How it pays to be nice! The top ten big firms to haggle with and their call centre secrets

24:40In a car or with your feet? In a car. OK. In a car. Quite a large four by four. OK. And I thoroughly recommend the case it was in because it sort of survived, but it's just about, but the screen was right. Anyway, I paid for insurance. I thought, right, I'm going to claim it. I went in with my studs. I'm so fed up with insurers. I rang the poor bloke. I said, look, before he said anything, I said, look, I paid for this insurance. I was told it was no quibble. I wanted to pay. And he was going, all right, all right, all right, all right. And they did pay off. And I felt a bit bad afterwards. But even he was saying to me, which I thought, he's throwing for a call centre.

25:12He said, you know, you can do this online. So somebody works in a call centre trying to talk themselves out of a job. Well, I think they're probably just trying.

25:20Martin Lewis:I mean, they all have targets of the number of people that they can hit and they have to push people online in order to do it, to get it going through. So I'm less surprised by that. And it's worth me saying, when we're talking about haggling here, we could be talking on the phone. You could equally be talking these days with a web chat system and going through a web chat system to do it and talking to somebody there. It doesn't necessarily have to be on the phone. I believe you have a top ten of firms to haggle with. Do we have a little music bed, as we call it for this? We have a music bed. We're going to play it in just a second.

25:51Martin Lewis:This is the top ten UK service companies to haggle with from a poll that I've done based on the back of it. Now, the success rates are for people who try to haggle, not overall, it's only those who actually went for it. and what we're going to talk about. Olivia, hit the track. In at number 10, it's LV with 69 % success rate. Closely above that, at number 9, it's Sky Television, not its only entry in the top 10. Also with a 69 % success rate, it is just behind its own stablemate Sky mobile phones at 72%. Sticking in the telecoms arena in at number 7, it's TalkTalk with a 73 % success rate. And then we start to move into the big ones where more than four in five people who tried succeeded.

26:35Martin Lewis:You've got AA Insurance. I'll be mentioning that name again later at 80%. Hastings Direct Insurance at 82%. Admiral Insurance at 83%. We get to the big three now. In at number three, getting right up there, a huge success rate of 85 % is Virgin Media. And the top two come from the same sector. Those who haggle often will know exactly where this is going to be. In at number two, 90 % success rate, nine in 10 people who try succeed, is the AA only being picked by its biggest rival, RAC, for breakdown cover. That's a staggering 91 % success rate of customers who tried to haggle succeeded. 62 % say they had a big success.

27:23Martin Lewis:29 % say they had a small success. Add them together and you get 91%. Right. One of the top two I haggled with, but I was so livid with them. I was so livid with them for offering me a much lower price than I found myself stock on. I just left them and swore never go back and wrote them a rude letter. Well, I mean, let me go through my haggling tips because that makes perfect sense. I get your frustration in this. Some people enjoy it. Some people don't. But Adrian, the fact is, I mean, it is a golden rule when you are coming to the renewal of your breakdown cover, Do not, do not simply accept the price you're getting.

28:03Martin Lewis:We had someone on the Question Time version of the podcast the other week who saved£550 a year by haggling. I couldn't untick the auto renewal box that I'd stupidly ticked several years before. They wouldn't let me untick it without ringing them, and then I couldn't get through. Yeah, I mean, that's very frustrating. But look, my number one tip is always, before you do this, benchmark the best buys that are available elsewhere. and be asking them to match that so that if you were willing to go elsewhere, you could. But equally, my last tip is always, if you don't get what you want, then feel free to ditch and switch.

28:36Martin Lewis:Remember, we do not have a right to a cheaper price, I'm afraid, but they do not have a right to our custom. And as long as we don't make this aggressive with the individuals that we're talking to, they are free to charge you the price that they're charging you. You are free to go and take your business somewhere else. And that's ultimately the trade-off that goes here. I'll just run through my quicks tip quickly because we've got lots of people who've got in touch with their own tips and I've also got tips from people in walk-in call centres too. Number one tip, just say it again, always be polite and charming.

29:06Martin Lewis:Never rude. Some operatives have discount quotas, so you want to try to win them over so they support you and they give you one of their discount quotas. You've just got to go in with the attitude of financial flirting, if you like. Can I ask you something about that? If somebody says, oh, hi, it's Aloysius here. good morning to you, do you say, oh, hi, Aloysius, how are you? Do you use, if they've given you their name, do you use their name? If it feels right, if that's your normal conversational mode, if that's how you do it. I mean, one of the most important things, as we can tell, let's do a next, me and you do this exercise now, Adrian.

29:40Martin Lewis:OK. OK, so I'm talking now, I'm going to, I want you, I'm not going to do it just yet, I want you to tell me when I start smiling, OK? Mm-hm. So the next tip I have is know when to haggle. Focus on mature industries and come. Exactly. You heard it, right? You heard the smile in my voice. But I'm livid, though. I can't smile. Well, look, you know, you're an actor. You've just got to get round. You've got to do this. We can't be livid with them. It's not going to work. So that was a real tip. Know when to haggle. Focus on mature industries when the contacts end. Know your haggle reason before you call.

30:13Martin Lewis:So what is the reason you're going to say you want a discount? This is over budget. I've found it cheaper elsewhere, and you should have benchmarked those prices. I've spoken to my wife, my partner, my budgie, whatever it is, and they say we can't afford this at this rate so I'm going to have to get rid of it. I don't want to get rid of it. I'd prefer to keep it but I can't keep it at that price. Have in your head what the reason you want a cheaper price is. We've already talked about no joy going to disconnections. Just going to read your success here because if we're talking mobile phones specifically, while you may be better haggling, there is a shortcut that you may enjoy.

30:47Martin Lewis:The final point when you found a new deal elsewhere that you do on your mobile phone bill is you ask for your PAC code, your PAC code, right? And you can do that by, oh, you just text PAC. I just have to double-check my header. 65057. I hope I've got that right. I'm doing that from memory. Have you got Rosie with you? I will check that. Rosie will message producer Matt, and Matt will then say in my ear whether that's right or not. PAC to 65057. That's the magic behind the scenes, Adrian. That's how it works. So when you do that, in quite a lot of occasions, the company that you're leaving because you're telling it you're leaving will try and keep you and you'll get a text back saying okay here's your PAC code but this is what we'll do if you stay let me read this from Sue after reading your email sorry she sent this to me I was finally prompted to switch my SIM from O2 to Gifgaf I'd previously tried haggling down my monthly tariff with O2 without success I read the advice about getting a PAC number then waited a while after getting it as predicted O2 called and offered me a deal reducing my monthly tariff from over£12 to£6 and upping my data allowance from 5 gig to 25 gig.

31:54Martin Lewis:Encouraged by this, my partner did the same and reduced his SIM-only monthly tariff from£18 to£8. Between us, we've saved£200 a year and increased our monthly data allowances considerably. See? That's it. And she goes on to thanks. Simply putting PAC in, telling them you're going to leave. It's all about letting them know you're going. A couple of final tips from me before we get on to the tips from out there. Do not be forced to cancel. This is what scares people off. I go through to disconnections, like you say, but what happens if they say, I'm going to disconnect you? Here's the answer. They get on the phone here.

32:28Martin Lewis:You could be the call centre. So I'd like to cancel. We've gone through the talk, and you tell me now you're going to cancel me, Adrian. Well, in that case, I'm afraid, you know, I know you're Martin Lewis, and I know you're smiling as you talk, even though you're not particularly happy, but I'm going to cancel you. I don't want you. OK, yeah, I just need to go and check that with my wife before I do, that she's happy with me to cancel, and I will call you back on it. It could be your wife, it could be your husband, it could be your boyfriend, it could be your girlfriend, it could be your father, it could be your daughter, it could be your auntie, your uncle, or even your pet parrot.

32:55Martin Lewis:I don't care. But if your concern is what happens if they call my bluff, then you just have the, I just need to check with someone else. And that saves your embarrassment and it gets you off the phone. Because, next tip, if you fail, try again in a few days. Different person, different time, can get you a different result. And I've just had a message in. I'm sorry

33:20Martin Lewis:65075 is the right number text PAC and just because you're getting your PAC code by the way doesn't mean you're leaving it's only when that goes to the new provider that that's right and the final tip of mine if all of this doesn't work if they haven't given you a deal or the discount that you want and you think is appropriate if there are cheaper prices elsewhere ditch and switch we've got tips from people to haggle with a call centre, from people who work in call centres in some cases? You've got the tips. We did a tellers on this. My tellers was call centre secrets. If you work or worked in a call centre, what tips do you have for people to get the best deal?

34:01Martin Lewis:And then I did another one, which is for people who are good at haggling to get in touch with their haggling tips. So you've got the haggling tips. I've got the call centre tips from the call centre staff. And we can alternate them. We'll play different roles in this. I'll be call centre staff. you be a haggler, even though you're clearly not. OK, haggling tips then. Peter, pressing hash when going through the automated menu usually pushes you through to a human, yeah. Kirsty from the call centre says, be nice, if you're rude, I'll do what I'm paid to do. If you're nice, I'll do everything I can to help you.

34:34Interesting, interesting, because I realise to the extent to which you assume they're almost automatons and they're only going by a pre-written script, you forget they've got... and you should remember this at all time, they've got hearts and minds and it's probably not what they grew up wanting to do.

34:53Martin Lewis:Well, not necessarily. It's not a bad job and it's moving through a process. It gets you there. But the point I would make is, literally, I've had call centre staff tell me in the past they have a certain number of discounts they can give in a day. That's the point. So there is a discretion there of who they're going to give a discount to and who they won't. What's your next tip? The only effective way to haggle is to say you're cancelling with car insurance particularly, it's an annual time-wasting ritual when they hike the renewal for no reason at all. You're called to cancel and they immediately fold and come back with a better offer.

35:23Who's that one from? That's from System.

35:25Martin Lewis:Now, I have to tell you, this one from Ellie has sent chills through me. And I think it will send chills through everyone who hears it. Ellie, from a call centre staff. If you think you're on hold, don't assume because there's music that the call handler can't hear what you're saying whilst you're on hold. That's not cricket, is it? Well, I think it's probably just done for the system. So, I mean, in purely haggling terms, what you don't say is you turn to your partner and say, oh, they're offering me 50. If they get down to 40, I'll accept it because that would clearly, you've then given it away.

35:59Martin Lewis:But equally, what else could you be saying? I mean, I'm a little bit blown away by that one. What else could you say? What else could you say to pay the system? No, I don't mean about the haggling. You could be having a private conversation. You could be talking, you could be brushing your teeth, you could be doing anything else at the time. The fact that they can hear you when you're on hold. Yeah, absolutely. Cricketnut says, yep, open extreme. Make your biggest move, the first hold position, increasingly smaller counter offers and holds. Additionally, look at the tradables. There's always value to be had.

36:30I think I know what he's talking about there.

36:32Martin Lewis:Yeah, tradables is, I mean, anything they can throw in as extras. We'll give you more, you know, we heard it earlier, we'll give you more data on your mobile phone. will give you more channels that is non-cash. Try for that as well, because that's often easier for them than giving you cash. Claire, like this one. Claire from the call centre. Most call centres work 9 to 5, 12 to 6, 2 to 10 and overnight shifts. Try and call towards the end of those times. Be polite. Use the handler's name. Well, there you go, Adrian. You asked before. Claire, who works in the call centre, says use the handler's name and tell them to take their time so they don't have to take another call two minutes before their shift ends.

37:07Martin Lewis:that makes them finish late. Interesting. Interesting. What were the times again for the shifts? Nine to five, twelve to six, two to ten. Okay. And overnight shifts. Right, got it. And generally, if you want to get through, earlier in the morning is often best as a general rule, you know, not just haggling all over the place. The Volt LQ, I think it is. Yeah. The haggle that works best is the one you time. Sky Broadband Insurance or price on inertia, so the discount goes to people who know their contract end dates. Diarise renewals two weeks out and the call centre script write itself. Absolutely right.

37:48Martin Lewis:And if I just go through the top five sectors to haggle with it, I won't do this with the music bed. Bank and card providers overall, 46 % success rate. Mobile phone providers, 63%. TV, broadband and home phones, 69%. Insurance, 70%. And breakdown cover, 87%. which I think is worth knowing. Back to the tips that I've got. I mean, some of these are fascinating. Tina, again on timing. Don't ring around lunchtime when people are on breaks. You'll have longer wait times and more stressed staff. OK, go on, give us another one. I like yours. I like this one too. Kylie, when we ask if there's anything else we can help with, please don't ask for the lottery numbers because we've heard it millions of times already.

38:36Martin Lewis:Brilliant. Kim says, know the NATO phonetic alphabet, because when you have a letter like a B or a P in your name or postcode, they sound similar over the phone, also M and N. And then swear words tend to come in the front of people's mind when they're under pressure to come out with something. I do people's names generally because I don't know the NATO phonetic alphabet. I don't swear, but you can just imagine someone saying that. It's a B, like B as in, well, you can come up with your own B swear word. I do know mine, my dad taught it to me when I was little and it's just stuck it's just stuck with me What's F?

39:13Foxtrot You? Uniform You're very good, I don't know them

39:18Martin Lewis:Alexander, sending in legalistic complaints from chap GPT aren't the slam dunk you think 9 times out of 10 they make no sense yeah, always read through your AI before you're going through, have you got any more tips there before we get to my tip to you which is not to do mastermind Yeah, Chris, it's funny how people like to haggle gardening services, but not electricians or plumbers. Interesting. Yeah, I think face to face, people find it much more difficult. And when you're dealing with someone who's doing the work themselves as opposed to offering a service, there's almost I think we've got this British disease that we feel like we're insulting them by saying that price isn't the right price for me because you're having to say, oh, your work isn't that good.

39:55Martin Lewis:But, you know, everything that is discretionary, where there's a fixed amount of work, is open to some form of negotiation. But you have to do it the right way. And remember, they can choose not to do it at that price, and you can choose not to employ them at that price.

40:19Martin Lewis:Adrian, you've got 19 right and 40 wrong in this three-option multiple-choice quiz, which means, sadly, you are still... N-B-R-C. No better than random chance. For those who don't listen regularly, this is the Money Mastermind as a set-up and then a question for Adrian. We'll see how he does. Are you ready, mate? I'm ready. OK, now, recently, our Adrian was out in his padded gilet off to a petrol forecourt shop to buy a token for his favourite weekend ritual, checking the tyre pressure on his beloved 2007 mud brown Fiat 500. It's funny you should say that. My mates at school always used to say I'd end up with a brown maxi.

41:00He wasn't. Fiat 500's quite close. Close, yeah.

41:04Martin Lewis:Suddenly, the lights flicker and a smoking DeLorean screeches in, scattering air fresheners, dog chews and discounted de-icer. A wild-haired man leaps out and shouts, Jump in Jehoshaphat! Adrian, I need your help! Adrian, thrilled, climbs onto a stack of screenwash and declares, roads, where we're going, we don't need roads. The man says, of course we need roads. I just know you do that podcast with Martin. And I've got a tax question. Sorry, my throat. From 2026. Anyway, I've just retired, he says. My pension is around£12 ,500 a year and my savings earn around£4 ,400 interest. Back then, I didn't think to the future enough.

41:49Martin Lewis:Do I pay income tax? So, Adrian, are you Marty McFly or Marty Muck, why me? I want to know what's your answer. A reminder again, with a£12 ,500 pension and£4 ,400 of savings interest, roughly how much tax is payable? A, none, and it's all in the UK, of course. B, 20 % of£3 ,400, which is about£680. Or C, 20 % of£4 ,400, so£880. What was B again? 20 % of£3 ,400. So you've got a£12 ,500 pension and£4 ,400 savings interest. How much tax would you pay? None, 20 % of£3 ,400 or 20 % of£4 ,400? It's got to be the middle one because there must be some allowance, the first. So come on, what do you know about savings allowances?

42:45Martin Lewis:We've been doing this programme for a good few years. I can't just look up... OK, how much can a person earn generally the personal tax allowance before they pay tax on it? Do you know roughly? Well, I think it's about£12 ,500, isn't it? It is indeed. It's£12 ,570. Right. OK. So... So this is a question about savings allowance. Yes, about savings allowance. So I take 70 off... Ignore the 70. Ignore the 70. Yeah, it's all rounding. So are you paying 20 % of the entire savings interest? Are you paying 20 % of the entire savings interest bar£1 ,000? Or are you not paying any tax on the savings interest?

43:28Martin Lewis:That's the question. I think you've got to pay some tax. And I don't know why there'd be£1 ,000. It'd be not the whole lot, but I'll go for not the whole lot. So are you locking in on B? I'm locking in on B. OK, you're locked in. Right. Adrian says it's 20 % of£3 ,400. Now, there is the personal savings allowance, which I suspect many listeners will know about, which says a basic rate taxpayer can earn£1 ,000 of interest a year on any form of savings without being taxed. So with the normal personal allowance and the personal savings allowance, that would mean you would only pay 20 % of tax on£3 ,400, not£4 ,400.

44:11so if that were it you would be right Adrian but you're not why'd you do this why well because I

44:20Martin Lewis:was hoping that I'd give you at least you didn't even get half the answer I was expecting you to get which was to say that the personal savings allowance is a thousand pounds what's missing in this one is there is another allowance that people don't know about it is called the starting savings allowance. And what happens with the starting rate of savings is if you have high savings interest and low earnings, then it is a special allowance that means up to the first £5 ,000 of your savings interest can be tax free, plus you get the personal savings allowance on top. And the way they set this scenario up, which was a£12 ,500 pension, and of course, pensions are taxable income.

45:01Martin Lewis:So that's all taxable income and£4 ,400 savings interest, again, taxable income. It would all be covered by the starting savings allowance, which means the correct answer I'm delighted to say is A, in that circumstance, you would not pay any tax. You got it wrong, Adrian, but I'll be explaining the starting rate of savings a little bit more in the podcast for anyone in that circumstance. And they will get it right because it means they'll pay less tax? Thank you very much, Martin. Okay, I've moved into podcast-only mode, and I just want to explain how the starting rate of savings works in a little bit more detail.

45:36Martin Lewis:Effectively, the rule is, above the personal allowance, so£12 ,570, you can earn£5 ,000 of interest only from savings, and it would be outside an ISA, because interest inside an ISA isn't taxable, and that will be tax-free. However, for each pound you have from earned income, which includes pensions, above£12 ,570, you lose a pound of that£5 ,000 starting savings allowance of tax-free savings interest. Let's do a few examples which I think should clear this up. So if you earned£12 ,571,£1 above£12 ,570, your starting rate of savings allowance would drop to£4 ,999. If you earned£13 ,570, a grand above the personal allowance, your starting rate of savings allowance would be£4 ,000.

46:35Martin Lewis:If you earned£16 ,570, which is£4 ,000 above the personal allowance, your start from earned income, your starting rate of savings would be just£1 ,000. And once you get to earnings of£17 ,570, you no longer have the starting rate of savings. But remember, you do still have the personal allowance because now you're a basic rate taxpayer and that means you can earn£1 ,000 of savings tax-free each year. I know it's a little bit complicated, but what it effectively means is someone who earned£12 ,570 from earned income and had£6 ,000 of interest from savings outside of ISAs could have all£18 ,570 tax free.

47:21Martin Lewis:Obviously, you'll need to do some thinking how it applies to you. But it effectively, this was set up to help people who have a low earned income and high savings interest, primarily pensioners who tend to be in that situation, who've got savings built up over the years, but are no longer working and they're just living off pensions that are at a relatively low level. And it works there, which is why Adrian got the question wrong. I was expecting, I don't know what you think, I was expecting him to know about the Personal Savings Alliance, because we've talked about that a lot. That's the£1 ,000 of interest you can earn tax free as a basic rate taxpayer, £500 of interest you can earn as a higher 40 % rate taxpayer.

47:56Martin Lewis:You don't get a personal savings allowance if you're a top 45 % rate taxpayer. But he didn't, which means the score gets even worse. 19 right and 41 wrong.

48:09Martin Lewis:Now I'm joined by podcast producer Matt. Hello, Matt. Hello. It's nice to have you on here. I think we're mostly covered haggling. I think we got a lot of the different messages we got in. We have had some successes in. I know you've got those and I've got a few more of the tellers from call centre staff that I'd like to read out. So why don't we alternate? Are you happy with that? I'm happy with that. OK, you can start. You success first. OK, success from Andrew. I bought two paintings the other day when I said I was interested in the second. I did ask for a possible discount and I got 400 quid off.

48:38I said that's reasonable. I'll buy both. Wow.

48:41Martin Lewis:There you go. So work for both then. Hopefully work for the shop and work for you. Not a call centre haggle, but we like that one anyway. Sarah reiterating something we've heard, but I think it's a different way of phrasing it. This is coming from call centre staff. Please, please, please just be polite. We're not chief executives of companies and have to adhere to guidelines set out that often can't be changed. If you demand to speak to a manager, they will often not want to talk. We simply pass on to another colleague or they would tell you the same as we've already said. Yes, you might be angry and frustrated, but out of hundreds of calls each day, we'd only have maybe one or two that were pleasant to talk to.

49:19Martin Lewis:Well, that's awful. If I ever call nowadays, I make their lives as easy as possible. Never, ever call 30 minutes before closing. So, yeah, I mean, you can hear the frustration coming from the staff. You can also hear why it pays to be nice, because if you're one of those two people, they really will want to help you. It's interesting. I had an issue myself with a call centre. I won't go into detail who it was. but I felt that procedurally and systemically something that that company doing was wrong and when I asked about it and was told that that was a policy I said to the call centre staff I said look this isn't you but I think there is a systemic policy here I'd like to make a complaint how do I make a complaint and he told me how and we did the complaint together and all the way through I was very keen to say I absolutely get you haven't done this you seem a very nice person but I do think that procedurally the company is behaving in a way that isn't appropriate.

50:13Martin Lewis:And I put the formal complaint in and we had a nice little chat about something and then we said bye. I try not to make it personal because it wasn't that individual's fault. I mean, why should I be having a go at him? When you ring up, do they know it's you? So when I call, I have an email address that is not my work email address, so doesn't include money-saving expert in my email, which is what I use for all of my dealings, you know, my private, personal, administrative dealings. And so there isn't an automatic clue in there. Some do go, you know, when they ask for your name and I say Martin Lewis, I've had people make a joke, oh, you're the Martin Lewis, are you?

50:59Martin Lewis:I should be careful. And I sort of never quite know how to reply to that. I've had others who do it as an assertion. and then I will, you know, if they ask me the question, I have to say yes and some who don't know. So it can depend. I will always remember, I was calling up and it's a long time ago now because I think it was motorbike insurance and I've since had a ban on driving a motorbike not from the police, from my wife, who won't allow it. But anyway, that's another discussion. So I was for motorbike insurance and I called this company and they hadn't done anything wrong and she got it with me straight away and just went into this absolute panic mode.

51:39Martin Lewis:And I asked the question, said, I'm going to need to go and find out. I'm sorry it's going to take me two minutes. And I was like, that's absolutely fine. She says, no, I'm like, it's fine, honestly. And I literally could hear her running across the call centre. I could hear the feet patting at speed to get across the call centre and her talking in the background to someone in panic. And I came back and I felt really bad because I was being nice. I wasn't calling up to complain. I was just asking a simple inquiry question. But it felt, I feel she felt like her entire job was on the line. And I do remember one time, go the opposite way, where they didn't know it was me and I had incredibly rude service from somebody.

52:21Martin Lewis:I mean, they were really rude and I wasn't being rude. And I remember putting, and what they told me was completely inappropriate. And I said to them, I don't believe that answer is correct. and I believe that breaches the FCA's regulation on it. I would like you to check. And he said, I know what I'm talking about. And I said, well, I don't believe you do and I'd like you to escalate if you would. And he was properly rude to me. And I said, I think we should take a step back here and start this again because I don't think this is good for you or good for me. Still refused. And in the end, then when I asked to speak to escalate it to a manager as it was part, he refused.

52:59Martin Lewis:And he said, you don't have a right and I'm not going to talk to you anymore. And he put the phone down on me. Wow. And I called, in the end, I went senior and I used who I am and I called senior people in that very large corporate environment, explained to them what had happened and they said yes. I explained to them why I thought their policy was wrong, which they understood and agreed with. I'm not going to go into the details of what it was. And they said, can we listen to the call? And I said, I don't want to because I don't want that person to lose their job. and they said, well, we're going to listen to the call.

53:33Martin Lewis:So they listened to the call, and they came back, and I said, I had a big push. I don't want them to lose their job. I think they probably need some retraining, but I don't want them to lose their job. And they told me they wouldn't lose their job. But they said the irony was they had done a training session with call centre staff, and one of the analogies they'd used was just imagine that you're talking to Martin Lewis. And this person had been and hadn't got it. so but I don't want I'm trying to as you can probably hear Matt I'm trying to be really nice about it and not dub it in just for people listening I was nice and I was 100 % right right and the company apologised later and agreed that I was 100 % right and this was it was just wrong but obviously the guy was obviously having a really bad day yeah we've all had bad days we've all had bad days but it does show doesn't it it pays to be nice it pays to be nice it's nice to be nice it pays to be nice and I always do it the other way round.

54:31Martin Lewis:I imagine I'm talking to someone who's been embedded by the call centre by the Daily Mail and they were looking to catch me out so that I have to be nice the other way round in the same way. Right, so now I believe we've still got a few more left on this issue. I think we've got, you've got a couple of successes and I've got a couple more messages from people in the call centre. Shall we do those? If you'd like. PK Rising. I work in an insurance call centre. There is no wiggle room on price beyond changing your details, updating the quote. If they do get you a better price, listen carefully for, and that includes your optional XXX.

55:05Martin Lewis:So, I mean, the message there I agree with, which is that always be careful to make sure you're getting a like for like replacement and the change in price isn't simply a change in the product. But we do have data that many insurance companies will, especially if you tell them what you're being charged elsewhere. And they will often want an accurate quote. They want to know which company is willing to charge you less than they are. they will price match at least with existing companies. Have you got another success for me? Yeah, I've got a success for Matthew. He says, I always haggle mainly with car insurance and car breakdown cover.

55:38Main one being the AA for car breakdown. Every year I get the renewal at way more than last year's premium. I call them and ask why it's gone up. I think I've only had three or four call outs in the nine years I've been with them. After this, the price usually drops. This year, the call handler said she can drop it from around£230 to around£170. I then said, are you sure that's the best you can do? And her answer was, oh, I think we can do a bit better. Ah, yes, we can knock another£20 off.

56:03Martin Lewis:Win. See, I mean, ultimately it's variable pricing. It's price differentiation, as I talked about before. And we'll finish with Joe. And because I think Joe sums up, if I haven't knocked this message hard in yet, I don't know what I can. If complaining, which is slightly different to haggling, no matter how bad the complaint just be nice to the person I guarantee you will get better help from them if you make them want to help you and that seems a good way to end that's it for this week we tend to put out a new episode every Thursday and Monday that's our question time podcast where you get to ask me absolutely anything and everything open brackets within reason close brackets if you've enjoyed the show today please tell your friends you've been listening to the Martin Lewis podcast suggest they listen to.

56:52Martin Lewis:Why don't you and they subscribe? And why don't you and they leave us a review? Are we asking too much? Maybe, but go on. If you've got a little bit of time, you can always do it. Your pockets at least will be pleased with you. And if you haven't enjoyed it and you've been listening this long, it's your own fault. So...

57:23Martin Lewis is the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com. But of course, other consumer and price comparison websites are available. You can get in touch with Martin's podcast production team by emailing martinlewispodcast at bbc.co.uk. The offers and rates mentioned in the podcast are correct at the time of recording. However, if you are listening on demand, it's worth double checking as details can date. Remember to subscribe on BBC Sounds and leave us a review however you listen. I got bills, I gotta pay.