Ryan BurnsI’m going to have to give a HT to Phil Gons on today’s thrifty tip. Not only is Phil an amazingly smart guy (currently finishing up his PhD thesertation – yeah, I made that word up) but he’s also a really thrifty guy (just ask him about his new bluetooth headset).
So, Phil pointed out to me the other day that, when ordering a product, it is generally a good idea to call the company and ask if they have and unadvertised specials or if they can do better than their web price. He recounted a story of shopping for a new computer for his dad. After reviewing the Dell website, he gave them a call and asked if they could beat the web price. The sales person said that he couldn’t on the base package, but that he could give him a discount if he upgraded the computer a bit.
I shared with Phil that it would have never crossed my mind to call and ask for a better price… but apparently it worked. Now, I’m going to bet that places like Amazon.com aren’t going to beat their online price, but if you’re shopping at a company that sells their own product (like Dell) it might be worth a shot. You’ll never know until you ask. So, take a moment and just make the call.
Also, it never hurts to ask if they give discounts to students… that’s always worth a shot.
Guest Author
Didaktikos
Tavis Bohlinger
Go Phil. Yeah, Dave Ramsey says to never pay retail price for anything. He says to do what you say here—call them up and ask if they’ll give a discount, and even if you’re in a store like Walmart, never be satisfied. Go up to the manager and say, “Can you do any better than this?” Sometimes they’ll laugh in your face, but you’ll get more deals than you probably thought!
In response to this article, check out this article on MSN
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney/5-times-haggling-is-likely-to-pay.aspx