Whenever possible, I prefer to make my gift purchases online. During the pre-Christmas rush, I had a bad experience doing this that I'd like to share.
I wanted to buy my brother Ryan one of those four-in-one printer/fax machine/photo copier/scanner dealies. I found a good sale on the Staples Business Depot website, and made the purchase. I had never ordered online from this particular company before, but there's a first time for everything. There's also a last.
Four or five days went by and I still hadn't received the package or any communication whatsoever from Staples. I finally got around to calling their customer service number and was told an attempt was made to deliver my package but because nobody was home it was sent back to the warehouse and my order was cancelled. A credit was being applied to my credit card as a result. With Christmas getting closer and closer, I didn't want to hear that my order was cancelled. I wanted the product I ordered for the price I ordered it for. Every other time I've ordered something online, if I wasn't home when the deliver was attempted I was left a slip of paper indicating where I could pick the order up. I wasn't given this opportunity by Staples. Furthermore, I didn't receive an email, telephone call or note at my door indicating that my order was being cancelled. They just up and cancelled it because nobody was available to sign for the delivery.
At this point, I was most frustrated. I was more than willing to pick the item up at a local Staples store or have it delivered to my work where someone could sign for it. I asked that my order be brought back to life and was told it was cancelled and I'd have to start from scratch. It was as if that order never existed. With no other options, I attempted to reorder the identical product only to learn that the sale had ended and I'd have to pay an additional $50. Not only was I unable to get it for the price I had purchased it for days earlier, it was now out of stock and I wouldn't be able to get it before Christmas. I demanded satisfaction and spoke to several representatives at this company and nobody was willing to give me the sale price I had originally paid or make any attempt to appease me.
It was as if Staples was so burdened by my order they didn't want it. What company cancels an order without making any effort whatsoever to salvage it? Isn't the objective to make sales and customers happy so they return with credit card in hand? Needless to say, I will never give Staples Business Depot one penny of business for as long as I live. That same week I purchased a couple of gifts online with Future Shop and got great sale prices, free shipping and most importantly, the items I bought. I ended up buying Ryan's gift at Best Buy, walking into the store and waiting in line like I did in the days before the world wide web.
I'm still angry with the service I received from Staples Business Depot and I'm writing this blog entry in the hopes others will read it and direct their business elsewhere. Every dollar not spent at Staples because of me eases my pain.
