OfficeMax

OfficeMax is the number three office superstore chain, although some of the customers we hear from might argue there's nothing super about it.

Robert of Indianapolis, IN November 6, 2009

I had made a return of some merchadise that I had purchased. After the return was completed, the manager runs up to me and says that he is going to void out the gift card I recieved for the return. I asked why and I was told that because I had made a return there once before then I was not able to make anymore. I asked how could he just undo something that had been done and he said because he was the manager and he could do as he chose.

I then asked for a district manager or someone but instead of him giving me a number or name, he asked me to give him back the gift card, I refused and then he called his loss prevention department and reported me to them. I asked him his name so I could report him to the Office Max corporate office and he only said his name was Terry, he refused to give me any other information like a last name.

I also was refused my merchandise that I had returned. I was told by another associate that perhaps had I given Terry back the gift card then I would have gotten back my merchandise. I was then told that someone from their legal department would call me and let me know if I can get my things back, and also let me know why my gift card was voided.

Joseph of Pembroke, MA November 6, 2009

This started back in Aug 2009 when I purchased a printer through officemax. I had issues with the printer had bought the warranty and then within a month had a problem with the printer and they had told me their warranty would cover me but only to find out that was a lie. I had to go to HP, the maker of the printer for the first year. I tell the manager that is not how the warranty was explained to me and he said that his employees would not explain it any other way (pretty much calling me a liar) without using the word and did everything he could to dismiss me and get me out of the store.

I left the store and then felt, no, that was not good enough and wanted to call his boss. When we walked back in we found the manager and the cashier up front with their backs to us talking, laughing and making fun of me. When the cashier saw that I was behind them her face dropped. I took his name and called corporate officemax from the parking lot as I was outraged. Adam was the first to take my call. He said that a district supervisor would call me.

That was the beginning of august, 2 weeks later nothing, I called again, spoke with stacey, again told the same thing someone would call me. This went on and on from August until October 2009 when I finally got someone to listen and call me. Her name was Kerry. She and another gentleman attempted to help me and just when I thought all was grand, all wasnt.

The new printer they gave me broke in a day. I emailed and called right away to let Kerry know of the issue and left a message. A few days went by and I heard nothing. So I called her again. The phone number had been disconnected. I email her, the emails came back as undeliverable... she was gone! Then I found a new number to call and I spoke with a Randi, she seemed very helpful and friendly and seemed like she wanted to resolve my issue and saw all the notes that dated back to August as I sit here in November writing this. I get a phone call the next day from a man who called himself Bob and stated that he worked for the "executive" customer service department. He could have cared less, no apology, no nothing. In fact, this man had the nerve to tell me that they never should have given me a new printer to begin with and that I should be stuck with the old broken one. I could not believe what I was hearing from a company representative!

To sum it up he pretty much had the nothing we are going to do and I said I would write the company and he said he would love to write back and hung up the phone.

So now I guess I have learned over the past 5 months that OfficeMax is not a company to deal with.

S. of portland, OR October 31, 2009

I purchased an Acer notebook which Office Max advertised as qualifying for a free windows 7 upgrade. The manager also told me that this was a great deal.Office Max told me how to go on line and request the free upgrade from microsoft. When I tried to register my request I was informed that my computer did not have the eligible version of Vista on it so I was not able to process my free upgrade. I contacted the manager and was told they made a mistake oops!!! So my options are to return the notebook for a refund or file a complaint for false advertising.

Cliff of Diamond Bar, CA October 28, 2009

I just got off the phone with your customer service representative Jessica and I’m terribly disappointed with your store policy. I had in good faith purchased the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for 49.99 on July 7, 2009. It was my understanding that the product would be released sometime after October 22nd. There is nothing on my receipt that states that if we are not home and the product gets returned to Office Max that you will not shipped the order back to us at the sale price. At the time the order was shipped we were on vacation in San Jose (350 miles from home). My daughter stopped by periodically to check the house but did not check our phone voice mail while we were gone. She entered through the garage door not the front door so she was not aware of any notices.

When I spoke to Jessica she stated that it was store policy (which was not printed on my receipt when I pre ordered on-line) that once the item is return they would not resend it, or that I would now have to pay full price for them to send it out to me again. She did offer me a 20% discount, but you have had my 149.97 (I order of 3 Window 7 programs) since 7/7/2009. If you handled business correctly this is what should have happened.

Your company should have notified us that the shipment was going out. Most on-line companies notify you the day they are shipping an order to you and when you can expect it. They also give you a tracking number so that you can follow the movement of your order from place to place. If the product was returned you should ship it out with a smile and not tell me that it will go back in stock so I now have to repurchase it at the present price.

To charge a customer the present price after they waited 3-1/2 months it wrong. Especially since the reason we were not home was that they were on vacation. What ever happened to customer service and customer satisfaction? I am displeased with the way you do business and I will mention this to everyone I speak to. We also plan to post this incident so everyone can be warned. Remember, there was nothing on our receipt telling us that if we missed the delivery that’s IT, you will now pay full price.

The pre-release price of 49.99 was offered by Staples, Costco, Sam’s Club & Office Depot. I foolishly chose Office Max which I regret. Your price was no better than anyone else, but I chose you and I get stabbed in the back and I’m treated like a criminal by Jessica, who by the way thanked me and hung up on me and refused to let me speak to anyone else. She told me that she was the final decision and there was no one else for me to speak to. That really made me feel warm and fuzzy all over and made me want to purchase more items from your stores.

I feel you should review your shipping policy and should have honored my original purchase price of 49.99 for each program. I in good faith decided to purchase these products from you and in return you slapped me in the face. Not good for customer relations. I will no longer do business with Office Max. I have made arrangements to get the product from another vendor.

Jacqueline of Spring Creek, NV October 27, 2009

I had a coupon for 10.00 off at Office Depot. The closest Office Depot to us is about 2.5 hours away. I researched Office Max and they state they accept competitors coupons. I tried to use the coupon and was told they actually don't accept competitors coupons. So I wrote to customer service via their website.

This is what I wrote: "This is regarding a coupon for 10.00 off a qualifying purchase of 30.00 or more. I took this Office Depot coupon to our local Office Max because your company states 'We accept competitor coupons: Bring in another retailer's coupons, and we'll honor it'. Well, in Elko Nevada that is far from the case. I was told I could not use it there because it was not an Office Max coupon."

And this is what their rep, Chris Mobily OfficeMax Customer Service Direct/Dotcom/Retail Rep, had to say about my inquiry: "We do apologize, but OfficeMax does not match competitor's coupons. Please sign up for our MaxPerks loyalty program to receive future OfficeMax savings and coupons. To sign up for our program please visit officemaxperks.com".

Ironically, I am a member of the Max perks program and have been trying to get my points/credits straightened out for about 10 months now. That issue is for another post.

As of today, 10/27/09, their website still states:" We accept competitor coupons: Bring in another retailer's coupons, and we'll honor it*. *See your local OfficeMax store associate for details". This is from the Office Max website page addressing "Every Day Values"

Amy of Collinsville, MS October 14, 2009

On March 7, 2003, I bought a Hewlett Packard Pavilion 514x-b with Windows XP for 699.99 including the purchase of a 3 year warranty for an additional 129.99. It worked okay in the beginning with few problems, but right after the 3 year warranty expired, I had major problems. I had a black screen and Windows XP would not load at all.

I called OfficeMax to see what I needed to do. I spoke to the salesman that waited on me at the original purchase time and he told me that he worked on computers. So, I asked him if I could get him to see what the problem was. He said yes. So, I hired him to come to my house and check it out. He reprogrammed it with Windows XP Professional. He ended up having to come back the second time to work on it with a cost of 60 each time. It worked okay again for a very little while before I started getting the error messages again.

Then, a popup on my screen at startup said you may a victim of counterfeit software or something to this extent. I couldn't get any of the necessary updates to keep the computer running correctly or up to date on anything, but kept using trying to use it. The updates reminder would pop up, but when it come to actually doing the update, it would not complete it. It would freeze up very frequently. It would not play my dvds anymore. I couldn't play any kind of video clips online and some music files would not play. It was error message after error message. Everytime I shut the computer down or we had a power failure, every file in my documents folder was gone when I restarted it. This was the most disgusting part of it all because it caused me to lose some very important files.

Finally on Sept. 21, 2009, I had more problems with it. It would not load Windows XP again. I've had more trouble with that computer than anyone I know. So, if there's any help available, I honestly feel like I should have a part in it. It's really made me very dissatisfied with the performance of the Windows XP.

Colleen of Shrewsbury, MA August 23, 2009

I wanted to return an unopened shredder 3 weeks after I purchased it. The supervisor rudely told me that "I'll be getting a gift card" Of course, I said why? Well, he said there's a 14 day return policy on electronics. It's a shredder. What exactly is the big deal? Well, I asked to speak to a manager. He came and rudely said "The return will be whatever the system says to give you" I got the money returned to my credit card, but he insisted on telling me the return policy with a rude, obnoxious attitude.

How about using some common sense? There's no reason why a shredder should have a 14 day return policy, and everything else has 30 days. I've never heard of something so asinine. Terrible store, never going again, sticking to Staples where they have written return policy but utilize common sense when implementing it.

Pam of Edgar, WI August 3, 2009

On 7-31-09 I went to this store to exchange some ink cart. from my printer(that is another story!) and to purchase some software. While at the checkout, the cashier stated many times over how slow their system was even though they supposedly went through upgrades. Anyway, he was having trouble processing my check. After several tries, he told me he was sorry but that it kept coming up "declined". I took back my check and then paid by another means.

So, I then drove the 25 miles back home to contact my financial instition as I thought perhaps someone accessed my account and cleaned me out! But, the bank told me no, that they couldn't see what the problem would be as there was PLENTY of funds. I got on-line and filed a complaint to Office Max. They sent a reply on-line that they would check into it. I got a call on monday from Dawn - mgr. from the store. Her explanation was that the check verifier they use didn't have enough 'information' on me to process the account. I told her that I have had the same account for over 20 years and have used checks there before. She checked again and did call me right back, but stated she would need a copy of the check and other information so she could give to the company. I told her I did not want to be passing that info around!

I explained that because of what happened to me when I checked out, I thought something criminal was done to me and I had to go and investigate it. What alot of trouble! She had wanted me to call the verification company they use so I could check it out with them. I told her I didn't feel that I had to go around and 'beg' a store to take my business. I asked her, "Aren't you even going to offer me a gift card or something for all this hassle or to keep me as a customer?!?" She reluctently said she would mail me something, but didn't really want to as she thought I didn't want to shop there anymore". What a hassle!! I asked her if this problem has been happening to other people? She said she didn't know. Wish we had more different places to go and give my business to.

Becky of McCall, ID July 24, 2009

I purchase an RCA cordless expandable phone set with 2 additional remote handsets from OfficeMax 6/23/09. The remote handsets wouldn't sync up with the base. I called RCA for trouble shooting help and was told to return the set for a replacement. I called OfficeMax. They wanted me to wait for a call back from someone at OfficeMax who might be able to help me with troubleshooting before I returned the phones. That person game me several numbers to try at RCA all of which referred me back to the original number I had called that told me to return the phones to OfficeMax. I called OfficeMax again and told them that I wanted to return the phones for ones that would hopefully work. They told me they would give me a credit immediately and would bill me for the second set of phones after the credit went through. That didn't happen. I called to cancel my order. They didn't and wouldn't release their hold on my account for over a week for the phones that never shipped and cost me an overdraft fee. When they recived the 2 remote phones and the base unit and phone they gave me a partial credit for the 2 remote phones. That was July 10th.

I called and they told me they would need time to research the discrepancy and would call me back. I called again July 13th. They said they would need 2 days to track the problem and would get back to me. I called on July 16th and they told me it would take 2 days to track the problem and they would get back to me. I called July 20th and they told me that I would get the full refund that someone noted that 2 phones had been returned in one box but hadn't seen the other phone that was in a second box. They were all in the same box. They told me I would be given a credit for the full amount. July 24th - still no credit... It has been sent to Corporate and I should get a credit next week, maybe... I will never shop with OfficeMax again.

You get poor service in the store and are totally on your own if you order from them online. I'll stick with Staples who treats you like they want to keep you as a customer when products don't work.

Carole of Brentwood, CA June 6, 2009

The store is going out of business. There ARE signs posted..all sales final..no returns. I purchased an Antivirus Software for 40 (all purchases were half price) When I put the software in my computer, a warning sign came on: This software is OUTDATED..NO NOT INSTALL.

I called the store and told them I am bringing it back. It doesn't work. They said, "sorry. no returns." I said you mean I just gave you 40 and got nothing for my money?" The manager said, "I'm sorry. You can take it to Livermore (50 mile round trip) or you can take it to Walnut Creek (65 miles round trip). No matter what I said "I'm sorry." The store had at least 8 other anti virus software they could have let me trade it for.

I finally did end up driving (65 miles at my expense) to Walnut Creek because the manager there had tried to intervene for me. I DID get my money back. But I will not ever do business with Office Maxx again. I can see why the store is going out of business.

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