By Mick Holien
Maybe just maybe major companies with whom we all have decided to depend on for what we now believe are routine services should obligate the time and energy to do what most customers are so inclined to perform on about a yearly basis.
And I really don’t know how I found the time to do so when I was working a full-time gig.
Probably a decade or so I was prompted by a family crisis – that is I no longer was bringing in enough capital to pay my regular obligations – to take every conceivable expense and see if I could just eliminate it or figure a way to get the same service for less money.
Initially I was prompted about the depth of consideration companies expend their advertising to attract new customers while just figuring their current customer base would either be comfortable with their higher rate, didn’t notice new customers get the same service at an “introductory” price or didn’t take the time to inquire – wait for it – whether they could bargain for a less rate.
Now I wish I would have kept track of how successful I have been at getting the same for less – my allotted time budget didn’t account for that – but I can assure you sometimes just a simple phone call resulted in savings of sat on the average maybe 40 percent.
It can occur in different ways. This time my cable provider with whom I have been doing business since we had to acquire the frequencies by picking them up on Saturday night out of an obscure mailbox just volunteered would it be better and I stay a customer if he could offer me the identical service for $40 less a month.
Now while I didn’t bite and changed providers the offer did cause me pause and were it not for a free year of NFL games I certainly would have stayed put.
But this particular transaction is not yet finalized since the install doesn’t occur until Saturday I have my fingers crossed at least that it is headed towards fruition but with a caveat.
They lost my original order and even though I have a copy of the virtual cart that I purchased I not only had to start again from scratch for the fifth time in a process I now have over three hours dedicated to.
And my previous carrier ceased service Thursday after several overtures and offers for me to reconsider my cancellation.
Now while I am dealing with separate issues, I have quotes on two other services where the cost again is considerably lower.
Why don’t these operations extend the same courtesy to hang on to current customers that they do to acquire new ones.
Just sayin’
