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Online Services Haggle On Your Behalf To Lower Bills, Get Refunds

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PITTSBURGH (CBS) -- You don't have to haggle in person or on the phone anymore to lower your bills or get refunds.

Now, thanks to a new service, you can have someone do the haggling for you.

Just connect your Comcast account, your Amazon account and a credit card or two and the website "AskTrim" will try to lower some of your monthly bills.

"We have a chatbot that automatically tries to get you a lower rate on your cable or internet bill," says CEO and Co-founder Thomas Smyth.

The website may be also able to cancel unused monthly subscriptions or get a price adjustment on that new thing you just bought.

"For our price patrol feature, for example, you'll get a check in the mail," says Smyth.

Three other websites — Billcutterz, Billshark and Billfixers — will also negotiate lower phone and cable rates, as well as security system and satellite radio bills. They claim they can save you hundreds of dollars a year.

"That sounds great. I wasn't aware of that," consumer Samuel Sanders says.

Check to see if your credit card alerts you to purchases and refunds money if the price drops within a certain period of time.

"That would be pretty nice," says Seth Gordon.

Citibank's "Price Rewind" service is free, while fees for the bill negotiation services run from about 25 to 50 percent of what they save you. But if they don't find any savings, there's no charge.

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