Monday 11 October 2010

Tough Negotiations



http://www.davidenglish.com/oldphones.html

Our Boy has had a mobile phone (in my name) for some time now.
He doesn't use the phone much, but it is a safety link for us when he is "out & about" on his own, so we are happy to provide him with one.

The phone was approaching the need for renewal (nothing is made to last these days...!) and since the subscription is in my name I was instructed by Our Boy and The Professor to call the company and ask for the PAC-number
(Porting Authorisation Code is apparently what you need to be able to move your current phone number to a new subscription and still keep your old number).

When asking for the illusive "PAC" number, all sorts of
alarm bells
went off for the very polite salesman probably working from a call center in India - but how come they are always all called "George"....??? and he started offering me all sorts of phones and new deals - he was desperate  not to loose my custom!

Both my men smiled knowingly as this was expected and now the hard negotiations started...!

To cut a veeeery long story short, I think I played sufficiently "hard to get" making poor "George" call me back 3 times while I was "thinking" about his various offers... ;-)
I ended up renewing the contract for 18 months (not 24 as was the start condition) while cutting the monthly subscription cost with 20%, keeping the same amount of free calls/email/internet access and getting a free HTC Hero! I can't say which company we are with as this was "a special and confidential offer only for me (!) "
- yeah right!

But a sure sign that you have made a good deal when haggling is when the salesman is not happy at the end...
I think I pressed "George" as far as I could and Our Boy is now waiting in anticipation for his new phone arriving tomorrow.

And I am happy we will have cheaper phone bills!

7 comments:

  1. Ikke bare bare med telefoner og alt som hører med når en skal endre på noe!

    takk for flott tips ang sweet chilli saus, forresten. det har jeg aldri tenkt på selv! Lurt, for det liker jeg veldig godt selv!
    ha en fin dag!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Godt jobba...kommer tilbake med oppskrift på sjokoladefondant.

    Ha en flott kveld.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! Det må jeg si! Her har vi en skikkelig forhandlingskvinne. Jeg hadde aldri i verden fått en så god deal... Well done!

    Klem

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hehe. Deg maa jeg nok laane neste gang jeg skal ut i harde forhandlinger! Tar du oppdrag mot Laanekassen, tro? ;)

    Fin dag til deg!

    ReplyDelete
  5. WOW - det er dama si det!
    Utrolig hva man kan få til hvir man bare står løpet ut.. Jeg er ikke så god på det og blir like overrasket hver gang det virkelig lar seg gjøre :)

    Lykke til med nytelefonen til sønnen :)

    Nyt kvelden..

    Klemmer fra Tove

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hei. Jeg la ut oppskriften på sjokoladefondant på bloggen min i går. Lykke til, de er farlig gode og veldig enkle å lage. Det er bare å sette dem i ovnen ca 15-20 min før de skal spises. Har også hørt at de kan fryses i formen ustekt og bare ta dem fra frysen og rett i stekeovnen.

    ReplyDelete

Pinterest