How to not get ripped off in your line of business...

[SlowHabit]

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When you get a charge on your credit card that you do not agree with especially if you made the purchase over the phone or online call the company and tell them this specifically:

'I did not authorize this transaction'

No matter what they tell you, just keep telling them that. This wont work with a huge company, but it will for a smaller one such as signing up for a porn site or some $99.95 infomercial you bought etc.

Tell them that if they do not refund the charges to you, you are going to call your bank/credit card company and 'charge back' this item.

Say, 'listen, you either refund the money to me or i am going to call my bank and charge back'

Even if its a subscription service and they've been billing you for 9 months, do this. Get them to refund all of the months to you and any overdraft fee's your bank charged you. If they do not, then call your bank.

Tell them 'i did not authorize this/these transaction(s). I wish to charge back.

Your bank should immediately refund the money to you upon your written declaration of your intent to charge back. It is very difficult to prove authorization over the phone or on the internet. 90% of these charge backs are ignored by the companies and they just eat the loss. The chances are that if you bank accepts it, you'll get all the money back (and as I said, most banks will just front you the money until they get it back anyway).

Threatening them with this over the phone and using the specific language above makes you stand out from the crowd and they know not to mess with you. 'I did not authorize this transaction' and 'I am going to charge back' make them not even mess around with trying to con you. Very few people know those key words but they are the only things that will make these companies listen.

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So sick.

[phiphika1453]

Ok, I am a former car salesman. I made the most money of my life per/wk selling cars than anything else I have ever done. It is a very lucrative business as long as you have no morals/ethics; which I have so I no longer sell cars.

Let me first explain that the actual salesman, unless very seasoned, has VERY little to do with pricing the car. On a car lot the sales managers are the people that will slice your throat. The salesman is nothing more than a puppet for the sales managers. Thats why the salesman will make 200 trips into the sales office once you decide on a car.

Salesmen are taught to control the customer, and it is very easy to do. I cant count the number of times I told someone to follow me and then, as I was taught, I would just turn around, start walking and never look back. I could lead these people off a cliff and they would still follow me.

Advice #1 - Dont allow the salesman to control you. (This helps your table image in the negotiating phase!)


Next, it is important to know what you want before you show up. This is a long process and your will can be broken if you are constantly making decisions before you even get to the negotiating. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, for your own benefit, know EXACTLY what you want before you get there. I am talking make, model, interior and mileage limits. But, it is important to be flexible on [censored] that doesnt matter; paint color is the biggest. If you make a good deal who gives a [censored] what color the car is?

Advice #2 - Know exactly what you want. This makes it a TON easier to say no. I cant count the number of times I sold someone a car that they honestly didnt want.

Once you have found a car you want to buy (I will give tips on avoiding potentially problematic cars later), it is time to get the best deal you can for the car. This phase is sooo easy for me b/c I can just call some friends and figure out what the dealer "should" have paid for the car. Almost 99% of dealers use the Black Book for appraising used cars. If you can find someone to look up this value then by all means do it.

Otherwise you have to do some market research and figure out what you are willing to buy the car for. If you buy a car for the Kelly Blue Book price you are grossly over paying for the vehicle. I would use a 2-3k under KBB as an absolute ceiling when it comes to the highest price I will pay at a dealership.

Sorry this is getting very long and boring, so I will just give some one liner tips and if someone wants further explanation I will give it.

- Finance at a local bank, not the dealership.
- Dont buy ANYTHING the finance person at the dealership tries to sell you. You can get everything somewhere else cheaper.
- Negotiate the hell out of your sales price.
* One hint on this, start out negotiating the sale price without TTL (tax, title, license) included. Then after you have beat em up over that price and got it where you want it, tell em you will pay that as the out the door price. Basically your telling them to now throw in the extra [censored] they werent including for the same price. You probably wont get all of it thrown in but at least some of it. That all depends on how good you negotiated the sale price.

Last, but by far the most important. WALK. If you havent walked out of the dealership at least twice during negotiation you arent getting the best price you can get. A dealership will do all they can to keep you at their lot even if it means dropping the price that extra $.

Sorry it turned it to what it did but if there are any specifics just ask and I will spill the beans.

[renodoc]

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Last, but by far the most important. WALK. If you havent walked out of the dealership at least twice during negotiation you arent getting the best price you can get. A dealership will do all they can to keep you at their lot even if it means dropping the price that extra $.

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This is perfect advice. I think that we should have the expectation of walking out on the first visit to any dealership. If you've done all your research, you know the price you want to pay for exactly what you want. When the blowhard sales manager can't meet it, you get it. Its amazing how they start blabbering on about trying to do better after that.

[shaftman11]

I am a life insurance agent, my specialty is mortage protection but I am familiar with other areas as well.

1. Get multiple quotes for protection. BUT, BUT, always give a check to the first agent that comes to your house. It usually takes 3-4 weeks to get approved and then another week or so for an agent to get the policy back to you. At that point, you have a free look period (it varies), at any time you can cancel and get your money back. The advantage of doing this is that you are covered as soon as you sign the paperwork. So if you are having 3 agents over in the next week, and you give sign up for a policy with the first agent you are covered right then and there. If you find a better deal with another agent, you can always cancel the first. And they have to give you the money back, it may take a few weeks, but it will be returned. The reason to get covered right away, god forbid something happens to you in that week. YOU WILL BE COVERED
2. Deal with an independent insurance agent. I am licensed to write policies for 23 different companies. That is a lot of quotes and different coverages available. As opposed to an agent that only represents 1 company.
3. Ask to see the complete break down of what the makes up the premium. This is where an agent can add riders and other things to jack up the premium.
4. Ask to pay your entire premium yearly, if you can afford it. This option will save you as much as 20%. If you can’t do yearly, at least try to do quarterly, it will still save you some money. And if the agent tells you they can’t (he makes a commission on that premium, the more you spend, them more he makes) tell him no deal. They won’t walk away from a decent commission over a few bucks. I don’t know of any insurance company that doesn’t do quarterly or yearly payment plans.
5. If your job offers life insurance for cheap take it! But don’t make that your only policy. When an insurance company offers coverage to a company it is in a set premium. So whether you are 21 or 65 you get the same coverage for the same premium, ie. 1 $50 unit each month is worth $250,000 in coverage. Where you can get in trouble is when you retire. If you get an independent policy outside of work you pay for that forever (if it’s whole life). So, if you get a policy at 30 and your coverage is for $500,000 and the policy is $150 a month, it stays that way until you die. But if you rely only on work coverage, that coverage expires when you retire. They will offer you to continue that coverage, but rated at your current age. I shouldn’t have to tell you premium difference between a 30 and a 60 year old (it’s freaking HUGE).
6. If you have a policy that is real cheap and has a large death benefit, check it out and make sure that it isn’t an accident only policy (I can just about guarantee it is). Roughly only about 4% of deaths are the results of “accidents”. The 3 primary companies that I write for offer accident protection for free! They will double the death benefit if you die in an accident, and they don’t charge for it. That should tell you how rare a claim is.

If you have any more questions send me a PM, and I will try to answer them. And if I can’t, I can find somebody who does know the answer.

[fouronefive]

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- Finance at a local bank, not the dealership.
- Dont buy ANYTHING the finance person at the dealership tries to sell you. You can get everything somewhere else cheaper.

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Even with special incentive financing? Seems like my local bank has no reason to compete for, say, 2.9% loan for me?

[BigPoppa]

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- Finance at a local bank, not the dealership.
- Dont buy ANYTHING the finance person at the dealership tries to sell you. You can get everything somewhere else cheaper.

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Even with special incentive financing? Seems like my local bank has no reason to compete for, say, 2.9% loan for me?

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You can often get a rebate instead of the bargain rate (since the rate is a moneyloser for them).



If you're buying a car, don't ask for a hypotheitcal price. Don't ever say "If I come back and want the car, how much could you knock off?". You will be lied to just to get you return. If you do this all over town, you'll end up going back to the biggest liar. You will not get a real price until you actually start negotiating, and negotiations are not hypotheitcal.

[sunnycalifornia]

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Otherwise you have to do some market research and figure out what you are willing to buy the car for. If you buy a car for the Kelly Blue Book price you are grossly over paying for the vehicle. I would use a 2-3k under KBB as an absolute ceiling when it comes to the highest price I will pay at a dealership.

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wow i didnt know this. i DID know about kelley blue book though. i bought my '03 accord a year ago for KBB prices and even then that took a hell of a long time to negotiate. i told the dealership i'd pay exactly KBB since after doing all my research thats what seemed reasonable, but they wanted to go higher. finally i got the car for a little over KBB, but you're telling me that next time i should go 2-3k UNDER KBB?? i have no clue how i would even begin to start that negotiation. unless i tell them i have a friend whose a car salesman and he told me all about the black book?

[BigPoppa]

He was probably saying not to pay KBB "retail", which is usually way too high.

[greg nice]

-dont limp preflop

[phiphika1453]

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He was probably saying not to pay KBB "retail", which is usually way too high.

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Exactly, at LEAST 2-3k under KBB retail.


I said I would give some hints about avoiding problems with used cars, so here they are:

-Run your fingers around the edges of door, hood and trunk seals; if it feels like a fine grit sand paper, DONT BUY IT! This is where a body shop has edged the car with tape in order to paint whatever panel was damaged and not sanded it. Now of course it might have been something minor, but why take the risk when you are about to invest a good chunk of money into a vehicle.

-Take a step back and look to see if the paint fades in and out in some spots. If so, it was probably painted and the body shop did a poor job of floating the paint.

-Look down the sides of the car to be sure there are no bows in the doors, trunk etc.

-Look at the spacing anywhere two panels meet. (EX hood and quarter panel) If the spacing is not consistent down the length of the joint then something has happened.

-Make sure all the accessories are there and work. Radio, CD, heat, air, windows, spare tire, jack, floor mats, the list goes on and on.

Also those "carfax" reports a dealer gives you are a total scam. They are reports from a company that will not report anything wrong. Spend the money yourself and actually run a CARFAX report if you want to. I would be able to spot anything that report would have on it so I wouldnt need it, but it is nice for someone that has very little knowledge of cars.


Also, someone mentioned telling the dealership you would pay exactly KBB. Assuming they did not pay too much for the car I am sure they had no problems selling it to you for that price, but what would you have thought if they would have said "really? ok lets sign the paper work." You would have been like hold on they didnt even fight me, I can pay even less. So, they put up a small little cupcake pretend fight to make you feel like you won the negotiation.

Thats another thing to remember, most salesmen will tell the customer anything they want to hear and let them fell like they won a negotiation.