Mom was right….if you ask people very politely for something,chances are you’ll get it.
I’ve been a loyal Directv customer for over 3 years and every once in a while I call them to inquire about any promos/specials I might qualify for (if you don’t do this with your cable provider,you really are leaving money on the table).Anyway,they always give me some type of discount until last month.I called and the representative I spoke with informed me I didn’t qualify for anything.I didn’t believe her but I didn’t argue with her either.I have worked for a cable provider before so I know every customer qualifies for some kind of discount.I didn’t disclose this to her either.I merely thanked her and hang up.I decided to call back today,exactly 48 hrs later and I politely asked to speak to someone in retention and after politely explaining to her why I was calling,she told me to hang on while she checked out my account and then came back on the line and told me she could give me a $50 credit.Is it alot?No.Did I take it?Heck yeah.So thanks alot Directv!
Talking about companies that take care of their customers I also have to give kudos to AT&T (cingular).I called them because of overrages on my account (silly oversight on my part) and after reviewing my account,not only were the overrages taken off my account but the representative,who has obviously been trained very well was able to talk me into upgrading to a package that suits my needs better and one that actually ends up saving me money in the long run.I initially signed up with AT&T because of their roll over minutes but I renewed my contract with them because they truly have some of the best customer service representatives.
So the moral here is sometimes all you have to do is POLITELY ask people for stuff – politely being the keyword.You just might get it.