Thursday, September 30, 2010

Your 401k & You

No investment tips or trick will be found here.

Mostly I would just like to implore how important it is to start your 401k as soon as possible. Especially if your employer matches any percent of what you put in. Any percent that you get from your employer is like free money.

Yes, when you start out it will hurt a little. Chances are it will hurt a lot less in the long run when you get to cash that 401k in to get the money. Most people believe that your next raise will make up for what you put into the 401k or something to that effect. A raise while adding to your 401k will not effect you in a bad way. All raises are a good thing.

I once had the opportunity to start a 401k with a company that would match up to 6%. So if I put in 6% they would match it. If I put in 1% they would match 1%. If i put 7% they would only match 6%.

I blame my youth and in-experience in the work force for not joining up right then and there. I missed out on several hundred dollars towards my 401k. Thinking back on it always gives me a twinge or regret because i could have taken that 401k to my cureent job.

Your 401k will follow you from job to job. From what I have heard it only takes a little paperwork.

The 401k company that you go with will tell you that you can take a loan from your 401k account. Don't take a loan from it or you might be crying your self to sleep with the interest they will charge you. I understand that it will be added to the percent that you are already taking out and that it can be rather painful. As can the fees that you will have to pay to take a loan out of your money. I have heard that loans is how the 401k companies make their money.

So, in short, please do your self a favor and start your 401k as soon as possible. You will be happy for it in the long run. Just don't take a loan from it.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Due Dates and Late Charges

If this topic was on a map it would be labeled 'here be dragons'.

People will always protest  due dates and late charges. Even if it is something as simple as $10 after the 11th of the month per each month, you would think that with 10 days to pay that it wouldn't be that hard. Right? Yeah, keep believing that and I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

People will protest them and some people will flat out lie about having to pay them. Others have claimed that we must have recently changed the rule because this wasn't like this last month. Or possibly last year. It is hilarious when they try this after only having had the unit for a month or so.

The company I work for used to wave this fee all the time until one of the customers flaunted it to my boss that they always had the fee waved. She had been a customer for some time and claimed that the late fees were new. They did end up waving her fee but told her that we could not do that again for some time. From that point we started waving only one late fee per calender year.

We also had a customer con her way into not paying for two units for three months. In the start her reason for getting him to not charge her? She was planing on moving out and had been there oh so long but couldn't he please just wave this one late fee? She then came in when she couldn't get in due to non-payment and said that he had said she didn't have to pay the full month. He's a nice guy and just agreed. This happened twice more before I finally told him the amount that she had gotten for free and he finally put his foot down. She was not happy with me when he informed her of this when next she came in.

Another time a gentleman came in and said he had paid one unit up and only owed for one. Again my boss gave him the benefit of the doubt. I asked the mentioned coworker and he said that it never happened. The following month he tried it again and I  informed him that he would need to bring in the receipt in order for me to proses that request. He paid up. He is still renting with us and still tries the same thing.

Another gentleman claimed that he was very busy and that he couldn't be bothered with keeping track of due dates. He claimed that he was never told that we didn't send out bills and he was getting bills. Also that it was a ridiculous & other companies sent out bills. I made the mistake of pointing out that what he was getting were notices of non-payment(that said so at the top) and that I was the one that signed up his unit(I actually had to tell him several times and that we could not make an exception). He then demanded that we pay him back his $30 in late fees. He had only paid $20 and when I tried to explain this he started demanding to talk to a manage. Sadly they were out and he had to wait for a call back that he didn't pick up. My boss said to wave this months fee but charge any others that he earns. I can't wait to deal with that call.

And to think so much of this truble is over $10. I feel for the other companies that these people deal with.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Planning when Planning to Move

When you deside to move, be it to another state or just down the block, timing is important.  Beyond important because if you wait to the last minet you might find yourself out of time with no movers.

Here is some general advice:

-Most, if not all, companies have to phyisicaly see your home before they can commit to your move. This is so that they can make sure to give you the most acurite estimate possible. This also gives them the chance to see you street and driveway so they will know what size truck you will need for your items.

-Between April 20th and September 30th is the moving business bussy seasion. Bussy to the point of having to schedual appointment to see your items to give you an estimate up to (and possably beyond) a week from the day you call to set it.

-A local move is generally set up as same day load and delivery. If you have a large house, packed rooms or want your movers to do your packing you might be looking at a two day move. Your sales agent will be able to determine this when they see your items but there is the off chance that you will need that extra day.

-A long distance move will always have a delivery spread date that could be anywere between 2-14 days. Usaly the more you have the smaller a spread you will have.

-A last minuet move will cost you. Be it time, money or health. It might be that the companies just can not fit in your move if you need it the next day. The stress this can cause can be unimaginable.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

MSN News or Lack There of.

I have lost any faith in MSN and their writing abilities. This is the closest thing I have seen to fear mongering in a long time. It is above and beyond muck raking and just plain ludicrous. Now, I wouldn't have such an issue with this If it hadn't been written as if the whole industry was like this. Or insinuate that every single company did every single item on this list, every single time.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/ConsumerActionGuide/10-things-moving-companies-wont-say.aspx

The writer very obviously looked just for the worst of the bad. Even though the sections have different titles it's mostly the same 'we had to pay more' story. They also only seemed to have chosen stories did not have an in house estimate or they did not read the contract.

I can not say it enough how important it is to have an in house estimate, to ask questions and to read the contract.

Insurance on your items is called a valuation. The standard Free Coverage that most moving companies provide is $0.60 per Item per pound of that item. Which means if you decide not to pay for more coverage then if your 100lb item get's damaged you will only get $60 for the item. So if you want better coverage then you will have to pay to protect it. All moving companies have insurance plans, if they say you can't purchase more then do not go with that company.

In the article almost all of the people who were ripped off were charged buy the cubic foot or charged almost four times what their estimate was. I'm willing to guess that they either only got phone estimates for minimum weight charge for a long distance move.

UPS charges by the cubic foot. Back in the day, if you have a box that was 3lbs and it's size qualified as an OS1 (over sized one) they will charge you for 30lbs. Because that is what they feel the space is worth. They also have the man power to check the boxes as they go by. They also pack the trucks amazingly well, almost like a giant game of Tetris. Moving companies? Not so much. I would not trust a moving company that charged by cubic feet. If there was a space above the boxes chances are I would still get charged for it.

Most large moving companies will have rates set up for their agent companies to follow. At times charges will vary from state to state because of the U.S. Department of Transportation  and taxes. The DoT watches moving companies very closely and their fines are very high. No one likes to upset the DoT.

The company I work for has a 2,100lb minimum charge in the summer for a long distance move. Why? One reason is because it can very hard to get enough small moved together and going to the same general area. Mostly it is because if you are looking to have just one item moved the cost for it's weight will not cover the cost for man hours nor for the fuel to get the truck there. Unfortunately it is sometimes not worth the cost to hire someone else to move just one item.

There is just so many things in that article that are wrong or misleading it's frustrating. My boss was flat out discussed with the article. Unfortunately information that get's put on the internet is mostly negative. If you find yourself with questions please feel free to ask me them and I will do my best to answer them.

Friday, September 3, 2010

People are mean.

And unfortunately there is nothing anyone can do about it. This is only partially true. Moving can bring on all kinds of new stress.

Is it their first move? Did they have a prior bad experience? Do they expect you to do all the work for them? Are they planning ahead or is it a last minuet move? Do they need a certain delivery date?

Most will not even realize that they are stressing themselves out. The only thing that can realy be done is try and be as sympathetic and firm as possible. I say firm because if you are not wavering and sure of not only yourself but of your company this can calm people down imensily.

Some people only need to hear that everything is going to be all right and that they will be taken care of.

I had one customer who just needed someone to take extra time with her to explain every thing. How we pack, load and every little detail in between. The agent I sent out was extremely calm and easy going. He ended up spending almost two hours helping her out. By the end of his visit he not only set up her move, but helped her to relax. When I spoke with her on the phone prior to her move she was actually happy.

Sometimes you need to go the extra distance to help someone out. Even if they end up using a diffrent company you will have made a good impression on them and helped them on their way.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Customer Etiquette

If you are going to be rude to someone at least have a valid reason for it. if you call one day asking for something that policy says they can't tell you over the phone, don't call in the next day claiming you asked about something totally different and that the company policy is ridiculous. Better yet, admitting to being rude and then threatening to wright a 'very nasty review' if your demands are not met.

This is an excellent way to make sure that a company will not want to work for you.

This is almost as effective as making a mistake in writing your notes and saying the company lied. Exasperatingly when said customer had made a joke about it being on Friday the 13th.

When this happened I got chewed out three times that day. By my boss, the sales agent and then the customer. I got the customer to read his notes and corrected him that no, the 13th was a Friday and not a Saturday. Talk about lesson learned.