More it doesn't hurt to ask

So I have an item I got for a Christmas gift, it’s kind of like a Fitbit, but it’s a little fancier and tracks a few other things. The battery has run out, and I’m all whiney about having to go out and buy a flat circle battery to make it work again… Those things are expensive!

I thought I would reach out to the company and see if they could do anything for me, and I was able to Live Chat (LOVE this feature!) with a rep who sent me a free battery replacement. It was about 10 minutes of my time while doing other stuff and I’m going to save a little bit of money with a free battery. (Side note, check out the size of the box they sent for the battery though! They are NOT saving money here haha)

 

I work in a position where occasionally there are needs for online orders of items like shelves or displayers. It takes me only a few minutes to send a message to/call a company to see if they have any a) New customer coupon codes or discounts they could offer me b) any current promotions to give free shipping c) anything they could offer me to keep the order.. Usually in that sequence of questions. No word of a lie, this almost always works, even if the coupon code is only something like $5 off. One time my simple ask saved me 50% on printed materials because they had a promotion that wasn’t yet advertised on the website.

 

Maybe it doesn’t count, but always “ask” to get a code to fill a promo box online. A lot of savers and couponers will say that this spot should never be empty! Just searching the company name + promo code online will generate lots of codes that it can’t hurt to try plugging in. If this doesn’t work, I will oftentimes do exactly as I said above, and just call the company to see about any codes.

 

I’ve listed this one before in a different blog (http://couponwithsam.blogspot.ca/2015/08/it-never-hurts-to-ask.html), but I had a problem with my contact solution that I’ve been using forever. Tempted to abandon ship, I emailed the company to ask if this solution was just a bad batch. After giving more information and answering more questions, I found out that the problem was likely my fault with storage. BUT.. The company sent me three FULL bottles of the product anyways for free.. a value of $84 if I went out to buy the items myself! Unexpected and worth the quick emails!

 

Basically this whole renovations blog is a “it doesn’t hurt to ask” -http://couponwithsam.blogspot.ca/2015/09/renovations-are-expensive.html . Everything from calling a company to ask if they had any rebates for a really expensive up-flush toilet (giving me an additional $50 back!), to becoming a first-trial testimonial for a new product called DriCore (which gave A LOT of extra money back, totaling around $630).

 

The above blog post also includes a little poke about watching how things are priced in a store and asking for the price advertised on the shelf instead of what it scans at the register (as we paid $75 each for 3 windows when they should have been $250 each). This applies to items that are in the wrong spot (must be a lot of items in the wrong spot with the wrong sign, not just a one-off a customer put back wrong). I’ve found this is best to do at the cashier, because they will ask for a price check. If you do ask someone before you get to the cashier, they will change the price sticker in front of you so there’s no proof. So.. Sorry in advance to the people behind me!

Now if the item is in the “right” spot, and the label below it is the same UPC code and everything (like an old sale tag left up), then check out this blog post about how this works in a lot of stores: http://couponwithsam.blogspot.ca/2015/09/need-to-know-scanning-code-of-practice.html. Essentially: If the scanned price isn’t correct, then you get the first item FREE up to $10, or $10 off the lowest advertised price.

 

Just the other day with some “free” coupons, I asked if the tax was charged if the item was technically free with the coupon ($1 toothpaste and $1 off coupon). To experienced people, reading the coupon will usually answer this question – with either “Customer pays sales tax” or “Coupon face value
includes applicable GST/HST/QST/PST” (which both mean, you pay tax). For inexperienced cashiers, they will agree with your logic and remove the sales tax from the order too. In order to do this more easily, I usually split out my “free” product purchases into small amounts so the tax value is super low anyways.

Finally, I went to pick up and pay for my contacts, which are silly expensive due to my prescription. After paying and almost out the door, I jokingly said "What, I don't get any free stuff?!"  She laughed and said "Sure, but don't say I gave it to you" and handed me a big box of 2 full bottles and a travel bottle full of solution.