Save Money When a Store Messes Up by Asking for Something Bigger/Better at the Same Price

Here's a money saving tip that I simply love:

When a store messes up in some way, ask them to make it right by giving you something bigger/better at the same price.

Here's an example of what I mean from a co-worker's wife who ran into this situation and made the most of it:

Teresa went to a nursery and was going to buy four, 4-foot high evergreen trees for $45 each for an area near her garden. She picked the exact tress she wanted and called a clerk over to place a "sold" ticket on them. She then went back to the store's inside register and paid for them, shelling out a total of $180.

She went out and got her truck with a trailer and brought it to the front of the nursery. She then got a clerk and they walked to where her trees were (so the clerk could move them onto her truck.) But when she got there, they were gone.

After several minutes of searching, they found out that the shop's owner had sold them to another customer in the meantime and had even loaded them on a company trailer for delivery. Teresa asked how this could have happened as she had paid for the trees and even had the exact ones she wanted tagged to say they were sold. The owner didn't really have a good explanation but was adamant that the trees were already sold to the other person.

This is the part I love...

Seeing that she wasn't going to get her exact trees, Teresa spied an opportunity. She told the owner that she'd be willing to let "her" trees be sold to the other customer if he gave her four, 6-foot trees for the price she paid for the 4-foot trees (the 6-foot trees were normally $160 each.) he said "fine" and they had a deal. Everyone was happy!

What a story! By asking for something bigger/better (a 50% taller set of trees at a cost of $180 instead of the normal price of $640), Teresa got a GREAT deal. And the store, by being willing to make a customer happy, kept the business and earned a satisfied customer. Like I said, everyone was happy! ;-)

For more money saving tips, see 301 Saving Money Posts -- Hundreds of Ideas on How to Save Money.