Ugh DH, king of the upsells

[snoopy5386]

I swear my DH will buy anything that anyone tries to upsell him, it drives me nuts!! Tonight it was $20 for the borders rewards plus program, it took me explaining to him afterwards that he's now going to have to spend nearly $200 there in the next year before he breaks even, let alone saves a dime for him to say "oh". Also showed him how he could have saved more on amazon, but he says he enjoys the physical purchase. I don't enjoy him spending more money plus spending $4 a gallon gas driving around to different stores just so he can buy something in person.

Last time it was the special synthetic oil the oil change place upsold him when I sent him to get the oil changed, the time before that it was $25 worth of extra pictures from sears that I didn't order/want/need when I sent him to pick up pics.

Is anyone else's partner like this? I feel like I need to send him to the store with exact change and no credit cards so he comes home with just what I sent him for and nothing extra!

 

[dvcnewgirl]

I swear my DH will buy anything that anyone tries to upsell him, it drives me nuts!! Tonight it was $20 for the borders rewards plus program, it took me explaining to him afterwards that he's now going to have to spend nearly $200 there in the next year before he breaks even, let alone saves a dime for him to say "oh". Also showed him how he could have saved more on amazon, but he says he enjoys the physical purchase. I don't enjoy him spending more money plus spending $4 a gallon gas driving around to different stores just so he can buy something in person.

Last time it was the special synthetic oil the oil change place upsold him when I sent him to get the oil changed, the time before that it was $25 worth of extra pictures from sears that I didn't order/want/need when I sent him to pick up pics.

Is anyone else's partner like this? I feel like I need to send him to the store with exact change and no credit cards so he comes home with just what I sent him for and nothing extra!

Yes, my husband is the same way!

 

[Pastamom]

My DH is the same way too!! I am slowly trying to ween him from his "great deals". Although everytime I think we have it under control he finds a new deal...sometimes I think he is my biggest budget buster!

 

[RitaE]

Well the good news is he'll really only have to spend $100 more to make back the $20 - because he should have gotten $10 in Borders Bonus Buck when he signed up.

 

[ssawka]

Alright, I'll give you the Borders reward program, but there are several advantages to synthetic oil that may actually save you in the long run, including:

• Better MPG
• Longer engine life
• Fewer oil changes

Now, I am no mechanic, so I'm just going by what I've read.

As for the whole money thing, all I can say is that if we could afford it, I would be mad if my wife gave me a hard time over $20. I work pretty hard and to some extent, what I spend the discretionary money on is my business. Same goes for DW, there are just some purchases that you do not even question. Now if you have financial issues, that's another story all together.

 

[ilovemk76]

I swear my DH will buy anything that anyone tries to upsell him, it drives me nuts!! Tonight it was $20 for the borders rewards plus program, it took me explaining to him afterwards that he's now going to have to spend nearly $200 there in the next year before he breaks even, let alone saves a dime for him to say "oh". Also showed him how he could have saved more on amazon, but he says he enjoys the physical purchase. I don't enjoy him spending more money plus spending $4 a gallon gas driving around to different stores just so he can buy something in person.

Last time it was the special synthetic oil the oil change place upsold him when I sent him to get the oil changed, the time before that it was $25 worth of extra pictures from sears that I didn't order/want/need when I sent him to pick up pics.

Is anyone else's partner like this? I feel like I need to send him to the store with exact change and no credit cards so he comes home with just what I sent him for and nothing extra!

We won't know until a year from now if his Border's Reward was a saver or not. He did save some on his purchase that day so he is now under the $100 (per an poster).

Just because you don't apprciate him using gas to get the book does not mean you should control him. I hope there is nothing that you do that you waste gas on.

Synthetic - We only use synthetic from our first oil changs. Our cars run like a top. Here you could save money by you learning to change your own oil. This is what we do and use better oil and oil filters and we pay less than that regular oil change done by somebody else.

Picture - Maybe HE wanted them. Again you don't get to control every purchase in your family.

If this all really bothers you then you need to stop sending him on your errands and then getting mad he did not follow your instructions to a T. He is an adult and gets to make decisions too.

 

[pyrxtc]

Are you in that tight of a bind that he can't spend $20 on something and is not allowed to drive to a store to buy things? I love buying books at the store and am not a big fan of ordering them online. I want to see and feel the book in my hands, I want to see what else they have that I might like.

If you're so upset about him spending small amounts like this then either something is wrong there or you just have to get over it. Do you NEVER spend money on anything he thinks you don't need ?

 

[MrsPete]

Are you in that tight of a bind that he can't spend $20 on something and is not allowed to drive to a store to buy things? I love buying books at the store and am not a big fan of ordering them online. I want to see and feel the book in my hands, I want to see what else they have that I might like.

If you're so upset about him spending small amounts like this then either something is wrong there or you just have to get over it. Do you NEVER spend money on anything he thinks you don't need ?

This isn't about little splurges. I don't think anyone really considers a Borders membership-card a fun little treat that'll enhance his or her life.

Rather, this is about being duped into thinking that an upsell will save money later. In reality, the Borders card is a marketing tool, which is designed to make the consumer think, "I'll choose Borders instead of Books-a-Million." It's about allowing advertisers to make you think something is a great deal, when it really isn't.

 

[DawnM]

We are not in a bind at all, however, I can see OP POV......just because I have money doesn't mean I throw it out the window while we drive down the road.

Thankfully DH and I are very much on the same page re: money.....although I spend more freely....if it were up to him, we wouldn't even do Disney.....EVER!

Dawn

Are you in that tight of a bind that he can't spend $20 on something and is not allowed to drive to a store to buy things? I love buying books at the store and am not a big fan of ordering them online. I want to see and feel the book in my hands, I want to see what else they have that I might like.

If you're so upset about him spending small amounts like this then either something is wrong there or you just have to get over it. Do you NEVER spend money on anything he thinks you don't need ?

 

[v.t.]

LOL! I know exactly what you mean.
My DH is the same way. That is why he makes me do all the big ticket purchasing. When he bought his truck, I had to go. When we got the pool, I had to sign the contract... The worst was pictures for the church directory. The lady was nice as can be when showing them to us but as soon as I said no thank you, her tone changed and she started working on my DH. Poor guy was about to give in to a $200 picture. Thankfully one of the DS 'needed him' so we were able to leave with just the free one.

 

[snoopy5386]

It is not about the money. I don't care that he bought two books at Borders. Does it annoy me a little bit that he just won't order them off Amazon especially when we have free prime shipping? Yes, but whatever. And if our Borders wasn't a little crappy mall Borders with the nearest "real" borders over 50 miles away I wouldn't have minded that so much either. It's just....he gets duped every time. And yup, when he is doing me a favor by picking up the pictures that I budgeted and planned for and spends an extra $25 for more copies of the same pics that we don't need (that surprise, 2 of the 3 pics are still sitting in the envelope he brought them home in because how many copies of the same picture can I hang up in the house?) Same with the oil change - doing me a favor by going, I send him with a coupon for a $15 oil change and he comes back with a $35 one, I get annoyed. Once again, it is not the money, it is spending the money on things we don't need.

 

[snoopy5386]

And the driving thing - he'll drive 20 miles to a store to find a fairly obscure product and then surprise, they don't have it. Then drive 20 miles back. So that was an $8 trip for nothing. Just call the place first!! Four years ago we moved from a very urban area to a very rural one and he still has not adjusted his shopping outlook to reflect that.
Even last night, the whole reason we were at the mall with the Borders was because he had to get some frames for a work event. There is a Things Remembered kiosk in our mall two miles away and then an actual store in the mall 15 miles away. I convinced him to call to see if they had what he needed in stock, so he does and then he gets off the phone and we start talking about going to the mall and he looks at me funny and tells me he called the mall 15 miles away, not the one 2 miles away. I asked him why and he says well they are an actual store so I figured they would have more stock. Ok, that logic does make sense, but how about you call the mall two miles away first and see if they might have what you need too and save us a gallon of gas and an hour of roundtrip driving (and then repeat that trip again in a week when he has to go pick the items up). He called the closer store and sure enough they had what we needed.....

 

[Belle0101]

OP I understand. DH was duped when he purchased a Mother's Day gift for me.

He bought me a ring, lab created rubies and sapphires, that was on sale for $59.99. He then bought the 2 year Jewelry Plan for $40.00. He explained that if I needed the ring re-sized it would only be $14.00. That was the selling point for him, the savings on the re-sizing. But, a re-sizing without the plan would have been less than the Jewelry Plan plus the reduced re-sizing fee ($40 + 14 = $54).

OT - The ring fits, it doesn't need re-sized. Maybe even worse though, I don't care for the ring, it's just not "me". And, DH lost the receipt. I need to call the store and find out if what the return policy is.

 

[marie1203]

DH is sort of like this. Usually he is smart about it, but there are times when he wants something and he wants it now . Usually I talk him out of it. When we go grocery shopping he just picks up little extra things here and there which I usually don't mind until this week. I went grocery shopping by myself well we usually spend about $180 in two weeks worth of food, well my bill was $134 which means his little thing are costing $50 every time we go shopping.

 

[ssawka]

OP I understand. DH was duped when he purchased a Mother's Day gift for me.

He bought me a ring, lab created rubies and sapphires, that was on sale for $59.99. He then bought the 2 year Jewelry Plan for $40.00. He explained that if I needed the ring re-sized it would only be $14.00. That was the selling point for him, the savings on the re-sizing. But, a re-sizing without the plan would have been less than the Jewelry Plan plus the reduced re-sizing fee ($40 + 14 = $54).

OT - The ring fits, it doesn't need re-sized. Maybe even worse though, I don't care for the ring, it's just not "me". And, DH lost the receipt. I need to call the store and find out if what the return policy is.

At least you are looking to return a gift you don't like. My DW refuses to return things. I cannot tell you how many gifts I bought for her that she really did not care for. However, instead of telling me she dosen't like it or quietly returning it herself, she will let it collect dust and never do anything with it. Drives me crazy!

 

[gigi1976]

Oh yeah, he lives here too! The one I always bring up (because I don't foget stuff) was the $7 extended warranty for the $12 heating pad! Who goes through heating pads so often that they need that? I swear if he weren't married he would be broke. We had to implement a $1000 rule, if the purchase is over $1K we will consider the extended warranty, otherwise it's an automatic "no thank you"

 

[ssawka]

Oh yeah, he lives here too! The one I always bring up (because I don't foget stuff) was the $7 extended warranty for the $12 heating pad! Who goes through heating pads so often that they need that? I swear if he weren't married he would be broke. We had to implement a $1000 rule, if the purchase is over $1K we will consider the extended warranty, otherwise it's an automatic "no thank you"

Well, my rule when it comes to electronics is if the product is portable, I will consider the extended warranty. Portable devices are more prone to damage.

 

[tlbwriter]

And the driving thing - he'll drive 20 miles to a store to find a fairly obscure product and then surprise, they don't have it. Then drive 20 miles back. So that was an $8 trip for nothing. Just call the place first!!

It took me a long time to convince DH that this is a good idea. Now, whenever he tells me he's going a distance to get something, he'll say "And I called them first!"

Oh yeah, he lives here too! The one I always bring up (because I don't foget stuff) was the $7 extended warranty for the $12 heating pad!

 

[Nicolepa]

It is not about the money. I don't care that he bought two books at Borders. Does it annoy me a little bit that he just won't order them off Amazon especially when we have free prime shipping? Yes, but whatever. And if our Borders wasn't a little crappy mall Borders with the nearest "real" borders over 50 miles away I wouldn't have minded that so much either.

Well, now he can get free shipping (no minimum) @ Borders too. Plus he can use the 33% off coupons that he gets (plus the 10%) and still have them delivered to his door.

When I got mine they gave me $10 in borders book and a coupon book. In the coupon book was $10 of a $30 purchase. So IMO the card was free and I now get an extra 10% off and free shipping.

I have Amazon Prime as well. I just bought 4 books from there the other day. Just because you have one doesn't make the other a bad deal, (unless of course you don't buy books).

 

[RF536]

Now you have to hope that Borders is still around for a year. They have filed bankruptcy and have closed over 250 stores and are looking at closing more. I would be very wary of buying any long term commitment things from them. They are even looking at selling their HQ and moving to a smaller building in the Detroit area.