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Apr 16, 2010

Pick Up the Phone (Janssen)

I do not particularly like to talk on the phone; I almost always request that my husband make the phone calls to arrange social events and, aside from my mom and my sisters, I rarely rarely call "just to chat."

But when it comes to calling in order to save myself some money (or to get back money that belongs to me), I am on the phone in a heartbeat. I think lots of people just don't want to make the effort to make a call and complain or make a request, but since the payoff is usually quite high, I am completely willing to put aside my discomfort on the phone and spent five or ten minutes keeping my money in my wallet.

I've waived bank fees, had late fees refunded, rebooked hotel rooms when the price dropped, asked companies to meet competitor prices, and had automatic payments refunded when I'd forgotten to cancel them. None of these have ever taken very long and it has saved us, I'd estimate, at least $1000 over the last five years.

Are you willing to make those calls?

8 comments:

TheMoncurs said...

Our insurance ALWAYS tried to overcharge us. We're pretty routinely saving ourselves hundreds of dollars just by calling and questioning every bill that comes in.

Also, yesterday I got $22.50 in library fines waived (wasn't my fault, promise).

It's so worth it to call.

Tasha said...

I have the phone phobia too. Maybe I need to get over it for things like this. Luckily, usually I can talk my husband into doing it.

Janelle said...

I hate phones. I'm glad I'm not the only one. But I am happy to use them to save my lovely money!

Carole said...

I am the most phone-phobic person I know. But, I too have found that a little practice does help. Just over the past few years I've finally learned to just DO IT. Call that company or person and talk to them. Never as hard as it seems.

Amber said...

That describes me exactly! I am never afraid to question a charge or bill.

Chelsea said...

I'm not a big phone person either, unless I'm talking to my family or my friends. I hate calling people with issues. Here's my question. How do you get them to refund fees?

Stacy said...

Today I had to call Bank of America to correct an erroneous maintenance fee (it's supposed to be free, darn it). Not only did I get our $12 back, but they said we qualified to get several accounts free and free checks because of our mortgage.

It was definitely worth ten minutes of my time.

Bethany said...

Amen!!! Haha, thank goodness Casey loves making those calls so I don't have to. ;)