• IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    27
    ·
    1 month ago

    For every service you sign up to … phone company, subscription, gas company, water service, electricity, whatever …

    … always ask if you can get a discount or a better price.

    Don’t be embarrassed to ask. No one cares. We just build a culture around the hope that no one will ever ask for a better price and negotiate. The rep your talking to doesn’t care about you and doesn’t care about the company … they might be having a bad day and won’t care about helping you … or they might be having a good day and they know an inside method or option to save you something … or they might be facing losing their job so they figure out a way to save you a ton of money.

    I got a banking service a few weeks ago and they gave me a price for a subscription … I knew it was a sham but it was a service I needed … I asked for a discount from the Filipino rep who spoke bag English … she went off for five minutes and came back with a 60% discount.

    Sometimes these businesses set their prices high and just hope that no one will ask for a different price … because most people never ask.

    • return2ozma@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      1 month ago

      I’ve been calling SiriusXM satellite radio every 6 months for their discount. Here’s their regular prices:

      If you speak to the rep ask them about the 6 months car+app deal for $30, after taxes and fees it’s like $34 for 6 months. They put you on full price auto pay at the end of 6 months but set a reminder to cancel, wait a few days, then call and ask for the 6 month deal again. It’s worked the last 6 years.

      • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        I have a theory that every company/service/corporation has dozens of loopholes like this everywhere that people could take advantage of. But no one ever does because most people are too honest and proud to ever ask for a discount or to take advantage of an opportunity like this. Most people are too nice and gullible.

        Corporations bet on people being too nice all the time.

        People are too embarrassed or self conscious to go after a deal or even to ask for one … when in reality corporations are complete greedy whores and will sell your grandmother if it meant they could save a penny.

        No one should ever feel embarrassed or shy to ask for a discount or go after saving themselves a few dollars. Corporations do it all the time and they never shy away from skimming off a few pennies from you if they can.

        BTW - beautiful work on getting that regular discount for yourself

          • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 month ago

            Exactly … I have wealthy friends and non-wealthy friends who are dirt poor … you know what the difference is between the two groups?

            The wealthy people are the stingiest people you’ll ever meet and they’ll fight to save a dollar or two, even though you know they have tons of money in the bank.

            The poor people will spend $100 on something they could buy for $20 and never think twice about the money they lost, even though they have nothing saved in their bank.

      • DJDarren@thelemmy.club
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 month ago

        How is the $25 a month tier considered ‘better value’ than the $10 tier if your head unit has bluetooth? That badge is completely meaningless.

        • nexas_XIII@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 month ago

          Satellite radio doesn’t require your phone to have solid signal. Going out into the boonies? As long as you can see the sky you’re chance of losing radio is almost none. I used to love having satellite radio until I started working from home. Now I have almost everything I want on a downloaded playlist to my phone.