Print Friendly and PDF
Study finds vast majority of crops subsidized by federal government ends up in junk food
Recall of the Week: Bridgeway bicycles due to fall hazard

What were your best and worst consumer experiences this week?

By Rita R. Robison

Which consumer happenings cheered you this week and which ones made you want to scream or weep?

Here are my best and worst consumer experiences this week:

My best: Great produce at the food co-op

Watermelon Mango

After picking out a tiny organic watermelon at the Olympia Food Co-op, I found a huge mango.

When I got them home, I discovered they’re about the same size.

The watermelon is yummy. I can hardly wait to try the mango.

I love the wonderful, fresh product at the co-op. The bulk nuts also are the freshest of any store in town.

My worst: Low-quality customer service from a fence company

Seven years ago, I spend a lot of money having a new fence installed. When the worker laid out the fence in the back, it was too low, right at ground level. When I asked him about it, he wouldn’t redo it and put it up higher.

Fence Bowed I wrote a letter to the company about it and other mistakes and miscommunications when the fence was completed. I never heard from the company. I thought I’d wait and see what happened.

When I was checking my fence prior to its being washed and cleaned, I noticed one section was badly bowed. Not only did the worker build the fence too low, he also put it right on the base of a huge cherry tree in the neighbor’s yard. As the base of the tree grew, the fence bowed.

The company came to fix the bowed section. The two workers marched into the yard and replaced the boards. Instead of raising the fence about six inches like we talked about, they raised it 12 inches.

I also asked them to raise two other sections of the fence where huge roots from other large trees are causing the fence to begin to bow. They said they wouldn’t do it.

All these fence problems could have been avoided if the fence company’s worker hadn’t built the fence at ground level and placed the fence on the base of a huge tree.

I guess what I’ll do is ask the owner of the rentals next to me if I can have the roots cut on his side of the fence. Then, they’ll be cut on my side and removed.

Copyright 2011, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Your Information

(Name and email address are required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)