Most of the week, I've been at home recovering from a cold. However, I still made a few consumer transactions.
My best consumer experience: Working with a new investment company
My financial planner suggested I roll my IRA over to a new investment company so I’d have a wider range of investments to choose from.
I told him I wanted no load funds this time instead of loaded ones. That meant I had to make the buys from various funds myself on the computer.
The local representative said I could call the company if I had any questions. I decided to call them and have them show me how to do it.
That worked well. A customer service person walked me through the steps. It was easy with help. If I had to figure it out myself, I think it would have been one of those “several-hours-of-computer-frustration” experiences.
My worst consumer experience: Amazon shipping charges
Today, I placed an order on Amazon.com for three books on acupressure – two for friends and one for myself.
I picked the cheaper new books for $8.50 each. I thought I was going to get the Amazon standard shipping of three to five days.
Instead, the books are going to arrive Nov. 27 to Dec. 12. That’s one week to three weeks and four days.
It was irritating because when you click on the shipping information to try to figure out what you’re going to get, Amazon’s three to five day standard shipping menu comes up.
The books are coming from a separate company. Also, no explanation was given for why the shipping charge was $11.97. Again, Amazon’s shipping rates came up which didn’t apply to my order.
Sigh. And, so the holidays begin.
