The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

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

Recently, I launched a best and worst consumer experience feature on The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide.

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: Buying a puzzle for my grandchildren

 

T.J. Maxx has good prices. I was able to find a large puzzle for my twin grandchildren, age 5, for $6.

It’s a large puzzle, three feet by two feet, that you put together on the floor. It’s called Let’s Learn Numbers. One side is brightly colored. The other side has the same pattern, only it’s black and white. Washable color crayons are included to color the black-and-white side.

The twins, now in kindergarten, said it would be too tiring to color it now. They’d wait until they have more time during Christmas vacation. The twins such fun and such a joy.

My worst consumer experience: My metal shingle roof

 

I’ve written before about the problems I’m having with my Custom-Bilt vail metal shingle roof.

When the first roof was installed, it leaked due to a manufacturing defect. The replacement roof leaked in the same way. However, Custom-Bilt isn’t willing to stand behind its product.

Now I’m trying to find a knowledgeable roof inspector to inspect the roof.

The consumer complaint goes on.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

What are the best and worst jobs you’ve had?

Monday is Labor Day so it’s a good time to recall the greatest and most terrible jobs you’ve had.

The job I liked best was being the consumer action columnist for The Anchorage Times. I answered consumer questions from readers. It was terrific. My dream job.

The job I disliked the most was working at the cookhouse at the Wenatchee-Beebe Orchard Co. when I was a teenager. I had to get up early, walk a half a mile, set things out, help do the dishes and wash the trays, help get lunch ready, help do the dishes again, walk home for a rest, walk back for dinner, and help with the dishes again.

What’s the best job you ever had? What made it great? Was the work interesting and worthwhile? Did a great boss make the job terrific?

What made your worst job so terrible? Was it dull? Was your boss abusive? Were you overlooked for promotion although you performed well?

Here’s a list of the 10 best jobs you can get today from JobsRated:

1. Mathematician
2. Actuary
3. Statistician
4. Biologist
5. Software engineer
6. Computer systems analyst
7. Historian
8. Sociologist
9. Industrial designer
10. Accountant

This list is the 10 worst jobs you can get today, also from JobsRated:

1. Lumberjack
2. Dairy farmer
3. Taxi driver
4. Sailor
5. Emergency medical technician
6. Roofer
7. Garbage collector
8. Welder
9. Roustabout
10. Ironworker

U.S. Department of Labor poster

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

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

Recently, I launched a best and worst consumer experience feature on The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide.

I think looking weekly at our best and worse experiences as consumers will help us learn from our successes and mistakes.

Each week, we have dozens of consumer happenings, some good and some bad.
Here’s one each of mine for this week:

My best consumer experience: Winning a gift certificate at a picnic

Wednesday, I went to the annual picnic for our community access television, TCTV. I’ve taken classes at TCTV, but haven’t had the time to do any production work or develop my own show.

After a potluck dinner, the bingo games began. I thought about going home because the games were taking longer than I thought. But, I stuck it out.

I won one game. I received a $10 gift certificate from Southbay Dickerson’s Slow & Low BBQ.

What a good opportunity to invite friends to dinner.

My worst consumer experience: The trials and tribulations of a defective metal roof

In September 2007, a Custom-Bilt Metals vail shingle roof was installed on my home.

It leaked on the inside of the fascia boards all around the house. Fascia boards are 2 by 4s attached to house at the edge of the eves to hang the gutters on.

Custom-Bilt Metals examined the roof and decided the roof was defective, and it would be replaced.

In January 2008, Custom-Bilt Metals had a second vail shingle roof installed. Unfortunately, the same leaking the inside of the fascia boards occurred again.

Custom-Bilt arranged for a repair, but it didn’t work.

I filed complaints with the state Attorney General’s Office, the Better Business Bureau, ConsumerAffairs.com, the Troubleshooter, and Seattle television stations.

Custom Bilt wouldn’t resolve the complaint. I’ve had to hire an attorney. It’s so frustrating to have a leaky roof in the rainy Pacific Northwest.

Being a careful consumer, I asked for estimates from seven roofers. I checked out the roofer and Custom Bilt.

The step I didn’t do was to find out more about the vail shingle metal roof that Custom Bilt makes. Apparently its design had been changed, and they didn’t have it right when my roofs were installed.

Wish me luck. Hopefully I’ll have a new roof before the rains get heavy.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Picking out a competent roofer is a challenge

A challenge this week is my new metal shingle roof, installed in September. The metal shingles were defective, so last week the roofer came to install new ones. The problem: they ran out of materials and left a six-foot by two-foot space at the top of the roof that wasn’t covered. The crew boss said the laminated plastic underlayment would prevent leaks. It didn’t. I had 20 leaks in my attic after a storm.

A friend came on the weekend to help me put a tarp over the hole. We didn’t want to get up on the roof because metal roofs are slick and easy to damage. We spent hours using ropes to try to position the tarp.

A roofer came to complete the work. He said installing the rest of the shingles will stop the leaking problem. I hope so. Leaking roofs are a huge problem.

Robert Krughoff, president of Consumers’ Checkbook magazine and the Center for the Study of Services, told me in an interview that consumers need to be cautious when hiring a roofer. “We hear too many roofing horror stories from our subscribers.” Problems can include poor workmanship, long waits for the job to be completed, work having to be redone, and uneven rows of shingles.

In an article, “Help from Above,” Checkbook rates roofers in the following areas: Boston, Chicago, Delaware Valley, Puget Sound, San Francisco, Twin Cities, and Washington, D.C. The article appears in the Fall/Winter issue of Checkbook. If you subscribe to Checkbook, you can read the roofing article online. Or you can call 800-213-7283 to get a copy.

I also used the Better Business Bureau Yellow Pages to find roofers to ask for estimates. You can also ask friends and relatives for suggestions.

When selecting a roofer be sure to check the Better Business Bureau Web site to see if complaints have been filed against the firms you are considering. Your state Attorney General's Office also may have information.