What were the best and worst consumer experiences you had this week?

Recently, I launched a best and worst consumer experience feature on Unlocking The Power of Your Money.

I think looking weekly at these experiences helps us learn from our successes and mistakes.

Here are my most and least successful consumer transactions for this week:

My best consumer experience: Ordering a birthday present through my new blog ad

My daughter’s birthday is coming up, so I worked hard to figure out how to post ads in the right hand column of my blog. I was successful before the deadline to mail the package.

It worked out well. My daughter sent gift ideas from REI, and I had just been approved as an affiliate for REI.

My worst consumer experience: Low-quality customer service from American Airlines

When I was traveling recently, American Airlines didn’t do a good job at Miami International Airport of managing their lines of customers.

There were two agents at the desk and three lines. In the center line, a large group of about a dozen people were slowing down the progress of the line to the left, the line I was in. The line to the right moved along steadily, even serving customers who had just walked up.

The agent said in a nonchalant voice that we could go across the room where other agent’s didn’t have any lines. I looked over my shoulder, and the lines there looked about the same length. People standing behind me went up to the agent to ask her what she’d said because they couldn’t hear her.

Finally, after waiting 15 minutes, I left to stand in another line. I complained to an agent who was directing passengers around the area. She apologized and helped me check in. She said it was noon and staffing was low. New staff would be coming shortly to help passengers, she added.