Beware The Promo Offer Expiration Bill Boost

Christopher and his wife, Melanie, moved to New Orleans and started up Cox phone service, lured in by a yearlong long distance service that made their bill cheaper than it would have been had they opted for the basic phone plan.

Christopher forgot all about the promotion and had settled into autopilot — easy to do when you sign up for automatic electronic billing — but Melanie remembered the expiration date and called Cox to talk things out. Had she forgotten, as Cox and any other business offering such a promotion hoped she would have, the bill would have increased $60. But because Melanie put the CSR on the spot before her promotion expired, she was able to scale back her phone plan and get an additional $20-a-month discount for six months.

You can bet that Melanie will be calling back in March, asking for the same discount. To paraphrase Battlestar Galactica, so should we all.

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