How about getting out of paying the new "fuck you loyal customer" fees for checking your first bag for a flight.

I guess anyone fed up with it will switch to the way-too-big carry-on roller bag and a backpack "personal item" with all of their clothes. I'm curious to see if they try to charge customers when they confiscate the oversize roller bag at the gate.

 

Working in Customer Service myself (AT&T Wireless Currently, DirecTV for 4 years before that), I have to say a lot of companies have radically different approaches to discounts.

DirecTV went through cycles where I could either credit the moon if it would make the customer happy, to being forced to withhold even the tiniest amounts of credit from the customer, even if it resulted in them escalating to a Supervisor or requesting to cancel.

AT&T, on the other hand, is a bit more generous with their credits. I'm allowed up to $250 per account, and I feel and can justify a $250 credit to make the customer happy, then I can do it.

The hard part has been transitioning for the tight-fisted mindset of DirecTV to the relatively free policy with AT&T. I have a deeply ingrained response to fight a credit every step of the way, much to my supervisors chagrin.

Asking if fees can be waived or if anything can be done to reduce the bill is good and all, as long as you don't take it to the point of being overly pushy and/or threatening cancellation or legal action over minor and mundane fees. All that does is make Customer service reps angry and more resistant. I speak from experience on both sides of the fence on that one.

 

The credit card bill not arriving in time is not accidental (as I'm sure you surmised), and seems to be part of the strategy of the banks to force members who pay their bills on time into the higher interest rate brackets that come with late/missed payments. I have personally canceled several credit cards over the years who were either not sending bills at all, sending the bills late, changing my payment due date, etc. I received checks from a couple of the class action lawsuits that were filed against some of the larger banks, and as a result I monitor my accounts closely even though I don't carry a balance on any of the cards.

Unfortunately it seems that the credit card companies lost so much with their pre-approved-if-you-can-breathe approach over the last few years that they need those of us who haven't defaulted and filed for bankruptcy to pay the way of those who did. But as we all know Visa puts too much money into pockets in Washington for us to hope for any actual legislation to stop these practices. And since you really can't survive without a credit card these days (did you know you can't rent a car or book a hotel room with a debit card? Unless they process it as credit, of course)all you can do is keep a close eye on your accounts and call them on the bullshit. They will always waive the fees, probably because they know that what they are doing is, at best, questionable from a legal standpoint.

As for DSL, every time I call Qwest to ask them if I could be saving any money they always manage to find me something a little bit better than what I am paying now. Maybe the base rate for the basic phone line went down, or the price for the bandwidth I have has gotten a little cheaper, always something. They gladly sign me up for the lower price. I imagine that a lot of people just never bother to ask, but it seems it is always worth the time to do so. I can't think of any time that I have called a service provider and not gotten some sort of a discount out of it. Come to think of it, maybe I should just call them every day and then maybe after a couple weeks they would owe me money?