Since I am self-employed, I manage to make time for these calls, but I hate them as much as anyone else. I had to do this with the cellphone carrier when they charged me a $145 termination fee for a phone line that I cancelled. I had gotten the go-ahead that the contract had ended from the store workers (who are very unhelpful and seem to work there for no more than 3 months before quitting), from the website where it showed 0 months and 0 days left to the end of the contract and from a chat online with a worker.

So, I called. Oy vey. It took only 15 painful minutes and an escalation to a supervisor, while I remained calm but unmovable in my resolve. Finally, she asked why I cancelled it. Instead of confessing it was because we are moving to Cricket where there is no contract and the cost is half as much and data is nearly twice as much, I let her believe it was because of travel to another country. This is when I also let her believe — she kept making assumptions — that my wife was really my daughter and she shared all about hers. She was nice, I was nice. She acknowledged my 10 year+ relationship with the company and waived the fee.

I will say, if you have not called your cell phone company recently to negotiate a better rate, please consider it. I do this for businesses all the time. Saves them hundreds of dollars a year. And try Cricket ;)