This review of Virtual Personal Assistants comes from WallStreetJournal written by Alina Dizik, a freelance journalist and fiction writer.

Productivity gurus have long stressed the need for virtual assistants that will do those online tasks you never seem to have time for—like getting a wedding gift or sorting out health-insurance claims. But sharing credit-card numbers or personal passwords with someone thousands of miles away can take some getting used to.

I tested four services (three based in India) that cater to personal requests like making customer-service calls or researching vacation details, or anything else that doesn’t need to be handled in person. Some even do wake-up calls.

After signing up, I could assign tasks almost right away via phone, website or email on a round-the-clock basis. Each assistant received several tasks, including an especially time-consuming one, from my to-do list. Monthly fees start at about $30 and are billed on a per-hour or per-request basis. All the sites offer a dedicated assistant option, where just one person will handle all your requests, for a higher fee…

Read the original article here: Virtual Gofers Tackle Personal To-Do Lists