Give Me My Money

Scott says…

Lately I’ve been using a lot of my negotiating skills to get my money back. For some reason Marie and I are finding that we are being overcharged more, fined more, penalized more and just being plain old ripped off. I’m spending about 35% of my personal finance time just trying to get back what is owed me. Here are some key tips to help you get back what is due.

1. Keep watch over your accounts. Marie and I watch our bank statement closely and always question any charge that we don’t understand. Most of the time it is just a charge that one of the two of us made and didn’t bring the receipt back for the file. Other times it is an incorrect charge or a bank fee. Make sure you know where your money goes and question any charge, no matter how small. $5 per month in unknown fees is $60 per year!

2. Fight! We made a rule here at our household that no one takes money from us for goods or services we didn’t receive. I will go after any amount regardless of the size. When I opened up a new on-line money market account and made my first transfer, they executed the transfer twice by accident. Since it was for a large sum, it wiped out my bank checking account and caused it to bounce. I received a $50 fine from the checking account bank and another fine from the MMA for not having the funds, even though I did nothing wrong. I started with the bank first and spoke directly to the bank manager. After finally threatening to withdraw all my accounts immediately they reluctantly gave my $50 back. Then I began to argue with the MMA and did get my $50 credited after several phone calls and emails. My time to do this was well over the $100 that I was charged but it is important to let banks know that you won’t let them steal from you.

3. Make your utility companies explain their billing until you understand it. Recently we found out (when comparing bills with our neighbors) that our water bill was much higher than theirs. I examined the bills and they seemed logical but I didn’t understand everything. The water company was very nasty when I questioned them, but I held my ground. They said they would investigate but that they would charge me $50 to do so. I took the risk and agreed. We found out that our new water meter was defective and after a few more weeks of fighting got over $700 in refunds from the water company.

4. Don’t use credit cards. I’m finding that now that we’ve gotten rid of all our credit cards I don’t get accidentally billed all the time. There for about a year I got one incorrect charge each month on a credit card. Reoccurring fees that I didn’t authorize and “membership renewals” were the worst. Now that the cards are gone, life is much easier. If you still use cards, be sure to change your card numbers once a year.

Tenacity is the key to getting your money back. Use supporting documents, negotiate face to face when possible and document any promises and problems. Doing this helps your family save money!

Thursday’s Negotiating Tip:

Numbers are a negotiator’s best friend. Being prepared with empirical information makes your arguments strong and hard to penetrate. Often when I’ve showed up to a negotiation with a strong case backed up with good information, the other side has completely folded. This has happened even when I provided the numbers ahead of time.

Let’s buy a new water heater. You always PREPARE before you negotiate. First, go log on to the computer and start researching water heaters. Take a file folder and fill it full of printouts that show what water heater is best and what the competitive prices are. Know what options are available, what average delivery and installation charges are, what options are available and which ones are on sale. Once you have this data, convert it to information. I often use simple spreadsheets that have the main models/brands that I like, the lowest prices and their locations and all the charges that I can find listed below. Then select the best deal from the options.

When you go to the Do-It-Yourself store carry this information with you. Explain that you want to buy the Superboiler 9000 for the best low price that you found if their price is higher. Be sure to discuss delivery, installation and all other costs that you regard as important to you. Once all their pricing is exposed bring out your information. Show the salesperson where they are off and request that they comply with the current information. It is virtually impossible for the salesperson to say “well, we provide better model or more extras” because you have the hard facts sitting right in front of them. They have no choice but to lower the price or lose the sale.

Although it is changing, the vast majority of retail sales people are not trained to handle numbers presented in this fashion. I hope your numbers are saving you money!

Tuesday’s Negotiating Tip:

I can’t stress enough the importance of a positive outlook when negotiating. Several times I’ve heard “really, I don’t think they will go for that” or “there’s no way they will drop the price that much.” The fact of the matter is that you never really know. That’s why I approach each negotiation with a positive outlook and reinforce this by remembering the times I’ve gotten a great deal even though I thought it would never happen.

My brother is skewed a bit to the negative side. He called me in to help him negotiate the purchase of a house. This was a few years ago when housing was at a premium in Atlanta and often you paid more than the asking price for certain homes. When the first attempt at a house fell through, he was quite discouraged. I told him to hang in there and we’d try again.

He found another home that he liked and he told me right away that there is no way the builder would come down on the price. How did he know that? He didn’t. He just pushed his emotions onto the deal and all the negativity went into his perception of the negotiation. After a short chat or two with the real estate agent I found out some wonderful things. First, the builder had passed away and his son had taken over the business. This house was the first one that he the son had built. My brother is an engineer and he and I confirmed the fact because the house was not only well built but was in fact over-built. The young builder had not sold a home on his own and it was December, so I picked up that it was urgent for him to move this property so that he didn’t incur taxes and more payments.

With only a short period of actual negotiation I submitted a take-it-or-leave it offer and was able to get the house for him for $32,000 below the asking price. This was because I approached the negotiation with a positive outlook for success and an open mind to new information. I’m positive that you can do this to save money!

Failed to Save Money

Scott says….

I failed to save any money today.

She says…

Forgot your lunch again?

Scott says…

Yes. So I had to buy lunch at the Sandwich Shop of Death at the building. Yuck! There were too small pieces of meat on the sandwich and some cold French fries. They charged me almost $7.00!

Marie says…

So, if I take the $20 you get per week and subtract $7.00, you should have $13.00 left in your wallet. Right?

Scott says…

Wrong. Bought a few biscuits this week. And some sweet iced tea. I’ve not used one single coupon all week, either.

Marie says...

So, basically you are broke again....right?

Scott says...

Did you see that the Braves are trading Schmolz this year? (changing the topic)

Marie says…

Not good, honey. You have to carry donuts into work tomorrow morning don’t you?

Scott says…

Crap! Forgot about that. Can you go find me a coupon?

Marie says…

Bailing him out of a jam as usual.

Sometimes you’ll have a bad week. Sometimes things just don’t work out. Don’t beat yourself up! Regroup and plan for the next week. You’ll be fine and you’ll still save money. Scott is still very conscience of what he’s spending and he’s learning more every day. I probably need to provide him a more robust collection of coupons for when he has to eat out. Oh, and maybe I should make him a sandwich since I forgot last night!

Today’s Negotiating Tip

Negotiating for a raise starts the day you are hired. One of the things that I do that helps me prepare is that I keep a daily journal at work. Each day I write down the major things that happen and I list all of the really good things that I do. Let’s say I negotiated a great deal on a contract. I’d list the specifics of the deal, why it was good, how much we saved and any other benefit to the company. Then I write down what it was worth to the company. Sometimes money isn’t the only thing. I keep this list and just prior to review time I send my boss an email with all my successes outlined. While this sounds a bit pushy, it really is a benefit to him. As a manager it is much easier for me to take this synopsis and develop the employee’s review documents.

So make it easy on your boss and tell him or her how great you are! It is hard to not give a raise to someone who has well-documented successes. You’ll make more money!