IT NEVER HURTS TO ASK

It started with a giant burst of thunder. Immediately, our power went out. So much for watching an old NCIS. (Sidebar—an advantage of getting older is that you can watch a TV show that you’ve seen before and not remember the story. The old becomes new again. It’s not a fair tradeoff for the advantages of being younger, but it’s something.) Back to the power outage. Howard went downstairs for a flashlight, only to find that the battery backup to our sump pump was beeping. Meaning that if we had much more rain and needed drainage backup, the battery wouldn’t work and we could be wading through a flood. That didn’t happen. But we realized that although we thought that the battery backup had been installed only a few years ago, the reality was that it was installed over 15 years ago. Time flies. Our first thought was to move quickly on a replacement.

Our master waterproofer had retired and had given us the name of another company. Several years ago, we had used them for another basement problem. They had been responsive, had done good work, and the charge was fair. I called them and they came out the next day. An hour and a half and the battery and sump pump had been replaced. We were happy with the work. Until we saw the bill—$1960. That seemed high. Howard did an online search and found that the highest costs were around $1600. 

Where did we go wrong? Because we had an excellent experience with this company in the past at a reasonable charge, we assumed that the charge would be within range. An important rule—even in the best of circumstances, never assume. We didn’t check pricing before the service. It’s always more difficult to address the issue after the fact. But I did it anyway.

What did I do? I called the company and mentioned that we had been referred by our former waterproofer and that we had been happy with service from this new company in the past, with excellent results and a fair price. But because we were surprised by the bill, we did some checking and found that it was a bit high. I asked for a discount—even though it was after the work had been done. The staff got to the owner, who authorized a reimbursement of 10%. Howard and I were satisfied. 

The logic of the argument—mentioning the former waterproofer had some impact, because in the past, the owner of the business had expressed great admiration for him and for his work. The fact that we were repeat and satisfied customers helped. If we’d worked with them before and were happy, it was a good idea to keep us happy so that we would think of them if we needed future service. And I didn’t ask for anything extraordinary. 10% still put us a little above range. But it was something. So, we were being reasonable. 

I’ve found that asking for reasonable discounts or accommodations has worked in so many instances. Examples:

* We have internet, phone and TV service with Verizon and have been long term customers. We’ve also had a few snafus along the way. I’ve kept the contact information for the escalation area and every year, I negotiate a price so that we’re in a more reasonable range than the standard. They generally won’t do more than a year. But I hate the process, and this year, asked if we can do a 2 year deal. The answer—we don’t usually do that, but we’ll do it this time. So, by asking for what I needed, I accomplished discounts and time frame.

* CVS—Insurance was about to stop covering COVID tests, so we decided to obtain the last allotment just in case. When we got home from the store, we saw that the expiration date was within a month of the purchase. We should have checked the date while we were in the store. But we didn’t. And we doubted that we’d use the tests by the expiration date. We returned to the pharmacy, but they wouldn’t exchange the very obviously unopened tests. When one associate says no, what do you do? Try another associate—the store manager quickly accommodated our request and exchanged the tests.

* Jonah called Howard one morning, not pleased that Tracy needed 2 tires, and the auto repair department advised that an alignment and balancing would be needed as well, bringing the price way up. His question—was this all necessary? Howard’s the technical expert in our family, and explained why the work needed to be done. I could hear Tracy freaking out in the background. As Jonah and Howard were talking, I was screaming in the background——“Ask for a discount”. That worked—the dealership gave them a discount.

* One of our go-to restaurants has suddenly turned up the music volume. We often go to this restaurant with friends because it’s comfortable and easy to talk. I know that I sound old but the new wave of having to scream over restaurant noise just doesn’t do it for me. I went to the manager on duty and asked for a decrease in volume. Her reply—“Corporate has told us that we have to turn up the music as loud as possible”. Oh, no—a resource lost. Not without a fight. Actually, I didn’t have to fight. I called back the next day and spoke with a senior manager. He said that Corporate was asking for a lively vibe. But he agreed that blasted music seemed a little much. He referred me to the regional manager, who was not pleased with that first “as loud as possible” response. He told me that he would go to the restaurant that night and check it out. The result—the next time we were there, the music was on, but at a level where we could talk and hear each other. Without that call, we would have crossed the restaurant off of our go-to list. So, a win-win for them and for us. And when I sent an email to the regional manager, this was the response that I received after he held a staff meeting:

"Thank you for reaching back out. We discussed how anything that we do that can alienate one person is ultimately alienating a group of people. We also discussed how we convey messages to our guests so that we don’t project the incorrect image. Our IT team, myself and our general managers are working on a system where volume and lighting settings are standardized and not up to the team working that day so that we can better control these items. This was a result of your feedback. For that I thank you again for letting us know about your experience.”

That was a gratifying response. And I’ve heard similar before.

Speaking up often creates impact and change. Finding the right person and posing the issue in the right way invariably works.  And it can start at an early age. All of these issues brought up the memory of a 3 year old Avery in the car with Jonah a few years ago. Jonah pressed the garage door opener and nothing happened. He did it a few times. Suddenly, from the back of the car, a little voice rang out. “Call Grandpa”. He did, and Grandpa came through, as always. Things work when you pose a question to the right person.

I’VE SAID IT BEFORE AND IT’S WORTH SAYING AGAIN—IT NEVER HURTS TO ASK. FIND THE RIGHT CONTACT, ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS, USE THE RIGHT RATIONALE, AND IT’S USUALLY A WIN