Nightmare hospital bill? This service will negotiate it for you

Let experts tackle the errors and inflated charges, with no cost up front. PLUS: A rare deal on Govee's amazing permanent outdoor lights. PLUS PLUS: That $10 flying orb is available again!

DISCLAIMER: Some of the links included herein are affiliate links (usually those in bold blue type), meaning if you make a purchase via one of them, I may get a small commission. I promise you, now and forever, that I won’t choose deals based on whether there’s an affiliate option available.

Happy weekend, friends! Quick bit of housekeeping: I’m not going to be covering Black Friday in any meaningful way — not because there aren’t good deals to be had, but because time doesn’t permit.

Instead, let me refer you to Yahoo’s ongoing collection of the best Black Friday deals, which will be updated daily through Cyber Monday. My colleagues there know what’s up, deal-wise.

Also, my plan right now is to skip next weekend’s newsletter so I can spend time with family. That may change, but either way let me wish a safe and happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it.

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Orb you glad this deal is back? (I’m sorry, that was terrible)

Last week I shared a deal on the Tomzon A32 flying orb, a nifty toy knocked down to just $10 with a promo code — which expired prematurely and left lots of readers unable to get it.

Good news! You can once again buy the Tomzon A32 flying orb for $10 (reg. $33), this time with promo code VGQCJBXO — and the vendor assures me that code is good for at least a few days. (Fingers crossed. As with all such deals, things can and do change without warning. All I can say is the code was working at the time of this writing.)

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Stop messing with holiday lights every year; install Govee’s permanent LEDs (now on sale) and you’re done forever

Tired of dangerous trips up the ladder to put up (and take down) holiday lights? Do it one more time and you’re done forever: The Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights are bright, colorful, highly customizable LEDs that stay put year-round. And right now they’re on sale for the lowest price to date: $140 for the 50-foot length (save $70), $200 for the 100-foot (save $100), and $300 for the 150-foot (save $150).

Last year at this time, these were sold out everywhere; you couldn’t even get them until well past the holidays. And with good reason: They’re pretty fantastic. I have them on my house; all it takes is a few taps of the app to light things up for July 4, Halloween, the holidays, even a Detroit Lions game.

I’m a big, big fan of this product; highly recommended.

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Sign up for Rakuten cashback, get $40 when you spend $40

This is a repeat for many of you, but I’d be remiss in my role as Cheapskate if I didn’t mention Rakuten right now. The cashback service is currently offering new users a $40 sign-up bonus when you spend at least $40. (Full disclosure: That’s my referral link; I also get $40 when you spend at least $40. Absolutely no harm, no foul if you’d rather just sign up directly, though you won’t get that same bonus.)

For the uninitiated, I’ll refer you to this “Cashback 101” item I wrote back in May. The bottom line is I use Rakuten all the time for all kinds of online purchases; it puts money back in my pocket I simply wouldn’t have saved otherwise.

Example: Right now you can get 18% back at Temu, which is bonkers given how cheap everything is there already. And lots of other stores have increased cashback rates right now in the lead-up to Black Friday and the holidays.

Don’t leave money sitting on the table!

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Hospital-bill nightmare? Goodbill will negotiate on your behalf with no up-front costs

Who among us hasn’t heard — or experienced — a hospital-bill horror story? But who among us has the time or expertise to deal with a bill that’s artificially inflated or full of errors?

Goodbill promises to negotiate hospital bills on your behalf, and the best part is you pay nothing up front. I’d never heard of this service until just recently, and I have no firsthand experience using it — but, wow, it sounds invaluable.

And it reminds me of services like Billcutterz, BillFixers, and Billshark, which I wrote about years ago for those looking to reduce cable-TV and other subscription costs. Same basic principle here, but the savings could be considerably higher.

It works like this: You upload your medical bill and records (read their privacy policy if you have concerns about that), then sit tight while Goodbill does its thing. If it’s able to secure you any savings, you pay 20% of whatever that amount is.

So, for example, if it manages to reduce your hospital bill by $1,000, you’d pay $200. Net savings: $800. Pretty good given the minimal effort required on your part. And if Goodbill can’t save you any money, you pay zero.

I’d love to learn if any Deal Secrets readers have used this, and what the outcome was. Let me and your fellow readers know in the comments section!

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PLAYLIST

📺 The Killer (Netflix): I’ve seen enough hitman movies for one lifetime; it just doesn’t interest me anymore. But David Fincher’s The Killer is not your average hitman movie. It’s taut and suspenseful, almost thoughtful at times, a rare antidote to the cartoonish, hyperviolent likes of John Wick. Yes, there are some gory moments, but they serve the story; they’re not the raison d’etre for it. My only complaint is we’re effectively rooting for a hitman with no redeemable qualities; we’re given no reason to care about him at all, other than “he’s the protagonist.” I have a similar issue with the next one. Rick’s Rating: B

📺 Daisy Jones and the Six (Prime Video): This is why I own two t-shirts that say “The book was better.” Amazon’s 10-episode adaption of the best-selling Taylor Jenkins Reid novel wants to be Almost Famous, the Cameron Crowe masterpiece about a band’s rise from obscurity to superstardom, but there’s little of that film’s humor and joyfulness to be found here. The book’s oral-history format doesn’t translate especially well, and many of the songs written for the show are just plain bad. The real misfire is Daisy herself, as played by Riley Keough: She’s narcissistic and generally unlikeable. If you can’t root for the title character, what’s the point? Rick’s Rating: B-

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