Canadian Personal Finance Blog

A friend of mine pointed me to a really good site that I now read every day, Silicon Valley.com’s Good Morning Silicon Valley . The information in there is quite eclectic and usually has very little to do with finances and such (I read it because I am also a Geek, remember), but a posting today really caught my eye.

It started with a former Verizon sales rep’s need to unburden himself of back-room secrets and pass his insider expertise along to hapless customers. As his outlet, he chose The Consumerist blog, and Monday, a post titled “8 Confessions Of A Former Verizon Sales Rep” appeared, with advice like “Never get a two-year contract” and some tips on playing hardball that may or may not be in your ethical comfort zone (like agreeing to a data plan to get a phone discount, then canceling the plan a day later).

Next thing you know, past and present reps for other phone companies are tripping over each other in a rush to spill their guts. In short order we got “7 Confessions of a Cingular Sales Rep,” “6 Confessions Of A Former Sprint Sales Rep,” “11 Confessions of a T-Mobile Sales Rep,” and invitations are out to any Alltel or U.S. Cellular renegades. As to the tips themselves, your mileage may vary, but it’s nice to have even a semblance of battlefield intelligence.

I went to the all of the links in that article and was astounded at the “tricks of the trade” as it were in the cell phone world. Now I pay a pretty penny for my cell phones, and now I am wondering just how badly I am being “fleeced” by my service provider up here in Ottawa?

Are there any Telus, Bell Mobility, Rogers or Fido Sales reps who would like to unburden themselves and confess to the Big Cajun Man about their “sins against consumers”? All names kept anonymous.

The week comes to an end with pride and some pain.

The pain is from a few areas:

• I can’t submit my taxes early the way I love to because the CCRA’s computers are “in a twist”. They have my money, I want it back, no procrastinating on this one, give me my damn money!
• New house prices have gone up, but that is not too painful, since I already own a small portion of a house already.
• I attempted to keep up with a bunch of 15 and 16 year old girls in a Parents vs. Kids basketball game. That pain is very real and my knees are reminding me just how little exercise I get these days (and how I should work on that, no procrastinating with that either).
• Procrastinating may not be as good a thematic premise as I thought it could be for financial planning, but it does have a few advantages.
• Clocks go ahead this weekend and I lose an hour of sleep, and it may screw up our computers too!

Pride?:

• My oldest daughter turns 17 today, and I remember her birthday like it was yesterday. She has an RESP and a good head on her shoulders, so hopefully her future is as bright as I hope it is.
• My youngest daughter’s school team won their school board championship in basketball and I got to see the game, so that is always a point of pride (that is the scoreboard picture from the end of the game :-).
• My middle daughter has got her first job next week working at a March Break camp, and has joined the world of “working stiffs” (where stiff as a description of me today is actually very correct).
• My son continues to grow and is saying more words every day.
• The jobless rate in Canada has dropped again, down to 6.1% this month.
• The clocks go forward this weekend. I am not proud of that, but it means my son who is waking up at 5:30 AM will now be waking up at 6:30 AM, so that is good.

March Break in Ontario next week, so enjoy your vacations, but don’t overspend either! –C8j