Happy Mondays

Monday evening, and all is right with the world. Several things are contributing to a warm glow inside, not least the unseasonably warm weather.

1) I thought I had a meeting tomorrow, which would have meant all kinds of inconvenience like actually getting out of bed, putting clothes on, etc. But it turns out that this meeting is not for another two weeks - which means I have a nice clear calendar tomorrow.

2) Thoughts of the approaching Bank Holiday next Monday.

3) The knowledge that I made two phone calls today which saved me £120.50. No, really, it was awfully good. First I rang up O2, the mobile people, to cancel my contract. This isn't a proper "mobile phone" contract, this is a "data only" contract, what high powered executives use to read their email on their laptops. It's not much - about £10 a month - but it's not especially useful and my year is up, so I rang up to cancel.

It should have been an easy kill - wasn't expecting any resistance at all. Got put through to "Retentions", better known as the stop-them-cancelling department, and it seems that they would just hate to lose me. Seriously. "Of course you can cancel, and that is fine, but would you be interested in a special offer?" They could offer me a handset upgrade but that would be silly for a "data" product, so instead would I like a £100 credit on the account?

Not actually a terrible offer for a contract that costs £112.80 a year. So that's another year's service for £12 and change. Daft to say no, so I said yes. Five minutes on the phone well spent.

Flushed with success, but still having spent the day not having actually cancelled anything, my attention turned to my ratty old analogue cable TV service. I'd been thinking of cancelling for years but never got around to it - so now is the time.

Virgin Media is basically the new name for what was (and actually still is) NTL, so unfortunately the process of getting through on the phone was considerably less smooth. The first lady I got through to took all my details, but noticed that I used to be an NTL customer so of course she could not help me. She put me through to someone else. More hold music later and I am speaking to a second lady, who takes my details. Apparently I am on a different system, and there is absolutely nothing she can do to help me, she will have to put me through to someone else. More hold music later and finally I end up speaking to a very nice lady indeed, who sounds like she is from Liverpool.

Of course I can cancel, and that is fine, but how about £15 a month for the next three months? Well, it's a discount, but £15 is still a lot of money for a handful of channels that even Freeview people would consider to be a bit limited. Then how about £11 for this month and £15 for the next two months?

I bottle out at the last minute. Unable to take the final definitive step to cancel my cable, I accept the discounts with good grace and promise to think about it again in three months time. But the day ends with me having saved £120.50 in total just from a few phone calls.

Of course, that's the positive spin. Look at it another way and I have in fact lost £53.80 because if I had actually cancelled the mobile and the cable I would not have had to pay ANYTHING, but these offers mean I am still paying for things I do not entirely want, even if it is £120.50 less than I would have had to.

It still seems like a good deal. But I'm definitely cancelling that cable in three months time.