Do you currently have any monthly bills, cable television, satellite television, internet, etc…?

You pay these bills month and month again.  But are you getting all that your money can get you?  Let’s use DirecTV as an example.  If you call their customer service department and tell them that another provider has offered you a better deal and wanted to know if they could do anything to match or beat the competition more times then not they WILL!  Before you call figure out what it is you want…

Here is the DirecTV customer service number 1-800-494-4388 if you wanted to try it out with them.  As an example, a friend of mine had the basic package but he really wanted HBO, but didn’t want to pay for it.  He called up DirecTV, told them that Comcast was offering him a basic package with HBO for a year for free so he was thinking of leaving DirecTV unless they could do something for him.  DirecTV gave him HBO for a year, plus Starz and Showtime for six months… all at no charge.  What you need to realize is this, when a company provides you an ‘extra service’ there is very little if any cost to them to do so.  All they needed to do was flip a switch for my friend to get HBO, Starz, and Showtime and it didn’t cost them anything, and they got to retain their customer by doing so.  If you are trying to take money off your current bill then it may be a hit or miss, it depends how hard up the company is for your business.  If you read an article of mine from a week or two ago, XM Radio is hard up to keep your business so they’ll slash their subscription price in half to keep you.  I don’t think DirecTV will do this, but they will definitely give you additional add-ons for no cost.  When you call, make sure you have a story ready for why you feel you deserve something for free (usually mentioning that a competitor is offering it to you, and you were thinking of cancelling your current subscription works very well).  If you get a customer service rep who will offer nothing then just thank them for their time, tell them you’ll call back if you decide to cancel, and call right back and talk to a different customer service rep.  If at first you don’t succeed, try try again… and usually it’ll only take 2 or 3 tries before you get what you are looking for.  And don’t be afraid to push the envelope, ask for something major so that there is wiggle room to agree at something in the middle so you get exactly what you wanted in the beginning, and they feel like they did a good job talking you down from your lofty expectation into settling for something lesser – wink wink. 

Other then cable companies, you can attempt this at many different places, you just need to speak up, and always sound like you really believe you deserve more then you are currently getting for your money.  Telephone, internet, buying a new or used car, flea markets, buying off Ebay, etc… are all places that have wiggle room for you to negotiate a deal.  And negotiating a deal doesn’t only happen at the beginning – when you pay monthly for anything there is an opportunity to negotiate either a lower payment or gaining some additional add-ons at no charge.  So get on the phone, call your cable company, and practice getting something for free added on.  And once you are successful there then branch out to other places.  Enjoy the free HBO!