Mattress Firm Pricematching

My wife said it was time to buy another mattress so I started looking online.

My previous experience purchasing from Sleep Train is here. At the time, I thought I got a pretty good deal as they matched the US Mattress price and gave me an additional 10% discount. I wanted to do something similar.

Sleep Train is now Mattress Firm, so I entered the Mattress Firm online chat. Initially, they steered me towards the low end Simmons Beautyrest Greenwood when I told them I got a mattress for ~$600.

They made a couple better offers after I shared some links from online retailers.

Discounted Price | Mattress Firm Original Online Price
$625                      $1053
$825                      $1354
$785                      $1954

Seems like a great deal right? I thought so too, so I ordered the last one and setup for delivery the next day.

I continued searching online and found a website selling a similar mattress for $620. Mattress Firm could not match this so I cancelled my order.

Although they (MF) could not match the best price, I believe they are a decent choice when you need a mattress quickly. My tips:

1) Provide links to online retailers and ask to pricematch
2) Continue to press for a pricematch and ask them to beat a price by 10% after they have made an initial offer.

America's Tire/Discount Tire Review

My last two sets of tires were purchased from America's Tire/Discount Tire. Why?

• Great service - in and out within an hour. Be sure to make an appointment. The only thing I don't like is the wait in line at the store waiting to be checked in.
• Great prices
• Remember to purchase when there are manufacturer's rebates as well as Discount Tire rebates. They stack! This usually happens a couple times a year. Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day etc .
• Purchase on discounttiredirect.com to avoid sales tax.
• I had it shipped to my house and brought the tires in myself. I've read that you can have it shipped directly to the store.
• Don't purchase any of the extras (valves/TPMS sensor etc). If necessary, you can add it at the store.
• Click through certain sites for extra cashback,
• They offer a warranty program but did not aggressively upsell. That is up to you.
• I did not purchase the special warranty for any of my tires. One time I got a punctured tire that they were unable to fix. I wasn't surprised as the screw was at least quarter-inch diameter. 
• One tire developed a slow leak that they were able to patch for free.
• I've read that you can negotiate the price of the warranty.

Some friends go to Costco for tires. Why don't I go to Costco?

• Costco's infamous long wait
• Costco has fewer choices

Avoiding IRA Transfer Fee: Fidelity Rollover Roth IRA to Vanguard

I decided to consolidate my Roth IRAs at Vanguard instead of having them at various financial institutions. Fidelity has a $50 full transfer/close fee and $0 partial transfer fee for Roth IRAs. Here are my failed steps to try and avoid this fee:

1) Move all funds except $1 into the money market settlement fund.
2) Initiate transfer on Vanguard side, specifying partial transfer.
3) Vanguard says there is a problem, Fidelity claims this is a full transfer
4) Fidelity says this is a full transfer because the remaining non-cash funds are in a fund with a minimum that is not met, so that position must be liquidated as well.
5) I give up and agree to the full transfer. Get charged $50.

After agreeing to the full transfer and thus fee, I realized I could have tried purchasing an ETF (so there is no fund minimum). Fidelity has many iShares ETFs that trade for free. SLVP has a share price of $10. So perhaps one can buy 1 share of SLVP and move the rest out without any fee! Please report back if this works.

The other option is to perform an indirect rollover. Anyone know if this successfully avoids the fee at Fidelity? I've read this does not work at Wells Fargo as WF requires keeping minimum of the fee ($95) in the account.

Edit: This is now all moot. Fidelity no longer charges a closeout fee. Thanks for making this change in August 2018, the month after I closed out my IRA.

myprepaidcenter.com Debit/Gift card Expiration Fix

Last year, I received rebates in the form of prepaid debit cards from myprepaidcenter.com . This was for a purchase from America's Tire/Discount Tire.

Last week, I discovered one of the $100 debit cards had already expired in March 2018. Uhoh. I called the number listed on the card and explained my situation. The representative claimed they were expired and nothing could be done. I researched online and it seemed like they were right. Different types of gift cards/debit cards have different rules. This specific type seemingly had no protection.

I didn't want to take no for an answer and asked to escalate to their supervisor. I again explained the situation and the supervisor again said unfortunately it was already expired. I asked for an exception. This is when the supervisor agreed to look into it, and they were willing to grant me a one-time exception. They did charge a $25 fee to send out a new card. I accepted it as $75 is better than $0.

Looking back, I probably could have asked for the fee to be lower. I also realized both agents tried to get me to give up by saying the funds were expired and waiting for me to say something or hang up. They did not offer the exception. You have to ask for it. Remember, it doesn't hurt to ask! The number I called was 1-877-610-1075. Good luck!