Every consumer in our society has dealt with big companies, and we all share some concerns and lasting experiences with these large businesses. Even though some of us don’t admit it, we all have something we are not happy with when it comes to our service. Perhaps the business has grown too large to have a positive effect on its customers. Or maybe it’s the constant price increases that have sent you on a personal vendetta. Regardless of what your specific concern may be, I would like to address a few of my ideals on these money making powerhouses that WE have helped create.

More Money

First off, if you are not aware of this yet, all businesses are trying to make as much money as possible with a minimum of resources. This may be the greatest problem that most of us have with these companies. For example, your cell phone company might try to stiff you if you lose or break your cell phone. And what first comes to mind is, “Why should I have to pay for something that I am already paying for on a monthly basis?” Well, if we look at it from the businesses perspective we find that the business is primarily making you pay because you pay because they will save massive amounts of money if they do so. The company may have millions of customers, just multiply your case times the number of customers and consider the loss. On the other hand, if we step back into our under appreciated consumer shoes, we are now paying both our service bill and an added replacement bill. For most of us, this replacement is usually equal to our service bill. So in turn we are paying double our service bill because of an accident.

Responsibility 

The deciding factor comes down to responsibility. Like it or not, the world does still operate on common sense. If you break something, then it is your duty to replace it. But if you use something within its functional limits, then it should be the creator’s duty to replace the item in question. These two ideals seem simple enough, but businesses are again looking out for profit loss and sometimes masking it with policy. At the same time, businesses have to look out for those people around us who also try to take advantage of them.

Some common scenarios might go as follows. You just bought a new product and have had it for a few months now. One day the product stops functioning and of course, it is out of warranty. So guess what? You are going to have to pay to get it replaced. You can be a good customer and fork over the money to get it replaced. Or you can take steps to save yourself some money.

If you want more information on how to get the most out of any service, then read this:
Good customer, Bad customer

Pay Your Bills

Next, I would like to take a look at billing from these large companies. Once a month you get a bill from the services you have purchased. Now I cannot stress enough the importance of paying your bill on time. Like it or not, most business value their customers by how well you pay your bills. So if you do not pay your bills on time, and expect something from a company that is offering you service, you reside in a very delusional reality. If you offered a service and one of your customers didn’t pay his/her bill on time at all for the past year, would you be willing to bend a little to help that individual?

During the extent of your billing with a company, you at one time may feel as though the business owes you something. This is a valid concern if of course you have been mistreated by the company. But if you are simply trying to get something for nothing, then don’t expect an easy road. If you do decide to start down a path of cheaper service than the rest of us because you are, “special,” than go right ahead. Just make sure to give yourself a dose of reality on a monthly basis so that you don’t expect it to last forever.

Shopping around is also something to consider when trying to save money. Once again, you can’t expect something for nothing, but if you have been a customer for a long time or have had a bad experience then ask for a discount. When negotiating discounts with a company it is best to stay within reason. If you lost service for a day, expect to get credit for a prorated amount of the month. If you have been a customer for ten-years, expect the company to match offers of its competitors to retain you. Getting an idea of how the company views you as a customer can give you the upper hand in most instances.

Fundamentally, consumers and businesses try to live together in a harmonious relationship. Consumers need a service, and businesses are there to provide it. When a business is too large, it may lose touch with some of its customers. This is when problems arise. If big business learned to focus more on the individual, then perhaps fewer customers would feel under appreciated and begin to value the service provided.