How Consumerists Are Saving Money With Consumerist

Consumerist readers are saving money left and right using tips and techniques they learned about here from posts and from other commenters. Here’s just a few a few of the ways they’re able to hold onto more of their hard-earned cash:

KTK1990: Helped me get contact info for HP and Dell.

Ended up with 2 new hp systems replaced under warrenty and 1 dell for free.

Taught me about Twitter, which helped me get the ball rolling for the new hp system. But sadly did not get any help with AT&T (got ignored after a little troubleshooting for a major phone issue).

And most importantly, helped learn how to write a proper EECB. And learned alot about credit scores and info.

MDSasquatch: Got me out of a contract with Verizon Wireless without the ETF.

Made it easy for me to never set foot in a Best Buy.

TCama: Saved $180 in rebooking fees by e-mailing a United executive. Saved (as of June 2009), and am still saving, $30 per month by convincing Comcast to halve my bill. Can’t quite tell if Consumerist played a part in me either buying everything generic or at least giving everything generic a try once.

I think the biggest thing that Consumerist has taught me to do is to ask myself, and at times the person/company I’m paying, whether or not I have to pay for something (or pay a certain amount for something).

Ugh. Yeah, should probably donate.

Bluth_Cornballer: I was able to get 25,000 airline miles reinstated after they had expired thanks to an EECB.

twelve12: My 1st Consumerist experience was maybe 6 years ago. I found the phone number to Sprint’s executive office and managed to talk my way out of an early cancellation fee. Thanks, Consumerist!

wrjohnston91283: Got a free month of cable by contacting Comcast’s executive care team when normal methods wouldn’t work.

BigDave: I passed Sony’s info to my father-in-law, who was fighting a warranty claim denial on a crappy 46″ tv he bought for his father. He performed an EECB, which resulted in a new TV. Estimated savings of $1500-2000.

theblackdog: Consumerist, kept me from getting into deep trouble with the IRS when BofA failed to send me a 1099 for some savings bonds I had cashed, thanks to learning about folks using Twitter to get their attention.

mac-phisto: i saved money by not tipping anyone anymore – a trick i learned from your faithful readers.

UCLAri: Saved me the cost of a $260 replacement iPad because I knew about purchase protection on my card.

Sheila: Consumerist has saved me in several ways. First, when Hurricane Ike hit we were without internet for 10 weeks. We tried to be patient, but Comcast kept no-showing for appointments and telling us the problem was ours, not theirs, despite a tree taking their line down and leaving it disconnected on the street. Without this website, we would not have learned about Frank and God only knows when we would have had internet again.

Second, two months ago our T-Mobile minutes were exceeded for the first time in the 10-years we have had an account with them. Our bill went from $80 to $500. I sent a nice e-mail to Executive Customer Support, which I found on this website, begging for mercy. T-Mobile was kind enough to write off 50% of our overages.

Third, I purchased a refurbished Toshiba laptop a month ago. When I received it, I discovered it did not have the wireless it was suppose to have. I went round and round with Customer Service, including a 50-mile round trip to a Toshiba provider who advised they weren’t allowed to repair refurbs per Toshiba’s instructions. I looked up Toshiba here and found a number for a man who supposedly could help. To my surprise, he answered on the first ring, sent me a box and I’m now waiting for my laptop to ship back.

Thanks, Consumerist, for all the tips!

Noir: Consumerist also taught me how to EECB and get a cellphone replaced, saving about $400

HogwartsProfessor: Thanks to Consumerist, I asked for and received a $10 a month discount on my DirecTV and also they gave me free Starz and Encore for a while. The discount goes through August and by then I should have some idea whether or not I’m staying in this godforsaken hellhole of a town.

I would not have thought to do that without Consumerist.

Also, I have learned a lot about what to watch out for when dealing with certain companies. And it saved me money because when I got a cell phone, instead of hooking myself up with a terrible, ETF-ridden Sprint or Verizon, I went prepaid and couldn’t be happier. THANK YOU CONSUMERIST!!!

Aceman90000: I read the post a while back on the ‘price’ of razors. I’ve always gone with the Gillette because the Menon razor always cut me bad. But after reading……….

H-E-B 5-bladed Razor: $5.84 (Two blades)
Gillete Fusion Razor: $6.97 (Two blades)

H-E-B 5-bladed Razor five pack of blades: $5.65
Gillete Fusion five pack of blades: $27.50

H-E-B Longevity (one ‘cartridge’) – Around a month
Fusion Longevity (one ‘cartridge’) – 2-3 weeks

Overall savings expected over two or so years:

Gillete -> Two 5-packs every five months = $132.00 per year ($264.00 for two years)
H-E-B -> One 5-pack every five months = $13.56 per year ($27.12 for two years)

Total Savings over two years: $236.88

This provided that H-E-B doesn’t wise-up to JUST how much they are saving their customer’s and just how much better/smoother the shave is moving from Gillete’s Fusion.

The H-E-B razor has much thicker blades so it isn’t filled with nicks for at least three or four shaves, as opposed to the Gillete which always started to get nicks on the first shave.

That’s one of the many things Consumerist has saved me money on!!!!!

Woot! Saving money. It is a thrill. If you’ve kept a few extra sawbucks in your pocket because what you’ve read here, considering dropping a lil’ bit in our tip jar. We’ll be sure to keep on rocking and do more of the same.

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