all employees to read. Profit for the shareholders was the over-arching mission of the bank, not service to the banking public. It kind of made me sick to my stomach when I read that, although I should have known.
Yes, you do need to be assertive and ask for better rates. Better yet, learn to live without some of the services that we have grown accustomed to. My wife and I no longer have cable TV, for example. We receive several high-defination stations with a simple indoor antenna, and we are learning to be satisfied with that.
