Things I learned from my interaction with the...

cable guy. So, last night we re-upped our cable. We had the “basic” service, but we learned that we like watching HGTV and ESPN too much not to have those channels. In fact, we found ourselves watching lame shows, and reminiscing about how much we loved watching home decorating and sports. So, last night I called cable guy #1 and asked how much for their “expanded basic” package, which includes ESPN and HGTV. At first, he said $49.99. That was more than what I wanted to pay. Plus I told him DishNetwork can give me the same channels for $29.99. He tried to match the price, but was unable to. So, he said, “I guess you will have to use DishNetwork to watch HGTV and ESPN.”

After hanging up with cable guy #1, I checked out DishNetwork. The price was going to be $29.99 for the channels we wanted. I thought about it for a while, and thought instead of hassling with a dish I would try the cable company again. So, I contacted cable guy #2. I talked with him for a while, and he got the price down to $34.00. It still wasn’t good enough, so he passed me along to cable guy #3, because they wanted to keep my business. After, talking with cable guy #3 for a while, he came back with the price of $29.99, and this morning they came out and hooked up my cable.

And now, Ceci will be happy watching her HGTV! She is already planning on spending the night catching up on shows she has missed the past few months.

So, I learned a lot from interacting with the cable guys. Here are a few things I learned…

1. Be Nice – never did I yell at the guy for not being able to match DishNetwork’s price.
2. Be Informed – I knew what DishNetwork was offering, and what channels that were a part of their package.
3. Be Patient – I patiently waited for them to check with their people to see what price they could give me.
4. Be Persistent – I wasn’t willing to take a price that was more than DishNetwork, and finally they came around. Also, I knew they could do better than what they initially offered.

It’s pretty interesting that the cable company gives you a starting price of $20 higher than what they are able to do. It leaves me wondering, how many times have I paid too much for an item, when the company would have sold it for less?