Earlier this year, Amazon began offering one of the very few categories of items not already available from the mega-retailer: collectibles, including the famous Saddle Ridge Hoard of rare gold coins. This may or may not catch on with Amazon shoppers, but raises an interesting question: what if you could easily make an offer on any item on Amazon, or even any item for sale online? [More]
negotiating
Tips For Haggling With Credit Card Companies Over Debt Mountains
If you’ve buried yourself in credit card debt and are strangled by your payments, you can try to work out a better deal by negotiating with the companies you owe. Some smooth talking might net you lower rates, more manageable payments and more time to pay up. [More]
Techniques To Win Disputes With Customer Service Reps
Losing your cool and taking business transactions personally are excellent ways to turn customer service representatives against you, making sure you’ll have a tough time getting your way. You’ll need to play it cool to give yourself your best shot at success. [More]
Ways Hotels Try To Bilk You For Extra Money
A hotel’s room rate is only the base price of your stay. The industry pulses with ways to stick you with a bevy of fees you may not see coming. [More]
How I Got T-Mobile To Let Me Off Its Pre-Paid Plan
Michael says T-Mobile stuck him with a costly pre-paid “flex” account because he had poor credit. He agreed with the assurance that if he paid his bills on time for a year he’d be able to switch his service to a more reasonable plan. But when the time came, the tele-CSRs denied him. Just when Michael was about to lose his cool, he went into a T-Mobile store for some face time. And the move paid off. [More]
Guy Who Invented Spider Currency Wrote Fake McDonalds Memo
This will probably come as a surprise to no one, but the fake McDonalds memo that went viral last month was written by David Thorne, the same guy who tried to pay for a bill with a drawing of a spider. He is a very silly man.
It's Now Illegal To Sell A Ticket In New York For More Than $2 Over Face Value
Quick, go buy scalped tickets while it’s still illegal to sell them for more than $2 over face value. The New York law allowing unlimited markups on scalped tickets expired last week, and Governor David Paterson has yet to sign an extension bill passed by the legislature. TicketsNow and StubHub are, of course, ignoring the law, because they’ve never been big fans of little things like laws or decency.
Exploding The Myth Of The Bad Credit Card Customer
Too often, when we post about undeserved credit card rate hikes, a few readers will justify the credit card company’s actions by pointing out that the OP is, in pure business terms, a bad customer. If you’re a consumer, this is the worst way to visualize your business relationship with your credit card company. Here’s why.
Capital One Does Not Appreciate You Being Responsible, More Than Doubles Your APR
Beverly, who always pays on time and recently started paying off her balance in full every month, just saw the rate on her Capital One card more than double, from 13.9% to 29.4%. That’ll teach you to not help sink the economy, Beverly!
Alert: You Cannot Send A Drawing Of A Spider As Payment
David didn’t have the money to pay his account (for some mystery service—we don’t know what), so he decided to see if they’d accept a drawing instead. Turns out they won’t. The email exchange that follows is hilarious, and much more entertaining for both parties than the old put-the-wrong-check-in-the-envelope trick.
Airlines Have Bumped 343,000 Passengers This Year
Over a quarter-million passengers were bumped from flights in the past eight months, a number that is set to grow as airlines try to boost anemic profits by slashing fleets. The Department of Transportation requires airlines to compensate bumped passengers with cash or vouchers, but savvy passengers can leverage their situation to negotiate heftier payments…
7 Things You Should Never Say To A Customer Service Rep, And 7 Things You Should
Ron Burley, the man behind “Unscrewed: The Consumers� Guide to Getting What You Paid For,” has published two articles on how to effectively deal with customer service reps. On the Do Not Want side, you shouldn’t threaten legal action, because it will likely shut down any further communication as the company goes into automatic CYA mode. (You don’t want to tip your hand about any legal action anyway.) What you should say is “Thank you,” because being nice might help you stand out among the parade of complainers.
Learn How To Read Body Language
Want to improve your ability to read the other person in a negotiation? Joe Navarro, a former FBI agent turned author who’s making the requisite publicity circuit to promote his book, knows all about body language, and in this multimedia slideshow on WashingtonPost.com he explains some of the most common ones. He notes, “Our feet are probably our most accurate indicators of how we feel about things,” which is funny because I’ve never been able to flip anyone off with my toes.