Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Hi ERErs,

I'm happy to share with you this little experiment I did yesterday.
I called my Internet provider telling them that I'm paying too much and I want to change contract.

I think the words "change+contract" triggers something in the call center people, and I got a 5eur discount for 6 months without even asking
I then tried the same with the insurance company, where I have all my insurances together (motorbike, van, house, liability... yes I'm *almost* frugal!).

I told them that I'm paying too much and the agent checked what he could do for me...

After some minutes waiting, he was able to give me a 10% (~100eur/year) discount without reduce my coverage.
So, with 2 calls and 15 minutes I cut a little my monthly expenses, WOW!!
Ciao

D

I called to cancel our landline about 2 weeks ago and right before hanging up said:
"Oh by the way, I see you're offering new customers a faster DSL speed than I get AND they pay $5 less per month."
"I'll see what I can do, sir."
Without any further action on my part, I was upgraded by about 3x the speed I had before and had a cut of $5/month in price.

Hi Kevin,

good to hear that this doesn't happen only in Holland, so the lesson learned is to call them up often and complain about the prices... it may actually work