Martin Lewis reveals top 10 firms it pays to haggle with and save money

Martin Lewis reveals top 10 firms it pays to haggle with and save money Money guru Martin Lewis has given his must-do tips on getting a better deal from your insurance, TV firm and others - plus a call centre claim that "sent chills through me" Martin Lewis has revealed the top 10 firms it pays to haggle with - along with a “really shocking” call centre discovery. The consumer champion urged anyone who gets to the end of a contract - whether insurance, breakdown cover or another - to try to get a better deal with their provider. That is particularly true if someone is happy with their current provider and they would rather not switch. “Don’t just accept your renewal, especially in the right industries, you can often save a shed-load” was Martin’s starting point. He said many firms charge the maximum someone is willing to pay. “Many can save hundreds of pounds a year with just a simple phone call,” he added. “If you say you are going to leave, a company will often put you through to customer disconnections where there are the people with the real power and authority to give you discounts and deals which will keep you. If you’re not getting the deal or discount that you want or need, get yourself through to customer disconnections - internally known as customer retentions.” He discouraged people from simply phoning up their provider and asking, bluntly, to give them their best offer or they will leave. “They are going to say, ‘this is the best price we are going to give you’,” he said. “Haggling is a negotiation”. Martin insisted that haggling was also about winning the other person, and customers should never be rude with call centre agents. The founder of Moneysavingexpert.com revealed the results of survey of which service providers people had the most success haggling with. - RAC 91% success rate - AA breakdown 90% - Virgin Media 85% - Admiral Insurance 83% - Hastings insurance 82% - AA insurance 80% - TalkTalk 73% - Sky Mobile 72% - Sky TV 69% - LV 69% Referring to the top two, but he told BBC Radio 5: “The golden rule is that when you are coming to the end of your breakdown cover do not - do not - simply accept the price you are getting”. His advice is, before starting to haggle on any service, to look for the best deal you could get elsewhere, and ask your current provider to match that. “If you don’t get the deal you want, feel free to ditch and switch,” he added. “We don’t a right to a cheaper price, I’m afraid, but they don’t have a right to our custom.” He also revealed tips from anonymous call centre agents, including that customers who aren’t aggressive can get a better deal as they often have a certain number of discounts that they can provide in a day. Quoting another which “has sent chills through me”, he read: “‘If you think you are on hold, don’t assume because there is music, the call handler can’t hear what you are saying. I’m a little bit blown away by that one.”