I got a call today, below*.
“Hello, Mr. Oliver, this is name forgotten with Popular Science. I have a few questions for you. Are your magazines reaching you on time and in good shape?”
“They are.”
“Good. Are you enjoying your subscription?”
“I am.”
‘Good. The publishers sent out the renewal form with a price of $28, but we would like to offer you the price of $14.95. Since you are a preferred subscriber, and have been with us for some years, we would like to give you a discount. So we can give you this price of $14.95 for four years. No matter how much the subscription goes up to, you will still get this price for four years.”
“I don’t think I want to do that right now.”
“Let me assure me that you will not be billed until your current subscription expires, and that you won’t receive double issues, or anything like that. You keep your current subscription…
“I’m not going to renew right now.”
end of conversation
*Not an actual transcript, but the gist of things.
Within five seconds, I had located, on my floor, one of the many renewal/subscription cards that come in a magazine. It offers the price of $15.95/yr for one year, or $21.95 for 2 years ($10.98/yr).
Apparently, a “preferred subscriber” is someone they think has been subscribing for long enough that they will renew at any price.
hmm, I thought I had responded to this sooner …. oddness. guess not.
You always have to be one step ahead of those damn folks calling with “special offers”. The best part is when you have it on hand and can honestly say “what’s the best offer you can give me?….oh really? You’re sure. Uh hmm… well, I have a mailing saying $X. Are you sure you don’t want to change your answer?”
That would have been fun to catch them on. Of course, I suspect that she wasn’t even calling from Popular Science, more likely from some third party company. Too bad I didn’t find that card a bit earlier.