What were your best and worst consumer experiences this week?

Which consumer experiences cheered you recently and which ones made you want to scream or weep?



Here are my best and worst consumer experiences this week:



My best: Enjoying the fall harvest

Monday, I visited with a friend, and she shared wonderful vegetables from her huge garden with me.

I wrote about “How to Cook Beets” and by the time I’d finished my post, the huge pot of beets I’d cooked were done.

Today, I attended the Sixth Annual Harvest Party sponsored by the Olympia Food Co-op. It was fun. Great food, a band, and games for kids.

My worst: Poor customer service from Office Depot

On Labor Day, I wanted to print out a double-sided copy of the draft book I’m editing for my acupuncturist, Rich Brightheart.

Since FedEx Office was closed, I headed to Office Depot. From the minute I stepped up to the counter, the young man who helped me had trouble with my order.

First, he couldn’t get the file from my flash drive to print. After about 10 minutes, the woman working with him returned. She knew how to get the printing started.

Then, when I came to pick up my order, he made a mistake on the cash register on my charge. He entered $3.60. It should have been $30.60. He didn’t know how to fix the problem. He called another sales associate over. The second person started working on it, but when a third co-worker walked by, he called him over. The third employee was able to fix it.

When I got home, I realized I’d been overcharged.

What the employee did was take the number of pages I had in the document AND DOUBLED IT because it was double sided. He was so dense that he didn’t get it that the number of pages in the document is the number the charges should be based on because the charge is per side.

I was furious. On deadline for the document, I had to waste time going back to Office Depot and showing the document to the manager before I could get my money back.

I was polite about the mistakes the young man made and suggested that he get more training. However, he was so dense that I don’t see how he’ll be able to make the grade as a copy center worker.

Copyright 2010, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist