Posts Tagged ‘haggling’

Haggling for discounts

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Have you ever haggled for a good deal when buying something big or for an expensive service like broadband or mobile phones or even home or car insurance? These days it can be done – prices are not so set in stone as they used to be. As a previous blogger described, people with nerves of steel and a little  knowledge can barter almost anyone down for anything but personally, in reality, I think most of us are a bit embarrassed about asking for a discount or an ‘extra’ as part of the cost, but it IS worth it.

I have only ever bartered over the phone but I have done it twice and it worked for me! I have my broadband, phone and TV through one company and it’s a fairly good price but there was a time when my broadband just wasn’t running to the speeds it should so I rang and told them I was cancelling my contract and moving elsewhere and to my surprise they started to negotiate over my costs and the speed. Not one to miss a bargain if I possibly can, I ended up asking them what they would offer to keep me with them. What I was offered was more than I expected and when I finally hung up I had had my broadband speed doubled and extra channels added on to my TV package. Somehow for me I do not get that toe curling embarrassment over the phone that I would face to face.

I did once try my hand at asking for a discount for cash when buying a fridge but not sure I was confident enough as the answer was a ‘no’. So I was wondering.. Do any of our BViewers haggle? (apart from Vial!) Have you managed a discount even without a voucher from BView? Or do you think that bargaining is too hard? I know that personally I am just not brave enough to ask most of the time but I can see from people on TV that it’s the cheeky people who just go for it that manage to get a better deal. Also there is the point – would you haggle more with a small business because you think they would be easier or would you feel that they are working hard to run a business and asking them to cut their profits is perhaps not ethically a good idea? Have you bargained your way to a good deal at a chain store somewhere, and is that easier or harder than face to face with a small business owner?

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