I Saved Money on My Cell Phone By Negotiating With My Provider

L J Pearce
Owning a cell phone can be expensive, especially if you use up your minutes and end up paying a premium like I did. Like most people my cell phone bills were increasing month and month, and they were becoming unbearable. I was getting charged for calling friends and family off peak, and charged for using over my internet usage allowance. After letting this carry on for nearly three months I decided it was time for some serious action. So, with this in mind I went about trimming my cell phone costs. I knew this was not going to be easy as I did not want to sacrifice my beloved blackberry, I just wanted a better, and more affordable cell phone call plan. My first plan of action in the process was to get in touch with my provider. I explained the situation to them and that I wasn't happy paying more and more money every month. After a bit of soft negotiating and around 20 minutes of talking, I managed to get more minutes for no extra cost, which was great, BUT I wasn't overly happy with this, I know I should have been, but like most consumers I just wanted a bit more.

To get that bit more I was after I began browsing other networks and cell providers. Browsing the cell phone market was good as it allowed me to see who was out there, what was on offer and at what cost. After browsing providers for nearly a week I could not find a better deal than the one offered by my current network. Although this was a very good offer I was still not happy. Ideally I wanted to get more minutes, but I wanted to pay less, even if it was only $5.00 a month less, is it so much to ask?

I decided to give it a go and so I called my cell phone provider with this offer expecting to be laughed at, however, to my surprise they agreed to take $5.00 off my $50.00 a month package for the remainder of my 18 month contract and give me 50 minutes a month at no extra cost, which was fantastic.

I have to say that trimming my cell phone costs has been quite an easy and stress free experience. Reworking my existing plan was definitely the right thing for me to do, as, I am keeping the provider I have had for the last 5 years and getting better value for my money at the same time.

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Published by L J Pearce

Entrepreneur, Personal finance writer and business owner who has over 10 years business experience. Interested in and always working on creating multiple online and offline income streams. Certificate in B...  View profile

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