Well, well, it seems as though Bert was driving off of what I was able to accomplish with my mom’s package with AT&T recently/earlier this month. You know how this battle goes – price is too high, you don’t want to pay/can’t afford that service, want to save money to invest/act more frugal, but that does mean one thing we all dread… Calling your cable/internet provider. Luckily, I don’t have cable at my house, but my mom does, to which she wants to keep it. Well, I wanted to put the gloves on and go to battle for her, did I come out the victor? Let’s see how this went down and who stood at the end…
The Situation with AT&T:
My mom’s situation was this. She needs to reduce her bills, AT&T/DirectTV combination of internet + TV was costing her approximately, at this point, $130/month (give or take $10). That wasn’t cutting it. She has no children left in the “coup” and needs to reduce her bills, plain and simple. I know Bert had recently wrote about his debate right now and it sprung up due to what I had done for my mom. I would do anything for my mom, and one thing I always want to try and do is reduce her stress. Heck, here we are attempting to save 60% of our income each month, and my goal is always to try and reduce my mom’s bills to get her to a savings percentage. Bottomline, her bills were going through the roof with AT&T (though we love you as a foundation stock, your prices sometimes suck!), and it was time for a call. My mom doesn’t like making these types of phone calls, and well, that’s where I come into play and bring out the Italian into picture. Anything for mom, right? Well, listed below are tips, points and the ultimate outcome:
Tips & Pointers in reducing your Bill:
How I came across – as pointers:
1.) I was very polite and sincere on the phone. How did I accomplish this? I really talked about who my mom is and what she was actually looking for/using cable/directTV. I simply said – she watches 2 channels – FoodNetwork and HGTV. She is struggling with her finances and needs to reduce her bills. She has enjoyed your service for the last few years+ but is only in a state of financial position to afford $60 per month maximum on her television cable/dish package. What can you do to keep her and what is available out there? I felt like laying this ground work actually showed the representative that – No, we don’t want premium channels in HBO, Showtime, etc. No, my 50+ year old mother does not watch sports. No, my mom does not need the 150+ channels that you typically try to sell and add, or currently have her set with. No, she doesn’t want to switch cell phone providers or add a phone line to increase her bill. The representative knew her state and wanted to work with us to keep the relationship. Honesty and being Genuine.
2.) Asking for a discount. Similar to how Bert wrote about this last year in asking for a discount – that is ALSO what I did. I asked for some sort of promotional discount to achieve my mom’s goal of having <$60 spent on her television viewing package. Guess what? They threw in a $5 off promotion on her package for 12 months. That doesn’t seem like a lot but it is approximately 15%+ on what she is subscribed for. Further, I asked for a promotion on her internet that was $47/month – aka ridiculous. What did they do? Cut in Half. See the support for both of these below:
Ask and You Shall Receive (well… most of the time!)
3.) Asked to remove all of the extra bills she pays – insurance on the equipment (equipment she doesn’t even own?!), and sent back 2 receivers, as all of her children have moved out. Why pay for 4 receivers when she only uses 1? We kept another one in the family room for when we are home. This is where if you don’t watch the bill, they can get you. Premium fee on an HD receiver here, paying for remotes and paying just to even look at the cable box you have in there. Cut out the items you don’t need, plain and simple. Be Honest with yourself and with your bill.
Summary, Savings & Conclusion:
Let’s just say, after all of this was said and done, her savings (before tax), was $88.48. Amazing. Holy Crap. What would you do with an extra $88 in your pocket? At a 4% yield, that would take an investment of $2,212 to receive that ONCE for the year. In this situation, when annualized at 4%, this would need a $26,544 to produce that much income per month… and we did this savings with a simple phone call. It is a very close equivalent of having an extra $88.48 of cash flow each month. See the Snapshot below of the before and after picture. I know it’s not the prettiest, but I think it does justice, eh? I think saving this much per month allows you to reach closer to your goals no doubt and is just a good showcase of why I currently do not have cable at my house.
(*the internet is now the 2nd fastest instead of my mom having the fastest internet AT&T could provide, my mom definitely doesn’t need that!)
So, now that I’m showing you proof that is in the pudding – are you amped up to do the same? Can you accomplish this or even better? DO YOU have your OWN SUCCESS story such as this? First – we would love to hear it, PLEASE share it with us and secondly – any tips to reduce this bad boy even further? Would love additional insight on what you are doing to reduce your bills. I hope my mom can feel this difference, I really do. Thanks everyone for stopping by, PUMPED to hear what everyone has to add in on this. Thanks and good luck to everyone on their journey!
-Lanny