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Misrepresentation of Computers by employees
By -

CAPE CORAL, FLORIDA -- On 03/20/10 my wife purchased a computer from Office Max, Cape Coral Fl. Store #647. We spoke to the store employee whom we asked 4 separate times if this laptop will work with DIAL UP. Salesperson stated "yes no problem" 4 times and stated "if you buy the protection program it will be protected no questions asked, free replacement." PC was taken home and this laptop would not function with wireless router, nor would it go online with the DIAL UP system we had.

We returned to the store and the complaint was made to the store salesman, then to the store manager. Both were irate to me and would not solve the problem. Employee told me to return the wireless router and while I was home getting the router he told my wife to call me on the telephone and tell me his manager told him HE MADE A MISTAKE and RETURN the Laptop, IT would not work with the wireless router on a dial-up system. I told him I will return the Laptop and he stated fine they will take it back and give me a credit on my bank account for $529.98, after the factory accepted the return via UPS, this was told to me from the salesman.

When I returned to the store the manager told me to call the factory and get the software reprogrammed to fit the dial-up system. Factory stated no way can it be reprogrammed. This was not what we purchased from them. The computer was returned and in fact they charged my wife $106.98 as a restocking fee for returning the computer.

The store lied to sell this computer to us, the salesman knew nothing of the capabilities of the laptop and the store manager was rude and lied to us. What we thought was a good deal turned out costing me over $106.98 plus accessories for this laptop they didn't give cash back they gave gift cards to keep every dime they could from us, $126.00 in gift cards which made us have to shop at Office Max still. In all the return cost us over $232.98 for a return. This store is located in Cape Coral Florida, Del Prado BLVD. I am so mad over this deal I am looking for a good lawyer to sue these idiots.

We went to their competitors, BEST BUY of Ft Myers and received a wonderful deal. But we still lost over $232.98 as a result of a salesman lying along with the store managers. I called the headquarters over this deal and they said they would look into it but they are liars also. No return calls or investigation over this deal with Office Max. I can't believe we were ripped off over this salesperson's poor knowledge and the managers backing of lies.

This is a warning to all shopping at Office Max, NO EXPERIENCED PEOPLE ON THE SALES FLOOR, NOTHING BUT QUOTAS AND ALL LIES WHEN YOU RETURN SOMETHING. It will cost you money to bring something back at no fault of your own. Do not give these people the time of day, they need to fold up like all of the Circuit City Stores did. I have all the paperwork to back my statements.

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Manager Called Me A Name 4 Times
By -

SAGINAW, MICHIGAN -- On 11/21/2008, my mother bought me a really nice oversize photo printer for Christmas. The reason for wanting the printer, was my upcoming baby on the way. Well, a week before Christmas, we lost the baby at 4 1/2 months. On Christmas day, my mom gave me the printer and all the attachments and said she would understand if I wanted to return it, as my intentions were to take pictures of the baby. Mom gave me the receipt to return it ($444 total bought). When I walked into the store, the Counter guy, **, asked for my receipt. I gave it to him. He said, "OH, this was bought on a Debit card and I don't have that much money to give you, sorry."

I said, "Well, we got to do something," I can't just say okay and leave, it's over $400 were talking about. ** then said with a smirk, "oh, your past the 14 day return policy, I can only give you a gift card". I said very nicely, "There must be another option for holiday purchases?" ** said again with a smirk and a laugh, "Nope, Gift Card only." I said, "Can I talk to the..." He stopped me and while laughing said, "I am the manager". I said, "I wanted to talk to the store manager," he said he wasn't it, and he didn't know when he would be.

Seeing I was getting nowhere, I asked for the number to corporate. ** said, "eight hundred Office Max." At this point, another associate noticed ** getting rude and loud so he walked over. This associate was very nice, and was also **, but with a K. ** said, "sir, that number is actually 877, Office Max." As I was talking to the lady from corporate filing a complaint, ** was saying, "boy, you just screwed yourself, I'm not helping you at all now, you might as well leave." The lady from corporate couldn't believe the way he was talking to me. He continued to say, "Man, you're stupid."

After I finished my complaint with corporate, ** asked ** to go in the back and talk to him. They went in the back for a couple mins, when a female employee walked in (I think she was the actual shift manager). When ** noticed her walking in, he quickly asked for her to come to the back.

After a few more minutes, all 3 exited and approached me. ** said very nicely, "Sir, I'm very sorry for the way you were treated, and we certainly strive on our customer service, and we definitely don't want complaints to go to corporate, so we would like to refund you the money back on your debit card." I said "thank you very much."

** quickly and loudly said, "You don't have to be such an **". The female said, "**, that's enough!" ** then said, "What? He is an **." I said, "Sir, I've been nothing but calm, and never once cursed at you or anybody." ** said, "I don't' care, you're an ** and I'll say it again, you're an **!" ** was pretty much screaming this, which had caught the attention of all the other customers in the store.

The female stopped and said, "You need to go in the back now! and shut the door!" ** refused. The female demanded him to do it again. He finally went in the back. The female continued to tell me how sorry she was and that she was sending him home. ** and her both were very apologetic. After the transaction was complete, I called corporate back, and gave another complaint about the employee ** calling me an ** 4 times. They logged my complaint, which said would go to the district manager. Not sure if it will go anywhere, but who knows.

And just so they know, as soon as I got to work (a fortune 500 company), I emailed my entire experience to my entire division (400 people). I received over 150 emails back from my co-workers, stating thank you for the warning and they were going to refuse to shop at Office Max due to this as well as their return policy that they didn't know about.

It wasn't slander, just purely what happened. Most said they forwarded it to their friends and family. I will never shop there again and will continue to send that email to people and post my story to any website I can find that applies, until Office Max Corporate can make this right to me.

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FYI - Worst Posted Policies
By -

BLOOMINGDALE, ILLINOIS -- I recently purchased a desktop from OfficeMax. But then, I found out that I did not purchase the correct system, therefore, I had to return it (The correct PC was a little bit out of my price range at that time). When I went back to the store, 3 days after purchase date, I was told that I cannot return due to purchasing it with a personal check. I requested to speak with the store manager and also to see the written policy for this matter. They were unable to fulfill my request.

On top of that, one of the cashiers stated that the policy is stated on the back of the receipt, although I was unable to find it standing right in front of her. Then the manager rudely stated that it's a common policy for all major corporations. I then argued that any major corporations, such as Circuit City, Best Buy, Fry's, etc. has the common sense to post ALL policies, including info pertaining to use of personal checks. FYI-OfficeMax posted policy: Must be returned within 14 days, unopened (However, according to the manager, there's a "special" rule for personal checks - again, not posted).

I then contacted customer service hoping to get in contact with a Regional Manager. I never heard from any managers. Then on their next advertisement, I found the desktop that I needed. I had verified with my bank to make sure that the check had cleared. So, I contacted OfficeMax to see if an exchanged can be done, with a copy of the cashed check. My request was denied.

Then I contacted the Executive Resolutions Department. It took DAYS before I received any response. By this point, I was able to return the product (Now, it's not very hard to recognize whether a box had been opened or not. When I returned the desktop, the manager made sure to open all boxes to ensure that it's the correct product, although one can examine the boxes and see that nothing had been tampered with). On top of all of this, I found out that I had to wait an additional 14 days before I receive a check in the mail (Again, not posted).

My biggest issues are the following: (1) Corporations such as Office Max should NEVER assume that a consumer is aware of something without being posted (written). Consumers, like myself, always looks for the policies first; (2) This is the first business where the Regional Managers have not contacted me regarding an issue (My opinion, OfficeMax personnel, do not know the meaning of TIMELY RESPONSE!!!); (3) OfficeMax was the ONLY business where the manager and the cashier "argues" with the consumer in a very unprofessional manner (The way I see it, if it's not posted, they have no rights to argue it).

This is the ONLY CORPORATION which I've made it a point to post my negative comments, as well as reporting to BBB-Better Business Bureau. Just wanted to share my experience with others, so that this type of issue can be avoided. And hopefully, someone from the Headquarters can see this and maybe modify their return policies to better inform the consumers.

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Rebate Scam!
By -

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- Today I sat down to turn in my rebates to Office Max and found that they had put a 14 day limit on turning in rebates on items that I had bought in November for Christmas Presents. Who out there wants to receive a Christmas Present that has been torn to shreds to retrieve UPC and SKU symbols? What if it doesn't work and you've already sent in the ORIGINAL RECEIPT AND UPC CODE?

On 11/26/04, the day after Thanksgiving, I joined the masses that got up at the crack of dawn to go shopping for Christmas presents. I chose your store because you had the best prices and REBATES. Hint! I purchased over $450.00 worth of merchandise from Office Max counting on receiving $130.00 worth of rebates back from your company.

I just sat down with the boxes from the DVD drive, the hard drive and the DVD pack to turn in my rebates (because I did not want to chew up the boxes I planned on giving as gifts!!!). Well then, the rebate slip says it is only good if I would have sent it 14 days after purchase. NOWHERE in your store or in your advertisement was I informed that I only had 14 days to send in my rebate.

I have been sending in rebates for YEARS and NEVER HAVE I HAD A TIME LIMIT ON MY REBATE SUBMISSION! You guys can take up to 3 months to return a rebate check, but we, the unsuspecting general public are supposed to rip open our gifts and send them off (NOT EVEN KNOWING IF THE ITEM PURCHASED WORKS CORRECTLY OR NOT!) 14 DAYS AFTER PURCHASE.

This policy is the most ridiculous underhanded way of making a buck that I have ever came in contact with. Why not print YOU ONLY HAVE 14 DAYS TO RETURN YOUR REBATE SLIPS ON YOUR ADVERTISEMENTS?? Wouldn't that draw in the crowds??? Why don't you print the rebate slips on paper that disintegrates after 24 hours? Wouldn't that speed the process along??? I am very upset and disgusted with the way I feel cheated out of my money and would like some kind of resolution to this issue.

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Horrible Customer Service and Warranty
By -

This used to be a decent company, but anymore they just don't care or don't train anyone enough to get day to day problems fixed. I constantly have problems there anymore, and can't wait for the new Staples to open across the street from them next month.

Incident 1: 2 months ago, I go to OfficeMax in need of a replacement address stamp. Old one ran out of ink or whatever. I had bought it in this same store, and had it made while I shopped. After finding I couldn't order a replacement online for store pickup (to save time) I go to the store with the old stamper.

The girl there says they don't make them while you wait anymore, and it would be mailed to me in 14 days. I declined, and went back to the office because I know the website said they make them in store, but maybe I missed it saying just certain stores or something. Nope, ALL stores with OfficeMax Print centers do it. So I call customer service, and they confirm all print stores should, but to contact the individual store. No point, they just told me they didn't when I was there, right?

So I order one online to have it mailed to me. During the 5-7 days it took to get the stamp made (not 14 like I was told), I find out that store DID make them while you wait, and I've now lost a chance to use a 20% off in-store only coupon PLUS have to pay shipping for something I could have picked up when I was there. I contacted Customer Service telling them all this, and after about 5 emails back and forth, got ZERO discount. I also find out the stamp I was replacing had a lifetime warranty, and I shouldn't even have paid ANYTHING, but it was too late because I ordered the replacement and paid already! HELLO?

Incident 2: They had a promotion on paper last month. Buy $40 worth of case paper, get $25 back in MaxPerks (think limit 2 or 3 per customer). I buy 2 cases of Hammermill Brand @ $45 each. I go to the customer service register, and tell the girl I don't have my MaxPerks card, can they look it up by telephone number? She says yes (I already knew they could), and she looks it up and rings up my order. I had the strangest feeling it never happened, so I checked my MaxPerks account a few days later. Nothing there about this purchase. If I would have forgotten, OfficeMax would have screwed me out of like $50.

A related 'scam' to this is they dropped the price of their OfficeMax brand paper (and 1 or two others) to $39.99. One cent too little to get the rebate. Buying a single ream extra to get you over the $40 won't help you, it has to be CASES ONLY. You'll pay over $40 after taxes for a ream, but that doesn't count.

Incident 3: I bought an Engage cordless optical mouse from OfficeMax in the last week of Dec. Comes with a 1 year warranty. It broke in the first week of May. I call Customer Service to get a replacement, I get told to bring the mouse and the receipt to a store for replacement. I get to the store to find the one I bought is discontinued, and they have 1 that is like 95% identical, the only difference is that the little USB plug that goes behind the computer is now 1/2 an inch smaller than the old one (so they had to give it a new model number). The product is now $10 more expensive than I paid.

Their best offer? They'll refund me the old price and I can pay the new higher price! Where is that "under warranty"? Then the guy has the guts to tell me if I had paid $4 more for their extended warranty he would have made it an even switch. So I ask him why would I need an extended warranty when I'm just 4 months into the product's 1 year warranty? He refuses to budge, I take the broken mouse and leave. Additional consideration: The company that makes the mouse, Engage, IS OfficeMax. They just use the Engage name for this product line. It's THEIR product.

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I'm begging out, AVOID Max Assurance.
By -

Wow reading that was like having a flashback of my experience with Max Assurance. I purchased a laptop from Office Max and the extended warranty and was told by the attendant if I had a problem walking out of the store that day and dropping the thing they would take it in no questions asked.

Eight months later I tried to turn the computer on and I only got a blank black screen. No bios symbol, no start-up, nothing at all. Only the power symbol was lit and it was showing the computer had power to it. I took it into the store and the attendant was very helpful and sent the computer out for me to Max Assurance, or whatever company they used to do the repairs, but for short I'll just use MA.

So MA calls two weeks later and tells me they are not allowed to fix the computer because it is still under the manufacturers warranty and they are not authorized to repair it. They did however tell me it was a faulty motherboard so they had enough authority to identify the problem but not to fix it. I'm not going to say the manufacturer because I don't believe they are at fault. MA said they couldn't even send it to the manufacturer for repair and that I had to do it myself. I did and they repaired it without a fuss.

Not the end of the story. Another six months pass and the exact same problem happens! This time I KNOW the laptop is past the one year warranty by the manufacturer. So I call MA to start the process again and they claim I'm still under the manufacturer warranty. Luckily I'm looking at the receipt and am CLEARLY past the one year mark, but the person I talked to said she couldn't do anything for me so I hung up.

I called the actual Office Max store, and they again were very helpful, the store attendant set up a conference call between the manufacturer, MA, the attendant, and myself. We finally got everything straightened out and MA finally sent me out a label to get it sent out again. Two weeks later I got a call saying it was another faulty motherboard... they replaced it a second time and sent it back.

When I got it back I noticed several of the keys didn't work. This time I knew better than to try to call MA, I called the store again and I really can't explain how great they were but again the attendant got MA to send a label out for another repair. Two weeks later a call, and I bet you can guess the problem... and the answer is faulty motherboard surprise surprise, so they replaced it a third time. This time however they also replaced my hard drive so I lost all of my information, including documents, programs, pictures, music, etc.

I just got the laptop back two weeks ago and it works fine as far as I can tell. I'm actually just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Of course this story in the condensed version. All of the phone services are automated so as soon as I called any of these companies and entered in my serial number for the laptop their machine told me I was out of warranty and disconnected my call immediately. So there was a ton of calls I didn't mention but there it is. My horrible experience with Max Assurance.

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Reviewing an Sales Employee Service
StarStarStarStarStarBy -
Rating: 5/51

SARASOTA, FLORIDA -- I had the good pleasure to stop at OfficeMax today for scanning and emails of numerous documents. Nicole was my associate. She is such a positive, knowledgeable and pleasant person. She is an asset to OfficeMax. I will definitely tell my friends and associates about Nicole and her expertise. She is one of the best!!!

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Bogus Computer Repair
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

FEDERAL WAY, WASHINGTON -- My computer cannot open the file from the shortcut on the desktop screen. I ran the antivirus program and found no virus, so I bring my computer to OfficeMax since I have the free system screen coupon. ** the tech guy over there was nice and told me that he need to get the system diagnostic and fix for $120s. And he said if it not fixed, I will get a refund so there are no risk for me. I left the computer with him overnight.

He called me the next day and said that my computer was fixed. So I pick it up and bring back home. Now it's worst, not only it wasn't fixed but my other programs were wipe out (my calculator on my window, my photoshop, etc.) and my CD/DVD drive is not working also (It work fine before I brought my computer in). So I try to download the driver from the Dell support site. It can't be installed too. Plus, when I ran the antivirus program, I found 2 viruses in my computer. I got them deleted then I bring the computer back to OfficeMax, they kept it again overnight.

I came back to them 2 days after and they told me that it can't be fixed! So I asked for the refund per promised. The tech guy told me that I have to come on Thursday 19th to get the manager to approve the refund. I came back and the assistant manager told me that "NO WAY" point blank.

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Terrible Customer Service
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MISHAWAKA, INDIANA -- Two Fridays ago I purchased four $100 Visa Gift Cards from store #38 in Mishawaka, IN. I paid for them and got activation receipts claiming the cards would be ready to use within 24 hours. I left the store feeling satisfied with my purchase. However, when I went to use one of the cards 2 full days later, the card rang up as denied. So I call the number on the back of the Visa card and when I entered the card number, it said the cards status is unknown and I got transferred to someone to talk to. The person on the line told me that there was never any money loaded onto the card. I asked him to check the status of the other 3 cards I had and they all came back the same.

So the next day I went back to the store I purchased them from thinking this would be a quick fix since I had the sales receipt showing that I paid for these cards, and Visa told me there was no money loaded onto them. I was very wrong. After two and half hours in the store talking to the manager and various people whom he told me I needed to contact, still nothing was resolved.

The manager gave me the number for Blackhawk, the company who processes gift cards. The person I contacted there said the cards did not show up as activated in their system. Then I called OfficeMax customer service and told them the whole story and gave them the reference numbers and names of people I contacted at Visa and Blackhawk. I was told the information would be forwarded on to the District Manager, and that I would be contacted on Tuesday. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and gave him until Thursday afternoon to call, and still heard nothing.

Nine days since I bought the cards and I am still in the same situation I was at the beginning, trying to get my money from OfficeMax and getting no cooperation from them in any way. I tried to get the manager at the store to sit with me and contact Visa and Blackhawk together, just so I know that OfficeMax knows what V & B are telling me.

Because at this point, I'm still not sure they understand it, regardless of how many times I have told this to different people affiliated with the company. I have sales and activation receipts for the specific cards in question, coupled with Visa and Blackhawk stating the cards were not paid for from OfficeMax, thus not being activated. Why is this so difficult to fix?

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Office Max Rating:
Star Star Empty star Empty star Empty star
2.2 out of 5, based on 6 ratings and
87 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Office Max
3605 Warrensville Center Road
Shaker Heights, OH 44122-8070
216-921-6900 (ph)
216-491-4040 (fax)
www.officemax.com
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