Thread: The 'Art" of Negotiation

Update: The car insurance fell through and said that the discount that they were going to give would not fit my policy I very politely said "Oh no problem at all, since I have already shopped other companies and you guys are beat on the same coverages for cars and the toys by $208 per year so I am cancelling all 3 policies".. "Thank you for calling me back.. can you transfer me to the Off Road and Boat dept now ???? so I can cancel them too"

It works about some things and doesn't work for others. I was simply paying my internet bill for years, until one day over drinks one of my friends told me that he had just called his internet company and asked them to lower his price. I figured, hmm may be I should try this out, it does make sense.
So I called and told them, you see, right now you have a half price for a year for new subscribers. May be you can switch me to that plan because otherwise I may just cancel and sign up again, which means I'm going to waste time and have internet downtime, and you'll have to pay your technicians to disconnect and reconnect me again. Can we just skip the overhead and end up at the end point with the easiest effort. And they said 'sure, I will go ahead and make the change'. So, since then, once a year when my bill doubles, I call them and ask that they extend that pricing, or I may just start sharing my internet with my neighbors, which is a little bit less convenient for me, but a pure revenue loss for them. Has been working like a charm.

On the other hand, the electric company is in a completely different category - I can choose who I buy the energy from, but I still have to go through them for the delivery. They know that they have a monopoly and they have rigid pricing.

As far as healthcare goes, I thought that the Obamacare with all those exchanges would be more loved by the conservatives. I also think that as soon as the society is willing to go for pay before you get any treatment, even emergency, system, then the mandate should be simply dropped off. I mean, if you want freedom, you should be able to live free and reap both the benefits and suffer the consequences of it. But at present our society doesn't allow people to die if they don't carry enough cash, so mandating some minimum contribution from everybody for that privilege seems like a reasonable way to go.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Yes it is a good point but only if you can shop around

Originally Posted by gugi

On the other hand, the electric company is in a completely different category - I can choose who I buy the energy from, but I still have to go through them for the delivery. They know that they have a monopoly and they have rigid pricing.

Yep. It helps to do your homework and verify the other party is not the only game in town before laying your own interests on the line

Most health insurance is not 'insurance' it's a medical payment plan. Insurance should only cover major issues/operations not the little things. Insurance is for big things that are unexpected. Enough people do the high deductables, ie. $2500-5000, maybe in time, prices start to drop. Maybe. Happy shaving. Save for stitches. +1 on negotiating. Tho I don't do enough. Hospital and cars works great.

My wife and I enjoy going to flea markets. She for books and other stuff, I for old files, razors, hones, etc.
Our daughters always get to pick something too, just to keep them happy.

For my youngest it's always stuffed animals. She literally sleeps on a pile of them. She always wants one more, at which point she'll be ecstatic about having the best, softest animal in the whole world, or completely devastated if she doesn't get it.

I always bid down on principle unless I'm already getting a steal (like a stuffed animal for 10 cents). Last time she found a large toy frog. The asking price was 2 dollars so I bid 1. Meanwhile my daughter was hugging it tightly and saying 'You're my best friend in the whole world and you are so soft and I'm never going to leave you alone and I love you (etc etc)'

The lady selling it smiled and said 'yeah I think she really wants to take it home with her'.
Negotiations did no proceed as planned.

My internet connection was so slow that I finally called up and stated that they fix it or I change... It worked out great. They rewired the cable to the street, did this and that - all in all, 4hrs work and now I have blazing fast internet. Best part is, for the next two years I get my tv, phone, and internet for 1/3 of what I was paying before the upgrade!

Why? Because these guys are tools!! After standing me up for two appointments and them re-booking me each time, I waited politely at my door and when the dude finally did show up that third time, I asked him why I would even let him into my house.

Anyway - the district manager was called in to solve the problem and hence the 1/3 off. But the fact of the matter really is, that this all transpired because I had the time to play that week. Had it happened any other time I would have called the competitor if not after the first time they stood me up, surely the second. Waiting around the house bites!

I just got an update for this thread. Apparently time warner has decided to charge an additional fee for renting the cable modem, although they're nice enough to give the customers the option to buy and use their own equipment. I just got the notice last week, and decided to go this way (small money, but I like having my own equipment).

In the process I noticed that my promo rate has expired, so I also called them for the standard yearly negotiation. I think I ended up with the wrong people (national vs. local) because they couldn't offer me anything. I'm going to call once again next week but during day time and if I get the same answer I will cancel the service on the spot and sign up with their competitor. The difference is something like $25/month so the $300 over the year is worth spending the 15-30 min of my time.

The only way they can win with customers like me is if they start offering loyalty discounts (in effect up to now they have kept me through retention discounts), not just sign-up ones, or if they'd lower the disparity between the sign-up and the regular rate.