Today, for a change, instead of a rant I'm going to post a very sound piece of advice.
It seems very simple, yet so many people tend to neglect it and pay mountains of cash which could be reduced to smallish hills with one simple action.
The word for today is... BILLS.
You know, those nasty piece of paper that stubbornly arrive to you in post (supposedly with twice the speed of cheques) and scream - GIVE ME YOUR MONEY!!!
My advice is this: read your bills. Read them carefully and if you have any doubts as to where something is coming from, contact your service provider immediately. With one simple question - why should I pay it and why this much?
It may seem dumb, right? But I've recently avoided paying extra 2000 euros (!!!) doing just that.
Might be happening only here in Ireland, but I'm noticing a trend that's becoming a standard practice of all the service providers. It's the habit of adding some funky amounts to your bill in hope you won't notice, or you'll be too busy or too shy to query it.
Well, I've heard of mobile phone companies who add only a few cents to all the bills and the cents add up to fortunes. I can live with that, but adding hundreds??? Just hoping you won't bother to give them a ring about it?????
A real life story to illustrate my point. I've received a renewal note of my car policy couple of weeks ago. The way it works, if you didn't ring the company, they would assume you accept the contract and would proceed to draw the money from your account by direct debit.
The rate on the renewal notice was more than 1500 euros. Excuse me? Twice the worth of my car?
I called their office and politely asked why am I supposed to pay this much. The lady on the other side of the line put me on hold for half an hour or so (OK, I'm exaggerating, but only slightly) and when she finally returned, she said - we've recalculated your rate and you're actually supposed to pay 500 euros, we're very sorry.
No, it's I who would be sorry if I didn't ring them and didn't refused to pay this absurd pile of cash. They can only be sorry that the trick didn't work.
I mean - oops, we've just told you to give us a 1000 euro just because we fancied the idea, we're very sorry that you've caught on?? Goddamnit!
So please, please, please, DO read your bills. And ring the bloody bastards. Even if you don't manage to knock some money off your bill, you'll surely have a chance to get rid of some excess venom from your system. Which is always something.
