How I saved $256 on my bills!

First of all I just wanted to say, I LOVE Negotiating! : D It has helped me in so many ways and benefited both myself and the person I am negotiating with. The last two weeks I have to talk myself out of some very expensive bills!

My first bill is my AT&T bill. I went on a Cruise and used my cell phone for texting and sending pictures in Mexico like a dumbass without signing up for their International plan. So when I got my bill it was $420!! I was shocked and felt like an idiot for using it when I shouldn't have! Now keep in mind, I work in Customer Service, so I know the process of that as well!

So I called AT&T and spoke to an agent named Samantha. The first words were out of my mouth, I am an idiot and take full responsibility for my stupidity but I cannot pay this, at first it took me a minute to figure out what the bill was for and then remembered I went on my cruise and can you please help me or connect me to your supervisor? Well, she of course was being her friendly customer service self, pulled up my invoice and said well, what I can do is re-rate your invoice as if you had the International Plan at the time of your trip. So she re-rated it and took off $196 in charges!!! I was so thankful! I offered to do anything she wanted like give her a compliment or anything else to help her out in anyway and unfortunately there wasn't anything that could be done. But I was so grateful! : D

My second example is I have my paypal connected to my other checking account that I hardly use, well I didn't know I was receiving all these overdraft charges till I got my statement. What had happened was I bought a $6.00 Hannah Montana doll off eBay. I didn't have any money in my paypal and so it was hitting my checking with no money in it (now I really felt like a dumbass). So my bill was $132 in overdraft charges! : O

So on my last break at work, I went to the bank and told them the same thing I am an idiot I take full responsibility but I cannot pay this. So with this they had to get the manager involved, they removed $60, let me keep my account and make payments on the rest.

So I saved a total of $256.00 between both bills. Really, it pays to ask ;)

Love your phone? Love it back! : D

I just wanted to give some good advice! : P If you are going to buy an expensive cell phone that you will love always, always carry insurance and carry a backup! Why? Because anything is possible and if you have water damage your warranty will not cover it. I recently upgraded and renewed to an Blackberry Curve 8900, had it for months, took care of it, until one day, out of my own silliness I manage to get water damage from my water bottle by accident! Annoyed, I went to the AT&T Store, then contacted Asurion and sent me a new phone Fedex. All my because I had insurance! If I didn't, I would have been screwed and had to get another $300+ phone! Instead I just had a $50 deductable added to my bill and I did have to get an Blackberry Curve 8520 because they discontinued the 8900. But that is okay, because in 2011, I will be getting the Blackberry Torch 9800 ;) (Pictured is my Nokia 2410 backup phone)