Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 11:10:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Ng
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: About Staples' deals

Hi There,

I just want to drop a few words about deals from Staples. You know, as
advertised on Staples website about the Special buy "Canon F-50
all-in-one machine" on 01/26/03. The sale starting from midnight
01/26/03. I came online to order the Canon F-50 at 1:30 AM in the morning
but their system was down and couldn't order. Then I woke up at 5 AM the
same day and placed the order for that machine. After I placed the, I got
order confirmation from Staples website, and they said they will ship it
to me on the 28th.

However, on the 28th, I received an email from Staples saying that my
order has been canceled because they're out of stock on the item. I
called Staples and check again with them, and they said the samething!!!
They said, "Eventhough if your online order says the item is in stock,
it's not guaranteed that we have the item in stock..." What kind of
business is this?

I can say that I was one of the first few people that placed the order
online for that particular item. How can it be out of stock??? When I
even got an order confirmation # from them? I just want to know if this
is their first time doing this or everybody who access techbargains for
deal had this kind of hassels with them before? That is not how we do
business in America!!! It seem like their ads were scam, just to make
people to go their website.

I'm very frustrated and pissed at Staples.


Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 11:27:17 -0500 (EST)
From: Mark W.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: I hate Staples too

I see some complaints about staples on your site. I don't think I
will ever order from them again. I was ordering software on their web
site when I saw a special, buy 2 packages and get some third package
free. I did not even want the third package, but I figured I would
try it. The web kept adding the price to my order, so I phoned in.
They accepted my order over the phone and told me the total was $60.
When I got my bill they tagged my credit card $90. When I called and
complained they said sorry. The only choice they gave me was,
returning it with me paying shipping or they would send me a $30
dollar gift certificate. It made it a little better, but I am still
mad. 

My advice would be, don't shop at staples.


Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 11:29:46 -0800 (PST)
From: S. N.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Re: Staples order

Staples is not only cancelling orders, but even keeping money for a while.
I ordered Canon Powershot S30 digicam with staples using $50 off $200
coupon last month. They charged my credit card after 3 days, and showed
status 'shipped' in order tracking. I was happy with their superfast
processing. BUT when I didn't get shipment for 1 week, I called them as
they didn't give any tracking number, they said, well, we do not ship
this camera, we send all orders for this to vendor.........crap, it may
take another 3-4 weeks to ship. I asked why do you keeping my money, they
said, we charge the card as soon as we send order to the vendor.

Well, I am pissed off with this and cancelling the order after 3 weeks of
order, they say it will take 2-3 weeks to credit the money back on my
card.

Even NY gray market resellers doesn't do this cheap act.

bye bye staples.


Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 14:33:15 -0500
From: Andrew
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Staples

Maniac,
I too have had problems with Staples, I ordered an item and expected to
see it by the end of the week. When it didn't show up, I figured that the
transaction had been canceled or was slightly delayed. Seeing that my
account had not been charged I was not complete upset and figured to
dismiss and move on. THREE months later, the item appeared and my account
had been charged. I was a little irate and shipped the item back.
I have vowed never to shop there again.


Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 17:35:37 -0600
From: Todd
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Staples

I suspect your sample may simply be a case of folks reporting negative
experiences vs. positive experiences, especially after they read about a
possible problem here.

I've taken repeated advantage of the Staples coupon codes you've provided
and got some wonderful deals.  I've done over 5 orders ($200.00 + most of
them), with assorted orders between $50.00 and $100.00.

Not once has one of my orders been canceled.  In fact, when Staples has
been out of stock on some of my items, they substituted merchandise of a
higher quality at the same price. 

Any merchant is going to run out of stock, especially on popular items. 
Not surprising when it happens.  I've been sufficiently impressed by
their service and fast shipping, I even order from them when I don't have
coupons.   Sad huh?

Keep up the good work, but I think your way off base on this one.  These
are good guys.


Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 18:12:49 -0600
From: R. B.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: staples

perhaps you should be encouraging the people with cancelled orders to
contact their state's attorney general to file a complaint instead. I've
only dealt with them one time and it was OK. I don't use them, because they
don't have any stores in the immediate Chicago area, but I have to pay sales
tax because they have stores doen state.


Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 17:19:17 -0800 (PST)
From: N. B.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Staples.com orders cancelled

Interesting that you guys mention this.  I placed an order on Sunday for
a printer and that was cancelled.  So I complained to customer service
and they placed the order for me and that was cancelled the next day. 
That was my first shopping experience with Staples.com but I did reach
their site through yours...could it be that they have banned the hotdeals
site?  Nevertheless, I told them I would never shop there again becuse of
the experience.

Great site...keep it up.


Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 18:13:01 -0800
From: Andrew C.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Staples problems

I just wanted to chime in on the Staples problems.  Whenever I see a hot
deal on this site or any other at Staples, if I order it, it's totally
hit or miss as to whether or not I'll actually receive it.  Sometimes
they'll cancel the order or say they ran out, or give me the run
around.  I get the impression that their just a bunch of incompetent
idiots.

I recall I ordered one item (don't remember what it was anymore) and
they said they ran out and couldn't backorder it from blah blah store
(one near me).  After a bunch of discussion, they asked me to call some
other store and backorder it from them.  I'm thinking, why does it
matter where it comes from?  Why do I need to do this?  If I order
something, it should show up.

My advice is, if you buy something that is a hot deal from Staples,
don't count on getting it.


Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 00:30:22 -0800
From: {anonymous}
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Staples BS

I no longer trust Staples stores or Staples.com online.

I bought a couple products online from them that totalled about $90.
They were running a special that if you bought $100 worth of
product, they would give you some bonus merchandise worth over $20.

So I added $10 worth of over-priced stuff to my online shopping cart
to get to the $100 price point.

When I received my merchandise, there was no special bonus merchandise
included.  I called up Staples customer service (an oxymoron), and
they told me they had absolutely no record of me requesting the free
goodies.  And they refused to be flexible or even appear concerned at
all.

I then tried to return the $10 worth of extra crap I bought (filler
to get to $100 total) at a local Staples store, and they wouldn't
take it because it is "online-only" merchandise.  It would have cost
about $10 to ship it back to them, so I got stuck with it.  It's
still sitting unused in a box in the closet.

I've also had extremely bad experiences with their customer reps and
managers at two nearby stores.

One time in particular was astronomically bad.  One of the store
employees was trying his best to convice his manager not to let me
return an unopened item that was well within the printed return
period (as was clearly printed on the receipt).  He made his repeated
attempts right in front of me and other customers.  This idiot was
really working it... he said that the return policy printed on the
receipt was wrong, and that I couldn't return it.  He was adamant
about it, and kept on repeating his opinion over and over again.  I
got the strong impression that the manager really wanted to go along
with the employee, but it was making a big scene in the store, so
they finally let me return it.

Needless to say, I'm no longer a Staples customer unless they have a
deal that is obviously under-cost.

And as far as these under-cost deals go, it seems like Staples loves
to advertise them, but then resents it when people actually want to
take them up on their offers.

More than once, I've had a Staples manager or customer rep say
"we're losing money on this, you know".  Well, if that's the case,
then don't advertise it and stop sending me coupons in the mail.

I give Staples an F- for customer service.  I now go out of my way
to shop someplace else.  And after hearing my horror stories, so
does everyone I know.


Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 05:01:59 -0500
From: R. R.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Staples Deceptive Practices - Canon F50 Scam

I had the same experience as NG who sent you a letter yesterday. I
ordered an F50 within 2 minutes of the deal being loaded into their
systems which was about 2.30am PST. I had been checking the site every 5
minutes all night so I really was one of the first to get this offer.
The rest is the same as NG - told several days later that they had no
stock which truly suggests that they really had no stock at all, ever. I
would like to see them prove that they had ANY Canon F50 machines at that
price since I think they just lied to get people to buy other stuff off
the Staples site. I talked to CS people and a supervisor and they had
nothing to say other than sorry and that I did know it was a 'while
stocks last' promotion. When I told them that they clearly had no stock,
they obfuscated and told me there was nothing they could do.
Staples is a despicable and underhanded retailer that deserves to be
investigated for these practices which are clearly part of a pattern of
deception and illegal behavior.


Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 03:31:54 -0800 (PST)
From: Alex
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Staples orders

I've been reading other people commenting about
Staples.com cancelling orders, and I wish mine was
just cancelled. But here's what's happening - I
ordered a Flash card from them using a valid coupon to
bring the price down and to avoid any inconveniences
ordered online but then paid by phone, and had the
salesperson tell me the final price of the order.

Later on I browse my online banking account, and guess
what. Two almost identical charges show up on my
credit card from Staples.com. About $25 each, so the
first one is the final price of the product, the
second one... I called Staples.com and somewhat
clueless sales rep Lanny gives me crap about misusing
coupons. Anyway, Staples decided that they would
charge the value of the coupons plus the sales tax on
the coupons to my credit card. That sounds like
unauthorized transaction, and my bank seemed to
wholeheartedly agree when I showed them (a) Staples
invoice, (b) Printout of Staples final price and order
number and (c) two similar charges on my account.

So a chargeback is on the way to Visa International,
but tonight I am logging on to my bank account once
again, and guess what. Yet another charge from
Staples.com for 97 cents. WTF? Is it them hoping to
collect their $25 chargeback by charging me $0.97 25
times maybe? I know that 97 cent chargeback would be
stupid to pursue, but so far my impression of Staples
has been somewhere inbetween 'crooks' and 'scammers'.
And yeah, I am calling the bank to find out what the
97 c charge is all about and whether they can reverse
that.


Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 09:19:53 -0700
From: Mark F.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Various info

Regarding cancelled orders at Staples. I have started to just reenter
orders every time I'm cancelled (for out of stock). The last 2 times I
was cancelled on the first order, the second order shipped. No rhyme or
reason, but it worked for me.


Date: Mon, 03 Feb 2003 13:51:42 -0500
From: J. G.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: problems with Staples

Hey

Your site is invaluable!!

Anyway, additional warnings for dealing with Staples...

Back in December, I bought a $30 item and added a $20 item with a $20
rebate (Spamkiller software).  I then used a $20 off $50 coupon to get a
pretty good deal (effectively $20 off $30 with free Spamkiller
software).  Yesterday, I got a postcard saying that my rebate request
has been rejected!!

I know I sent them the right stuff, because that was the only rebate I
was dealing with at the time.  

I'm upset because if I had known this combination was not allowed, I
would have picked $20 worth of stuff that is more useful to me than the
Spamkiller.  Arrgh.


Date: Mon, 03 Feb 2003 14:19:35 -0500
From: Jason R.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: staples orders

I think you underestimate the amount of people that (tried to) ordered
the F50s because they were on sale for $300 less than normal price.  The
web inventory is a hours behind the phone inventory so of course the
thousands of people that called in at 8am got it before the thousand of
people on the web tried.  People were trying to get like 10 each of
this.


Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 21:08:50 -0500
From: Glenn H.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Staples problems

Rather than having your visitors send complaints to the CEO of Staples, it
would probably be more effective to direct them to their state's Attorney
General's office.

The State of Michigan sued Circuit City recently for advertising items for
very low prices after rebates.  The ads would say "No rainchecks. Limited
quantities."  Then Circuit City would only stock a quantity of one or two
and rely on customers to purchase alternative items at higher prices when
the advertised items were out of stock.

Not exactly the same situation as Staples.com, but I have a feeling most
state's would be interested in Staples' frequent reneging on advertised
deals.


Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 00:46:59 -0800
From: Aaron H.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Staples Complaints & Countermeasures

I have also had 2 of 3 on-line Staples orders cancelled. I place the
order via their website and submit my information. 2 of 3 times I never
got e-mail confirmation, when I called the customer service rep would
tell me the item was out of stock and that they couldn’t complete
the order.

2 things that worked for me

1)       Print out your receipt when you complete your on-line order &
take it to your local Staples. The manager at my local store has taken
care of me both times, when I provided the print out of the receipt.

2)       I complained enough on Staples.com that they sent me a $15.00
Gift Certificate.

OfficeDepot.com and OfficeMax.com both have their acts together compare
the Staples.com. They are terrible