Further Reductions in Our Fixed Expenses

One of the first posts that I wrote for Saving For Serenity was How To Reduce Fixed Expenses in Three Easy Steps. In it, I outlined how I called up my cable tv/internet provider, and negotiated for a significant reduction in savings.

When we moved to my new place, I had to go through the process of transferring my services from my old apartment to the new basement suite. This was a terribly frustrating process, as it most often is, for a number of reasons.

• No one had service at this address before

So when I first called to move the service, they couldn’t. They told me that they had to add the address into the system, so I should wait a few days and call back

• I was moving out of the apartment before my roommate was, which required that I keep service at the old place for the last week of the month

This wouldn’t be such a huge deal, but that meant that because of their system, my service provider would not be able to set up internet at the new place until service at the old place was finished. So I would be out of service for a week. Not a huge deal, something that I could manage.

• The service provider required that I be on site while they “install” service

Even though the basement suite has a line that runs to it, that is functional, they needed to have a service tech come and separate the lines. This wouldn’t be such a big deal but they forgot to tell me that I had to be there. In fact, over the phone they told me that they could do it entirely from the outside of the house – great! Except when the tech got there, he called to say that he needed to be let in – except I was at work, so I had to rebook for yet another tech to come and separate the lines

Now, because of my employer, I get a number of discounts at a variety of other companies. One of these discounts was through a competitor to my service provider, so I called them up and saw what they could offer me. After weighing our options, we finally decided to go with the competitor – because we were already receiving television (from our landlords).

So we canceled the inital order, and went through the process a second time. They told us that they would send us a package in the mail, we would plug it in, and viola! Complete! A few days later we received a strange phone call. Apparently:

• No one had service at this address before

So they had to add us to their system as a basement suite. This also meant that:

• They had to send a tech out to separate the lines from the upstairs to the basement suite

And:

• We had to be home when the tech arrived

At least they told us we had to be home.

After all was said and done, after all the hassle, we are getting full cable TV and ADSL internet for $19.95/month. So, I guess we can’t complain too much.

Here is a graph showing my tv and internet costs over the last two years. The only reason it was so low in 2007 was because I was only paying for internet – no TV

Further Tips for Reducing Your Fixed Expenses

One of the most important things you can have when reducing your fixed expenses is leverage. When you are talking to consumer reps, you need to be able to stand your ground. They are trained not only in their own system, specifications, but also in their competitors. When I was discussing my options with both companies, I referenced each other, and was surprised by how informed they were of the other’s services.

In order to get leverage:

• Do your research
• Be willing to walk away

Do Your Research

Look up all the different offers that are out there for your area. Some smaller local providers often have the best deals – but the worst service. Leverage the better deal against the greater value and see if they can offer to match or come close to matching the cheaper price.

Compare apples to apples – or at least be aware of what is an orange. I was comparing Cable to ADSL, two vastly different types of internet (one uses a cable line, one uses a phone line). One is quite a bit better (cable), especially in our area, so that weighed heavily in our decision. However, the better price ($20 vs $60) outweighed the better product. If I was just to compare the price, or just the speed of service, there wouldn’t be any question. I also looked at smaller providers, but all of them were using the main companies lines and just repackaging it.

Be Willing to Walk Away

We were, and are, getting free cable TV. However, that’s not something that is terribly important to us, and we were quite willing to walk away from it if that got us a better deal. We wanted to retain it, because I like to watch sports, and its nice to have free things, but we were willing to part with it.

Whenever you’re talking with retention reps, the firmness and conviction of your willingness to walk away from their product, or their company will buy you leverage – something you can use to potentially reduce your fixed expenses – or do away with them all together.

Additional Resources

Optimize Your Cell Phone Bill – I Will Teach You To Be Rich

How to Reduce Your Fixed Expenses in Three Easy Steps – Saving For Serenity

Manage Your Fixed Expenses – Wisebread