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(excerpt
from)
How
to Get the Best Price on Anything
by Eric Messinger
You
have issues with your pipes, and the plumber you find
talks like a marine and charges like a lawyer.
what
to consider
You
bargaining potential turns on whether the situation is an
immediate crisis or a longer-term problem. If you need
the job done immediately, the best you can do is to ask
for a discount and see whether the plumber, electrician
or carpenter laughs in your ear or gives it to you for
the sake of customer relations. (He may surprise you.)
But if the problem isn't posing an immediate threat, then
you have something tangible to offer: time. Or as Robert
Maiolo, the owner of Friendly Plumber ®, in San
Francisco, puts it: "If there's scheduling flexibility on
the customer's side, then chances are I'd be able to give
them my standard negotiating discount." (Which is about
10 percent.)
what
to say
Plumbers,
electricians, and carpenters typically don't have the
time or the inclination to do a lot of dickering over
their prices. So be polite and don't haggle for the sake
of haggling. "If someone asks me, in a simple and
friendly way, what's the best price I can give them,"
Maiolo says, "then not only would I not be insulted but
I'd sharpen my pencil."
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