Staples: Give Us $80, We've Already "Set Up" All The Laptops In Stock...
Here's a "set up fee" or "optimization" complaint we're seeing more and more involving a wide range of retailers.
A customer will try to buy a computer — only to be told that they can't have the sale price because all the computers have already been "set up" or "optimized" and there is a fee for this "service."
Here's a sad tale from our inbox:
My mom offered to buy me the HP tablet laptop I have been oggling for Christmas. After I told her the model number and where she could find it, she was off to Staples, the only chain in town to carry it in stock, to purchase it for me.
When she got there, the salesman told her it was going to be on sale starting tomorrow in their flyer, and that she should come back to get the sale price. He also informed her that they had 5 in stock, the display model, and four others in the back that were already "Set up". She asked what "Set up" meant, and he explained it was a service that meant the laptop would be set up and run optimally and perfectly with Windows and everything she would need.
My mom is in her fifties, her first language isn't English, and my hunch as she explained this to me, was that the "Set up" was some kind of scam. My husband called another store to get clarification and find out if they had any in stock that weren't "Set up" or display models.
He found out the "Set up" service costs $80. It entails providing you with a CD that has a backup of the operating system on it, and doing all of the Windows updates. That's it. He asked the clerk if it was usual to "Set up" all of the laptops that were in stock and going on sale. The sales clerk said "No... we don't do that" but then was corrected by a manager apparently because he then said "Oh wait, my manager just said we do...".
Needless to say I had no interest in getting a "Set up" laptop, so we called another Staples and found one that wasn't "Set up". At that store the clerk did try to offer the "Set up" service, but it was declined and that was that.
It seems really shady, to perform this questionably useful service to the entire inventory of an item that is going on sale, without really mentioning it to the customer that it costs $80 extra and doesn't entail much. I would guess there were probably some people who bought that laptop, even if they didn't want the "Set up" service, because there wasn't anywhere else in town with it in stock and they were stuck. The sale price was $100 off, so even with the $80 service fee, it was still cheaper, but it's the lack of choice and lack of information as to what "Set up" even is that I find horrid.
We think this is shady. Customers should be able to purchase items for the amount advertised without any extra fees that are not disclosed in the ad. You should report it to your local attorney general and see if they agree with us.
(Photo: soul motor )
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Comments:
Ah yes, Staples, the company that is too cheap to give employees a discount. And too cheap to have new manila file folders in the corporate office.
Hopefully it's not legal to force an extra service on people just to buy an item as the advertised price. And the worst part is that if they "Set-up" these laptops. That means they opened all the boxes and used the laptops. Which means they are no longer new.
This is a great way for retailers to pass off previously sold and then returned merchandise as "new" and not take a hit on selling an "open box" at a reduced price.
My sister bought one of these tablet pc's and all the system restore stuff is in the box. You had to 'setup' windows (username,ect) but everything else was already installed ready to go. What a scam!
@MeSoHornsby: Aw, come on now, they have 2 days a year where they give employees 15% off, AND they let us have rewards cards too! Seriously though, my managers would generally hard-mod the price down a few bucks for anything expensive we bought there just because they knew corporate were dicks.
Maybe when they're done 'setting up' those laptops they can install the maps onto their GPS units.
It takes three hours, you know.
Can't you claim this practice as bait and switch? You see the advertised price of a non "set up" model. Then you go into the store and there are no non "set up" models available, so they try to sell you one that is "set up" for the extra $80. Amiright?
My favorite is just letting corporate know that you have intentions to sue them because their store is doing this, I bet you it will be fixed in no time.
If they had to take the laptop out of the box to "set it up," ask for an open-box discount.
@easy2panic: You have to let them know you are going to sue in small claims court and mention somewhere it is going to cost them more money in legal than just to fix the problem, and if they don't show up, you win anyway.
This is why I don't buy computers from stores. A computer becomes much more useful when you put it together from barebones and install the OS yourself. It's cheaper and you avoid all the "offers" and "free" crapware they install and in the end you've learned a lot about how your computer works. Also installing a linux distro for a dual boot won't void any warranties and building a computer is just so easy these days.
Sounds a lot like the "door trim" that the bang you 300-400 on when trying to buy a new car.
I'll take this a step further and bash Circuit City, while I am at it for an attempted scam. Over the Labor Day weekend I went to buy a 46" 1080p Sammy LCD. It was on sale + I had a coupon, so I essentially got a 1599 MSRP TV for about $1250. When I go to pay, and tell the guy I need it delivered, he says no problem, thats $250. I said what! He goes on, yeah someone from the store will deliver it and set it up for you, i respond, oh Firedog you mean, yeah I dont need that, I just need it dropped off at my door. The CC rep then says, oh you just want a fedex guy to just throw it on your doorstep? I respond yep that works for me.
He then goes to his computer and says, oh the earliest delivery i can have for you is next week, but if you get the firedog I can have it to you first thing tomorrow morning. I proceed to pretend like I am contemplating the firedog option (i mean the shakedown) then say to to the rep, you know what, I'll just go buy it from somewhere who can deliver it earlier, thanks alot for the help. As I started walking away, the rep says.....hold on sir, we just got an opening for a delivery tomorrow......riiiiiiiight. If CC didnt have the TV so cheap and I didnt have the coupon I wouldnt have put up with that nonsense.
Just another different scam at CC.
The same happened to me at the Best Buy in Glen Allen, VA. I went to buy a Toshiba laptop in Oct with 4GB RAM. The only one they had in stock, they said, had already optimized by the Geek Squad, so the advertised price was not the advertised price, it was actually $40 more if I wanted to buy. I went straight to customer service and complained because I wasn't set on buying that they were not selling to me at the advertised price. They chopped the fee and gave it to me at the advertised price. It is a good thing I didn't pay for the service, because there was all sorts of advertising and promotional software installed on the laptop even after the so-called "optimization", which I discovered was far from optimized. A lot of work by me had to be done to remove all the trial versions and marketing gimmicks.
This seems to be a growing trend. They are scamming people who are ready to make a big purchase, and betting that $40-$100 extra won't be enough to change the customer's mind on buying.
When my wife and I bought a laptop at Best Buy, they forced a free Geek Squad "setup" on us. Basically they opened the box, plugged the laptop in, and ran the Dell Hardware diagnostic suite... All things I could have done, as I used to work Help Desk... They tried forcing a bunch of other services, including creating the "backup discs" even though the laptop came with all discs. If I added up all the services I think it would have cost almost as much as the laptop did.
What's scarier is if they actually connect the laptop to the internet to get the windows updates. If the laptop does not have a current AV program up and running, it will be compromised in a matter of minutes...
I recently purchased a car and it seems this is a common practice in the automobile industry, too. I had one dealer explain that they had a $1000 "accessory package" (including, as far as I could tell, a pinstripe, splash guards, and "door edge guards") that they "usually didn't recommend people buy their car without." They automatically had put the package on every car in stock, but they "might" be able to knock it down to $500. Needless to say, I walked out and never came back.
But this wasn't an uncommon practice. Another dealer added a "$200" pinstripe to the car I was interested in after I test drove it and showed interest. When I confronted her about it and said that was insane that they'd add a feature and make me pay for it after I already showed interest in the car as-is, the sales person told me, "if you walk into dealerships like that, you're not going to be able to get a car anywhere." And then escorted me out.
The place I ended up buying from was the only one that didn't do stupid stuff like that. When I told them I wasn't interested in the "accessory package" they'd added. They said rather then take the stuff off, they'd just include it at no charge. So obviously those splash guards aren't even worth the time it takes to remove them.
I know that was a long and somewhat unrelated rant, but I just wanted to show how common this practice of tossing on unwanted "excess-ories" is and forcing people to pay for them in the car business. So, I'm not surprised to see that dubious practice spreading into the computer business (another sales business that often has salespeople who prey on customers' ignorance of the product).
"building a computer is just so easy these days."
Building a _DESKTOP_ is reasonably easy - building a laptop, on the other hand, is a bit more challenging.
The upsell is part of the retail game. During my TV purchase I was "pressured" into buying a Warranty. They conviniently had an LCD TV with busted pixels by the register telling me that if I opened the box and my tv looked like that I would be stuck with it UNLESS i purchased the $400 Warranty. I was also pressured into buying $100 monster HDMI cables, as well as pressured into buying the Firedog installation. Not only by the salesman, but later by his manager.
It really has become quite the hassle to purchase any type of major electronics. The only reason I even deal with Brick And Mortar stores is the ability to bring it back if something is wrong. Other than that all other smaller purchases are done online.
I bought a computer at Best Buy in Avon Ohio 5-6 weeks ago for 3$99 which came with "free" anti-virus software. The salesman tried to push a "set up special" on me and I said no. He then asked why I would not want that and I said I was not interested. He was about to say it again and I told him that he needed to shut up and give me the computer. He then said that the computer was already "set up" and that he would take the amount off of the price. WTF? I bought it anyway because $399 was a good price for it.
It's shady, but the service is legitimate... provided they do other services on top of what was stated.
Here's how it works:
HP does not send recovery disks. Staples creates them.
The laptop does not come with all updates. For example, none of those laptops would have had Microsoft's most recent Internet Explorer update, which patched a major security hole that had been present since IE5.
The service is also supposed to install one software title of the customer's choice, and register the computer with the manufacturer under the customer's name.
The service should also set up all user accounts and passwords, and run optimization tools (such as turning off UAC).
It seems like there was at least one more service, but I cant think of it off-hand. But overall, the service takes more than three hours (creating the disks can take two hours easily), so the service price is justified. Also, the target customer for this type of service is one who a) cant do this by themselves or b) business people who would rather have someone else do it to save time and headaches. It should NEVER be forced on someone, especially if they can do it themselves.
What is unacceptable, though, is that it was not provided for the customer as an OPTION. It was being forced.
Two things to keep in mind: Not all staples stores operate in this way - I am a staples tech and we would NEVER do this to our customers. That's a great short-term business plan, if you don't plan on staying open too much longer, but we would love for our business to continue growing.
The other thing is that Staples Corporate monitors this website. Every time Staples is mentioned on it, we receive e-mails and sometimes conference calls regarding how we should improve service.
SO- no excuses from me, what that store is doing is unacceptable. But I see a lot of people saying that the service is not legitimate, and that is simply not true.
Help! Our margins are under pressure because computers are loss-leaders and attachment rates are way down!
Just mark up the laptops, guys. Don't feign services that don't exist, don't lie to consumers. Just tell them that you need to profit on merchandise that you sell in your store. And if you can't compete at those price points, practice more cost discipline and supply-chain management.
Doesn't Windows ask you for some registration and other initial information, such as Name and Organization and what the name of the users who will be on the machine?
One thing I would hate is to have a user profile called "Staples Customer" and have to go to C:\Documents and Settings\Staples Customer\My Documents...
All future programs installed would be registered or franked with the information this stupid service would have installed, too.
Registered to "Thanks for the unnecessary cash, sucker."
I thought one important point of buying some brand new tech toy is being able to experience the unpackaging and initial power-on, to see and do everything for yourself. Call me a geek, but that's my moment. Leave it alone, Staples.
So they rip open the box, let some 17-year-old unqualified, minimum wage "technician" tinker with it. Then they put it back in the box, tape it up and try to sell it to you. Wait, doesn't that make it used?
I bought a laptop from Circuit City, and the salesman, uh sales-kid, tried to sell me on the set up. It actually took him a while to find one that wasn't "set up" already.
The computer had Vista on it so it must be an easy sell, being that Vista has such a bad reputation. But I told him "No thanks. I'll set it up when I get home." And by setting up, I meant I'll wipe the HDD and install XP.
@plamoni:
The reason for the $400 accessory package that costs the dealer less than $10 is to show a GREATER DISCOUNT when negotiating for the car.
@Persistence: Why is there always one of these comments in a computer buying story?
Look, I'm for building your own computer as the next guy, and want to when I can afford the upfront cost (poor college student). But after working in IT on campus, I know a large majority of people don't know the difference between a music file and iTunes. Those who do know computers might not have the time to research all the part to make sure they play nice together and are quality, and then have to put them all together. If I didn't have the time, I'd have no problem buying off the rack and cleaning it myself.
Also, get back to me when you figure out how to build a tablet PC like OP wants. Would be a fun project if possible.
All that being said, Staples computer service, geek squad, firedog et al. are scam artists who charge for something as simple as clicking "update" when Windows asks to.
@ganzhimself: What would happen if I offered to buy the laptop, agree to scams, and then changed my mind and don't want to buy the laptop any more?
I'm very tempted to try. Several times. On multiple stores.
Have you kids not ever been to Best Buy? They try this business all the time. ESPECIALLY if you're a chick.
@G_Money21: That's pretty much why I like to shop locally than online, just to have that ability to bring it back if something is wrong. But, shoot, if I were pressured like that I'd just call it off and walk out. I don't need that kind of pressure when buying a tv, I'd just want to buy it and get out.
@G_Money21: Or to sucker people into actually paying that much. The first guy had me pinned for a car-buying newbie and was ready to make me pay MSRP for the car + the $500. At least I had the good sense to walk away, even if I wasn't able to stand up for myself...
@Persistence: Can I have your number so I can give it to my non-techno-geek family members after I tell them how much fun it is to build their own? I've had it up to here with their halp computah calls, and they all own Dells.
@Corporate_guy: As far as I know it is illegal. If there is no mention of additional fees under the advertising then it is obviously false advertising and/or bait and switch. Like the article said, she needs to contact the state AG and file a complaint. I have done it before and it worked for me.
@unobservant: Hahaha...sounds like my wife's experiences at BB and Tweeter.
Once, she actually told this guy (the third salesman to "help" her in 5 minutes) that they could EITHER hit on her OR sell her extra services, not both.
There is a Honda dealer nearby that puts "paint protection," a spoiler, pinstriping, mudflaps, wheel locks, etc. on all of their stock, along with an add-on sticker for that crap. This is no different.
@Persistence: You do recognize the inherent challenges in building a tablet pc, right? Or were you too busy self-aggrandizing?
As a geek, I find it so offensive that my fellow geeks always have to pop up with this little number. It is just as obnoxious as that guy in every restaurant post that says "This is why I never go to restaurants! You can make everything cheaper and healthier at home!"
@plamoni: Nothing makes me happier, when buying a car, than negotiating a good price and then getting free all-weather floor mats added on at the end. Seriously. Makes me giddy.
@zigziggityzoo: It's almost as if there should be some government entity to prevent large corporations from systematically scamming consumers.
I've bought several laptops from Staples in the last few weeks I was offered the "Set Up" and I told them I didn't want the service and the sales person didn't ask me again could be they where just trying to explain it to your mom and she might of felt that they where pressuring her in buying it! It might be a basic service to us geeks but a lot of people aren't really computer literate.
@rbb:
Highly unlikely.
You wouldn't get a virus from dloading from the MS update site. As well, you don't really get viruses unless you download something.
I went with a friend to Best Buy to buy a laptop that was on sale. The local Best Buy had it in stock but the sales person tried the same scam and refused to sell it unless my friend paid the "set up" and security update costs that were well over a hundred bucks.
And people wonder why we need strong consumer protection laws.
It is not legitimate when a computer is advertised for a certain price and then the consumer is told that all PC's have been "set-up".
That is bait and switch.
The setup service actually isn't anything. They just provide you with what's already in the box. It's a huge scam.