We all have limited time in each day. Looking to increase my productivity and free myself from mundane tasks I decided to try a Virtual Assistant service called AskSunday. With AskSunday you can delegate tasks like ordering food, flower delivery, purchasing event tickets, booking travel plans and many others.
My experience with AskSunday was not good. Here’s a breakdown.
Inputting Service Requests. To start a new request you can send an email, login via the AskSunday website or call. Since I am a heavy Internet user this sounded great. Unfortunately this was anything but great. Email notifications that my request was received were delayed. If I’m offloading a task from my todo list to AskSunday I want confirmation that they received that request immediately. The web interface was very slow. PAINFULLY slow. That is unacceptable. The design and user interface are circa 1999. The only positive is that at least they weren’t requesting you to fax in requests. OK, maybe there were no positives. Grade: F
Request #1: Resolving a billing dispute with TiVO. I requested that AskSunday resolve a billing dispute. I received no response other than the automated email that my request was received. That was 10 days ago. Grade: F
Request #2: Cancel a recurring subscription that was no longer needed. I requested AskSunday to contact a vendor and cancel my recurring subscription to their service. Again, 10 days later I have zero updates other than the fact my request was received. Grade: F
Request #3: Cancel appointment. Due to a hectic schedule I needed to cancel an appointment to see my physician. This task was completed, but I didn’t receive confirmation for 24 hours. Grade: C
Request #4: Book a hotel room. I requested that AskSunday book a hotel room and obtain a special group rate I was offered. 24 hours later I was informed the rate was no longer available and therefore AskSunday did not book a room. This would be OK if I received the information within a few hours but receiving it 24 hours later could have caused problems. Grade: D
The free trial. To sign up for the free trial you have to provide a credit card. Although AskSunday completely ignored two of my requests for 10 days they still charged my credit card when the free trial ran out. So, I’ve submitted one final request to have those charges reversed and my service canceled. Grade: F
I had high hopes for my virtual assistant. Unfortunately, 10 days later I feel like Donald Trump on The Apprentice because all I have to say is “You’re FIRED!”.
