Visa Signature Concierge as Virtual Assistant

[MariaG]

In the past, The Tim has sung the praises of the American Express Platinum card and its associated concierge services. This sounded really awesome to me, but it doesn't make economic sense for me to pay the $200 annual fee at this time.

However, I've discovered a free (or nearly free, depending on your card) alternative with Visa's Signature card. The version I have (through Chase bank) doesn't have an annual fee and I get unlimited access to Visa's concierge services.

So far, I have used this service to research vegan restaurants in Sedona, AZ and to find me a list of maid services that work in the suburban Phoenix area (as a gift to the friend I stayed with in that area). In both cases I've sent off a quick email and gotten a response in perfectly formatted English within 48 hours. Compared to my experience using a firm I hired through Elance, this has been a painless (and free!) experience.

As far as I can tell, these services won't replace a firm like AskSunday, which can do things like call your mom or wait on hold with your phone company, but I haven't tried to push it very far yet.

I would love to hear about others' experiences with using these types of services and what you've gotten them to do for you

Maria from Never the Same River Twice