Consumerist
To Whom It May Concern;I just had one of the worst time consuming experiences at your store. This is in regards to the unit located at 1501 Lincoln Blvd. Venice, CA 90291.
On 12/16 I went in and purchased two items a digital picture frame and a gps system as Christmas gifts. I got home and tested both items. The digital picture frame (omnitech 11.3 inch frame) had a broken pixel so I needed to return it. I called the store and they said no problem, bring it back with the receipt...
Today 12/18 I left work at 3 PM so I could return this item. It is pouring rain and traffic was really congested. I went home (culver city) and picked up the frame and receipt and decided to go to the Staples on 8704 South Sepulveda Blvd. since it was close to my home and I didn't want to drive too far in this rain and it being almost rush hour. Unfortunately they were out of stock of that frame, I inquired about the 7 inch and unfortunately was not on sale anymore so it would have cost only 10 less than the 11 inch frame that I purchased during a sale two days ago. So it was not worth it.How annoying and typical. And my girlfriend makes fun of me for doing most of my shopping online. There's nothing more annoying than calling and being told something is in stock and then it's not when you get there. Talk about a time waster. You finally carve out a little slot of time to go pick something up and then something like what happened to John happens to you. Sheesh.Inside that store I called the Lincoln blvd staples to make sure that they had one and that they could hold it for me. I reached a rep, got transferred, then transferred for a third time. I did not realize the store had such a confusing directory that staples own employees did not know who to transfer to. After a good solid 10 minutes I got an agent that said yes we do have it in stock and yes we will hold it.
Now it is getting close to 4:30 PM. I drive down there, and wait in the customer service line. When it is my turn I tell the agent my situation and she says hold on while she gets a replacement. She comes back empty handed, shrugs her shoulder and says I don't know who told you we had one but we do not. There is a manager standing next to her, I believe his name was Jeremiah. He says nothing and just walks away. The girl assisting me asks some of the reps if anyone took the call, one guy said it was him but he said he asked someone and they told him yes, we did have them in stock. So they all just stood there, and not even a simple sorry.
In the meantime there are customers in line and other employees are running around, and joking. I witnessed one employee in a Staples shirt if he could assist this woman customer, he told her no he doesn't work here anymore. That was completely ridiculous; it was obvious he was working. Mind you I was calm, and never got exasperated or angry the entire time. I understand what it is to be in customer service. But in my opinion it simply is a lack of caring for the customers or for their jobs.
Bottom Line:
* I am a small private business owner, as well as employed by one of the largest dot com companies, located in Pasadena. I am a Sr. Manager of workforce. I am in the customer service side of the business and want to emphasize this is no way to treat regular customers. I use Staples both personally and professionally and will cease doing any more business with Staples.
* On that one trip I spent 270.59 on the 16th.
* I also spent a good 2.5 hours essentially to end up with a refund because of the aforementioned situation.
* The customer service is laughable. The manager ran away when my situation was occurring. The agents there do not care, they are goofing around.
* I am also sending a copy to the better business bureau, my contact at the better business bureau and Ben Popken at The Consumerst.com
Sincerely,
John
(Photo: Morton Fox)
Comments
Proving once again that living and shopping in CA is a bad choice.
I used to love around the corner from that Staples and they were the worst. I would travel further to other stores just to avoid them.
I can understand it when you call and some 17 year old who doesn't feel like actually checking sock tells you that something is in stock.
What I can't understand is how companies that primarily sell consumer electronics have websites where it says an item is in stock, you can purchase it, then go to pick it up to just end up having it be out of stock.
grrrr....
*yawn*
@BarryT: I'm not sure we are all interested in where you used to do your lovin'.
While I appreciate the annoying-ness of the situation, that letter was long-winded. Sorry John, but I just don't feel that sorry for you.
@AlteredBeast: LOL!!
I think his grammar in that letter was a bad choice.
I'm gonna catch hell for this, but use an online discount store like tigerdirect or newegg. Shipping is fast, and after the price discount, it will be less or equal to the price of in-store.
That's a bit over the top with the drama. Basically you were told over the phone there was something in stock. When you got there it wasn't in stock, and nobody seemed to care. We've all been through that.
At least the manager was nice enough to agree to replace it with just one dead pixel. A lot of electronic stores require numerous dead pixels before an LCD device is eligible for refund/exchange. Stop playing with gifts before you give them. The recipient can obviously exchange it hassle-free after Christmas.
The manager couldn't have waved his hand and made one appear. I guess saying sorry would have been nice. I really can't see what you're so mad about.
This kind of thing happens all the time and while it does suck, never shopping at the store again makes no sense. In 3 weeks from now 90% of those people will have been fired and only the "good ones" will remain, and since there wont be a million people shopping a day they will have the time to spend with your needs.
right now asking someone who makes $6 an hour and has been working in the store for 3 weeks to give you good service is downright crazy.
@AlteredBeast: But here's the biggest thing--I believe if he just gave the person on the phone the SKU they should have been able to look up if any were in stock on one of the computers. I know some places have a tough time with keeping their inventory up to date (Here's lookin at you, Gap) but they probably could have just done that and not really had to waste any energy. During the holidays we used to have a register devoted to checking stock in case someone wanted something that wasn't on the floor at a popular retailer.
That's my local Staples store. It used to be great. In fact, I used to write the management thank you notes about a guy named Mark who worked in their copy center (I don't JUST complain about things). This particular store has gotten so terrible lately -- stuff out of stock, aisles clogged with huge rolling ladders and boxes of crap, and just dirty and dingy -- that I wrote a letter once to, can't recall, maybe the president of Staples about a year ago, then, because I'm a newspaper columnist, so they media people take my calls, I called and begged their media contact to have somebody do something about the place.
And I though I had to cut down on coffee... I understand you are cranky after such experience. However it's not a shopping experience ''from your worst nightmare''. If you would order your LCD online, you'd have to ship it back. So it would take even longer. So contact customer service, get an apology, and get over it. Compared to Best Buy, Staple's customer service is ''heavenly''.
@nealb: It doesn't need to have x number of dead pixels if exchanged within the return period...
if it was really just one broken pixel, i would have just lived with it. even if the place would have held it for him, thats a lot of effort to go through over one dead pixel. most people wouldn't have even noticed. now if it was a row, or column of pixels, i could see that not working.
@chili_dog: no, just living in LA really. Its only LA that life sucks...hahaa
@chili_dog: Yes, because customer service everywhere is wonderful.
Have to agree that if this was an actual nightmare, the manager would have taken back the LCD, handed him a snowglobe full of angry bees, broken the globe with a mallet, and disappeared in a flash of smoke.
As it was, you wasted 2 hours because of lazy high school kids working minimum wage retail. Not the best customer service, but not the end of the world.
@just_paranoid: Really? You'd pay full price for defective merchandise and just live with it? If I noticed a broken pixel, that would be all I'd ever see!
@ManicPanic: Given the total lack of concern in that particular Staples, they would've done anything to get the guy off the phone, including lie. Asking them to look up a SKU would've been counterproductive.
doesn't sound like its staples fault. they didn't manufacture the frame, and it called holiday shopping season. first come, first serve. it sucks they told you they'd hold one but you should have gotten that persons name over the phone and wrote it down, (rookie mistake). and it wouldn't have hurt to make sure it was the manager you were asking as far as the hold goes.
The Staples at LaCienega and 18th is much better.
@MMD: my new psp had 4 dead pixels. i never noticed until someone like you held it and showed them to me. i then tried to point them out to others who were sure i was on crack and seeing things that weren't there. so a broken pixel, on a cheap sale item isn't going to be worth traveling 2 blocks in this insanity.
I hate staples with a passion. When I was 19 I bought some RAM at a staples. I got home and it didn't work. I tried to return it and some fat stupid manager wouldn't take it back. His reasoning was that the ram manufacturer differed from what was on the case. I bought PNY RAM, but the ram I got had some other name on it. I asked if he was accusing me swapping ram and returing it and all his fat ass could say was.
"I'm not accusing you, I just won't take it back".
I don't blame him for being suspiscious but he really didn't give a crap. He looked at the first ram they had on the shelf and PNY was an actual PNY ram. I asked for the store and the district manager phone number and he wouldn't give them to me. Later that day I came back with my dad...thinking he wasn't taking me seriously because I was a teenager...apperently while I was gone, someone let fatty know that PNY ram had a whole bunch of different manufactures, and they sold a few that matched the one I tried to return. Fatty came over and appologized like no tommorow, but my dad really let him have it. Staples was 40 minutes drive and my dad was pissed.
I guess I hate staples, but even more so I hate petty little managers who get a power trip off of being able to make a few decisions and boss around high schoolers.
Normally I'm not a prick to customer service people, cuz I know there job is tuff, but since this guy basically called me a liar, I had no other option. My dad ended up speaking with the store manager and the next time I went into staples he had a regular red shirt on....not sure if that situation had anything to do with it. I walked by him and mumbled *fatass* under a cough....he didn't acknowlage...but I'm pretty sure he heard me.
Go cry me a river, no one cares.
@crazyflanger:
Wow, your last paragraph completely nullified your first three.
If you're going to be a dick you should put it first so that we know to skip over your comment.
For a snafu like this where they still offered you a refund and didn't hassle you too much, I don't think it's fair to hold it against the retailer.
This time of the year is hectic and most people that work in the store are burned out and counting the days until Christmas. Not to mention half the people working there were probably holiday hires that will be gone in a month.
Granted, you certainly should be upset and I would recommend that you call and ask to speak to the STORE MANAGER (ask for the store manager specifically to ensure you don't get an assistant manager or supervisor). Generally the store managers will take your concern very seriously and address it.
Good luck!
Someone is complaining about this? Oh geeze wake up and smell real life! So some snot nosed punk that doesn't care about his job didn't check stock for you. Boo-hoo. Ineptitude is everywhere deal with it. If your so enamored to cry over a manager that didn't want to deal with another complaint or a punk that didn't look then you have them find the item for you verify it's location and go there. Oh and stop complaining about the rain it's not like your gonna melt if it hits you.
I have a random story about bad customer service. It's funny, so I thought ya'll would enjoy it.
When I was...hmm...14 or so, I bought the Doom collection for the PS1. This is back when PS1 games came in those tall cases (like DVDs). I bought it at a Toys R Us. The disc was apparently not pressed into the case correctly. It was scratched up by the holder within the case, and was a big mess. I went to TrU and the manager was at the returns desk. He refused to take back the game, stating that the side of the disc that is read is the side with the label printed on it, NOT the reflective side.
My mind was blown that a 14 year old knows more about this new fangled CD technology than this store manager. So I insisted we walk over to the Playstation display, open up the display unit, and see how the games sit in relation to the lense. We do, he realizes his error, and appologizes.
I get a replacement game, but that one is also loose in the case. Apparently there was a problem with the first patch or so of that game being packaged poorly.
what the?! aren't you just being a tad melodramatic about this whole thing? ooh...you called the store, and when you got there it's out of stock. this happens everywhere, man. sorry, dude, i ain't feeling you.
@crazyflanger: So what did the guy's weight have to do with his level of customer service?
As it was, you wasted 2 hours because of lazy high school kids working minimum wage retail.
They aren't high school kids manning this store. It used to be really well-run. I literally begged their media guy and whatever higher-up I wrote a letter to to make it like it used to be.
As for those criticizing the letter-writer, if I drive across town for an item, an item the store said they'd hold for me, I'd expect to have it there when I get there. It's the most basic level of customer service.
Unfortunate what's become of that particular Staples.
Histrionic personality disorder?
I experience this kind of irritation shopping on a regular basis. I'm going to start sending more stuff to you, Consumerist.
Well, yes, that's way worse than the woman who got tased at Best Buy...
[www.msnbc.msn.com]
@nealb: In other words, it's OK to lie to customers, in your universe.
... but it was raining!
Raising the ire of the CA crowd. An early Christmas present to me. :)
Staples just plain sucks.
A couple of months ago, we had some extra unexpected company coming over, leaving us in a chair shortage situation. Never fear, Staples is a mile down the road, I'll pick up some folding chairs and we'll be set. After walking around the store for 5 minutes, not a red shirt in sight, other than the one girl at the front register, I found a guy standing there, looking sort of up toward the ceiling with a blank stare on his face. His badge said "Manager". Yikes, doesn't bode well.
He couldn't understand why I thought it odd that Staples carries folding tables, but not folding chairs. Yes, folding chairs are a special order item. Fortunately, Office Depot, another couple of miles away away doesn't share the views of Staples. Not only did they have chairs in stock, the guy carried them up to the register, and out to my car, without me asking.
Yeah, I don't shop at Staples any more either.
Time for a Whineken and some french cries
too long.
There's a fatal flaw in every single one of these "Why I'm never shopping at [Staples/Best Buy/USAirways/Verizon/Comcast/99 Cent Store] ever again" letters. They have zero gravity. People that read this website will say "that blows, what a bunch of assholes, etc etc." But then the next day, when shopping for their printer/HDTV/flight ticket/cell phone/Cable TV/mexican toothpaste they'll happen upon the price at one of these destinations, and make a purchase because it's the only option (or far cheaper than any other option). I'm also gonna go out on a limb and bet that most of the people that write these letters end up going back to these places eventually. Except maybe Comcast.
If I kept my word every time I said I was never going to fly a particular airline again, I'd have no airlines left to fly on.
It's customer complaints like this that make me thankful that I worked in CopyMax during the Christmas season...and that includes my last stint during my senior year when I was asked out by two older men while I was working (who then took out my rejection of them on my coworkers) and trying to comfort a woman whose sister was murdered earlier that week (i.e. right after Christmas) as I tried to make the best copies I could of the dead woman's picture.
@pinkbunnyslippers: I'll just take a root tear float, thanks.
@AlteredBeast: I work at Staples and Staples DOES NOT Have a system that says you can pick it up at the store. Read the online order form and you'll see that your zip is where products are SHIPPED to. They do not check availability. In stock merchandise online is for the online store only. In the stores, we can only check what Staples.com may have and what local stores have in stock. If it says we have one in stock and it is an electronics item - 90% of the time it will be a counted demo model that is not for sale.
For everything else, there are bad apples store-wise. Here in Florida we have stores that are very close by and about maybe 2 out of 3 are really good stores. The last one is the bad apple and unfortunately makes a lot of mistakes. If employees are obviously not doing jobs, then you may have a point to that particular store. Try a different store or send a letter to the local office and it will be remedied. Staples seriously cares about customer service but if you do not voice your opinion and aren't professional about it -- neither will the people handling your request. Business goes both ways.
I've been to that exact location many many many times and it's a damn trainwreck. The store is a mess, the help is non existent, and the cashiers are semi-retarded.
That one is a complete mess.
Whats with all the people on here busting on John for having a bullshit time at Staples? John did everything right by calling a different Staples from the Staples he was at to see if they had the item in stock and some chump said yes. This kind of crap happens all the time, I know but it shouldn't. It should be legal to punch these mofos in the face when this kind of shit happens. Its a big waste of time and time was what John was trying to save when he called the other Staples. To all the people who can't sympathize with John, good for you and I hope all your stupid time is wasted by getting the run-around but there are people like me who do give a fuck about this kind of shit and we're all tired of it. I wish going to a store was like shopping on the internet where I just had to click on a few things and I get my stuff without hearing a bunch of excuses from punkass employees.