Stick to Your Price and Negotiate When Buying
When purchasing products and services, it’s always good to have an idea of a “fair price” in mind. I always have a price in my mind of what I’m willing to pay for an item or service.
If I go to the mall to purchase a pair of jeans, I may expect to spend $25 to $30 dollars. I may get to the mall and see a very nice pair of jeans. But after seeing the price is $75, I’ll immediately put it back down. $75 for a pair of jeans in my mind isn’t a “fair price”.
Recently, I purchased a flat screen LCD TV and upgraded my satellite service to HD. I always wanted to purchase a flat screen but couldn’t justify it because I already had a TV in my living room and had no other room to move it into. It was a big, heavy, bulky TV. I thought about donating it to charity but never got around to investigating it. So when the TV stopped working, I knew it was my opportunity to finally purchase my flat screen. I immediately told myself 2 things:
- I didn’t want to pay more than $1,000
- I didn’t want to increase my monthly satellite bill for HD service
After doing surprisingly little shopping around, I found a sale at BrandSmart selling a 46″ Sharp LC46SB54U for $ 898.88. The TV is a 46″, HD, LCD, 1080P, with HDMI. They also had a Sharp Aquos LC46D64U selling for $1,149. The Aquos is supposed to have a better picture quality. However, after spending a good 10 minutes comparing both TVs in the store I saw no difference, so I couldn’t justify spending an additional $300 for something I couldn’t see.
I ran into a woman at the store and she stated that after researching both TVs there is really no difference in picture quality that the human eye can detect. The Sharp LC46SB54U had high ratings per several websites I visited. (Incidentally, Amazon.com is selling the Sharp LC46SB54U for $1,180.44 and the Sharp Aquos LC46D64U for $ 1,149.00 with free shipping! Not a bad deal).
Sharp LC46SB54U 46-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV
Ok, so it was settled – I would purchase the Sharp LC46SB54U. With tax, the total price of the TV was $ 961.80, well within my budget of $1,000. Interestingly, BrandSmart e-mailed me a PDF copy of the final receipt. See it HERE!
Now, on to getting HD service without increasing my monthly satellite bill. I’ve been with Dish Network for about 5 years and I felt they had to give me a good deal. One tactic I was going to use was to call them up and tell them I was considering switching to DirecTV because it seemed they had better deals. As expected, the customer service representative pretty much begged me to call back to allow them to meet or beat anything DirecTV had to offer. A day later I called back and was ready to negotiate.
After some negotiating with the customer rep, I ended up getting the following from Dish Network:
- Free installation of new HD service (new DVR and satellite dish).
- The customer rep recommended eliminating 1 satellite box because the new HD DVR now could control 2 TVs. This is after I asked him how I could decrease my monthly bill! If I never asked, he probably wouldn’t have told me. This took $10 off the monthly bill.
- Upgrade package which gave additional channels and HD channels
- Free HBO for 3 months
- Cinemax for 1 year for a penny (didn’t really understand the penny)
- $10 off my bill for 1 year (This is after the customer rep. told me my monthly bill was still $70)
As a result of the above, my satellite bill went from $70 per month to $60 per month. After the year, I plan to lower to fewer channels and keep the $60 per month. So I ended up getting everything I listed above and saved $120 for the year! Not bad!
One interesting note: When the Dish Network technician installed the new HD service, I was disappointed with the picture quality. He then stated I needed a HDMI cable to run from the HD box to the TV. I ran to the store and got one and sure enough, it was like night and day. If you have HD service and you’re not using a HDMI cable, you are missing out on getting true HD service.
I love my new TV! The HD picture quality is amazing! Now I have to find time to watch all those HBO movies I’ve been recording! Check out my new TV below in my living room! The wide screen reminds me of being at the movies!
My Sharp LC46SB54U
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2:26 pm on November 19th, 2009
[...] have used the same strategy with my satellite service. See my post “Stick to Your Price and Negotiate When Buying”. So go ahead, jump on the phone and call your phone, satellite/cable, Internet, gym, etc. [...]