Saturday morning my husband went to return a boat battery to Wal-mart because after only three uses, the battery wouldn’t hold a charge.

The clerk gladly refunded his money so he could exchange the battery for a new battery, but told my husband that there would be a core charge for the new battery.

My husband didn’t think anything of it, except to tell me (by cell phone) that he would need to find an old battery to turn in so he could get his $9.00 core charge back.

A $9.00 core charge on a replacement for a defective battery?

I don’t think so.

I asked him for the phone number of the store and told him I would be calling and that he didn’t need to leave the store until after he heard back from me.

Of course, I was hoping it was a mistake, because it made no sense to my why we would be responsible for a core charge on a replacement for a defective battery!

I was nice, but firm when I talked to customer service, and yes, the customer service manager admitted it was an error that my husband had been asked to pay a core charge and that they would refund the $9.00 as soon as my husband returned to the customer service register.

Needless to say, this would have cost us $9.00 if I hadn’t been been aggressive with my husband. He would have left the store without the money and then had to return later with a battery he might or might not have been able to find in order to get the core charge refunded to him.

He didn’t mind that I wanted to call about the issue, but he also didn’t think it was that big of a deal that he’d been charged a core charge.

But I’m thinking, $9.00, for something we didn’t owe! That’s enough to pay for a movie ticket, 3 car washes, or 1 1/2 month’s service of Netflix.

Ultimately, that’s why it’s so important to watch for and react to these kinds of charges. Blindly accepting them lowers your standard of living by taking money out of your pocket, in a time when you might be fighting to make every dollar count.

Vigilance pays off. Keep your eyes open for charges that don’t make sense and pursue the matter when you see them.

That said, here are some tips I’ve used over the years to help me deal with these kinds of problems.

How to get a refund for a charge you don’t owe

1. Call or visit right away. Be firm when talking to representatives, but never rude. You want to be taken seriously and to have your complaint addressed by someone who isn’t offended by something you’ve said.

2. Be specific. Tell the person what you want them to do about your problem. Sometimes it’s just that they haven’t thought of the possible solution you’d like them to think of.

Useful phrases:

• Please explain why I was charged…
• I have a problem I would like you to take care of for me…
• I’d like a refund or credit for this charge today… (or, before I leave…, by tomorrow…)
• I would appreciate it if you could solve my problem today

Polite phrases are more powerful than insults and threats.

4. Thank the person helping you even before they’ve helped you—this can sometimes create a feeling of obligation on the part of the “helper.”

Useful phrases:

• I appreciate you looking into this for me… Here’s what I think happened… and I shouldn’t have been charged because…
• Thank you for taking the time to research this… My records show… What do your records show…?

These steps are the steps I always try to follow when I file a complaint or ask for help with a problem, and they usually work for me.

Have you ever had to deal with a situation like this? What’s worked for you?

Allie is a close friend of mine who has also embraced the idea that now is the perfect time to get out of debt, let go of old spending habits, and start fresh with a cash-based life. She recently took a vacation, and this is her story of budgeting and saving success in an area where it’s often hard to impossible to keep spending under control.

Allie’s story

My Vacation

So it took some doing, but I was finally able to brow beat my husband into a mini-vacation during Spring Break. The kids were free. The husband had some vacation to burn. But really, we didn’t want to push too much into the short time we had. That’s why we went to the old standby…Gatlinburg, TN.

When I was discussing with Kate that my goal was to pay cash for as much of the vacation as possible, and that I’d found such a great deal online, she asked me to guest blog about it. So here’s what we did.

First, we set a budget. We hoped not to spend more than $500 for the total trip (approximately four days and three nights). The total budget had to include the hotel, entertainment, food, fuel, and souvenirs.

The next thing we did was make a wish list of places to go and see while there. We knew the primary place we wanted to take the kids was to the Ripley’s Aquarium. We also wanted to take them to the Dixie Stampede dinner show, but really didn’t know if that was in the budget this time around. But since this was a “wish” list we put it on there. And basically those were our two primary entertainment costs. The other places were all about nature—and free.

With the money and wish list in mind, I searched online for any deals or coupons that would save money. Now I want to note here that there are a lot (and I mean A LOT) of places online that say they have good deals. But don’t be fooled. There are tons of vacation destination places that will take your money. I’ve heard horror stories of this happening. Or they’ll give you that special rate if only you’ll take a half or whole day of your vacation listening to some spiel about a condo.

Being very aware of this, I started with the city’s main site and worked my way around to the sites for the two places on the wish list (Ripley’s Aquarium and the Dixie Stampede). Now Ripley’s had some pretty nice deals if you were interested in doing more than one of their activities (Ripley’s Believe It Or Not or the Ripley’s Motion Theater). But with one child barely two, that wasn’t an option. [Special note here...don't forget to check restrictions on age, weight, height, etc. before buying tickets in advance!]

Not finding what I was looking for, I went on to the Dixie Stampede’s site. And there it was. I found a link on the combo deals page that led me to the Greystone Lodge at the Aquarium’s website. They had a super special going on through April 31st that gave you two nights stay and tickets to Ripley’s Aquarium for $101.00. It was definitely the best deal I’d found, so I called the hotel and had a wonderful lady help me work out our best deal.

We were able to book two nights at $30.00 per night and add an additional night for $30.00 more. Plus, we were able to get four tickets to Ripley’s Aquarium and three tickets (as my daughter is too small to have her own seat) to the Dixie Stampede. All of this, plus tax, only came to $234.00! It was awesome!

That left us over $250.00 for fuel, eating out and souvenirs.

The room and entertainment taken care of I went in search of coupons for restaurants we like to eat at, and I went to the grocery store for snacks, drinks and sandwich fixings for the trip. The hotel had breakfast covered, so I knew I only had to deal with lunch and dinner. We were going to be there four days and three nights, so here’s what we did.

Day 1

We took our time on the trip up—starting out just after having a big breakfast at home—and stopped off in Knoxville at a little drive-in we’d seen on a Food Network show. We ordered one chicken strip dinner and one order of onion rings. We ate so bad, but it was so good. And those two items were enough to feed all four of us lunch. Did I mention we aren’t really big eaters?

Now I don’t know about your husband, but mine can’t let the opportunity to visit the Bass Pro Shops big store in Sevierville pass him by. He had to stop. Very fortunately, the sales weren’t all that good and we made it out with only a pair of sunglasses for him. :-)

Then on to the hotel. After settling in, we decided to eat a good dinner. My son wanted shrimp and ribs. That left us with a few options, so we settled on Ruby Tuesdays which gave us more options and was less costly than one of the more specialized restaurants.

Day 2

We ate breakfast at the hotel, and headed out. We’d decided to break up our outings and not overtire the kids, so today would be a trip to the Roaring Fork Motor Trail, a little hike through the streets of Gatlinburg, and then on to the Dixie Stampede that evening. So we took our cooler and headed out on the trail. We had a picnic lunch, and then ate the wonderfully pedestrian fare the Stampede had to offer that evening. The largest cost this day was fuel. We’d forgotten to fill up before heading back to the hotel the evening before, so we ended up paying a bit more than we’d have liked. The good news is that this fill up lasted us all the way home in my very economical Kia Sorento.

Day 3

Again we ate breakfast at the hotel, and then headed out to the Aquarium. This would be our most costly day and we knew it. We’d planned accordingly, saving the bulk of our food and souvenir monies for today. We spent our time in the Aquarium wisely. We looked over every nook and cranny. We also took in with us snacks and drinks for the kids. This is one of the few places that I’ve found doesn’t mind if you bring in food. By the end of our wondrous journey, however, everyone was starving. So after picking out a couple of “clearanced” t-shirts for the kids and a couple of stuffed sharks, we headed further into Gatlinburg. We decided to eat at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.. The price was a bit high, but they had chicken and fries for the kids as well as shrimp for us and we were able to order one kids meal (for the little one and me) and one shrimp sampler plus (for hubby and oldest kid) and a side salad (for me) to share. I admit I did try the shrimp and would have probably been tempted to eat more than my fair share, but I didn’t want to over do so late in the afternoon knowing we planned to go to Pigeon Forge shopping.

And we did. We did a little shopping at the outlets, being careful not to overspend. And then we ended up at O’Charley’s. We had a coupon for $5.00 off $20.00 and with some careful planning we were able to get out of the restaurant very satisfied with a bill of less than $20.00 for all four of us.

Day 4

Our last day was sad. We hated to leave the relaxing fun we’d had together, but on the other hand we were very glad to be headed home. We grabbed our breakfast at the hotel, and loaded up. We still had a few snacks, so we opted not to stop for lunch until we were near Knoxville. We also knew we needed to stop by a Wal-Mart to look for a bat, but that’s another story… We chose to eat lunch at the Turkey Creek Steak N’ Shake. The cost was less than $20.00 for all four of us.

Epilogue

When our trip was over, we felt good about it. We hadn’t overspent and we didn’t have to worry about paying off the trip later. It was paid for. And we’d enjoyed ourselves without the worry and stress that could have come afterward. I’d definitely recommend trying it sometime. —Allie

Although the salesman claimed their credit put them in a perfect position to get a great deal on financing, their inability to pay the taxes (9.25%) and a down payment meant their monthly payment wouldn’t be as low as the advertised price.

Of course, my in-laws aren’t that easily fooled—and they’re on a fixed income. They passed on the vehicle.

Anyone not quite as strong might have let themselves end up with a loan payment larger than what they wanted or needed. These kinds of advertising tactics are meant to reel you in. Once they have your attention, they’re hoping you’ll have trouble taking control of the situation and walking away when your expectations aren’t met.

My mother-in-law was most insulted when the salespeople came back from calculating the monthly payment after she complained about their deceptive advertising and said something along the lines of “I have good news! We got your payment down to $229.” (The advertised monthly payment was $199.) She had a set number in mind, and she didn’t let the salespeople’s fake enthusiasm at getting her a “lower” payment fool her into making a commitment she didn’t want to make when she set out that morning on her car hunt.

No, my in-laws still haven’t found the vehicle they want and can afford, but they’re taking their time and I have confidence that when they do, they won’t be paying more than they’re comfortable paying.

Avoid spending more than you want

1. Set your price before you go.
2. Stick to your price even if the salespeople try to generate a sense of panic by telling you how time sensitive the deal is, or how you’ll never get this good of a deal again.
3. Be prepared to walk away if the salespeople won’t or can’t meet your price.
4. Walk away if you feel panic or nervousness setting in. It’s for your own good. You should only shop when you’re calm and in control.

It actually feels very good to walk away when you aren’t given what you want. The feeling of power and control can become addictive.

Have you ever walked away from a large purchase, or been convinced to buy something you weren’t sure you wanted? How did you deal with the situation?