how do you haggle?!

bubbles0169

so how do you do it?!
i find it cheeky but i also feel its really cheeky to be asking you to pay nearly £5 for a bit of material in the shape of a chair which you cant even keep!!
i just dont know how to go about it
when in the meeting do you ask?
which meeting do you ask it in?
what do you ask?
do you ask for different things to be cheaper or the whole amount
would you be so kind as to give me exact words youve used
xx

RainbowDrops

I think the best thing to do is try to suggest to the venue or whoever what your budget is.
When we were stuck between 2 venues (no 1 was nice, but no 2 was cheaper) we explained the differences in prices, and asked where they could suggest reductions.
As we had big numbers, we've got a bit of a discount on food, free dance floor (!), swapped champers for a nice Cava (I can't really tell the difference anyway) etc.
With seat covers, unless the seats are really terrible, ask if you can leave the covers. Chairs are chairs afterall, who really cares if they are matching (sorry, chair covers are my pet peeve :mad: )

gandy

bubbles0169 wrote: »

so how do you do it?!
i find it cheeky but i also feel its really cheeky to be asking you to pay nearly £5 for a bit of material in the shape of a chair which you cant even keep!!

i must admit i'm like you, don't feel like i can do it but with all things concerning organising the wedding i've decided that all they can say is no and if i don't ask then i definitely won't get.

bubbles0169 wrote: »

i just dont know how to go about it
when in the meeting do you ask?

normally i ask towards the end of the conversation when money/price has been brought up.

bubbles0169 wrote: »

which meeting do you ask it in?
what do you ask?

i've found that the first conversation i've had with the suppliers i'm normally feeling them out about what they're like and their service and if i actually like them.

it's usually when i've finally decided that they're the company that i want to go with (although depending on the haggling stage this might yet change) that i start considering what i might chance my arm as for a discount.

bubbles0169 wrote: »

do you ask for different things to be cheaper or the whole amount
would you be so kind as to give me exact words youve used
xx

if you've been given an individual price per head/ per item you might want to consider asking for a discount per item but if you've been given the total bill you could ask for a percentage off the total. i have also however asked if certain services/items could be free (in this case it was asking for a high res disk of all or photos from the photographer rather than having to pay £350 for it)

in other cases at the end of the conversation i've normally said something like "is there any possibility of a discount, say 10% (or whatever you feel appropriate) off"
or i've also said "is that the best possible price you can give us for x"

if you don't ask you'll never know and the only thing they can say is no, it's not like they're going to turn away your business because you've asked for a discount

bubbles0169

oh thanks so much gandy
i just need to go get the balls to use em now...

anyone got any spare balls or know where to get em?:rotfl:

itll probably be easier after ive done it a couple of times wont it?
i always set myself up for the worst then anything else is a bonus:o:D

bubbles0169

thanks rainbow, i like chair covers but if the chairs are fine i wont use em and to charge nearly a fiver for each one is ridiculous really!
how many guests have you got?

gandy

ohhh another tip which i've been told to use by the OH is start with a discount more than what you actually want and then come down to the amount you actually wanted off.

sometimes this works... sometimes it doesn't

i must admit OH is alot better at haggling than me but i'm learning! :rotfl:

Sammy85_2

I haggle over everything. I even haggled over the washing machine in comet (and got £100 off!!)

bubbles0169

oo sammy, write an artical for me would ya?! lol
what did you say? who did you speak to?
it was rare to haggle the high st, maybe more 'conventional' since martin
but i find that the scariest place!

Sammy85_2

I just have the attitude that if you dont ask then you wont get.

How i go about it depends on the attitude of the guy im dealing with. Usually if its a normal sales assistant they'll have to get the manager anyway, so i just ask them if there is any chance of a discount. They go get the manager and then the fun begins. The manager at big places such as comet, currys etc have a fair amount of leeway and even more if you take out product insurance (which is great if you wanted it anyway). I tend to ask for a silly discount and work up from there.

In the case of wedding things, i would just do the whole talky bit, discuss options, what you want, what they can offer. When they come up with a price, ask if thats the best they can do, tell them what you were thinking price-wise, and then work from there.

There are some other ways of getting things for free, like buying wine by the bottle than by the glass, and then working out a deal so if you buy so many, they give you so many free. Same with meals, try and get some free or get them to include the kids meals for free.

RainbowDrops

bubbles0169 wrote: »

thanks rainbow, i like chair covers but if the chairs are fine i wont use em and to charge nearly a fiver for each one is ridiculous really!
how many guests have you got?

Yea, a fiver is mad!
I'm gonna have about 140 :eek:

20 of those will effectively be free though with the discount we managed to get :cool:

C_Mababejive

Here is an instructional video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm7K4VM_7Rg