Professional cellphone contract negotiators haggle for customers
CBC News
Posted: Feb 25, 2013 3:04 PM ET
Last Updated: Feb 25, 2013 3:29 PM ET
Companies such as "My bills are high.com" negotiate with wireless providers such as Rogers or Bell to get customers a better deal in return for a cut of the savings. (Bogdan Cristel/Reuters)
Discussing cellphone bills, contracts and plans with their wireless provider is something many Canadians would rather not do — so a number of entrepreneurs are offering to haggle with service providers on their behalf.
Companies such as mybillsarehigh.com negotiate with wireless providers like Rogers or Bell to get customers a better deal, in return for a cut of the savings.
Mohamed Halabi, founder and CEO of mybillsarehigh.com says the trick is to know all the plans, past and present, offered by all the cellphone providers in Canada. But that doesn't necessarily make it fun to deal with customer service representatives for the wireless companies.
"Even me as an expense management professional, I mean, I [get] really frustrated, right?" he said. "So, I mean, it's obviously really hard for the average customer to do this."
CBC's Blair Sanderson had his wife Tara give Halabi's service a try, and then he reported on her experience. Tara was reluctant to participate at first because it meant providing her past wireless bills to Halabi, and calling her cellphone service provider to authorize him to make changes to her account. She also felt that she was getting a pretty good deal already.
However, Halabi did manage to get her a better contract. (Though in the end she reverted to her previous contract, so as not to benefit from her husband's story, as per CBC's journalistic standards.)
To hear the details, click on the play button in the audio player at the top of the story.
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