Screwed at Staples.com

[Gjwilly]

I ordered a gaming monitor from Staples.com that was on sale and also had an extra discount for using Visa Checkout.
I ordered on Cyber Monday although it wasn't a Cyber Monday sale -- the sale had started even before Thanksgiving.
I chose their ship to store option and got a promised pick-up date of yesterday.
Yesterday I got an e-mail saying that the monitor was out of stock and because it was a sale item, no backorders or rainchecks would be accepted.
Fair enough.
I did a Google search to see if I could find the monitor anywhere else and the first search result was Staples.com. They're still advertising it on their website at the same sale price although the Visa Checkout discount is no longer offered.
I placed a duplicate order with the same ship to store option and I went all the way through the checkout process successfully.
I was annoyed about losing the Visa Checkout discount so I canceled the second order and bought the monitor elsewhere.
I was still annoyed so I replied to the cancellation e-mail asking why it was still being advertised if it was out of stock and got a very prompt reply about how stock was area dependent and sometimes stock levels weren't checked until the item was actually in your cart and your zip code entered.
I replied that that was obviously untrue because I was able to place the duplicate order and I gave them the second canceled order number. I said that it seemed more likely that the reason they canceled the order was because they didn't want to honor the Visa Checkout discount.
They replied back that the monitor was still available at the sale price but since I canceled the second order there was nothing for them to do. They suggested I place a 3rd order and then e-mail them with the order number and they would try to reinstate the additional discount.
I said thanks but no thanks. I told them I wasn't going to trust them with another order when they'd already admitted that their reason for cancelling my order in the first place was a lie.

 

[Glmnet1]

Well, that's not a nice thing to do!

 

[jeremysteele]

Ship to store generally is dependent on area as they said. That is standard practice for many companies that offer such a service. If you go in store and order they can sometimes request a shipment outside their district, but you'd obviously lose the online discount unless you got a sympathetic store manager.

If you had shipped to your house then the stock wouldn't have been an issue.

It is silly, yes. It didn't make sense when I worked retail, and it still doesn't make sense now.

Personally I don't trust staples anymore for another reason. Out of the 5 orders I've placed in the last 3 years with them - all 5 were defective/DOA. The last one was a staples-brand chair that had a screw hole drilled in the seat cushion... how the heck does that pass Q/C? No thanks!

 

[Trusteft]

Not sure how you got screwed though. I mean it's a **** thing for them to do, but you didn't get screwed IMO.

 

[AmazingRobie]

If you ever do shop at Staples.com again, make sure to get their squaretrade warranty. We bought an office chair that broke after 6 months, not a big deal, a caster wheel split. They sent out a new chair, no questions asked. Pretty good. Sorry to hear about your monitor issues. Holiday times are crazy.

 

[Gjwilly]

Not sure how you got screwed though. I mean it's a **** thing for them to do, but you didn't get screwed IMO.

How would you feel if you bought from Apple during their back to school sale where you get free Beats headphones and Apple canceled your order for no reason. And then Apple told you to reorder after the sale was over and take the chance that you might still get the free headphones.

 

[Trusteft]

How would you feel if you bought from Apple during their back to school sale where you get free Beats headphones and Apple canceled your order for no reason. And then Apple told you to reorder after the sale was over and take the chance that you might still get the free headphones.

Not sure why you mention Apple, but I would feel annoyed no matter who did it to me. But they would still not have screwed me. If for example they took your money and then refunded a part of it, then yes that would be screwing you, but as it is....an annoyance? Something that will piss you off, sure.
Anyway, I am not trying to get into an argument here. If you want to keep saying that they screwed you with this, go ahead.

 

[jeremysteele]

How would you feel if you bought from Apple during their back to school sale where you get free Beats headphones and Apple canceled your order for no reason. And then Apple told you to reorder after the sale was over and take the chance that you might still get the free headphones.

It sounds like they canceled for a legit reason. You were doing a ship to store order, and the merchandise was not available in the store's district. As far as the sale still showing up online as in stock - inventory tracking at most retail stores is complete rubbish and often doesn't update more than a few times a week (if even that).

One reason why this can happen is the inventory channels from warehouse -> district -> store are completely different than warehouse -> customer. If you had it shipped to your house it most likely would have been fine (unless the main warehouses are out of the item, in which case you are out of luck).

It is understandable to be angry - their response was pretty bad. Most likely the CS rep you spoke to needs some extra training - it would be much better/more honest to flat out say "you won't get the sale, it has expired" rather than "you may get it, we'll see".

The best thing you can do is vote with your wallet and shop elsewhere. It does work over time - there's a reason stores like JCpenney, kmart, sears, and others are shutting down. Staples isn't doing well either, just look at their earnings and stocks over the last 10 years... ouch!

 

[AmazingRobie]

If you dont mind me suggesting, It sounds like you've got a chronic expectation of failure from online purchases when a special circumstance is present, which might be associated with something even deeper rooted connected to your past. Nothing wrong with that, as it happens to lots of people. I've experienced it lots of times until i realized what was going on. You could be causing the circumstances and not even know it. Not saying its your fault, but if its a pattern that keeps occuring, you may want to explore the possibility.
If you dont discount that things like that are possible, you should look up some material on Dr. Joe Dispenza on youtube. Its eye opening, to say the least... Take care friend.