Loyalty, Royalty and Comfy Ts

Every day at around the same time, I go to check my mailbox. From bills, to unemployment paperwork, to the latest contest goodie (which I seem to keep winning!), there's always something waiting for me. Of course, bills are not my favorite thing. I'm constantly trying to find ways to trim my budget, since I've got limited funds coming in. My internet contract is up in a few days, so I started looking into ways to cut my costs on that particular 'utility'. 


Let me put it this way, there is a company out there that does absolutely NOTHING to keep its current customers from leaving. I won't mention names, but it starts with a V and rhymes with horizon. 


So many providers now only want to sell bundles, and only with a contract, that it is impossible to comparison shop for individual items because they are priced prohibitively, as well as marketed in an intentionally confusing and dishonest way. I have pretty good cell reception in my house, so I was going to dump my landline, which costs basically $25 for nothing more than a dial tone, and go for unlimited minutes on my cell phone. Well, to take advantage of a new cell plan that was announced this weekend, even though I'm already ON a contract, I'd have to pay a migration fee of $35 in order to SPEND $10 more a month. Plus, if I cancel my landline,  I will forfeit "preferred pricing" on my internet plan and it will go up by $10, so I'd have to spend $35 to save $5 a month. 


Additionally, if I try to get a new internet service from my cable provider (rhymes with Nice Guys Finish Last), even though I already have cable, they will charge me $50 to 'install' it, plus the advertised monthly fee doesn't include a $5 a month charge for the required cable modem (you can buy them but they're not cheap). So, they want to charge me for the privilege of giving them more money and the fee that's advertised is really off by $5.


That math did not sit well with me. I had a few polite words with the service representatives at all three companies to ask them why they were more concerned about  getting new customers than they were about not alienating long term customers. I've been with my cell provider for nearly 6 years, and never asked for adjustments, freebies, or even paid my bill late. And the thanks I get for loyalty is that I'm stuck with what I picked, while all their ads basically say, your phone, your service, your way... get what you want when you want it. Um, not quite.


So, needless to say, I was a little cranky this weekend. No one wants their loyalty rewarded with the cold shoulder! So, what a nice surprise to open my morning E-mail and see a note from a friend with "Good Morning, Princess" as the salutation. Now THAT's more like it! Someone who sees me for the diva that I aspire to be  :). Like I said in an earlier post, sometimes your friends say just the right thing at the right time, and that's all it takes. And they don't have any clue that they even made your day!


The truth is, I've pretty much got the best deals out there on all my connection needs, and I'll have to look for other places to save money, because switching will get me nowhere except Frustrationville, all to save about $5. So, I don't  go shopping for clothing, except for the occasional t-shirt at Target, which is even better when I get it from the sale rack. Which, by the way, is not a bad thing. Their tops are very soft, hold up well, and come in lots colors, and even have long sleeve options! You know what?  In jeans, a nice clean unwrinkled T-shirt with the right accessories can get me through just about anything. After all, I'm a princess-in-training... I still have quite the shoe collection!