• Home
  • About
    • Disclosure & Disclaimer
    • Privacy Policy & Terms of Use
  • Advertising
  • Guest Posting
  • Tools

Wealth Gospel

Earn, Save, and Invest Money

  • Budgeting
    • Behavior
  • Credit
  • Debt
    • Behavior
  • Giving
  • Investing
    • Insurance
    • Risk Management
  • Life
    • Family
    • Life Skills
    • Marriage
    • Personal
    • Deep Thoughts
    • Awesome
  • Net Worth
  • Retirement
    • Planning
  • Saving
    • Frugality
    • DIY
  • Work
    • Hustling

4 Negotiating Tactics to Help Lower Your Bills

September 3, 2015 by Justin Weinger 4 Comments

Not all pricing is firm. In fact, a lot of things are negotiable - even your monthly bills. Try these 4 negotiating tactics and lower your bills today.Have you already cut and lowered every expense in your monthly budget? I thought I had until I decided to try something new earlier this year: negotiating for a lower monthly bill for my TV subscription.

You see, I signed up for a TV subscription in mid-2013. I felt pressured to do so since I now had a “big kid job”. At first things were okay, and my monthly bill was only about $35. But, a year later, the “special pricing for new customers” was no longer in effect and my bill skyrocketed. It nearly doubled, coming in at $65/month.

When I saw that first $65 charge I think my eyes about popped out of their sockets. Luckily, I had just read about negotiating to lower your bills, so I decided to give it a try. I was successful in getting my TV bill lowered, and now I’ve used negotiating to lower a lot of my monthly bills.

Here are 4 negotiating tactics you can use to help lower your bills too.

Ask for a Better Rate

When I made my first phone call to try and get a lower bill for my TV subscription, the only negotiating tactic I used was to simply ask if the company had any new pricing deals that I might quality for. The customer service rep told me they did have a new pricing structure that could lower my bill by about $5 a month, but by switching to a different plan I was able to shave $10/month off of my bill.

Reiterate Your Loyalty

My car insurance was up for renewal last month, so I inquired about lower rates. I mentioned my loyalty, as I’ve been with the same insurance company since I started driving in high school. After looking things over with my agent, I was able to save some money on my car insurance premium that was partially due to my long-term membership.

Mention Competitor’s Deals

I haven’t personally used this negotiating tactic, but a good friend of mine did. She got a flier in the mail for a direct competitor of her TV company and used it get them to lower her rate. This worked out pretty well! She didn’t have to go through any hassles to change her service but was still able to lower her monthly bill.

Tell Them You Want to Cancel

Because I signed a two-year contract for my TV service in 2013, I wasn’t able to cancel my subscription with them until earlier this year. When I called to cancel my service, I was immediately transferred to the dreaded “customer retention” department. Of course, they feebly tried to convince me to continue my service by lowering my bill drastically. If I were indeed planning to keep the service active, this would have been a great way to lower my bill, but unfortunately for them, I did cancel my service. Still, it is a great negotiating technique if you are looking to stay with the same company at a lower rate.

One Last Tip

When you are negotiating to lower your monthly bills, keep in mind that the person on the other side of the phone is human too. There’s no need to be rude with them. Better yet, I’ve found that being firm but kind in asking for a lower bill has been pretty successful for me so far.

Have you ever tried to negotiate your monthly bills? What tactic did you use?

FacebookredditlinkedinFacebookredditlinkedin

Filed Under: Frugality Tagged With: bills, negotiating

Comments

  1. Money Beagle says

    September 3, 2015 at 10:32 am

    Another tactic is to try again if you’re rejected, where possible. If I call my cable company and they tell me that they can’t do anything more, I’ll politely hang up, wait a few days, and call again. Often times, simply talking to someone else can end up yielding a different answer.

    Log in to Reply
    • Kayla @ Shoeaholicnomore says

      September 3, 2015 at 11:38 am

      Great tip! It’s definitely worth another try if you are rejected.

      Log in to Reply
  2. Prudence Debtfree says

    September 29, 2015 at 10:34 pm

    I’m glad you added that last point : ) I agree with Money Beagle. Sometimes, trying again is worth it simply because another person answers the phone. Not all reps are created equal : )

    Log in to Reply
    • Kayla @ Shoeaholicnomore says

      September 30, 2015 at 8:50 am

      That’s definitely worth a try!

      Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent Posts

  • Digital Deals: How to Save More When Shopping Online
  • Tips for Trading the DAX 30 Index
  • 7 Ways to Make Money in Less Than One Hour
  • Best Ways to Improve a Bad Credit Score
  • 5 Ways to Start Preparing for Retirement
  • How to Save a Little Extra Money this Summer
  • How to Avoid Living Beyond Your Means
  • Some of Your Biggest Money Wastes
  • How You Can Save on Food Expenses
  • Tricks on How You Can Save Money in No Time
  • Ways You Can Get Ahead with Your Finances
  • Key Considerations When Trading Online With Bitcoin
  • Secrets of the Headhunters
  • Credit Card Mistakes You Could Be Making
  • Top Tips When You Have the Builders In
  • Improving Your Credit Score Should be a Priority in 2018
  • Expenses You Can Save Money on Going Forward
  • Debts to Pay Off Before You Retire
  • How You Can Avoid Overspending this Holiday Season
  • Reasons Why You Could Go Into Credit Card Debt

Recent Comments

  • Credit Card Mistakes You Could be Making on How Life Insurance Can Help You Build Wealth
  • Some of the Biggest Money Wastes You Could be Making | Edward Antrobus on How Life Insurance Can Help You Build Wealth
  • Now is the Time to Get Your Finances in Order on How Life Insurance Can Help You Build Wealth
  • Ways You Can Boost Your Credit Score this Year on Budgets are Sexy
  • Money Saving Tips for 2018 on How Life Insurance Can Help You Build Wealth
  • Why It’s Smart to Use Your Credit Card for Christmas Shopping on Budgets are Sexy
  • 5 End of Year Tips for Broke Millennials on 4 Simple Rules to Make Retirement Savings Work for You
Finance Blogs

Search The Wealth Gospel

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in