Negotiating with various companies come naturally to Team CHEAPIOSITY. We can't help ourselves! However, we felt totally validated when the Wall Street Journal reported stories of others doing exactly the same thing: http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB123248760842899491-lMyQjAxM This article (not to mention our years of experience) confirm what we've know to be true all along.....everything is negotiable. Ready to eliminate Cable? You can get alot online. Take a look at this NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/technology/personaltech/08pogue.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
Here at CHEAPIOSITY, we're always looking to reduce our bills. And yours.
Recently we saw an ad from our local phone company offering high speed internet at a rate cheaper than what we were paying our local cable company. You know how much we love to pit one company against another; naturally, we called our cable company immediately. The first person we spoke to said they couldn't do anything. "Do you want to lose us as a customer?" we asked sweetly. "Of course not," they politely answered. "Well then, what are you going to do about it?" we barked back. "I wish I could do something, but there is nothing we can do," they replied unhelpfully. Then we uttered the words that typically lead us to moneysaving Nirvana, "Connect me to the Retention Dept!"
Yes, dear readers, there's a department that really doesn't want to lose your patronage. Many companies feel that something is better than nothing in these tough economic times. Bottom line, our Cable company reduced our overall bill by $20/month, guaranteed for 1 year, which ended up being $5 more than what we'd pay the Phone company. (Take that, Ma Bell.) That's a $240 savings for the year. Not bad at all for one phone call.
Read more!
