A Little Time = A Big Savings

I spent about 45 minutes on the phone yesterday, talking to our phone company's customer service. My handyman and I have talked about canceling our home phone line for quite a while, and yesterday I went ahead and took the plunge. I had actually called to cancel two other times in the last year, but each time they offered us some deep discounts if we would keep it, so we did.

A couple of weeks ago we mysteriously started getting FLOODED with phone calls, everything from car insurance quotes to college recruiters, all responding to a request for information that my Handyman had supposedly submitted online. (Which he absolutely did not!) During the first two days we must have gotten 5o phone calls. It was insane! Thankfully, nearly two weeks later we're only getting one or two calls a day at most. I have no idea how they got our number, but I'm very grateful that it's mostly subsided.

The influx of phone calls prompted me to reconsider canceling our home phone line. We use our phone very rarely, anyway, since my Handyman and I both mostly use our cell phones. For a while we kept the phone line just so we could have DSL internet service. Now our provider offers DSL without a phone line, so we're able to make the switch.

The best part of my 45 minute call yesterday was that I was able to upgrade our internet connection to a speed 4-times faster, and we'll pay less than we did before! My former boss once told me that you should call your phone company (or internet provider) at least once a year to make sure that you're getting the best deal they have to offer. She is so right! I'd also add to that that you should check out their website for deals before you call. Yesterday when I made the switch to just internet service, the rep was wrapping things up, and hadn't mentioned any change in speed or price. I had seen online that they were offering a 4-times faster speed for less than we were already paying. When I asked him about it, he said he didn't see that as an option, but he put me on hold so he could check. Five minutes later he came back and "Yes, you are absolutely right! I'll sign you up for that discount." Wow - if I hadn't checked out the online offers, I would have had no idea! That one phone call should save us $276 over the next year. I'd say it was worth my time. Maybe you should try it!