You can get an extra month of Amazon Prime for free if you ask- yep, if your stuff doesn’t arrive when it’s supposed to, contact Amazon and often times they’ll make it happen!
Asking for a discount isn’t something that most people enjoy doing, but we’d be willing to wager that you don’t ask for discounts enough. It’s your money after all- hang onto it! In this episode we discuss haggling, rejection, and some reasons why asking for a discount should be a healthy part of your financial life. We also go through some practical steps we take when asking for a discount and share a few stories of when we’ve gotten that sweet discount or when we’ve had to say ‘thanks for considering!’ and walk.
It’s an overused maxim, but that doesn’t make it any less true: If you never ask for a discount, the answer will always be no!
Time to spread some love to a few podcasts we enjoy listening to. The ones we mentioned on the show:
- This American Life – (duh) And here’s the actual ‘Good Guy Discount’ episode we talked about
- How I Built This – the narrative surrounding specific entrepreneurs
- 99 Percent Invisible – all about design, plus Roman Mars has an amazing voice
- Radical Personal Finance – the name says it all
- BiggerPockets – everything you wanted to learn about real estate investing
- Joe Rogan – long form interviews
- Planet Money – interesting stories with money at the center
- Unrelegated – a new podcast focusing on Atlanta United soccer
At the beginning of this episode we cracked open a couple beers that Joel brought back from Paris- we are so incredibly cultured y’all! Specifically we were a fan of the Blanc by Gallia Paris, which you can learn about on their website but good luck since it’s in French! If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and review us in iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts!
Cheers!
Hi Joel and Matt,
I’m a big fan of your podcast! Absolutely loved each and single episode! These basic things you explain about personal financing and investment is something everyone should know and I’m glad you found a way of how to communicate this information in an easy and understandable manner!
In relation to the asking for discounts topic, there are few stories that I’d like to share:
– once I ordered a set of mirror tiles from Amazon. One I’ve opened a package I noticed that the upper tile was scratched, not anything super bad, but still quite disappointing. I asked Amazon customer service if there is any way to get a discount (since i liked the product and there was only 1 defective piece). Amazon replied that this product was dispatched by another company to whom they have no access to inventory, so they cannot exchange (that was their priority initially). However, they offered me a full price refund, which was even more than I expected. So basically I’ve got my mirrors for free 😀
– another time I bought a clothes rack (from local on-line retailer) that I couldn’t assemble myself since the screws were bigger than the wholes, so I considered it to be a defect. Customer care promised to send another rack which I asked them to test prior to sending. Once got the second rack I noticed it features the same design, so I had to contact the retailer again asking if they are able to assemble this construction themselves. Turned out in order to assemble the rack you would either need to be a man or have a special tool for screws that basically allows injecting the screw into a metal frame (this is what manufacturer explained me while i was fighting with the retailer). Finally, I’ve got my tested and ready to assemble rack from the retailer who btw also paid for all the deliveries. Result: 3 clothes racks for the price of one! Honestly, I wouldn’t push if all these details and requirements were known from the beginning 🙂
Regards from Finland!
Mariia