Great Best Places To Haggle Hunt

Lorraine_Turner

I forgot to say just now that I never, ever pay full price for hotel accommodation, no matter where I'm staying. I know this has nothing to do with high-street retailers, and I know Martin has covered holiday haggling before, but thought I'd mention it.

When I've decided on the area I want to stay in, I research hotels on the internet, then I telephone one and ask for their best price, explaining that I'm on a budget. Hotels are always keen to avoid having empty rooms, even if they have to offer a discount, and if the hotel has quite a few empty rooms at the time you want to be there it's likely you'll get a discount. Tell them you're comparing prices with three or four similar hotels in the area. Then go to the next one, then the next, and keep bargaining. Ask them all to beat each other, until you get to the lowest price possible. You'll know what this is when the hotel reservations staff start squirming and saying they can't go any lower. If I prefer one hotel in particular, but it hasn't given me the lowest price, I usually have one more try by going back and saying "Such and such a hotel has offered me a room for £xx, but if you can match/beat it I'll book with you because I do prefer your hotel". It often works. I do this a lot, and regularly pay much less for my hotel accommodation. I've also had breakfast and sometimes dinner thrown in for free. Happy haggling, moneysavers!

jackstini

We bought a full range of nursery furniture in Mamas & Papas that was quite expensive - about 2 grand. None of the assistants were much help but we took the manager to one side and asked if there was anything she could do on such a large purchase. She threw in the cot mattress, 2 sheets, a blanket & some nursery decoration for free - about 200 quids worth.
It's always worth asking!

christinesean

I tried haggling with johnlewis but they wouldn't bite! They said in an email that they only did reductions on orders over £10000 and that was to business addresses. I picked them because their aftersale department is wonderful.

I tried my haggling on NTL and got a great bargain. I now pay £32 a month for digital t.v., internet connection and free telephone calls after 6pm and weekends. I save £17 a month before i count in the cost of telephone calls plus they reduced my mobile calls.

Christine.

THRIFTY_CHICK_2

Not really high street haggling, but I recently phoned my internet provider (Tiscali) and asked for the code to move to another provider (who was cheaper) and they matched the monthly cost.

Also, when my mobile contract expired I contacted Vodafone to ask for my code to move my number to another network who were offering a smart new phone at a cheaper price than Vodafone and they gave me a new phone! - I did have to sign up for another 12 months but I was going to do this anyway!

I always find that if you enquire about taking your business elsewhere you will quickly be offered a great deal!!

wensleydale

Surely there seems to be a fine line here between haggling and driving a bargain and lying to people and dishonestly keeping washing machines that you haven't paid for.

i'm up for a bargain as much as the next man, but only if the retailer is happy to enter into it.

with reference to the comments about john lewis- you will only get a discount from them in exceptional circumstances- but they will match other prices of actual shops (not internet). this seems like a fair enough deal to me.

if you ain't happy with this policy, buy it from the internet retailer, and you'll find that they probably charge for delivery and don't have such a generous returns policy.

kai666

John Lewis knocked £20 off a pair of trousers for me because the belt was missing. It was a rubbish belt that I wouldn't have used anyway, and probably cost about £2

Thought I was hearing things when he said he would reduce it by that much, and had to get him to repeat it!

mwp_3

Center Parcs give 15% discount to returners, and to staff of many large companies. I guess they will do so for you if asked. Try asking!

Edna_Bucket_2

THRIFTY_CHICK wrote:

I always find that if you enquire about taking your business elsewhere you will quickly be offered a great deal!!

Do businesses really care that much about that concept (or threat) in 2006? To be frank, I would have thought most companies would be pleased to see the back of the "hagglers" - why spend time arguing with you when they can devote time on others who will pay the marked price?

As a general point, I still can't see an overwhelming weight of genuine haggling going on here.

What some people seem to have also omitted is the time cost of all this. I'm particularly thinking about the hotel thread above by Lorraine Turner (no offence - but if I ran a hotel would I really want you back if you put me through all that?)

Is your time free or worthless then? Mine isn't - neither are my phone calls.

Perhaps some people ought to cost out how much time they spend on these sorts of exercises and then see if they have actually saved or spent more money.

Good points by wensleydale - whenever these discussions arise at MSE there are always a worrying number of people who seem unable to see the line between getting a good deal and dishonesty.

bingobango_3

saved 10% at PCWorld saying I was interested in PC, could pay by cash and take it away now if discount was given.

roboshea

Planning to do a cruise ?

1. Type cruise into google - this will list most of the cruise companies around.

2. Work out what cruise you want to do

3. Create a word doc that lists the following :
Cruise Company / Tel no / Contact name / Reference No / Price quoted / Any extras ?

4. Now start to phone the Cruise Companies and fill in the blanks as you go along.

5. Once you have a decent amount of Companies / responses, phone them back and play one Company off another ... highlight in yellow the best deal you receive each time !

( The fact you have a typed record in front of you helps because you can see at a glance what Company has offered the best price / deal so far ... keep using that as your benchmark ! )

By using this process, I have just got a £2,500 ( per person ) Cruise on the QE2 for
£1,300 ( per person ) AND £400 onboard credit which we can use on excursions,etc.

The initial setting up of this takes some time, but it is so worth it when you end up with a really good discount.

And it goes without saying ... this system could be used for ANY type of holiday or for most other purchases !

Good luck

Rob