Friday, October 06, 2006
Some are just more equal than others
I remember one day, years ago, when my wife was going through the bills. She expressed sadness because one of our credit cards had a high interest rate. Matter-of-factly, I took the bill and picked up the phone.
Me: "Hi, I just noticed that our interest rate is N%, and I was wondering what you could do about it."
Voice on phone: "Just a moment sir. [pause] Yes, we can reduce your rate to the introductory rate of Y% for the next 12 months on all new purchases."
Me: "Great. Thank you and have a great day"
My wife was puzzled, but I thought everyone knew that trick. If you don't like your interest rates, you get them lowered. Don't like your seat assignment (provided you're not on the plane yet), change it. You might even get first class. Now, don't insist and don't dwell on it. If somebody's going to give you an ocean view when you've only paid for a city view, you should be appreciative, and if they're not, you shouldn't whine. You're getting what you've paid for. Oh, and never EVER begin to pay for an upgrade and then out-of-the-blue ask if you can have it free instead.
Faux Pas.
I'm just saying that there are ocassionally "freebies" out there just waiting to get gobbled up. Here's one I found while cashing in some bottle tops. I have a membership to www.mycokerewards.com for entering those little codes on the insides on my coke bottles. I drink enough coke to warrant this as worth my while. So, I was busily picking out my rewards. I decided on two magazine subscriptions: Popular Mechanics and Veranda. I'm not sure what Veranda was, so I Googled it.
yadda yadda yadda
After a while, I ended up finding the online subscription web site, but I noticed some tags in the URL. I'm always willing to fiddle with URLs to see what else is out there, and what did I find? Editing one character would save you different amounts of money.
https://secure.hearstmags.com/subforms/ver/ver_hm001.cfm?cds_response_key=QNHM002 Free Trial
https://secure.hearstmags.com/subforms/ver/ver_hm002.cfm?cds_response_key=QNHM002 Save 55%
https://secure.hearstmags.com/subforms/ver/ver_hm003.cfm?cds_response_key=QNHM002 Save 33%
https://secure.hearstmags.com/subforms/ver/ver_hm004.cfm?cds_response_key=QNHM002 Save 45%
https://secure.hearstmags.com/subforms/ver/ver_hm007.cfm?cds_response_key=QNHM002 Save up to 48%
https://secure.hearstmags.com/subforms/ver/ver_hm009.cfm?cds_response_key=QNHM002 Save up to 70%
Me: "Hi, I just noticed that our interest rate is N%, and I was wondering what you could do about it."
Voice on phone: "Just a moment sir. [pause] Yes, we can reduce your rate to the introductory rate of Y% for the next 12 months on all new purchases."
Me: "Great. Thank you and have a great day"
My wife was puzzled, but I thought everyone knew that trick. If you don't like your interest rates, you get them lowered. Don't like your seat assignment (provided you're not on the plane yet), change it. You might even get first class. Now, don't insist and don't dwell on it. If somebody's going to give you an ocean view when you've only paid for a city view, you should be appreciative, and if they're not, you shouldn't whine. You're getting what you've paid for. Oh, and never EVER begin to pay for an upgrade and then out-of-the-blue ask if you can have it free instead.
Faux Pas.
I'm just saying that there are ocassionally "freebies" out there just waiting to get gobbled up. Here's one I found while cashing in some bottle tops. I have a membership to www.mycokerewards.com for entering those little codes on the insides on my coke bottles. I drink enough coke to warrant this as worth my while. So, I was busily picking out my rewards. I decided on two magazine subscriptions: Popular Mechanics and Veranda. I'm not sure what Veranda was, so I Googled it.
yadda yadda yadda
After a while, I ended up finding the online subscription web site, but I noticed some tags in the URL. I'm always willing to fiddle with URLs to see what else is out there, and what did I find? Editing one character would save you different amounts of money.
https://secure.hearstmags.com/subforms/ver/ver_hm001.cfm?cds_response_key=QNHM002 Free Trial
https://secure.hearstmags.com/subforms/ver/ver_hm002.cfm?cds_response_key=QNHM002 Save 55%
https://secure.hearstmags.com/subforms/ver/ver_hm003.cfm?cds_response_key=QNHM002 Save 33%
https://secure.hearstmags.com/subforms/ver/ver_hm004.cfm?cds_response_key=QNHM002 Save 45%
https://secure.hearstmags.com/subforms/ver/ver_hm007.cfm?cds_response_key=QNHM002 Save up to 48%
https://secure.hearstmags.com/subforms/ver/ver_hm009.cfm?cds_response_key=QNHM002 Save up to 70%
