The gadget industry depends on your remaining ignorant...

[JEDI]

CNN

-contrast ratios (a flat-screen TV spec) are basically bunk
-megapixels in digital cameras have become almost irrelevant
-good marketing doesn't always equal good technology

1. Never walk into a cell-phone store: Stores have poor product selection, undersupervised employees and crowds of angry people complaining about something. Do all your business either online or over the phone.

4. The only department you should be talking to is the cancellation department. Its representatives are empowered to keep you as a customer at almost any cost. They can change your monthly plan, offer discounts and even backdate the savings to previous statements. But they won't do any of this if you don't ask.

edit:
(Certified used cars)

It makes a big difference who's certifying it. Dealer-certified vehicles are generally just used cars with an extended-service contract rolled into the sale price. Such cars may or may not have been inspected, and the service contract could have more holes than Pebble Beach.

Make sure you're dealing with factory certification programs.

 

[sohcrates]

i'll agree with the megapixels and the cell phone store.

i was so excited to get my new every 2 verizon phone that i actually went to the verizon store...it was horrible. i waited almost 45 minutes and STILL wasn't waited on, and there was a line out of the door of pissed off people trying to get a new cell phone because they dropped theirs in a pool or something.

so i went home, ordered it online, and in 3 days had it brought to my house and activated it remotely. sooooo much easier

 

[BooGiMaN]

i dont know about number 4, recently i have noticed that they dont try as hard to keep you as a customer like they have in the past.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
i dont know about number 4, recently i have noticed that they dont try as hard to keep you as a customer like they have in the past.

Maybe they realized people are on to the trick and they're not worth keeping as customers.

 

[UDT89]

pretty soon they wont need B&M locations........

theres a 24/7 movie and game rental thing by my house. all automated and everything. pretty damn cool.

 

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
i dont know about number 4, recently i have noticed that they dont try as hard to keep you as a customer like they have in the past.

I think a lot of it depends on who you talk to and how serious you are about stopping service. Two examples:

My parents have had cell phones forever, through various companies that eventually became Alltel. They got phones back when you could get one for $20/mo and somehow managed to keep that plan with Alltel until last November. They wanted voicemail, which wasn't included in their plan. I told Dad he had a couple options: He could call Alltel and try to get it added to their plan or I could upgrade my Verizon plan to a family share plan. He called Alltel asking if they could do anything for him (while he was still a customer) and they told him he couldn't. We went to Verizon, got them setup with a Family Share plan, and they were still paying $20/mo, for far superior coverage and features. He called Alltel to cancel the other phones and they were ready and willing to help him then.

Moral of this story: just like buying a car, you've got to be ready to leave if you don't get what you want.

Tivo offers a subscription discount on additional Tivo units you buy. It's $6-7/mo instead of $13. Someone found out that if you call up Tivo and ask to cancel your service, they'll offer you the $6-7 rate, even if you only have one Tivo. Someone else posted it all over the internet, including here in Hot Deals, and it wasn't long before Tivo stopped doing that because people were abusing it.

Moral of the story: You can get discounts by threatening to cancel service, but if people abuse them they will eventually go away.

edit: Can't spell cancel.