'Which UK companies can you haggle best with?' poll

Poll started 26 July 2011, click here to vote

[FONT=&quot]Which UK companies can you haggle best with?[/FONT]

Haggling isn’t confined to fly-filled bazaars, it happens here with broadband and TV companies, breakdown covers and more. We want to find out which companies are most up for negotiation.

If you’ve haggled (ie, asked for an unpublished reduction rather than gone for a deal or used a voucher), let us know whether you succeeded or failed below.

TV/ Broadband / Home Phone

BT
Post Office
Primus
Sky
TalkTalk
Virgin
Other

Energy

British Gas
Eon
EDF
Npower
SSE
Scottish Power
Other

Mobile Phone

Carphone Warehouse
Orange
Phones4u
Three
T-mobile
Vodafone
Other

Breakdown cover

Green Flag
The AA
The RAC
Other

Insurance

The AA
Admiral
Aviva
Barclays
Churchill
Direct Line
Post Office
Saga
Other
«1

Comments

  • RagingGoose
    RagingGoose Posts: 65 Forumite
    Orange are a terrible company to haggle with, you run the risk of paying for their services.

    No wait... allow me to correct that... you run the risk of paying them.
  • globalds
    globalds Posts: 9,431 Forumite
    Virgin seem to be pretty good for renegotiating terms.

    All the services I use with them have some kind of discount applied.
  • Told saga i needed a proof of no-claim-bonus because i was taking my business to a cheaper company and they matched the cheaper quote. This was via their customer care department. The sales department was adamant that no reduction was available.

    Moral is, don't take the sales team's price as final. Go to customer care and threaten to go elsewhere. They seem to have more leeway on reducing the price.
  • meher
    meher Posts: 15,910
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    I don' haggle at the time of purchase because I'm supidly impressionable :o and easiy led by charming sales people. I'd be well aware that they are pitching their sales but I let them woo so long as they amuse me. What I've done though is successfully made a case for loyalty discounts with BT, then with Orange (actually I'e always had loyalty discounts with them on one pretext or the other) I've always made sure I get the handset I want from at the time of upgrade, with British Gas each time I call them looking for their best deal and I refuse to tie in and still manage to get the deal I want, Legal and general, not on your list for some reason, wrote my payments off for three months for their delayed paperwork. I always get the desired results. My husband is a monumental fail at it bless, he only manages to request to match his hefty car insurance quotes but then he doesn't have the luxury of time like me to play mind 04.gif games.
  • I'm terrible at haggling I get far too embarrased I just go with the best deal I can find after searching.

    Sometimes though when I really want something and it's pricy I'll stand in the shop or over the phone and um and er about it and the nice salesperson will offer me more and more things and drop the price to 'help me'. It may mean I have to sign up to their help desk/insurance for a monthly fee but I always end up doing that anyway (I'm terrible at saying no) and it's easy enough to cancel before the free 'trial period' is up.
  • My most recent "chip" was with Aviva for my car insurance, my renewal came from them for £401 and the cheapest quote I could find was £389. I was sure I could get them to match it but did even better when they said how about a 10% discount, £361, result.

    My best "chip" was a new car in Dec 2008 (during the financial meltdown), I got £5k off, I think I must have been their only customer that month.
    Don't wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it.
  • terry2
    terry2 Posts: 126
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    This poll doesn't cater for the case where you have both succeded in getting a discount from a firm, and then on a later occasion failed (and vice versa). so should we be going for the latest result or the most common?
  • Birdy12
    Birdy12 Posts: 589
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    edited 28 July 2011 at 8:31PM
    Does it count as haggling if you call to say you won't be renewing? I've rung Orange, The AA and Churchill in the past 3 months to say I won't be renewing my 'phone contract, breakdown cover and household insurance and have been offered a cheaper price each time.

    I've accepted their revised amounts and renewed but it does irritate me that it takes the threat of non-renewal for them to 'magically' come up with a more favourable figure...

    Edit - actually, Churchill was the previous year's price but with £2,000 cover thrown in for items away from the home.
    It's wouldn't have not wouldn't of, shouldn't have not shouldn't of and couldn't have not couldn't of. Geddit?
  • called O2 about the phone/broadband - and got 6 months 1/2 price broadband (ontop of 6 months free)
  • With BT when ones broad band contract is almost up, order a MAC code from them, and this will ensure that one receives a phone call from them begging one to stay. You can then haggle at will, by stating other companies that you have been looking at and are cheaper.
    I managed to get the option 3 BT unlimited calls package and unlimited downloads for the cost of option 1, along with a free new super hub as advertised on the TV.
    Three years ago I retired from BT after 30 years of installing broadband and other wonderful boxes of tricks in telephone exchanges up and down the country as a technical officer, and their prices are kept high so as one can haggle for a better deal.
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