Joe writes us about his experience with Staples vouchers.

From his email: “Yesterday in Mass., each Staples store was giving away 1200 vouchers for $7.50 each to customers coming into their stores. This was hailed as a much better system for rewarding consumers in a class action lawsuit than past approaches giving the lawyers a shitload of money and consumers a $2 coupon off a $15 item from the same assholes that caused the problem in the first place. In essence, nothing more than an expensive promotion for the guility party.”

Seems straightforward, even, dare we say it, responsible of Staples, so what’s the catch? Well, as Joe found out, it seems that they didn’t test the vouchers on the registers before handing them out. Joe was fortunate; His problem was cleared up quickly, but not so for many other shoppers.

From The Boston Globe:

“The vouchers stated “no minimum purchase,” but some store officials told consumers their vouchers couldn’t be processed unless they bought at least $7.50 worth of merchandise.

Paul Cohen of Amherst said he got into a lengthy argument with officials at a Staples in Hadley, who insisted his $7.32 purchase wasn’t sufficient. He said they relented only after he started complaining loudly.

“How many consumers unwillingly spent more than the $7.50 just to use their settlement vouchers?” he asked.”

Here at Consumerist we just love a man who’ll cause a scene for 18 cents. Bravo!
[Thanks, Joe!]

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