Some Websites Will Haggle On Your Behalf
(CBS) -- You don't have to haggle in person or on the phone to lower your bills or get refunds. Now, you can have someone do the haggling for you.
CBS 2 Cost Cutter Dorothy Tucker shows you how.
How much do you hate having to haggle for a cable bill?
"It's awful. You don't really have options," says Andy Lomo.
But wait, Andy, you do.
Just connect your Comcast account, your Amazon account and a credit card or two and the website "AskTrim" will try to lower some of your monthly bills.
"We have a chatbot that tries to get you a lower rate on your cable or internet bill," says CEO and Co-founder Thomas Smyth.
The website may be also able to cancel unused monthly subscriptions or get a price adjustment on that new thing you just bought.
"For our price patrol feature, for example, you'll get a check in the mail," says Smyth.
Three other websites -- Billcutterz, Billshark and Billfixers -- will also negotiate lower phone and cable rates as well as security system and satellite radio bills. They claim they can save you hundreds of dollars a year.
"That sounds great. I wasn't aware of that," consumer Samuel Sanders says.
Check to see if your credit card monitors purchases and refunds money if the price drops within a certain period of time.
"That would be pretty nice," says Seth Gordon.
Fees for the bill-negotiation services run from about 25 percent to 50 percent of what they save you. If they don't find savings, you aren't charged.
Citibank's "price rewind" service is free.
