Dealing with high bills - whether they are right or wrong - sucks.
But with the right tactics, you can often save costs by challenging the amount of charges with service centers.
Here are some tips that Claude summarized for us based on an article by Charlotte Cowles in The Cut, based on her personal experience and conversations with experts:
1. Come prepared for the conversation
Make cost comparisons and transaction records, as evidence to strengthen appeals on apparently incorrect bills or requests to lower the amount of fixed bills.
Know exactly what pricing to ask for.
2. Focus on relatively flexible accounts.
The leading targets are credit cards, hospitals, insurance and phone/internet.
Check if you have regular subscriptions that are not in use and it is possible to give them up completely.
3. Take into account motives and leverage.
It is better to conduct the negotiations from a position of loyalty and reasonable justification. Start politely, not aggressively, trying to find a compromise.
4. Prepare a script
, keep calm, emphasize an effort to solve problems together over presenting demands.
If you encounter a refusal, politely ask "why not?", to open the door to other options and compromises.
5. Try different channels
Talk to several service representatives by phone, online chat or the relevant company's app.
Persist in a respectful attitude, both in conversations with humans and even in conversations with "bots".
Admittedly, you won't always be able to reduce the costs of invoices, even if you use all these tips - but the ones you will be able to reduce are worth the effort.
At a time when prices are rising non-stop and you have to rethink every shekel that comes out of your account, you really have nothing to lose.
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