Staples Reviews

I accepted this as I just needed a working printer, assuming that reconditioned should be better than new. This unit soon failed due to another type of malfunction, at which time, I insisted on returning it for refund. Their decision was to replace this unit by invoking the expensive extended warranty (though less than eight months old) and I was sent another reconditioned with a 100-day warranty which failed in the same manner as the previous unit.

I phoned to say, "This is it!" Besides their own defensive stand, my promised call back didn't come and I called and spoke to the only competent person who admitted it was their own fault for having invoked the extended warranty and said that I should be eligible for refund by cash card or check. I would receive a call the following workday (Monday). Monday came and there was no call.

I phoned on Tuesday and was given another runaround, at which point, I lost my temper and was given over to a manager who made a cash-card only offer for the replacement price of $299.99 for a machine which I paid $349.95. I exploded! I decided not to take the offer then, but would think about it. The following day, I decided just to accept and was told that the card would arrive in seven to fourteen working days. I'll be stuck with buying from Staples, and have had $50.00 plus the price of the extended warranty stolen from me--a total of around $100.00.

I called a Staples Customer Support manager, explained it all, and she kindly agreed to have me return the items and to send me the credit in coupons if I called her when I went to return the items the next day, so she could alert the manager. Upon calling, and in the four days since, she has vanished without a trace, and no one at Staples can identify her. This tale was repeated with two less benign CS managers, who only promised to 'look into the issue' without addressing my return in their own good time.

This is fraud and requires a constant auditing by the company offering the rebate. It has happened with Home Depot, also. A very reliable and first class company, I urge you to audit your data entry people for such behavior. A few a day gives them a nice raise at your expense. One company I worked with followed up on my suggestion and found a pattern of rebates going to friends/family, etc. rather that the person seeking the rebate. Check it out. Also where are my ten dollars ?

It's very upsetting that it is our word against theirs and the problem has been happening for many years now. Also I have a problem with their customer service. I have called to complain about this problem several times and all they say is , "well it was sent." Why would I waste an hour on the phone with them every other month if it's not a serious problem? Obviously there is something happening with their mail service? I really don't know but I am sick and tired of it.

I attempted to return the product for credit against purchase of other Staples product, but the assistant manager was inflexible, citing the policy of no software return if box was opened and only exchanges for the same product. This policy may protect them from cheats who take home software, copy it, and then attempt a return. But for a long-term customer, like my self, it has only earned my intent to avoid patronizing their business in the future.

A few months ago, I bought paper that I thought was on sale for relatively cheap but was charged a high price at the register. I was told that it would be cheap after I got my rebate back. This time I filled out everything online and once again waited for 3 months. I never got that rebate.

I despise Staples for their crooked rebate offers and I think that if they want to put something on sale, put it on sale and drop the stupid rebates.

I wrote the same two issues and did the check list. 7 days later, I had a FedEx notice to pickup my laptop package. When I got there, I almost could not even pick it up because the name was wrong. I actually had to show my light bill, with my similar name, and the correct address to even get it back. When I got home and opened it, I had a broken, no longer even working computer. Not only did they refused and denied either repair, but they killed my laptop! The invoice they sent back said "denial of physical damage to the biohazard"! Meaning, they found a bug inside the laptop and that's why no work was performed. But no reason why they killed the whole laptop!

Now, I'm left with loss of money, a dead laptop, a no-good warranty and a Staples' salesman lying to me over their full "technical support and protection plan plus (TSPPlus} warranty. I feel so cheated and used. This should not be allowed from such a big, known corporation. Never will I ever shop, even for typing paper, at such a disgraced American business! Thanks for a terrible experience with my time and money Staples!

8 months later, the same exact thing occurred. I complained again to Staples Customer Service and spoke with Supervisor Renee who said they don't receive many complaints about this but would send information to warehouse quality control (again!). I shop online often. I have never had a problem with Amazon who packages their products properly or any other online retailer. Staples was out of stock on the item and also suggested I physically go to the store to return. If I had wanted to physically go to the store to purchase (which would no doubt be out of stock as item was on sale online), I would not have used Staples.com to begin with.

I just don't understand how a 13 billion dollar company can have such poor quality shipping procedures. Do they only have large boxes to ship small items in? Staples itself sells packaging insulation, so why don't they ship their own packages with it? This is unacceptable and "it's not easy!".

I got a phone call (computerized) Friday morning stating it would be delivered (unsolicited call). I checked after work and no box with an online web site message "box could not be delivered." Still no explanation as to why after a call with Beth (a supervisor).

On June 2011, my computer would not reboot. So on June 22nd, I took it to Staples to have it repaired. I had them do a system analysis and back up all my data on the laptop. I had to mail it to Central Depot in Texas, though I live in New York City, to have it repaired. They sent it back about two weeks later and it shut down the first time I turned it on. I immediately took it to Staples and called Assurant, who underwrite their warranties from the store.

I told him that I purchased the warranty and followed the procedure but the computer is still not operating. He tells me, "If it not for us, you would not have a computer at all" I told him that I do not have a computer because it is still not working though I sent it to them. He says that it is their discretion to decide if they will replace the computer but only if Central Depot, which is in Texas, deems it unfixable.

So, I send it in again but receive it still shutting down whenever I add any type of software to the computer like iTunes, Mozilla Fox, etc. Plus, they did not tell me that they would just leave it on the porch of my sister's house if no one is home. When they send the box, you have to sign for it, but when they return the laptop, they allow FedEx to leave it without obtaining a signature. The level of disregard for the customer is unbelievable.

Now I got the computer and it is not working as I stated and it even freezes now. I called today, August 17th, and inform them of this. They try to say that they see it only as a Software issue and that they do not deal with this. I told them the box that comes up states it is a Hardware issue and for all I know is that Central Depot is set up to save Assurant money and not really help the consumer. I have no reason to lie and this is costing me time and money. They are sending another box, but I had to wait ten minutes to get a manager approval to address my issue.

Assurant has a reputation for not following through with their so-called Extended Warranty. I deserve a new computer and they know it and that is why they are doing all they can to come up with excuses not to do what they are contracted to do. I have documentation of my conversations and when I received my boxes. I am writing here, BBB and Staples Corporation because they are fraudulent in how they deal with the consumer.

I spoke to the receiver and he said he would call me right back with information, he did not. I called again that day at 4pm. The salesperson said the manager would 'call me right back'. The manager didn't. I checked in on July 26th, I was told again that the order wasn't in yet. I called August 03, 2011 and it was explained to me that they couldn't do anything about it and that their supplier wasn't taking their calls. They suggested waiting awhile longer or they would probably just refund me my money. These people are unprofessional, incapable of maintaining their orders and I question if they did not really received my coolers on July 12th as I was originally led to believe and that they did not in fact sell my coolers on or about July 12th?

When I got home, I contacted Staples customer service via telephone and a supervisor stated that she would send me the item any way for my trouble and travel expense which to this day I have received nothing! So not only did they refused to honor their own coupon, they lied just to get off the telephone with an unhappy customer.

I could have shopped locally as I have two other office supplies store less than a mile from my home. Staples is refusing to make good on their promises. Goodbye Staples!

It is of no value to me this way. I would have never bought it I had known. It's the same as having a pad of forms.

Also, I obtained a Staples Rewards card. After making several purchases totaling $180, I asked when and what I could receive with that card. Basically, it amounted to a couple of dollars off on ink cartridge. I then told them what they could do with their "Rewards" card. I tried to tear it up in the store, but it is a plastic-coated paper. I then gave it to the clerk and asked that he put it through the shredder.

I have called them on the phone number listed on the rebate form and I can't get to talk to anyone. The tape just tells me that it is missing the UPC code, but that is not true. Even when they ask me to hold on for a customer representative, they hang up while I am on hold and I can't get to any place. I have gone to the store to try to talk to the manager and she is almost rude replying that I have to call the number indicated on the rebate form because that's where the rebates are handled. I have sent repeated tracers including everything sent from the beginning, which means the rebate form, store receipt and copy of UPC code, and still I don't get a reply, not even to tell me why the delay.

I brought them a copy of my protection plan so the store manager asked me to call them. I called the people who deal with the protection plans and I was asked to fax the receipts, the protection plan, and the repair charges. A representative called that he has received the fax and they will pay for the service that was provided.

After a week, no monitor, no e-mail, or phone call. I am still waiting to receive a monitor.

I didn't expect a full exchange, but would have liked something, like maybe a little technical support (?) on how to possibly resolve the issue on the screen. Maybe a partial payment on the exchange printer since it was just 2 weeks? I was down for options and solutions, to get this resolved in fair way, but they provided me none. Zero.

The technical support manger treated me like I was I obnoxious, ignorant and rude (which I happen to be none of!), offering me no options. He seemed to really enjoy a little too much shutting me down too, which felt very uncomfortable and odd. I am not loud spoken or rude, so I just felt bullied by the way he was talking to me. He was ready for a showdown to shut me down, I am not a battle-of-egos showdown type, so I folded. I just wanted some decent customer service.

And get this--so I paid the $50 for this 2-year extended warranty at Staples. I then called Epson figuring it's a lost cause, but why not? Epson tells me that my product comes with a 2-year warranty in CA (so why did Staples sell this to me in the first place?) And two, they didn't even ask twice about my product being 2 weeks past warranty and replaced it, in less time than it took to jump through all of Staples hoops.

So I would say that Staples' warranties are a waste of time and money. I just got a huge headache from the experience, and the technical support manager got a huge ego trip at my expense. When I told Trent that I was considering taking my business elsewhere from now on, he causally said, "Well, that's your prerogative now, isn't it?"

After checking his inventory, he found that they no longer carried that model (please note that I was also told that if they were no longer carried the model I needed, I would be given the new model at no additional cost). I was offered the newer model the HP 8500A for an additional $50. I told the manager that this was unacceptable and left the store. I contacted the corporate office only to find that they did not care about me or my small business and suggested I call customer service to get a plan replacement printer. When I spoke with the customer service department, I found that the replacement printer I was offered was refurbished with only a 90 day warranty. In addition this printer would be a stripped model. So, much for Staples easy button!

Printer still has not been replaced as of 06/09/2011. I have lost about $1,000 in business to date.

I'm not sure why. I surely do not understand why every time I walk in to try and get an item, I've got to have the manager. Sometimes, they excuse the problem and give the customer the credit. Most times, it's futile and frustrating. It would just be nice to know what is going on. Over all, with pricing and the items, why is it that they're not labeled correctly and the pricing is just about 100% of the time incorrect.

I contacted the store by phone around 12:30pm on 5/16/11. The associate who answered was very friendly, said to bring the desk in, and she would "swap them out". I told her my issue with the receipt which she then told me it was "no problem, just bring your ID". Based on this information, I loaded the desk and took it back. I was very happy about the service I was promised, and intended to ask if they would just give me a credit and apply it towards a higher quality, more expensive desk. I was excited about the customer service at Staples. I would've been happy with them "swapping it out" or a store credit.

When I arrived at the store, I explained the issue to the cashier, she seemed willing to help but unsure of exactly what the sku was (I had the item # with me). She called a manager, Dominiq. I had my 4 year old with me, and she had to use the restroom so I asked the cashier to have the manager wait a minute to ensure I got to speak with her. The restroom is located right next to the registers, and the manager hadn't shown up yet. I came out of the restroom to find my desk moved to the end of the register, and the cashier yelled past the customer she was serving that she won't be returning it. I asked to see the manager.

Her suggestion after each question was that I should drive to another Staples, and they could help me. This was a lie, as she could not promise service at another Staples which she refused to provide herself. She walked out of the store before the conversation was finished. She was very brief and abrupt while speaking with me. She had a very nasty attitude, was belittling and made me very uncomfortable. She was loud, which only served to make the situation more uncomfortable as there were other customers around. At the very least she could've offered to help me take the item back out, so I didn't have to navigate the busy parking lot with a broken laptop desk and a 4 year old.

A $40 item is not worth the bad word of mouth. My family and I have spent enough money there, and have been loyal customers. Based on information from one of her employees I wasted gas, and time, just to be treated like trash. I will never, ever shop at that store again, and would even consider not shopping at staples anymore.

Honestly, the manager, Dominiq, could've spent two minutes to explain that the manufacturer should be contacted. This is the first time I have ever complained to any company, anywhere. I am just that disappointed. I would like some feedback on this issue.

Another manager got called over, so that 3 managers are trying to figure out why that GPS is not ringing up correctly. Then the 3 managers and the employee went into the back room, and 25 minutes later came out with a different model, which was of lesser quality, model 1350. It has half the feature and was not as good as the one I wanted.

Then, one manager showed me a piece of paper, told me to read it (as if I was a kid), and said this paper protects them legally, from not having to sell the item that was a misprint. The problem with what I read stated that, there were a misprint on the size of the screen, and never stated that the SKU was wrong, or that the wrong product was placed in the ad as an error.

So after wasting 25 minutes of my time, and refusing to honor their mistake, I left, and was clear that they didn't care they lost a customer over $40.00 difference in price, that they could have apologized and said, we will honor the mistake. I decided to call Staples HQ and found they have the same attitude as the store level, which is, they don't care about their customers. It was amazing talking to them, and then listening to them, telling you to read the very tiny print at the bottom of the flyer that states, Staples cannot be held liable for any misprint in their ads.

I told the lady and asked what the point is, that when I told her that it was about 3 of her high priced items. So I told her to call and train manager the managers who took 25 minutes to figure out why that item was ringing up wrong, and that they only had a flyer that states the size of the screen was wrong, and nowhere in that ad stated, that the item was wrong, or that the product SKU was a mistake.

The lady on the phone said, "what I can do for you is send you a $20.00 gift card to make up for the trouble that you had". I told her what she should do, which is to honor their mistake, and she said "Staples policy is, we don't honor misprint". So I told her, "then I guess you really don't care about your customers, for it is clear that you're not going to make this right for a $40.00 price difference. You would rather lose a customer and have them file a complaint against you". I couldn't believe what she said, "I am trying to make it right by sending you $20.00 gift card".

So here I am filing this complaint, with so many other people here, and I am wondering how on earth, with all of these complaints against them, that they are still in business, and it is clear that all Staples care about is, how much money they can get from consumers and that they don't care about the customers. All I wanted was for them to honnor the sale price of $189.00 for the Garmin 1450LMT, and allow me to use the $20.00 off coupon they also had in the paper, if you brought any GPS unit from them.

However, I've now misplaced the papers and have not heard a word about the rebate. This has not been a pleasant experience with the company. Please give this some attention, I shall wait to hear from them before I file any complaint.

Finally, I made contact the next Tuesday and was told I'd receive an e-mail message immediately which would include this super secret address. It hasn't arrived all day. I'll never go there again. There's an Office Depot up the street and I'll get my paper and office products from them. As far as office equipment, I should have bought this machine at Costco. No hassle, good service, and no phony corporate runaround.

I took the laptop in for repair. The warranty center called and told me that it wasn't worth fixing because it needed a mother board, so they would be buying out the computer. They offered $300 and referred to the very small printing in the warranty which indicates that they can refuse to fix a computer under warranty and buy it back on a depreciating value. Essentially, what they want to do is give me $300 and keep the computer which, we all know, they will repair and sell for $400.

When I talked to Tim, the manager at that store, he said that this doesn't happen too often but they have the right to do it. I tend not to believe that since I have no idea how much work has to be done before they deem that a buy back is necessary. Tim suggested that I would have been told about this at the time of sale. I definitely would not have taken the warranty if that were the case. It is useless.

I suspect that this is done deliberately so that people once in line will pay irrespective of the price. This is confirmed by my picking up a 2011 pocket calendar which normally sells for about a dollar. Again, no price on the item, but once in line, you find out that they sell for $ 5.95.This is incredible gouging and should be widely publicized as to what company Staples is.

Almost 4 weeks later, I had not received the box, so I called the warranty center again on Sunday, Dec 19, 2010. This time I spoke with Robert. I explained to Robert my previous claim and how I was supposed to receive a box, and had not received it as of yet. Robert informed me that a box had been sent on 11/26/2010 and that according to the tracking number it was delivered to the porch. I told him that no box had been delivered to my porch. I asked him who was the carrier, FedEx, Postal, UPS etc.

He told me UPS was the carrier. I asked him why I didn't receive a confirmation e-mail of the claim or tracking number i had filed, and he didn't answer. He never told me what the tracking number was so I could go and check myself. I explained to him that I receive packages from UPS all the time at my home and have never had a problem with them delivering packages.

I asked him at that point since it had already been a month since I filed the claim if he could just issue me a one time cash card and buy me out. I explained to him that I am a delivery driver and I use my gps for work. I had been borrowing one from a friend and I could not afford to wait any longer for another one. He asked me to hold to see what he could do. After a few minutes, he told me that he could not offer me a cash card at this time but that they would send out a another box.

I explained to him that this was not acceptable because as far as I knew they never sent out the first box. I asked to speak to his manager. He told me he had already spoke to his manager and that she said the same thing he just told me. I told him he wasn't listening. I repeated my request to speak to a manager. He told me that he couldn't let me speak to a manager. I told him I would handle it another way.

The next morning around 8:00 a.m. the black-haired cashier broke into the Staples office safe and obtained my confidential business and personal information. She then tried to find me on facebook as well as trade my tax exempt ID information and personal address. I have a feeling of being betrayed and not protected and wondering if the older male manager permitted this; or if the younger late teen early 20-something year old gal, was in on it with a group of older persons as it was very elaborate for her to break in like that. I had already noticed her eying my personal information attempting to memorize it which is why I spoke up to the older male manager in the first place.

I chose to leave the store and conduct my own investigation into what the Staples salespeople are telling customers to get them to buy the extended warranties. I posed as someone interested in purchasing a printer and visited six Staples stores in the Denver area, two in the Orlando area, and five in the Portland, Oregon area. I found that all the salespeople misrepresented what the true terms and conditions of the extended warranty were. If it had been a small percentage of salespeople misrepresenting the terms and conditions; it may have indicated improper conduct on the part of individuals. However, when the sales pitch misrepresenting the terms and conditions are detailed and consistent from Orlando to Denver to Portland; it is my opinion that this represents a pattern of a business intentionally trying to mislead or defraud its customers.

His entire reason to cast doubt was spurious. First, the last minute FUD - fear, uncertainty, and doubt, classic tools of the 'I'll save you from this mistaken choice" upsell technique. Notice the lunk and manager both started by asking if we'd read the reviews, which I said we hadn't. My mistake. This is apparently the new opening to figure out which upsell technique to use. This one is based on the fear that the reviews tell you to do what they say, and aren't you stupid for not having read the reviews, so you're supposed to feel a bit dumb and that they're saving your ***.

Just as you're buying he mentioned at the last minute that this was a crummy laptop because it got bad reviews. I had to make him specify where the bad reviews were: on PC Magazine, and what the exact nature of the problem was: a jittery touchpad. He said he'd had two returned for this reason.

His solution: start it up right here. This gave him 10 minutes more time to attempt to up-sell. In that time he offered extended support and in-store support, a printer, configuration services, installation services, and software, particularly MS Office

Explaining that the HP Pavilion DM4-1160US touchpad problems were not being addressed by HP because it was just a transitional, fading model, on the way to the perfected HP Envy, he offered you that, lying when saying it is "just" $200-300 more. On Staples, HP Envy is listed as $1,049, $400 more, 1.66 times the price of what you were trying to buy before being lied to and frightened.

If you went by the reviews, you'd buy both models, depending on your budget, which both get great reviews, yet both suffer from the identical problem. His sole goal was to sell you at a higher price point and sell you more stuff. The DM4 1160us is an earlier model, and all earlier models are, on a philosophical plane, steps toward later models, presented as if it's a disaster you must avoid. When the DM4 1160US was introduced it was priced like the Envy, but now, a year or so later, it's dropped, and the newer Envy is intended to replace it.

PC Mag actually gives the DM4 1160US a very high review, with the only Con being the jittery touchpad that is not experienced by everyone, and only when trying to use multi-touch gestures, which we didn't even know it supported. You probably don't how to use, and may very well not use. And, the feature can be turned off on the control panel which ends the problem.

The HP Envy, while getting great reviews, still seems to suffer from the same touchpad issues as the DM 1160US, and some reviews say it's really just a matter of learning how/getting used to how to do multi-touch.So, his entire reason for the fear, uncertainty, doubt, and upsell were based on an issue that both machines share in their review on PC Mag! A feature which you don't need to use, and can turn off, thus ending the problem. So he misrepresented the nature and severity of the problem, and he committed fraud when he misquoted the price difference.

And he absconded with 10-15 more minutes of our time. If you keep the machine, and even if not, we should send this description out: post on some consumer sites, send to a consumer complaints oversight organizations, etc. What he did is neither unusual, nor the worst, but it seems pretty clearly fraudulent, pressured, unfair sales tactics.

In La Mirada, there is always someone who takes a moment to greet or welcome you as you walk into the store. In El Monte, the two girls at the checkout stand looked at me as I entered but were more interested in the personal and very indiscreet conversation they were having, rather than acknowledging a customer who walked into their store and needed help. No greeting. I went to the area were binders are kept and saw that the El Monte store only had a few of the 3' binders on the shelf. I noted the part number of the 3" binder and looked up at the overstock area and saw a box marked with the additional binders I needed.

Another difference when comparing the La Mirada store to the El Monte store, is that in La Mirada, someone will usually approach you in case you need help, not in El Monte. So I went to the floor, looking for a staff member to help bring down additional binders and I came across a young man who was between aisles. As I approached the young man, I saw that he was reaching down into a shopping cart and I thought he was stocking shelves. He was in fact texting. When I asked if he could help me to get binders, he said he was on break. I thought it was interesting that since I entered the store just minutes after it opened, that an associate would already be on break. I asked the associate why he was not taking a break in the break room and he got **. I asked if there was anyone else who could help me and he said the other workers were in a morning meeting. There was nobody else on the floor.

I didn't know what to do. Part of me wanted to call a manager so that I could get the appropriate help, while another part of me didn't want to give them the business. I decided to leave but took a moment to speak to the two young ladies at the register, in order to let them know that nobody made an attempt to help me during my stay. They said they would call the same young man I already spoke to and I shared that this same young man who already told me he was on break. One of the ladies thought this was amusing. I told them that the experience at their store was not a good one and the same lady who laughed when she learned that the young man who I asked for help didn't stop texting to assist me, became **.

Whether large or small, I treat every client as if they are important. When a situation doesn't start out too well, I try to turn it into a good one, so everyone wins. I train my people to treat everyone we come across, whether it's a client or a delivery person, as if they are important. When I approached the two ladies on the way out of the El Monte store, I was hoping to be treated like a valued customer. Instead, I was made to feel like my business or the way I felt was not important. So in return, I will reward the treatment I received with no further business from the company I work for or for my personal use.

I didn't get the names of the two ladies at the front register but the one with the stinky attitude was wearing a smock from the copy area and had thick framed, black glasses. She was heavy and had black hair with braids. I didn't get the name of the young man who was texting but he was short. If anyone is interested in following this up, the store security cameras will support what I wrote. I do not want an apology. I do not want a discount coupon. I intend to drive a little further for my business office supplies and give the business to someone else.

I received Staples' email notices for various discounts/sales. One recent mailing advertised Norton Anti-virus for $10, starting on Saturday morning a few weeks ago. I went into the store about 10 minutes after they opened for business and surprise, they were already sold out. Odd. The store only had one or two other customers and they were in different areas of the store. None of them were carrying Norton Anti-virus. Bait and switch. A couple of weeks later, my significant other heard about a one-day sale on a set of Uniden cordless phones for a great price. She showed up at the store and once again, they were sold out. Bait and switch again? Somehow, I don't think these events are isolated incidents (i.e. the Corporate Office probably condones - encourages - this nonsense). Okay, go ahead. I'll vote with my wallet.

With every intention of using my warranty to have it looked at before my daughter left for college, time got away and we never got around to it. Then, just about 2 weeks ago, we got a crack in the screen of the laptop. After calling the Staples warranty number, explaining the whole power issue and also explaining that the recent crack in the screen, they asked us to send it to them because it was not something they could troubleshoot over the phone. They sent us the box to send it back to them in.

Now, as much as I didn't want to send it to them, worried if it would be lost or something. I sent it out anyway, only for them to refuse to even look at it because of the physical damage, meaning the crack, they would not even attempt to fix the power on issue. But now, when I received the laptop back, it won't even go on. Leslie was the first manager I spoke to from the warranty center on behalf of Staples. She was not only rude, but at one point on the 2 1/2 hours that I was on the phone with them, I thought she was gonna hang up on me. She suggested I call the manager of the store where I purchased it. So I did.

That's when I spoke to Laura for another half hour, only to find out there would be nothing she can do. I feel like I was mislead first off because of the 1-time replacement which I was told I would have. And also, if the Staples warranty people knew they would never even attempt to fix the power issue, with also knowing that the screen was cracked, why would they ask me to send the laptop back to them? But now the computer won't go on at all and I think they should make good on it.

Last week the screen went all strange, and the keyboard became very hot. I took it back to the Bureau en Gros where I purchased it (I live in Montreal), and the salesperson immediately said, "There's something really wrong with that! Good thing you have an extended warranty. You should back up your files, too. They might be gone when we get it back". I paid $80 plus taxes!

Well, I went home relieved. Thinking that I would have a fixed computer or they would replace it. No way! As I am now finding out, they have decided to "buy out" my computer from me, since it's not working well, and they are willing to give me $475CDN, the depreciated value, and I had to fight for that amount! Ridiculous! Not only that, I will not receive a refund, rather a store credit, so I have no choice but to give the money back to them! So much for getting a Mac. They are con artists!

The nice customer service lady (and she really was nice) suggested, that with the prices so low now, I buy a new computer for that price. Not only do they want me to give them back my credit, but if I buy another computer, it won't include the other purchases and installations I had made. Ca-ching! They just made over $700 on me, and I have nothing to show for it. So kids, the lesson of today's story is, never buy the extended warranty!

I explained that their web site listed the product as in stock, "low stock". He assured me he had not had one in stock for days and won't be getting more in. He also told me he doesn't control the in stock amount shown on Staples web site. After all was said and done, I decided to re-order from my company Employee discount site, to find out there special had ended leaving me without any computer and looking at not only loosing out with Staples but my employee discount.

Staples, shame on you for doing business like this; this is a pure case of bait and switch. They offer a great deal and make it a store purchase item only meaning you can't order online but must go to the store only to find out you have done all this for nothing. I can't believe a company of this size still practices business like this. If anyone has stock in this company, sell it now. Business practices like this will run you out of business eventually.

Do not trust their website or sales. I will never purchase from them again. Screw me once shame on you, screw me twice shame on me.

Well, the truth is, that is a complete lie. They do not fix at store and you are buying a double-year coverage. You still have to call them to end up calling HP. This is a waste of money and time.

I did not know about the insurance policy, I just took the salesperson's word, wrong choice. I had PC in shop a few weeks before and they charged me $129.00 but that is what I had insurance on and they did not tell me and was not suppose to charge me that much with insurance. They do not know what they are doing and you are risking your money when you trust these people.

I am stuck with a PC I dropped and they will not fix or use the insurance for repairs. This is not right and everyone needs to know not to buy from Henderson store or Staples because they do not do what they say or back up anything they do. Learn from me please, do not buy from Staples unless you want to give money away. You are great as long as you do not ask them for anything or to back up what they say they will do.

They told me I could send it in, but it was probably something we had done to the computer and they would charge us to fix it. I contacted Staples again and Khalid, the manager, put me in touch when the Staples' president's office. We were told by them that Yvonne would call me within two days. I sat by the phone for two days awaiting her call and was not called. I have tried to get phone numbers to reach the corporate office, but have been unable to get them. A month-old computer should not quit working. I was under the impression that in CA there is an implied warranty that a product must work. We are out the $435.98 that we paid for the computer, plus the fact that the computer has not been available for use by my granddaughter.

I should have known it was too good to be true. What a sucker! When I got home (now the small print) it was only good for 2 of them. So good deal on two and ripoff on 2. There was no way I could do it! So I went back and the same lady was really holy about it and chastised me for fuming. Can you imagine? I don't even think she knew she was involved in a ripoff. I returned 2 and kept 2 and put in for the rebate. Now, as with all rebates, I hope and pray that a check really comes! Good Luck with Staples' "Hot Deals"!

Someone with the key after about 10 minutes in the store brought the laptop up to the register where we had to wait again this time for the manager to ring up the purchase. This is where the real problem started because the manager, Drew, started in on the hard sell service contract which we repeatedly declined until I finally asked if he wanted our money for the computer or not because that was all we want to buy.

At that point, Drew the manager pulled out another pamphlet and said he was required to tell us about some other add-on stuff! No, we said we are only interested in the computer - on ad nauseum - I pointed my finger at Drew and said, "then tell us about it quickly so we can ring up the computer and leave". Apparently, my pointing finger (not the one I really wanted to point) offended Drew (obviously a very sensitive guy) and he said to me "that is not OK" at which point my jaw dropped at the appalling remark and my husband said, "let's go."

Apparently Staples does not want our $550! I have since called Staples consumer complaint line and emptied both barrels on Mr. Drew. Hope I hear back that Staples has found another manager, one who would better represent their store. Whew! Absolutely the worst customer service experience ever.

He stated he couldn't, but would have the store manager call me back when he came back in. As of this writing, I have not heard from the Store Manager. I called the corporate office and spoke with a representative, Ariel, about my problem and expected a little better customer service than I had received, which was nothing. Ariel, stated that it company policy that after 14 days, Electronic items, couldn't be returned.

I work for a Fortune 500 company as a GM and when a " regular " customer has an issue with a product that he purchased from my store, I take care of them and thank them for their business.

Unfortunately, this is not the case with the Staples company. Rest assured that I will never spend another dollar with this company. There are two other stores across the street, Best Buy and Office Depot, that sell this same product. I will take my business there and hope that their customer service is more concentrated on taking care of their "regular" customers.

Nature of Complaint: I purchased a HP laptop in July 2008 and was encouraged to buy the extended warranty. I did so and when I needed to use it this month, I was told that there is no in-home service and that I would have to send it. I cannot do without the computer for any length of time. I could have purchased the extended warranty from HP and gotten in-home service. I was told by Staples that the work had to be done in a sterile setting. HP and Dell disagree. When I told Staples this, they told me that no one promised in-home service. I then wanted to buy out of the remaining extended warranty and go with HP's and was told that I would have to pay a fee of $25. They would not waive it even though I was really misled at the purchase and encouraged to buy the extension. They said that they would rather lose me as a customer when I noted that I would not buy there anymore.

HP would have come to the home had I purchased the extended warranty with them. Furthermore, Staples told me this could not be done in the home. HP and Dell disagree. Furthermore, if I want to get out of the rest of my extended warranty with Staples to purchase a better warranty through HP, I must pay a fee of $25.00. I spoke to the manager and told them I was not informed of the lack of no in home service and they would not waive the cancellation fee. They said that they do not care if I bring my future business elsewhere. I cannot do without my computer for several days to send it to Staples. Staples was a bad experience.

When I explained this to Staples and their service technology, they said that it could not be repaired in home for a wireless problem. HP and Dell disagreed. I again phoned Staples, and I got the runaround. I could have cancelled the remaining portion of the warranty and obtain it from HP, but I would have to pay a cancellation fee which they refused to waive. When I bought the pc, they were only too much in a hurry to throw the extended warranty on me. I will no longer deal with Staples for my personal needs or my business.

The manager of our local Staples told us that we would have to call a 1 800 number to trouble shoot the problem. After several hours on the phone, it was decided that we needed to send it back to United Camera in Bensenville, Ill for repair, another $11.00 for insurance and shipping. We received the camera back in time to go on vacation in mid- May 2010. We recharged and went on vacation. Again, problems with the camera, only this time we could not get the lens to retract; after about 5 or 6 minutes of trying to figure out why, the lens finally retracted. Great, the camera was working again. We went to a show only to find out that it happened again. My daughter was so frustrated and upset that we ended up buying another camera on vacation. This time it wasn't a Kodak camera for $149.00 plus tax.

All was right with the world, or so we thought. When we returned home, we called the repair center again; only after we fixed one problem, the camera would not read the SD card and we were issued another email repair code to send back. (I forgot to mention that we had to try 3 different SD cards and purchase a new one). Now, since I had already purchased a new camera on vacation, I was not willing to send it back for repair. They (the repair center) gave us a number for Kodak Customer Relations.

I called the customer relations number for Kodak (located in the Philippines). I spoke with a customer service rep who could only say that they would send me a return shipping label so the camera could go back for repair. That was not a satisfactory answer, I asked to speak to a supervisor; another 10 minutes on hold only to be told the exact same thing. It was not their policy or procedure to refund money to service the camera and maybe send us a new one. I asked to speak with a Manager, who could not be reached at the time and would have to call me back.

Again not good enough. I finally called directory assistance, got a number for Kodak in Rochester NY. When dialed, it said that the operator had given me an incorrect number. When I dialed it, I was again back in the Philippines. I hung up. My next step was Google; I found the name of the Director of Customer Relations in Rochester. She turned the case over to a manager/supervisor.

When he called me back, I reviewed all the problems that we were having and he said that he would have offered a replacement camera but since I had already paid for a new one, he would present the case to the Director of Customer Relations in their morning meeting. That was 7/8/10. I received a voicemail back stating that it was not their policy to refund money especially since the camera was close to it's one year warranty, but they could offer me a frame, printer or other Kodak products. He left a number to call back so that we may come up with a 'credible solution' and further discuss the problem. He also suggested that I should try Staples.

7/9/10 - I left 2 messages at the Kodak number and no call backs as of yet. I am truly dismayed at the lack of customer service, integrity of product and the idea of how much money can we make without standing behind our product attitude of this company. After reading several of the 26 pages of posts regarding Kodak, I will never buy another Kodak product or support anything that Kodak offers. Buyers, beware! I have also sent a BBB complaint and I am gathering documentation to send the New York State Attorney Generals office, Consumer fraud division. All this for a lousy $129.58!

Two hours later, I picked up my computer and was told it had some issues and suggested I use my 'restore disk'. I could save my data to a disk drive. If I knew how to do all that, I wouldn't have needed them. I asked, “Well, is it at least running a little better than when I brought it in?” Well, yes,” he said. I took it home, plugged it in and booted it up only to find they had erased my registry, my printer, my Linksys wireless, my Internet connection and who knows what else. I could not access the Internet even with the Ethernet cable (I have Roadrunner).

Long story short, they said, “Nothing we do in our tune-up would affect your PC. You must have had a virus that was activated by the tuning up process. Of course if you leave it here we can fix it for you!" I said I brought you a perfectly good, working, albeit a bit slow, computer and you damaged it and now you want me to pay you to fix it. This must be how they drum up business, offer a free event, get non-geeks to trust them, render their computer non working, then charge to repair it or sucker them into buying a new one.

What can a consumer do about these practices in addition to reporting them to the BBB? I got it fixed by an expert who does only computer work for the past 35 years and came highly recommended by several people and I am happy to say it now runs like a new machine. Staples should pay for that as they caused the problem in the 1st place, but of course I'd probably have to pay a lawyer, too, to go after them. I am a retired, physically disabled consumer living on a fixed income who is very angry with a company that treats people with underhanded tactics.

I tried reaching them several times to no avail. At this point, I feel someone took me for a ride. They took my money and on top of that, urged me to pay a warranty that, at this point, I can not even get in touch on the phone with this company. Isn't it Staples' responsibility to handle the matter? I paid them for the warranty, they should be able to take accountability for this problem. They sold me a defective product. I'm currently unemployed and purchased the printer to save money. I print and fax about about 10 resumes weekly, I was going to Staples to use these services. At the suggestion of the Staples salesman, I made the sacrifice to purchase the extended warranty because he said it guaranteed the product would be replaced at no cost if it malfunctioned.

After the computer purchase, but before the breakage incident, I bought a digital camera and yes, I bought the protection plan too. Do not buy a Casio camera. They are horrible. I haven't had the camera a year yet and have never dropped it or done any physical damage to it. It takes the worst pictures indoors. I have no pictures of my son's first middle school band recital. They all look either faded and dark (even with the flash) or they look like they were taken from the widow of a car on the highway (total blur and fuzziness). I called the protection plan and they told me it is still under manufacturer's warranty. I called Casio and they told me to reset the settings (which did nothing to help the picture).

Then Casio told me to call the repair center which will be open the next day. I called back Staples because in the flyer on the protection plan, they can issue a Staples cash card for replacement. The representative told me no, they can't do that. I have to deal with the manufacturer and if they can't or won't resolve the matter, I have to get it in writing from them before they will do anything, even if this takes past the time of the warranty running out. I explained that this is not the first time I have been unsatisfied with the service of Staple's protection plans. I even told them how when I purchased a product at Best Buy that became damaged, they replaced it right there in their store with no hassles. They said they aren't Best Buy and they do things differently.

This is twice that I have made a major purchase from Staples and bought the protection plan and twice I have been robbed not only of my money on the product, but on the stupid replacement plan that seems like a necessity with electronics these days. Now, I doubt I would even buy so much as a pencil from them, let alone any electronic device.

I paid another $295.00 for them to put these programs into my computer. I brought the router home again and still could not get on the internet. Today, Saturday June 5, 2010, I took the router, my HP Netbook computer in telling them the router still was not working. This was about 12:30PM and was told by Cory he was just about done with my Acer computer and he would call me in an hour or hour and a half. I went to the store at 5:30PM. At this time, I still had not received a call. When I asked what the status was on these items, I was told they were not done. The tech who was working on it, Cory, had gone home. I have my doubts whether my Acer computer really did need all this work done. I am a very unhappy customer.

The same presentation cart was also offered by a competitor at a lower price. Being a loyal customer of Staples, we decided to order the cart from them. Upon receipt of the cart, there was no electrical assembly found. When I spoke with Customer Service today, they informed me this particular item is not included with the cart. However, the catalog explicitly states that it is.

Staples will not 1) reimburse us the cost of this part, 2) will not order the part from the manufacturer, 3) offer any type of merchandise credit, 4) or compensate us in any way for the missing part. The only option they gave us was to return the cart and they will refund the money. Well, the cart has already been assembled and the packing materials have already been discarded.

We feel that Staples should at least compensate us in some way for their error made in their catalog or there should be some type of wording n the catalog that states "items included may not be the items you receive"!

I have been a regular customer of Staples in Ithaca for many years. Last year, I spent over $680 in this store. In the past, when the kids were in school and I was heading JJTA, I'm certain my annual purchases came to well over $1000 per year. A while ago, I purchased a 70/20 ( B/W- Color combination) printer ink packet for my Lexmark printer. I opened the package and when removing the black cartridge from my printer, I broke the belt on the printer. I decided to use the HP printer I have so tried to return the Lexmark packet. I was told by the store manager, I needed the original receipt and that there was a 14 day limit on returns. I checked with Staples complaint on the web and found out there was no time limit on returns. I was able to obtain a copy of the original receipt. I then found out that they would not accept a return unless the package had not been opened. I have given up and will not be purchasing from Staples again.

When we went to pick up on 4/5/10, Shari, a store employee, informed me that the cartridge had not been paid for. By this time, I had been 2 times to the store to pick up the cartridge. We told her we had paid for it and we produced an email form that Staples had sent to us after the purchase and in it was written under "Method of Payment: Paid in Store".

She said we needed to have a store receipt, but we had not received one except for the form that we had produced from the store that said Paid in Store, but still she told us that we had not paid for it because we didn't have a store receipt to show that we had paid, but in fact we had paid for it. She said she would review the tape. I informed her that I would like to see the tape also as I observed that the cameras didn't seem to be active. I was embarrassed and humiliated by her accusations knowing we had paid the store.

While at home I researched the internet and found another service like Easy Tech and called to ask for a second opinion. The technician at Secure Remote Support was a nice young man who explained to me why my computer was slow and offered solutions to help re-energize its performance. He recommended more RAM memory, a new video card and optimizing the Windows Operating System. I had him quote me a price and it ended up being just under $300 for everything including the labor to install. I quickly took him up on the offer and sent the computer in to their repair department. In 5 days he had it back to me and it performed faster and opened web pages right away instead of the 5 or 10 minutes it took before. It was faster than when I brought it home from the store. I couldn’t believe the difference. And it saved me $1000. It really shows you the guerilla sales tactics and lack of compassion at Easy Tech is not the way to gain more customers. I will be headed to secureremotesupport.com for any and all my computer repair issues in the future. Easy Tech needs to work on their approach.

In my searching a company that kept popping up was Staples' Easy Tech. I took it into their local location and chatted up the technicians there. The conversation covered their prices, warranties, and of course the up sell. The price appeared to be much higher than when I had spoken to them on the phone and they kept pestering me to purchase a new machine. Being a broke college student, I couldn't afford to "just purchase a new one." So, I took my broken computer home with me. After a few days of the broken machine just sitting there, and a few days of me borrowing a friend's laptop I started my quest again for a fix to my issue.

I came across a company called secureremotesupport.com. They offered to have a tech come out and fix it, or to send it in with a 24 hour turnaround time. I chose to have it repaired in shop (price break if I sent it in). It was back to me within 4 days with a new screen, and it was all cleaned up. There also used to be an annoying fan noise that had quit whirring also. I'm very pleased that Secure Remote Support received my business and am glad that Easy Tech pushed me towards another company to repair my ailing laptop. I won't be considering Easy Tech again and am very unhappy with the experience. I had to seek out another business that didn't make me feel like they were trying to bilk me out of all my money.

I politely asked him about the status of the service because I had to pick up my son from baseball practice soon. He said it wouldn't be much longer. This was not the case. His inadequacy at this made me late to pick up my son and I had to ask him to leave because I couldn't have a stranger in my home while I was gone. When I got home, I called the store and asked about having someone more qualified to come out and finish the job. I was then told there would another charge because I interrupted the last technician.

What?! Are you serious? Upon hearing this, I became irritated and frustrated because had the first tech knew what he was doing this wouldn't be necessary. At that point, I hung up the phone and started calling other services. I settled on secure remote support.com to manage Easytech's failure. It took less than an hour and they were complete with the service. Easytech really needs to train the personnel better.

You call, they send you to the insurance company that holds the warranty (repeat everything 12x), then they send an email to another company that sets your appointment after a 24-48 hour wait, then that company arranges for a tech who is a subcontractor and can come from anywhere to come out. Each time they came out and supposedly fixed the problem, I had to get on the phone and they ask, "Is it fixed?" Shouldn't they know that? Is that not why I paid them? Do they not do this for a living? After a lot of calls and irritation, I still have no satisfaction. Please go elsewhere and save yourself the aggravation. I have been out of work due to illness and my son was ill. I needed the computer and printer during this time. This company has done nothing to resolve this issue and their protocol is horrible.

After surfing Norton's website, it appears that Norton is getting wealthy with phony schemes. This is the second time I have had this kind of dealings with Norton. Never again. After several days of searching, I cannot even find an address to send the card with a complaint either to Norton (Symantec) or to MetaBank (the issuer) to complain.

They then told me that nothing was wrong with it. I took it back home. It wasn't working right the whole time, I had it back home. I took it back down. They told me to leave it overnight. After waiting a day, I was informed that it was damaged in someway. They didn't know what was damaged. They told me it would be $100 to get Windows reinstalled in it. I was under warranty, so then it was free.

I waited four days for them to install it. I had a friend go pick it up as I was sick. One of the worker's were very rude to him. They didn't install the program. They need to use the disk it came with. I didn't have it and they then told me that they could try something that would cost me $40. I was told it might not work. I worked with the laptop for a while. More issues kept popping up.

I filed a complaint with BBB. It took a month for Staples to get hold of me. After talking to the manager, they agreed to give me a new laptop. They told me that the laptops that were in the price range of the old one were opened only to put Windows 7 on them. The new laptop is cheaper than the old one and a brand I never heard of. I know my computers too. I got this computer home and found that I can't type well on this keyboard. Words are misplaced or erased. It takes me forever to type something.

I wanted to make sure this laptop had a webcam on it. I am planning to use it for family use. I used this with Yahoo and I found out that the webcam was put in wrong. It is upside down. I feel that I was given a lemon for a lemon. All I want is a working laptop. I paid for two warranties for $149.99. and two not working right laptops.

On 12-18-09, I called Customer Service (800-782-7537) and spoke with Liz who said she would send a message to the warehouse to try to stop the shipment. Of course, my credit card was already charged and the item was shipped. Liz told me to refuse the package from UPS and then call Staples and they would credit my account. I tracked the package and it was intercepted by Staples and told to return to the shipping warehouse. I never received the package.

On 12-28-09, I called Customer Service again and spoke with Beth who said the package was back in the warehouse and waiting to be processed for a credit to my account. Beth said I should see the credit in a few days. On 1-2-10, I still had not received a credit on my account and so I called Customer Service again and spoke with Arthur who said the item was on the way back to the warehouse and he will issue the credit for me from his system and that I should see it by Wednesday (1-6-10) or Thursday (1-7-10).

On 1-7-10, I still hadn't received my credit adjustment and I called Customer Service and spoke with Dawn who told me that the credit was issued on 1-6-10 and that I should see it in a few days. I tracked the item online by UPS and discovered it was returned and delivered to the warehouse on 1-5-10 at 10:55 a.m. and signed for by Ochoa.

It is 3 weeks from the date that I canceled the order, that I never received, and I still do not have an adjustment to my credit card account for the amount of $162.36. From the timeline above, it is obvious that Beth lied to me about the item being in the warehouse and Staples lied, in general, about the item availability and shipping estimate. Here I am without my credit adjustment for 3 weeks and I never received the item in the first place.

Entering the store, I walked up to customer assistance and explained my situation. He said their policy is to only match from other retail stores, not .coms. I explained what I was told and he said to speak to the manager. I then walked up to the general manager of the store who at the time was not wearing his name badge. I explained the situation and he was very sorry but could not offer me any help whatsoever, his exact words. I said I wanted to file a formal complaint against the woman who answered the phone. After explaining to him that I did not have her name, he insisted to me that he had 4 girls working the phones. So when I informed him I wanted to speak with each one, he asked me to leave the store. I obliged and left.

I finally called them and they stated the rebate won't go out until 1/9/2010, 12 weeks after the submission date and double the longest time it is supposed to take. I asked to speak to a manager. The manager agreed to "expedite" the rebate and it will take up to 15 days to get to me. When/If I get it, I'm sure there will be more stings attached. I would suggest everyone to avoid shopping at Staples for anything with a rebate attached to it.

When I called the manufacturer, I was told that they were unaware of that practice with that retailer and at 29 days, the retailer could have used the manufacturer's warranty to replace the unit. So 29 days after spending nearly $1,000.00 on a new computer, I have to wait for HP to send me a box that I can then take to FedEx and then wait for HP to replace the computer. Prognosis: 9 to 12 days without the computer I paid for. Don't buy computers at Staples!

This is the second time around for me getting shafted by Staples. I hesitated to even buy another laptop from them, but thought let the past go. Well here I am again with nothing but excuses. I really just want to spread the word of what seems to be Staples' commitment to no customer service with a healthy side of what seems to be lying about what happened.

I'll forward your response along with my complaint to the State of Maine Attorney General's. I'm also proceeding to contact you corporate customer complaint/corporate and public relations office regarding my complaint and your insulting position with regard to your product's quality and fitness for use. Thank you very much for presenting the worst initial CR response I've ever had!

On Friday, Nov 20, 2009 at 8:22 AM, SBProdSupport wrote: In regards to this request, these Staple's brand products only have a one year manufacturer's warranty. You may have had a power surge, which would've knocked out the transformer and in any case, from what you've described, it appears, that you took the fixture apart, to find the problem, which would've voided any warranty, on the product. I checked into the state of Maine warranty and I found this information below. This product may have been abused by the consumer, i.e. taken apart. You've also had the product for almost 3 years, which could mean, that the product wore out, within its useful life. However, we will issue you a $10 coupon, as a gesture of good faith, which will be sent to your email address, within 2 to 3 business days. If you should have any other questions, please call us at 1-800-425-0049 and reference case # **.

Products are seriously defective; have not been abused; and were purchased less than four years ago and still within their normally expected "useful life" (i.e., not simply worn out). All new and used goods purchased for family, household or personal use like clothes, new cars, appliances, sports equipment and more are warranted by law to be fit for the ordinary purpose for which such goods are used. The only exception to this law is that used car dealers can disclaim implied warranties when selling used cars "as is," without any express warranty.

It’s been 2 days and there was no information about my product. I called up the store and my calls were getting transferred from one desk to another. Even the manager was not available on the call and the call was put on hold for 10 minutes.

I heard a lot about good customer service in USA, and because of one incident, I had a very bad feedback. I don’t know if I am sending my request to the right place, but people to know that Staples is the worst place to shop for. I’m looking for help. My $695.48 product has no tracking details. When I asked them, no one was ready to give me the answer in clear.

A year later, on July 2, 2009, an accident caused the screen, external monitor, and DVD to fail. I called Staples, who forwarded my call to Black Raven Technologies, their contracted repair service in Massachusetts. They told me they would send a prepaid UPS box and shipping instructions. It arrived shortly, and I shipped the computer. It returned within three weeks. The screen was replaced, but the external monitor jack and DVD player still didn't work.

I needed the computer for my work (I'm 63, my wife teaches full time to support us, and I can provide limited supplemental income at home with consulting work - using the internet). I was completing a business plan when the computer fell off the table by my chair. Once again, the screen was damaged and would have to be replaced. Since the repair hadn't been completed on the previous work order, I couldn't back up my business plan in progress as well as several dozen other notes and photos. I noted this on the work/shipping order.

I sent it in Oct. 2, 2009. After two weeks, I assumed it would be ready to be shipped back, but since I had to be at another address for a couple of weeks, I called Black Raven Tech to let them know to send it to the new address. They informed me that my computer had been sent to "salvage", that it was deemed "not repairable". I told them there was valuable info I couldn't back up. I was told that was impossible, that the computer was already sent off and sold for "salvage". I told them I had never given permission for this. They then told me I could get another computer of equal value from Tiger Direct Discount for $579, or they would write a check for that amount to settle the issue.

I asked how I could talk to someone further up the 'chain". They referred me to a Staples "tech center". I got the same answer. I told the man I didn't want the money or the computer, that it was a Vista Operating System and not satisfactory. They also said the 4-year warranty would not be given for the replacement even though they didn't even repair the damages covered under the warranty.

Then I found what I consider an evident "scam". I can provide original documents for an investigation:

2. Instead of the normal "Send To:" beside the little box with Assurant's address, it said "Sold To:" This implied to me that without my permission or awareness, when I sent in the computer, I gave up ownership thus allowing Assurant (actually a large international insurance firm, that also has a computer repair division), to sell my computer to the company Anew Solutions, STE 160 5325 FAA Blvd, Irving, TX 7501, a salvage and refurbishing firm in Texas who would then sell to Tiger Direct Discounters. This firm would then provide me with a 'refurbished' replacement at a fraction of my computer's original value. Thus, they could avoid paying for repairs, and make me settle for a fraction of my original investment.

After six weeks and numerous calls to Staples (the President's Line - a higher priority complaint line - where I was logged in to Donna), I faxed her a chronological account of the complaint as well as copies of the work order with the "Sold To" on the pre-printed form. I also had numerous calls to Edith, at Assurant Solutions who gave me nothing but rude answers - even after I faxed her the same materials. She said she had referred my materials to Assurant's legal dept. and that the "Sold To" referred to the fact that Blue Raven had sold their services to Assurant.

My original question, "what gave Blue Raven, an agent of Staples, the right to steal my computer, then sell it to Assurant, who then sold it as salvage to Anew Solutions, in Texas who then resold it to a company like Tiger Direct Discounters?" I'm sure that if my computer was stolen and resold that perhaps thousands of other unwitting Staples Warranty holders have simply 'rolled over' and accepted the terms of this 'scam'. I hope you'll call me. I want this investigated and exposed.

On Friday, October 23, 2009, I showed up to Staples; and I requested them to show me all the computers on sale and on stock, Staples once again informed me that none of the laptops on sale or netbook were available and that all were sold out. Sale ended on Saturday, October 24, 2009. Today, Sunday, October 25, 2009, Staples announced another sale of $75 to trade in old computers with Windows XP or Vista for new ones that have Windows 7. One of the laptops for sale was Acer for $349 plus tax, for which I had interest. I went to Staples again, and they claimed that all computers were sold again and that none were in stock. I asked them to provide me with a copy of all the sales of the day and to prove to me that all computers were sold. Staples did not provide the information, and they mentioned that they had small quantities.

They offered to order online for me at their store, but all Staples representatives disappeared and none were willing to help and assist me with the purchase. Instead, all their Staples representatives started assisting other customers. I told one of the Staples rep that I was taking my business somewhere else, and he said ok. I told the manager on shift that I was leaving, and he mentioned that he could help me while he was assisting some people who arrived at the store after me. I said that he can't help me.

I went to the other Staples nearby in the Brooklyn area. When I requested them to show me the Acer on sale for $349 and the Toshiba netbook for $399, Staples did not have any on stock. I spoke with the manager of the store, and he allegedly informed that all 16 computers were sold today, the first day of the sale.

Only problem is, when you go to enlarge the picture to fit the paper, you don't know what percentage to use. When I asked for assistance, I was told to just "guess". The only issue is every time I had to "guess," it charged me another $1.75. When I approached the counter again, Mike, the manager, was very rude and told me that I had no other choice if I wanted my enlargements. I responded, "How can that be right to keep charging me when I don't know how to use the machine?" He nastily told an associate to give me credit for two copies and that's it, that I should just deal with it.

When I approached the counter again to ask for help, he didn't answer me. He was so focused on fooling around behind the counter he couldn't be bothered to answer and when he did, he said, "you again." I was appalled at the treatment. Not only did I have to deal with his "un-professionalism", I wasted over $20 enlarging prints I couldn't use since I received no assistance. I will never go to your store again, as will my colleagues not go. Who does this man think he is? It is disgusting. If he wants to socialize, he should stay home. Then he wouldn't resolve my issue. Very bad manners.

After much whining on my part, I was given a loaner Acer which has no disk drive. I could then read emails. After three weeks, I became very anxious I was behind on my studies of Mandarin Chinese by Rosetta Stone, it was downloaded on Toshiba. They downloaded about 1/2 of the first level of the language study on the loaner of the first level. I was told they downloaded two levels. They did not understand the totality of the Rosetta Stone program.

Anyway, I was told all they were waiting on now was the part from Toshiba and the computer laptop could be fixed in 10 minutes. It is now October 18th. I am assisting my Chinese fiance with her and her son's marriage visa and there have been a lot of administrative issues to deal with. The loaner was insufficient as I cannot use the 4:1 I also purchased from Staples. I just want my Toshiba up and running again. Why am I pushed aside and given the run around instead of a straight answer? If I purchased this extensive warranty, why can’t I just have a new one off the shelf? This is the worst time in my ownership of this purchase to be without it.

I have made probably over a dozen phone calls and got a different answer every time. I was given a loaner computer without a disk drive and unable to recognize my 4:1 printer after much complaining. I am assisting with administratively getting my Chinese fiance over to the USA and I need full computer capacity to meet these deadlines. I turned in the laptop 9/19/09, after paying $100.00 for data retrieval and $427.00 for an extended warranty purchased at the time of buying the Toshiba Laptop. It is now 10/18/09 and no computer. I was told that when the part came in from Toshiba, the laptop could be fixed in ten minutes. Even from China, the part should have been here by now. Why do I have to deal with such lousy service after I have spent as much as $5K there in two years? That is a lot of money to me for this type of purchases.

I work at night; I get home about 12:30AM. When I got home on October 2, 2009, I checked on my computer at Staples.com; but there was nothing on sale. When I woke up about 7:30AM, I checked on Staples.com; they had 2 laptops on sale, item number 773898 for $299.00 and item number 773896 for $399.00. When I saw this, I tried to buy either one of them; and both were sold out. They have a link that you could check for store availability, but no store within 100 miles had any; actually, no stores in neighboring states had one.

When I checked, it was 7:30AM. How could they sell out if most Staples stores don't open until 8:30AM or 9:00AM? So I called customer service, and I told them the whole story. They said there was nothing they could do. They have this to me 3 weeks in a row. The first 2 times, I went to 4 stores in the area; and all said the same thing that they were out of stock but have a similar one for more money.

Before that, however, a man, who called his self as a manager of Staples in Torrance, came to us and made us be on the waiting line. Because we did not have any fault about the mistakenly miscalculated receipt and were told to wait only for 2-3 minutes, we told him about our situation: the mistake of counter. However, he had never tried to listen us and just forcefully made us be on the line. And when we tried to explain once more about that, he made a rude sentence about the fact that we are foreigners; he made fun of our English-speaking ability. Even though we, being mentally damaged about his insulting, were refunded all items that we had bought, I strongly want to make complaints about the manager's way of treating his customers.

After I got to the store, I spoke with an employee there and asked for the product. He looked up the product in their system and told me that this store is actually low on stock. That employee then went to check if they have the laptop in the back and returned to me with a no. He also suggested that I try a different location that was nearby (about a 25 minute drive from where I was). But before I drove there, I decided to call to make sure they have something there, which was a very wise choice because as expected, they were out of stock too.

Apparently, I double checked, this time online, and saw the check store availability list and both stores were still listed as they were in stock for the laptop. Fortunately I didn’t give up that easily, so I continued refreshing the webpage that I was on for another couple of times. After refreshing the page, I noticed that the Staples website was updated and I could actually place an order online. This time I placed an order and was a little confused as to why the delivery date changed from 1 day to 4 business days in between the time I added the item to my shopping cart and the time I was about checked out. But that was not a big deal for me so I placed the order as it is.

The problem came when I was called by a customer representative today. I did not know my order was put on hold from yesterday until I made a second order today for another item. The representative told me that my order for today did not go through because the phone number I gave them on my card was my personal contact number, not the primary cardholder’s number. I wasn’t aware that the number I provided was a different number, but I was able to give them the correct number within seconds to fix it and allow them to put through the orders.

Now, the second problem came. I asked them if my order from today was put on hold, how did the order from yesterday go through. The lady looked at all my orders and answered me that the order from yesterday was actually on hold as well. She then said the laptop I wanted is no longer in stock, so my order from yesterday for that laptop cannot be fulfilled. How great is that? To find how all my time spent trying to buy this laptop has gone to waste? It wasn’t a great feeling for me and I probably would never have found out that my laptop order wasn’t put through had I not asked about it.

Other than that, in between the times before I was called up by a representative from Staples (between the time that I placed my order yesterday to getting the call today), I had a hard time getting my tax exempt to work. I tried contacting their online customer service to make sure that I’m using the right account number for my orders. The online representative was very friendly and gave me the correct member number I had a tax exempt for. However, after submitting my first order, I received an email in a few minutes stating that I entered the wrong account and provided me with the correct account number. The email also mentioned that I should change the number I used previously for my order to the number listed in that email.

So, that’s exactly what I did. And as I made the changes in my account, I also took some time to track my order. What I didn’t understand from the order is that all the tax exempted came back on the total amount charged. I couldn’t figure out what I taxed so I contacted the online rep again. This time she checked and told me that the tax exempt number I used previously was correct, but order was somehow changed to another account. She told me that she’ll send a message to the tax department right away and told me for future purchases, I should use the number she provided.

So, I used that number again for my second order. This time the same thing happened again. The tax was exempt when I placed the order but when I tracked it, they came back again. I contacted the online rep and this other rep told me to call the tax dept. I found out that my Staples tax exempt account expired, which they say it always happens from period to period due to security purposes, and that I need to resubmit the certificates.

After this experience, I can only say that I’m very disappointed about the unreliability of the quantities listed as in-stock on the website and even in the stores. I’m also extremely unhappy that after spending all this time, I still don’t have a laptop and that customer support is very inefficient. They could’ve called me earlier and I would’ve supplied them with the correct number. They could’ve also told me that Staples has a tax exempt expiration policy where I have to resubmit the forms. Then, I could spend less time trying to figure out what the problem was and less time editing my profile’s account/member number. I probably will never place another order online with Staples ever again with this kind of bad experience and service.

I ended up handing the employee $2 and said this is what I owe you, take it and figure it out yourself while I'm on my way. Have you also ever noticed that nobody works there for a long time, always different people in there? I guess it must be hard for them to find new employees, because isn't their major requirement for new staff complete incompetence so they fit in with the company culture. I go there and make their life difficult, just for little purchases and hope one day they will go out of business. Don't buy any electronic things or anything that cost more than $5.00.

A month later, the operating system failed; and Gateway had it for another 12 days. A month after that, the plug receiver (for the charger) broke off inside the computer. It's off to Gateway again for another 14-day round trip. A week ago, it decided that it was the year 2099 (CMOS failing, most likely) and started booting slowly. Then it died yet again.

We took it to Staples and demanded that they replace it with a different laptop. I even offered to spend more money to buy a more expensive laptop and to call the warranty a wash. They promised they would try to do something. It sat at their facility for 6 days without being looked at or anything. I dropped it off on a Friday, then on Sunday, I called and spoke to Fred, the general manager. He promised to look into it and call me back.

I called him again on Tuesday. He claimed to have never spoken to me on Sunday and had no idea what I was talking about. I explained everything again. He promised to call me back Wednesday after doing everything in his power to get it resolved. On Thursday, I got a voice mail from a girl at Staples that said "Your laptop is ready. Come pick it up at your convenience." Ready?

I called them back and asked for Fred. And imagine this, Fred was off for a few days. There is apparently a note on the laptop telling the staff to call today (while he's gone) to tell me that I have to have Gateway fix it. I have a Staples warranty, and they want me to ship it back to Gateway? The guy doesn't even have the decency to call himself or to try and do something to help?

This is the worst computer I've ever had, and it's only second to the worst store I've ever experienced. Staples has lost a lot more business by their behavior than they would have lost in money by replacing this laptop. I'll never shop there again and will encourage others to do the same. My entire family and many close friends are boycotting the company from now on.

After diagnostics with Microsoft, it was determined that the product key entered by Staples did not match the sticker on my computer. As this is pre-loaded software, I do not have a copy to reload. The options for fixing this mistake made by your employees are either take it back to Staples to have the disk wiped clean again and spend days re-reloading software and files (assuming that they manage to get it right this time), or buy a patch from Microsoft for $149. After spending over $400 for the "repair" and an external hard drive that I was told would automatically back up data (not true, additional software has to be purchased), the store manager offered $40 in store coupons for my trouble.

Thanks, but no thanks, and there is no chance of my using or referring Staples for future technical support. And I will likely use Sam's for my office supplies at my business from now on. I would advise you get out of the computer repair business unless you have trained techs dedicated to that business, not store clerks with PowerPoint reference manuals. (My favorite line from your "tech" regarding loading the wrong product key, "we wouldn't ever check for something like that", priceless).

We contacted them to have a service technician come out and fix our problem. We were told by Assurance that we would be contacted within a few days for an appointment. About four or five days later, we received a large 55lbs box on our door step. It was a refurbished printer, with a sign on the box which read: "Return within 3 days to prevent additional charges". We swapped out our core machine with the refurbished core machine provided to us by Assurance. When I set up the refurbished machine, I realized the copy count was over 5,800. That's (5) times the usage of the machine we had just returned. The first few copies of papers printed were fine, but then we noticed the same original problem! We called Assurance to complain about the same problem and we found out that they had made a major mistake.

The agent Byron told me that we should have never been sent a refurbished machine. They had made a mistake! But since a new machine was provided, now I had to call a company called: Cybertest. This was the company who apparently was responsible for sending out the refurbished machine. After getting in touch with Cybertest on 06/19/2009, I was told that the only thing they could do would be to send out another refurbished machine. I explained to the agent from Cybertest that it didn't matter how many refurbished machines he send. The problem was that we needed the machine serviced. Cybertest said that they do not service machines, they only replace them. So, I called Assurance back to see since they originally messed up, how are they going to make it right?

Well, they didn't. I was told by two different agents from Assurance on two separate calls that they could do nothing about this despite the fact they made the error in the first place. At this point, I was fuming! I went to the Staples store and spoke withe the manager on duty, William, who was very apologetic, but offered no assistance. Apparently, his general manager Kevin was in Orlando having meeting with the Assurance people while I was at the store tiring to get this resolved. I requested that he calls him and have him get an Assurance rep on the phone to try and get this resolved. I was told he couldn't do that. So here I am filing a complaint. This is my first bad experience with Staples, but they do not stand behind what they sell nor do they have personnel in place to effectively handle these problems.

Today, I requested that William refund me the amount of the printer and the warranty that we paid for. He said he would have to wait for his general manager to get back into town before anything, if anything could be done. He was told that on a store level, there was nothing Staples could do. Help!

Yesterday, I went to Staples. The tech agreed there is a hardware problem but they now say he is not authorized to deal with it. They said I should have bought the extended (store) warranty but after questioning the manager, I found out that the extended warranty would not have served any purpose here because it doesn't kick in until the manufacture's warranty has expired. When I talked with the manager, she said that they have a large turn over in employees and one of temporary employees must have made a mistake and she had no way of finding who the sales person was.

This was a ridiculous statements since the information was recorded on the paperwork which I had in hand at the time. Dana ** is a well-established employee so the "temporary employee" excuse didn't hold water. I have photos and other material on this laptop that I want retrieved. The Staple's tech offered to do that for me for $80. This, he said, would involve removing the hard drive. This begs the question of how he planned to do this without voiding the warranty if he is not authorized by MSI to crack the seal.

The tech also told me that there was no problem for me to deal directly with MSI. All I had to do was call them on at their toll free number and they would send a postage paid box in which I could return the laptop. The number he gave me is not toll free. I found MSI Warranty information on the internet and it states they will pay for postage one way. I checked today with UPS regarding shipping the laptop to the California address - $135 which is more than a used sub-notebook is worth.

I would never have bought this computer except that I was told that the Staples tech was qualified to do the work, I had only to return it to the store. From what I have been able to find out by talking to people who have bought other computer-related equipment there, others have had the same thing happen to them.

Stupidly, I still bought the bubble wrap and plate cushions. I should have said screw you ** and went elsewhere. I have shopped at Staples for 20 years, but I think it is time to try Grand & Toy. His customer service turned me off and he is lucky I was polite to him. I may return the items due to management idiocy.

I was in distress because their first excuse was that there was a mix up with another identical laptop. Every time I called these people that don't know anything, they would promise me that they were going to check it. By the 12th day, I was too upset and told my husband to go pick it up. The only thing I was told on the phone and personally to my husband was that the hard drive was not working and that I needed a new charger. But all the viruses were gone and they could not do anything to it and that if I wanted to have it fixed, it would cost about $300. They said it was better off buying a new PC. They were not telling my anything different with what was wrong with it, because I told them it probably was the hard drive and the charger. No wonder they kept on asking me what was wrong with it instead of them telling me.

My husband then took it to another location in The Bronx and was fixed in about 3 hours. Yes, it was the hard drive and one piece from the charger. This other person told my husband that there was no way in earth they could have checked the laptop or clean any viruses at all because the hard drive was not working and was scratched. My husband contacted Staples again the same day we got it fixed and was told to take it back but we didn't because we had fixed it already. These people also kept on hanging up the phone on my hubby because they didn't want to hear it. I feel that they should return our $69.99 back because they didn't even check my laptop at all. I do not recommend anyone to take any of their products to Staples. I am still upset because I thought Staples is a big company with honest people working in it. I want my money back!

I did not want to do business there again. I went to a nearby Kinkos.

No explanation was given to me other than to send the card back and that it is against company policy for the customer representatives to comment on wheter others are suffering from the same problem.

I gave out 3 of these Staples gift cards to business associates and I experienced the embarrassment of them contacting me and saying I gave them zero balance cards. I had to explain that I didn't know anything about the reasons why. My reputation was dented because of this. I am very angry with the evasiveness of Staples on this matter.

Today, I was charged closed to $200 for copies, when I normally pay no more than $75 or so. When I asked for clarification, the on-site supervisor, Vitaliv, informed me that the charges are what they are. (He was already upset with me because I had complained about misinformation I'd received today from Tina, another employee. After Vitaliv walked away - the clerk who was ringing me up (who was very kind and patient) informed me that I didn't get the volume discount because of the manner in which I handed over the originals. Because I handed the originals to them in different file folders, they treated each of the 8 file folders of originals as a seperate job instead of grouping them. Had I known that, I would have kept my file folders and just handed them the stack of originals.

Additionally, the clerk ringing me up was puzzled about additional charges that I was being billed. The comment made was I don't know what this person did here. The manager on duty, Vitaliv, clearly didn't care and other than being hostile was no help. I think #1 I should be given an apollogy for the poor costomer service I received #2 I should be given the volume discount for the copies. There is no way I should have have to pay more for the copies than if I were going to do them myself. If the Pinole Staples Store cares about their reputation, they should make an effort to make this right.

I still need to have the remaining copies done for the month at the advertised discounted price.

they have different answer. they told me it was water damage there for the warrenty does not covers, It completly false and lies, it is not true because i kept always my car glove box. This company people are not give good service.

store accept responiablity but will take 2 weeks (7 to 10 business days) to fix. i require computer for work i am home baseed i need a computer to earn a living

Upon arriving at the store, I was informed that they don't actually have the BT125s at all; they only have the BT2010s available, and I was reminded by the manager that the ad indicates the sale is for one or the other. This tactic is known as bait-and-switch and is possibly illegal.

Inconvenience. There are probably consumers who have purchased the BT2010 on the assumption it was the same product or because they didn't want to waste the trip.

On 8/8/08 I called to find out where my check was, only to be told that I will not receive a check because my package was found by the receiver and if the receiver never let me know that it was found it wasn't their fault. Psp's left there for over 30 days are considered lost and they can be kept (ahem,stolen). I asked for proof that the receiver found my package but was laughed at. Staples is just trying to rip me off. Both Staples and PspRepairService are the winners here and I am the loser !

The Psp was a birthday present to my daughter and she has been heartbroken without it not to mention that I lost the $216 that I paid for it and not I'll have to spend an additional $216 to replace it. Why does Staples think that I bought insurance for it ?

The following is the status of my rebate. $14.95 Rebate on the Combined Purchase of Carbonite Online PC Backup - 3 Month Subscription (SKU 664261) and Select Tax Software,Vista,Office,PC or EMT Service at Staples Submission Type: MAIL-IN Status Date: 11-08-2007 Status Detail: Invalid. Invalid Reason: All required products were not submitted Staples Tech Services Missing UPC Product not found on receipt

run a business WOULD NEVER treat my custermors the way i am being treated. had to buy another descktop to be able to do year end billing. had to purchase new quickbooks 07 to do taxes been without desktop for months, have alot of info, billing, etc., that had to be into new quickbooks....had to start all over again, had to pay secretary all over again

He then tried to point out that software actually falls under the "technology" category and that there is a 14 day limit on returns. However, the receipt places "Software" in it's own category and there is no time limit to return unopened software. Undaunted, he pointed out that the software was opened. I replied that I never opened it. He said it was open. I replied that I never opened it. He suggested that someone else in my house perhaps opened it - I replied this is not true, never mind the fact that it was totally unprofessional to bring my personal life into the conversation. He flatly refused to refund my money. He said Staples would never sell opened software! I asked for a store credit, he refused. He gave me Staples Customer Service number to call. I called Customer Service and was transferred to the "Office of the President". I spoke to a customer service rep who took down the facts and told me he would call the store and get back to me. I will wait a few days to follow-up. I also disputed the charge with Visa.

I am mortified that an assistant manager did not believe that I never opened the package. I've purchased most of my business supplies from Staples and this is the first time I've had a problem. The problem, however, is trust, which is very important to me. If Staples cannot trust my honesty, I will take my business elsewhere.

Needless to say when I got home I checked my Rewards account and discovered that I had joined in July 7th 2005 and although I had bought my ink and new printer there I had never received a check from them ever. Also that they had without notice to me, and proberly everyone else,changed the rules. The lady I talked to, Jessica, said they may have put some signs in the stores bur she really didn't know for sure.

They knew by my small orders that I was a very small customer and they would seem to have arranged that their Rewards programme would not benefit me and other like me. I really hate being scammed and I wish to do something about it.

Because of this Manager's rude and unprofessional attitude, I will take my business elsewhere, resulting in a sale of $900, that Staple's will not get, and my Company will close its account with Staple's and move it to a more customer friendly office store.

Presently. I am taking a lost of $108.61 and not to mentioned the humilation that that manager (Bruce Camplan) made me experience when he walked away while I was still talking to him.

No economic or physical damage to me has resulted. I am just a consumer who believes that businesses have no right to false advertise and expect not to be taken to task for it. I would very much appreciate any help or advice you can offer on this situation. Thank you for your time.

The next day I got a e-mail from the Staples rebate center stating I had returned the item and it no longer quailifed for the rebate. I wrote back and explain that I had exchanged it for a new one. They told me to fax or mail the receipt with the exchange information. I faxed and mailed the requested documentation.

I still have not heard from them. I am totally dissatified with Staples' rebate services.

We feel that, since the salesman made both sales about an hour apart, he misrepresented the camera and printer as being compatible, when they are not.

We have had to purchase a third piece of equipment to load the XD chip info into our computer - -therby losing the convenience that we were looking forward to.

This is not the first time Staples and/or its suppliers have advertised and posted one price, and used the foil of a rebate to explain the differential in what they charge. They have done this to me on three other occassions with other products: a Wireless network router, a wireless mouse, and a wireless communications router. They are not the only ones who use this ploy. Best Buy has repeatedly denied rebates on products and has used the same technique of highlighting a false price (after rebate) on their displays, and then created obstacles to obtaining those rebates.

Approximately 3 weeks later I received a call stating that my file cabinet had arrived. I told them that I would come over during the weekend and pick it up. Unfortunately, during the week I had a water leak in my place and had to take care of that over the weekend. My parents came over to help clean up and "moved" some things around. I couldn't find my receipt for the file cabinet and asked if they remembered where they put it. They didn't remember and I figured it wouldn't be a problem since I was assured that I didn't need the receipt when I picked up the cabinet. I called them and said I would pick it up the following weekend.

When I went to pick it up, with a borrowed pickup, I was told that they couldn't check the computer for verification. I asked to speak with the manager; after waiting for an hour for him I had to leave for an appointment. I came back the next day and told by another salesman that they couldn't check the computer. Again, I asked to speak to the manager. This time I was able to speak to him, after 30 - 40 minutes of waiting. He told me that he would check on it and I never saw him after that.

I'm out $299 + tax and no one seems to be willing to help.

After couple days, the store called me to go pick up the 3 items. But when I got to the store to pick up my items, I had to wait more than 30 minutes and I was only able to receive the other 2 items but not the webcam that I had already purchased. The store representive told me that they had ran out of stock at their warehouse. So they said that they had already remibursed my credit card, and there is nothing they can do about it. I asked them if they can give me another webcan to compensate for the same price, but they said that they can not do that, and once again, they told me that there is nothing they can do about it.

I feel as though I needlessly lost $900.00

To make a long story short, I bought my Proteva computer in Jan '99, it was "dead on arrival," more than a half dozen calls to Proteva tech support resulted in many promises to repair the computer but no action, so after TWO FULL MONTHS of having a DOA computer, I returned to Staples and asked for their help; multiple telephone calls from the store manager, Jay Audis, to senior company officials of Proteva, resulted in many promises but no actions, sufficiently angering Mr. Audis that he finally agreed (after two weeks) to have his senior tech repair person repair my computer at no cost to me--Thank heavens and Mr. Audis.

Be aware that Proteva is at least the third incarnation (same product, different name) by a Taiwanese parent company called Arima--Proteva in the USA has been previously known as Micro Professional Computer and Cavistar Computer. Seems the company just continues to manufacture defective products until the complaints drive them out of business, at which time Arima just assumes a different name and continues to shovel out defective product. Perhaps it is time to "nail" Arima to the wall!

Within three weeks of having the PCs installed on our network, one of them failed. After several hours on the phone, being placed on hold for long periods, and going through a lengthy diagnosis process on the phone, Proteva's customer service representative determined that the problem was with my motherboard. This took place on March 11, 1999.

After a wait of over a month, on April 15th, 1999 we received a visit from a technician with BancTec, which is Proteva's warranty company. After installing a new motherboard, the technician determined that this was not, in fact, the problem. The technician, Larry Spicer, left me a Service Activity Report stating that he had ordered a new processer (or CPU chip). Nearly a month later, on May 10, I have heard nothing from BancTec, Mr. Spicer or Proteva. Calls to BancTec Customer Support have been met with the response that they have no record of this part being on order from Proteva. Calls to Proteva's customer support line result in waits of 30 minutes or more on hold, then the response that they have no record of this part bieng on order.

In order to get the problem taken care of, they tell me, we have to go through the process of telephone diagnosis again before they can contact BancTec to send another technician to our office. When Proteva's representative attempts to go through this diagnosis process again, we are cut off. This has happened three times in succession. Representatives of both Proteva and BancTec have been rude, impatient and uncooperative. Five months after purchasing this computer, it has been in operation for only about two weeks, and attempts to solve the problem are met with a stone wall.

We have also received no response from Proteva regarding hundreds of dollars' worth of rebates that were sent to them at the time of purchase.

Days spent trying merely to contact someone to help woith this problem. Hours on the phone waiting on hold. Documents on the hard drive of the inoperational computer may or may not be lost. We are a small, non-profit organization, and the loss of one of our computers adversely affects the operation of the whole office. This computer is covered by both a manufacturer's warranty and an extended service plan through Staples.

First issue: No software. The computer came with no video drivers or modem drivers. Staples came to the rescue again supplied me with the software needed to get the machine up and going. Second issue: Bad memory chip considering that Staples was helping me alot I brought the computer in becasue it was having a memory dump all the time. Staples tech told me that I needed to get that chip fixed. (Considering that I did not have a Staples warrenty they could not help) I called Proteva technical support, They told me they could help as long as I had a serial number. Third Issue: No serial number. With the help of Proteva technical support we found out that no Serial number was given on the Proteva computer. Staples has tried but failed in helping with the issue on trying to get me a serial number. fourth issue: The computer will turn on on every now and then. And shutting down fails, restart fails, booting fails. Staples can't seem to help me. I don't know what to do the computer is practically useless -- the second computer from Proteva (the correct one).

Rebates of $170 were never received. The student used the computer for less than 2 months when, in April, there was a total system crash with no ability to start Windows or even get a Bios screen. Neither the student nor I have a car. With great inconvenience, the system was brought back to me in Manhattan to resolve the problem.

After several fruitless phone calls, I was told it had to be the result of the Chernobyl virus, a problem not covered by warranty. Many unpleasant calls later with inordinate waits on hold, I was referred to Time Space Software who offered to sell me a "12 incident package" of repairs for $120, even though the technician estimated that a complete software cleaning and reinstallation would require only 4 or 5 incidents. (I was assured the credit for the rest would be in my "bank" for future off warranty repair needs.) Declining this offer and not convinced that this was a virus problem, since the student had just connected to the internet, but had not participated in chat rooms, received any email, or downloaded any programs, I persisted in trying to get technical help, calling every customer service and tech support number I could find.

In exasperation I finally arranged with customer service to have them send a new C drive for which I was to be charged only the $39 fee for pre-loading the original software. This arrived with a bill for $288.95 to be charged to my credit card. I immediately called Proteva and my credit card company to refuse this charge and returned the C drive unopened. Proteva then suggested I hire a private computer repair service at my expense. Calling around in New York City, I was given estimates of $200-$300 if I brought the computer in and more if I wanted it serviced in my home.

Since I own a computer from a different manufacturer, I called their technical support people, who are superb, and found a sympathetic person who in 20 minutes walked me through diagnostic tests and cleaned the C drive of all software in order to reinstall Windows, which I then did on my own. I was told I must then reinstall the video, modem, and sound drivers. It was now September. Many more calls, transfers, and 1 hour waits on hold took place before I finally spoke to a Technical Support Supervisor. I seems the drivers had not been sent on the CDs or disks accompanying the machine. He said I would have to download the drivers from the internet and then reconfigure the machine to use them. I do not know how to do this. Instead, he convinced me once again to accept a pre-loaded C drive for $39, which Tech support would help me install. I was given a reference number and a specific phone number to call to get back in touch with him personally. He said I would be charged the cost of the drive only if I did not return the old one within 10 days.

The drive arrived this week with a bill for $234. Over the course of 5 days, October 18-22, I called about 20 times, waiting on hold an average of 45 minutes each time without ever once reaching a human being. At the end of the week, I was puzzled to find that Proteva numbers were answered with a recording by Time Space. I do not know how to install this drive and consequently cannot return the old one. Today, Saturday, October 23, a recording on one of the Time Space numbers informed me about Proteva's August 30 bankruptcy filing. Another call connected me to a Time Space person who told me there was no record of my Proteva reference number, and he had never heard of the Technical Support Supervisor I was supposed to contact.

Further, this past Wednesday, an Illinois court [editor's note: It's a federal bankruptcy court in Illinois] had declared all Proteva warranties null and void. This was confirmed by another Time Space technician who offered me an assumption of the original Proteva warranty and 3 year extension for $199.99. Without that purchase they could not help me install the C drive, even though I was told the installation was a simple procedure.

Nine months after purchase I still have an inoperable computer. This purchase has been a colossal nightmare from the start. Money was paid for a system that the student could use for less than 2 of the 9 months since purchase. She is required to use a computer for all class work and that has meant many late nights at school trying to gain access to the school's computers to do her papers. Her 50 minute subway ride home is thus often in the dark, which causes her mother great anxiety. The student is exhausted and distressed by this entire experience.

In calling Staples, the place where I purchased the computer, they were completely unaware that Proteva had filed bankruptcy.

This is not the first problem that I have had with Proteva. When I sent in for my rebate, Proteva refused to honor my request. I once again had to contact Staples to help me with this problem. So as you can tell, I am not a happy camper.

Since I had the computer it has not worked properly. The first problem it had a bad memory board it. It took them 5 weeks to fix to this problem. However, after the memory was replaced it still did not work. The C.D. rom was not working then and I could not load my software on to the machine. It also would frequently freeze on me preventing me from using it. Every time, I would call Proteva I would be on hold for hours at a time. It was very upsetting to me that the computer did not work. I would spend hours crying over it.

I still question myself for buying a Proteva. It has been very nerve raking. I have lost sleep, and I no longer trust computer companies. Staples where I order the computer has been no help either. They refuse to take it back, and tell me my service contract can not help me either. I am deeply hurt by this whole situation.

Now I'm having a problem with my computer locking up. I know that i am not the only one being burnt by Proteva and now they want me to pay for customer help to solve what they should be standing behind anyway.Add me to a mad-as-hell list. I'm lucky I only spent $1100.

Matthew could go to Small Claims Court, assuming the Statute of Limitations hasn't expired. He would need to check local laws.

Now the CD/ROM is not responding and my Windows software is having an error message that needs to be fixed with the original Windows CD. These problems happened at the same time. I am completely unable to get a PROTEVA technician on the phone and get stuck in there automated system. So again my computer is not working properly. Since the Hardware is suppose to still be under warranty till Jan. do I have any possibility at getting this fixed at their expense?

I have e-mailed tech support, they say they didn't get them. I've called customer service. They say they either can't help me and refer me to someone else or they put me on indefinite hold. I call tech support and they send me to someone else or tell me to do something that AGAIN doesn't work. No one keeps track of my numerous calls, nor do they treat me like a human being. When I tell them that I no longer can even get onto the start-up screen on my computer because it is so bad, they have an excuse. It is like they have wiped my name off of any type of complaint.

Once in a while, I get someone who tries to help, but then I'm told to do this and call the next day or try that and let them know. I didn't spend a lot on this computer, but it was all we could afford at the time. We are trying to survive on one income so I can raise my 4 small children. We have prayed for a computer for so long and finally the opportunity presented itself for us to get one. Now, it won't work and my kids are heartbroken. No one even cares at Proteva. They just want me to get lost. I want a new computer that works! My kids and I deserve that much from them!

We absolutely cannot afford another computer. I t will takes us years to be able to purchase another one. My family bought my kids educational programs for their new computer and they have excelled in school because of it, and this took place in just the short amount of time we were able to use it. Computers are an asset for children as far as their learning goes, as it makes learning so much fun. Now, we are back to square one with no computer and no money to buy another one. My children don't understand, and I don't either!

Shannon of Danese, WV, writes: I had bought my Proteva computer on February28,1999 at Staples in Beckley WV. When I bought the computer I bought the 3 year extended warrenty for $169.99. I was told today that it is no longer any good as of February 28,2000, and that is whan the warrenty starts. I am wanting to know how I get my money back for the warranty?

Finally on May 17, I called the Proteva company, who promptly gave me an 800 number to call for the rebate processing company. The name of the processing company is Continental Promotion Group in Scottsdale, Arizona, and their phone number is 1-800-340-0108. I spoke with a gentleman who informed me first that I was denied the $70 rebate because all of the bar codes required were not included with the request. He informed me that I had failed to send in the bar code for the printer. When I told him that I had a copy of everything I had sent to the company, he decided to check further and came back with the statement that a check for $70 was being cut that very day.

Then we began to discuss the $100 rebate. Again, he told me that I had been denied because of failing to comply with the terms of the rebate coupon. When I asked what I failed to do, he told me I had not included the bar code from the bottom of the monitor box. When I reminded him that I had made copies of everything I had sent, he reconsidered and said that he was entering a reversal in the computer regarding the original decision and that I should have a check in a reasonable amount of time.

My next contact with Proteva was on July 9, 1999, when I called to complain that I still had not received the $100 as promised. He said that he has a contact person, named "Julie", at the rebate center in Scottsdale, Arizona, and that he would email her that very afternoon. He said that it may take a few days to get back to me, but that he would personally follow up on the matter. Trying to give the man the benefit of the doubt, I waited until July 28 to hear from him. When no call or letter came, I telephoned Tom to find out what he had learned from "Julie". He fumbled around with his words for a few seconds, as if trying to decide what story to tell me. When he finally became coherent, he told me that he still hadn't heard from "Julie" and that he would send her another email. I assured him that this was totally unacceptable and that I felt that I had waited long enough to received my money. He said that there was no more that he could do, other than to recontact "Julie" because the rebates were handled strictly by the processing center and they alone made the decisions to pay or not pay, not Proteva. …

I finally gave up with trying to talk any sense with this person, Tom, and called the rebate processing company. I spoke with a representative, named Rosa, who told me that the rebate had been denied. When I told her about the call to the rebate center in May and that the representative at that time had assured me that I would be receiving the $100 check, she said to give her a moment to check further. After "checking further", she said that the hold up was the fact that they were waiting for "approval" from Proteva. I explained to her that "Tom" at Proteva had told me that the total and final decision was made by Continental Promotion Group solely, she said that all she knew was that the computer showed that they were awaiting approval from Proteva. I asked numerous times regarding the person, "Julie", and Rosa just ignored me each time and said that she was sorry, that I would have to contact Proteva.

By this time, I am so angry, I am about in tears. I called Tom back and told him about my conversation with Rosa and he told me to hang on while he tried to reach "Julie" direct. He came back on the line a few seconds later and said that he had Julie on the other line and that for me to please wait while he discussed the matter with her. Finally, when he did come back on the line, he told me that we had a problem. Guess what? I had failed to include the bar code from the monitor. We were right back to square one. I reminded him that I had copies of what had been sent and he said he was sorry, that the decision had been made and there was no more he could do for me. I asked him to give me his name and address and allow me to send him a copy of what I had right in front of me al along. To this he said that it was too late and that the rebate processing center allowed customers five months to resolve any differences regarding their decision and that my five months were now expired.

I asked him how that could be, when I had started the process on May 17, well before any five month time limited could have transpired and he said he was sorry, there was no more he could do for me. This is where the story stands to date. I read the story of M.B. of Oxford, NJ. I had to laugh because they had her address to send a post card to tell her that they could not honor her request for the rebates because she had not included her street address. How in the world did they send her the post card?

Next, I had resolution problems that progressively got worse, and eventually my display defaulted to 16-color mode and could not be changed. After several days of attempting to install a different driver I went to the internet for advise. It turns out the video display driver board had a "worm-like" defect, and by installing a specific chip accelerator found on Proteva's utilities disc the problem was instantly fixed. Again, no big deal, but I wish Proteva or Staples would have sent out a notice to their customers. It would have saved dozens of hours of frustration. I still have freeze-ups every once in awhile, and still get kernel errors and other stack faults, but I'll eventually work them out. Again, no big deal.

What is a big deal is that we were chumped on our rebate. We sent them everything that was required and well before the expiration date, and after a month Proteva sent a letter saying the offer had expired. What's worse, they kept the coupons, bar codes, and original sales receipt so I can't resubmit it. I was going to e-mail them when I came across this site, and from what I've read I would probably be wasting my time trying to get my money back.

I took the Proteva to a local computer tech and he found the $30.00 mother board they use to be defective. I will spend about $200.00 to fix the problem. … I plan to let Staple's know they should drop Proteva before they alienate any more customers.

$100 equals one week of groceries, or three months of telephone bills or a month and a half of electricity, Further, I expected a nationally known company, such as Staples, to live up to its promises. I still have the Staples salesman's hand written estimate of final cost AFTER the rebate. What a deal! I wonder if Staples has a "sucker" detector attached to their entry door.

I then called the Customer Service Center where my computer was built. I spoke with a lady named Debbie, who was the rudest and cruelest lady I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. I finally wised up and called Staples Tech-Support and they were FANTASTIC, it took three hours but at the end of that time, the tech. named John told me to bring the computer back and demand a different one. I took the entire system back and Staples was AWESOME, they had already had four other built-to-order Protevas returned and weren't at all surprised. They set me up with a Hewlett Packard with all and more of the software I had ordered in the Proteva. I hate the Proteva computer and think their staff and associates should be fired for their careless, rude, and combative attitudes towards the customers that keep thier sorry fannys working.

Emotionally, I feel I have been taken advantage of. Economically, I am down $80. I could have purchased the unit somewhere else. By the way, now it's only $299 and it's been offered by Staples also with a $80 gift check.

In total my money would be tied up for over 6 weeks. I could have walked in another store and walked out with a computer in hand had I known this would take so long. They (Staples) keep referring to the order and a "specially made system" however I was not given any options or choises in the matter. The system was listed on their in store computer as a package deal. I have called the Presidents office (10-18-02) for assistance and was again told that there was no way to cancel the order although the item has not yet been shipped to the store. Joe Tomaski also refused to put me on hold so that I could wait for his supervisor to assist me. "Their system will not allow me to put you on hold" I was told.

Additionally, I was also informed that I would still have to pay a $75.00 the shipping charge and a 15% "restocking charge" -- can they charge me for that even though I do not want to accept the merchanise? This sounds rather illegal to me. I called far enough in advance to cancel the order before they had shipped it and even if I refuse delivery I still have to pay to "restock" the item? AND have to wait another 4-6 weeks to get my money back!!! Can I charge them a service charge for holding my money for so long?

I have been without a computer-- that I use in my investigative work as an investigator for the Juvenile Court of Fulton County, GA.-- for over 6 weeks already, my money has been tied up way too long already and I can not get any help from Staples.

As well, considering wireless/remote means convenience, I don't understand why any packages comes with they keyboard without volume control, I think that defeats the purpose of REMOTE. What's the point of having a remote when you have to get up and control the volume?

2)5.1 speaker system, I thought the 5.1 speaker system comes with 5 satellites and 1 subwoofers as do most other speaker system does. What came with mine was 4 satellites and 1 subwoofer. 3)This is just a suggestion, I actually wanted a different colour computer other then the typical whitish tower, I wanted black, and now, considering my optical combo is black, they don't really match, but that's not too important.