Let me start by saying this - On June 2, we came home from work to find our house had been burglarized. Besides our personal electronics that were stolen, a laptop my spouse was repairing for a relative was stolen as well. Since we felt we owed it to this relative, we decided to pay out of pocket for their laptop (claimed it on insurance) replacement. They left it to us to find a good one to replace with it, so when I found a great deal on slickdeals.net last month for the same brand/series laptop with newer hardware, I hopped on the deal at Staples.
This is important - I had two online coupons for the laptop that totaled $180.00, so the cost of the laptop was brought down to a very nice $325.00 after coupons were applied. Score!
After it arrived and my relative used it for a while, they asked us to look at it because it was having random lock-ups and ran incredibly slow for the specs. Spouse (a repair tech) couldn't fix it, so we called Staples to return it. They customer service rep was super friendly and arranged a courier to pick it up. While on the phone, this rep told me that since it was a manufacturers rebate, that they had to give me a credit for the full original cost of the laptop, then issue a debit for the amount of the coupons. I understood this, and I was told that this would happen simultaneously when the laptop was received by Staples from the courier. So I said great, thanks and conversation ended. This was a Friday evening.
The following Tuesday (following July 4th), we were working on bills and saw that we had been debited by Staples for the amount of $180 in our checking account. The laptop was still sitting on my desk, as the courier had not yet picked it up. I flipped out and called customer service and was told that I obviously mis-understood their terms and that 1) the debit was instant (it happened two days after the call, on a Sunday) and that 2) I would not receive a credit until they received my laptop from the courier. I told her that was insane and asked if it could be reversed until it was received, and I was told that's not policy. She was adamantly refusing to help me, so I hung up.
As of today (it's July 14th), I still have not seen the credit in my account, and the courier picked up the laptop one week ago. I called Staples, and they claim they issued a credit yesterday. I had already checked my account, and it was not there even as pending. When I told him that, he said that it can take 5 to 10 business days for it to show up. I could not believe that but I had no other option than to hang up.
It's absolutely bathsh! T crazy that they can instantly debit me for a laptop I haven't even returned yet but wait up to 2 weeks after they get it to return my money.
If I had known that scam would happen I would've just driven the two hours to the nearest b&m store to return it. As it is, I'm out 180 bucks on top of the price of the laptop that I don't even possess for as much time as 3-1/2 weeks. I can't even pay my credit card bill until this gets returned to me. X - (Will NEVER EVER EVER EVER shop with these people again.
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