Beware of Money Parasites. Don’t be their Boiling Frog

Everywhere you turn there is a “money parasite” waiting for the right moment to attach to you and suck your wallet dry. What is a money parasite? A money parasite is any company that tries to bind you to subscriptions and long-term contracts. A great example is your local cable or cell phone provider.

This is how they usually operate. They entice you by offering usually very low initial start-up service prices. They tend to lock you in usually for a 1-year or 2-year contract. So they get you to sign up and they provide you service. Now you say to yourself, "why is that a bad thing? It’s not so bad. I got a decent monthly price for one year. What’s the issue?"

At first, it all seems great. But these money parasites have a vast advantage that you don’t have. What is it you may ask? Well, they have years of consumer behavioral and historical data. They play the long game. Sure they will entice you with that low initial sign up price. But once they have you, they know they can take advantage of you moving forward after the initial term of service.

They know that people, in general, are too busy and that they like to keep things status quo. In the meantime, they slowly start increasing the price on you with price increases and fees. Now it’s not like they are making a killing just on your account. But add this up to hundreds of thousands of accounts then it adds up to billions. Some call it boiling a frog. They say that you could put a live frog into a pot of water. And slowly increase the heat. The frog without question will boil and cook to death without noticing or jumping out of the boiling water.

This is what these money parasites do to all of us. They slowly increase your prices to a point you can’t take it anymore. After they have gouged to no end, is when the might try to lower your service price. All in an effort so that you don’t leave. But then once they have you again, the process starts all over again. This is the game the money parasites play. And they know this game to well.

Meantime, people can’t understand why existing customers always never benefit from sales promotions and lower pricing. And that then new customers always get the advantage. Well, as explained before existing customers are the money parasites boiling the frog. Why should they do anything for their little precious frog that’s just going to sit there and let themselves cook?

Either you or someone you know has been a boiling frog. Heck, even I have been a victim of these money parasites. I remember when I started paying only $80/month cable and internet to only have my monthly service price skyrocket to over $170/month after some time. And it’s not like I got double the service or anything for double the price. I was just their little frog playing their game.

But then I finally woke up, I said enough is enough. Instead of me, waiting to talk to a retention customer service representative (CSR). This is where they funnel you to so that they don’t let their profitable little frog escape. I took the steps to sign up with their competitor. And yes, as a new customer I got all the new customer promotional prices and advantages. I then tackled the retention CSR and telling them I wanted to cancel my old service.

And of course, they gave me their song and dance of seeing what they could do for me. And that I was an important customer to them and they didn’t want to see me go. I gave it right back to them. If that was the case, why didn’t they keep my prices low instead of slowly increasing it up to over double my initial sign up price? Was the CSR willing to refund me the price increases? Of course not, what they tell you is let’s see what pricing that they can get you moving forward. That’s like saying well we already screwed you and that can’t be undone. Let’s see how we can keep you happy in the short term so that we can remount you and screw you harder in the near future.

Like I said, I had enough and decided to cut ties. After, a couple of modifications of my new services, I basically get the same service for my initial $80/month. That’s saving me $90 a month or a more impressive figure of $1,080 a year. Again, for basically the same level of service.

Now, I’m not disillusioned. I know I just basically jumped figuratively speaking from one pot into another. But I have a plan for that. It’s not easy but I will try my very best to not become a money parasite’s boiling frog. Remember this pretty much happens in all aspects of financial transactions. It’s our job that we don’t give an extra penny to these money parasitic leeches. Be it to lowering our credit card interest rates, cell phone bill, mortgage rates, etc. Money is too precious and hard to earn to just give it away to the money-grabbing parasites. I will tell you more about how to rid yourself of these money parasitic tactics in my next post. Best of luck and until next time, peace.