This morning l decided to ‘rethink’ about the breakdown recovery renewal for our cars. We have always been with the AA - and have continous cover - direct debit. l noticed last year - but left it too late - how expensive it had become. So this year l did a price comparison with another breakdown company. The quote was £150 cheaper then the AA. So l phoned the AA to cancel our membership. Hung on to the phone for ages whilst they listed all their ‘benefits’ and how important my membership was to them - and l was shouting at the phone ‘Just bl88dy answer it’. Then just as l was about to put the phone down - [coffee was getting cold] they answered. l explained how l thought the cost was too expensive - and yes it did take about 15mins of wrangling - but l did end up with a much better deal. So we have stayed with the AA - got a better deal for nearly half the price.
Now last year l did do this with the car insurance. At the time we had three cars to be covered. l did the ‘comparison’ bit and actually it was the AA that came up best. But they wanted over £400 for our vw Golf. l said to the operator - ‘Thats ridiculous’ - l am going to put the phone down and l suggest you have a rethink and ring me back in 10mins with a more sensible offer’. They rang back in 5 - with a quote for £106. ln fact, l got all three vehicles insured fully comp Golf/Subaru Forester/Volvo Estate/- two named drivers for £450.
Now l just need to pursuade my OH to do the same with our telephone/broadband -as l know he pays far too much - but as the accounts are in his name l cannot change them. He is a ‘head in the sand’ type of man - but aren’t they all.
Hope my post helps - and will encourage some to make a stand and save their cash.
And if anyone knows of other areas we can make savings do tell us.
You’re so right! After over 20 years with BT for my landline (I’m a very low user) I finally got the pip (no pun intended) when they announced an increase to the line rental. This hits low users hardest, because it’s the biggest element of the bill!
I researched the competition, made my choice, and contacted BT to arrange switch & cancellation. Can you believe, they IMMEDIATELY offered to drop the price? When being a loyal customer for over 20 years didn’t get a price drop, all it took was to threaten to leave.
As it happened, their new offer still didn’t beat the competition, so told them it was too little, too late, and I was going anyway.
Then they tried to spin me a load of scare stories about how I might not be able to keep my number! I told them the new provider had promised they would not go through with it until they’d confirmed I could definitely keep my number, so that wouldn’t be a risk! Of course, it all went through completely seamlessly, and I kept the same number, so a whole load of old hokum from BT, about how it might go horribly wrong…
Tina
Same here. I always compare contents insurance (I’m a tenant) and car insurance. My dad gets me to do the same for him as he’s not on the internet and then he rings and threatens to leave so they match his best offer. The only snag there is that I now get emails from Saga! Thanks dad!!
I do need to sort out the best deal for broadband but teenage son is scared it will leave him without internet access for a few days and he just can’t live without it ;-). Can anyone reassure me that this is not the case?
Tracey x
Hi, well done you!
People are astounded when we tell them how much our home contents and buildings insurance is…£10 a month! And its with the bulldog company! Its a comprehensive package and suits us fine.
pollx
Before you change, ask yourself why you have stayed with a company for so long.
The Internet is a good case in point.
Do I want to lose the e-mail address that I have had for 20 years? No, not really.
And this is not just inertia. All it takes is a few hours sorting out how many people I would have to mail to notify them of a new address. Oh, and arranging for the domain name that the present ISP handles for me. I lost two e-mail addresses when I finally retired (one for University and one for MOD business), and the friends I left behind have one of my private addresses.
Let’s say that is about 8-10 hours work.
In real terms that means a week (fit this in between the medication, the injection, the exercises, the FES wiring, the general moving around the house with both sticks and the FES, the odd medical appointment, etc, etc).
No, it is not inertia, it just means a major undertaking.
Now, what about the phone itself - wired or cable? Which package? And that is on top of the internet problems.
How long does it take to go throuh the options? Just allow for even a tiny bit of “cog-fog” before you answer this.
It took me nearly a day to decide (and check out) which phone unlocking service to use to unlock a new smartphone which was a bargain price because it came locked to a service I did not want (too dear, and it would mean changing a number I have had for almost 15 years).
In the end, you also have to ask “Have I had good service?” and “What will it cost me other than money?”
Geoff
Going back to the start of this thread…I was with the AA for years and then this year they were way too expensive, so I tried RAC and got a great deal both for my car insurance and breakdown cover, it really does work to shop around! With the RAC breakdown cover, as a Blue Badge holder I got a fabulous deal, of less than half the AA price and higher cover along with a petrol card…one to look at if you hold a blue badge! Jools X
Thanks, Geoff
You have made very good points. It has taken me the past 6 months to sort out changing my address with all the companies I deal with. I recently found I had missed a few and some of those were important - like changing the address on the log book for the car so I couldn’t renew the tax disc online and had to queue in the Post Office 
If I had to change my e-mail address I would probably be dead before I got round to telling everybody!!
Tracey
Well,
For what it’s worth, I shop around for all of my services every year and often end up changing several providers to get a better deal (…especially home phone, broadband and mobile phone).
Takes a little time, but is often worth doing as the competition is always trying to entice people (financially) to sign-up with them!!
Dom