I like seeing that their PPPs are "Superior". I may go buy a PPP on my way home from work. I feel like purchasing something that is superior.

kudos to Office depot for clarifying this.

Congratulations to the OP and Consumerist in changing/re-establishing Office Depot policy! :)

Too bad they don't offer a PPP for "zero bad pixels" on LCD displays (to make up for manufacturers lacking the spherical components to warranty their products against this not too common problem).

@fantomesq: well really it was LAPTOP's scoop, all credit goes to them.

At least now that I know about this type of practice, it seems like you can force their hand. "Why yes, I want to buy every bell and whistle that comes with this laptop." At the checkout, with the laptop and bells and whistles in hand... "hmmm, I don't think I want bells or whistles. I'll just take the laptop. Thanks!"

Interesting. Although, I wonder how many General Managers will ignore this notice and will still continue looking for better sales numbers.

Yeah, this memo means nothing. If they were serious, they would revise the incentive/bonus program that started this behavior. Instead they'll just turn a blind eye, and if there are any other complaints, point to this memo as "policy".

@idip: Print out the memo, show it to them, and ask them to check again. Assuming of course you didn't just pretend you wanted a service plan to get them to bring out the laptop.

They totally need that policy at Sears. On Black Friday I bought a surround sound system and they said they had 3 left. 45 secs later when I went to "pick up" they said they had no more. I asked them how just a minute earlier I had bought it and was told there were 3 in store... they couldn't give me a straight answer. I then had to go back in line and wait 1.5 hours to order the thing. I waited 5 hours outside that store so I could take it home immediately. Instead I spent 7 hours just to order it and wait 2 weeks, something I could have done online. Still makes me mad to this day.

@Corporate_guy: I guess. Although I could see that going very wrong:

Me: "Are you sure" (Hands manager memo)
Manager: "Are you calling me a liar?"
Me: Uh...

I can't remember if it was Office Depot or Office Max... But here's my story:

I needed a new computer chair. Office Depot/Max had a big sale and they had a really nice chair marked off about 40%. I asked for the chair, and they said they would bring it to the front.

I waited for 10 minutes, finally a manager came up and told me they were out of stock. I asked if I could substitute the %40 discount onto another chair. They said fine. I waited another 10 minutes, they came up and said they didn't have the chair.

I then said that I wanted 40% off their most expensive (and also nicest) chair. The manager refused. I threatened to call corporate... yadda yadda yadda... Three days later, I got the nicest chair they had for 40% off.

@Skaperen: the expectation that Consumer LCD's will have zero bad pixels is pretty much unreasonable. Unlike older display technologies, when you make an LCD, you're basically making (horizontal pixels) x (vertical pixels) x 3 tiny devices. For a 1080p display, that's over 6 million. So what would you consider an acceptable failure rate? Lets say 1/3 displays has a bad pixel anomaly at ship. That's around a 1/10,000,000 failure rate for these components (a single bad pixel may involve one or more bad transistors). That's astonishingly good. Pushing down to where you can guarantee zero bad pixels would require a multiplicative increase in the price of displays - a price that you, John Q Public is not willing to pay.

So basically, you are stuck between a product that does not always meet your quality requirements, or a product that is too expensive for you to buy. The display industry has decided to produce the former.

I say lower your quality threshold and enjoy the great prices we have. If you have a bad LCD, buy another one. It's STILL cheaper than if a company tried to guarantee zero bad units. What we have now is displays that are pretty damned good, and fabulously cheap. LCD prices have been scaling downward at a terrific rate for the past decade.

My 37" TV, which is like 2 years old, cost about $900 new, and now they're half that and with better display quality. It has about 3 bad pixels on it (dead ones), and I NEVER notice them during regular viewing.

As with all retail, certain stores are gonna be better than others. You find a store with a sleazy manager who trains their employees to do this and you will get bad service. However you might find a helpful store as well, as a few other people posted they had good experiences purchasing laptops at OD.

Try to find out what type of store your store is before pulling any stunts. If they try to upsell upsell and upsell some more, then by all means tell them you want the extras, let them bring the laptop out then tell them you either can't afford it due to economic difficulty or tell them you only brought this much to spend and show them the exact amount of cash for the purchase (calculate it beforehand of course). If they are a helpful store you shouldn't have any problem purchasing the laptop for the advertised price, and you won't have to resort to this.

Check inventory online if you can as well, if you get there at opening and they are magically sold out of the sale laptop, then you know something fishy is up. If you see in their inventory how many items they have in stock and they suddenly tell you they are out then you know something fishy is up as well. I know online inventory isn't always accurate but it should give you an idea.

@idip: I'd stick to lying about wanting the PPP and changing my mind at the last minute. Even if it's just to see the look on their faces ;)

@cubsd: Nonsense. Corporate would always blithely presume that the bonus/incentive structure is attainable ethically and legitimately by properly motivated sales people. Corporate always wants the customer to have a wonderful experience. Happy, loyal customers buy more. They buy higher margin items. They don't shop as critically. They ritualize shopping with you and return on habit. They just expect each store location to achieve this level of deliriously happy satisfaction while making as much money as humanly possible.

@Chris Walters: Who? Surely it was Consumerist's publicity of the issue ;) Point Taken. Congrats to Laptop as well. Hey! Reply's working! :)

NOTE: Memo did not say "we are removing the quotas" or "we are revoking the disciplinary measures which come with" AT BEST this memo was issued with a wink.

@Ninja007: I used to work retail - they do this to cover themselves, but in reality the practice will still continue.

@ludwigk: I am happy that SOMEONE understand how unreasonable of a request 0 bad pixels is.

Well Office Depot just closed in Maine it's a non-issue for us Mainers.

Their corperate offices release this and than still require percentage based upselling of attachments as requirements of their employees to keep their jobs. Hypocritcal assoles.

@cubsd: Exactly. If the incentives aren't aligned with the desired behavior their statement is meaningless.

@ludwigk: While that should be acceptable for a TV, I think it's far for someone buying a computer LCD monitor to expect 0 dead or faulty pixels. Having a black spot in the middle of the field of while I'm typing on right now would get rather irritating.

I used to work for a monitor company (long dead) and they sold 17" LCD that were $1400 each. the policy (way back then (2000-2002) was there had to be at least 7 dead pixels overall; and up to 3 more than 1" in from the edges. People expected perfection in what was newer technology at the time.

Most LCD today are nearly flawless but you will get the occasional bad pixel; it happens.

@cubsd: It's not the structure that's bad, it's the people that are breaking the rules. Your reasoning is like saying we should get rid of cash registers because a few cashiers steal from the till.

I'm not an OD employee, but I do work on commission in a retail environment. The key to making incentives worthwhile without encouraging unethical behavior is simple: Enforce the rules. Where I work, there's plenty of room for unethical behavior to make more money. However, management makes it clear that such behavior will NOT be tolerated. And - here's the important part - they follow through on it.

It's unethical people, not an inherently unethical system, that ruins it.

@Quatre707: Why is this hypocritical? Their employees should be good enough salespeople to meet their company's goals without needing to resort to unethical methods.

At my business, our mantra is, "take every deal." You take everything you can whether it's a great deal or not. There's no reason to walk a profitable customer. NONE.

It sounds to me that they're taking this seriously. I don't see the "wink" in that memo.

Although I do admit it certainly has the tone of corporate doing some CYA work.

Yes, it may be against official corporate policy, but individual employees, and also store and district managers will still do this as it makes their numbers look better. This will necessarily happen if they place too much emphasis on the percentage of people who get warranties rather than absolute numbers (though with absolute numbers it penalizes employees who happen to work shifts with fewer customers).

The Office Depot store in Coeur D' Alene, Idaho regularly practices outright bait and switch. I go to Spokane, Washington stores and get no problems. I reported the Coeur D' Alene store to corporate and get nothing in response. Honestly, I'm pretty sure their corporate doesn't care. Of course Idaho has no laws regarding sales practices, or listing products, or sales ads, so these store managers really have a free hand at doing whatever they want. Idaho in general is a wretched state in all regards, but if you have to buy there, buyer be vary wary. ;)

I have "first hand experience" with selling PPPs. My managers have never asked or told me to lie about inventory. I cannot speak for other ODs but mine is honest. Plus, I've told my managers that "if we're here to screw the customers, I quit."

I can't speak for other stores but the one my hubby works at is dead serious about this. They have all been warned and the GM is a royal ASS about all things corporate. They mess up, they're fired. No questions asked. Given we have over 16% unemployment in our county, I can guarantee that the employees will tow the line.

@AD8BC: I have a superior bridge I'm looking to sell. Hit me up and let's see if we can't make this happen.

On subject, I am happy to see Office Depot is paying attention to what we're saying and addressing our concerns with their employees.

Nine times out of ten, these "store-sold insurance policies" are a complete ripoff, just like the "extended warranty" auto dealers try to sell you. Think about it: if the company was not profiting, they wouldn't sell it. It is only profitable if the vast majority of consumers do not end up utilizing it.

If you're buying modern electronics from a reputable company, you really shouldn't have a problem. In the off chance that there is a defect, a reputable company will fix or replace it. You don't need to pay the store.

I once spent a half-hour convincing a friend that the $10 extra per month he paid for "insurance" on his cellphone was a blatant ripoff. Unless you're actually *planning* on destroying the phone periodically, you are better off saving that $10. Most people keep a phone for a year or two. By the time you're ready to upgrade, you've saved a couple hundred bucks and can buy a new one. Ta-dah! Magic.

Wouldn't the most prudent thing to do if you think they're lying about a protection plan is to say "Sure, I'd love a laptop and a protection plan" and then before they ring up the laptop say "Oooh, I've changed my mind about the plan, but I'd sure love that actual laptop that I can now see and you cannot lie about not having it."

Office Depot is definitely heading in the wrong direction as a former Circuit City employee it was the same song and dance It did suck that it had to be so impersonally but when managers are complaining about % and customers not even letting you at least do your job to offer it I started to treat it as a game. I didn't really BS with customers i just offered the services and explained the benefits(I personally don't buy warranties, but i feel that if you do buy a store warranty you have WAY more leverage if the manufacture decided to to cover it). if they gave me the song and dance about not wanting it, i would inform them that they had a 15 day return policy and then your on your own. I always found it funny when someone i offered the service would come back a month later and have problems with manufacture warranty, i give them a your "SOL now buddy" look . Finally a lot of customers don't realize that Computers and not profitable , pretty much a "dirty" computer(computer without warranties,attachments,services) they actually lose money when it's sold like that. Hence the pressure to walk people etc.