Nov. 29
Re: Order Number: 9157802416
Staples uses "Bait and Switch" tactics, beware! They put out ads for low prices on certain products that are meant to lure you in and then not allow you to get the product, or charge more for the product than the advertised price.
A day or two before Black Friday I saw an online Staples ad for: Early Bird item: 504517 INTERNAL 200GB 7200RPM 8MB Hard Drive $30 after rebate and coupon.
The sale was stated to start at 6:00AM, I work late shift so it wasn't easy to get up at 6AM.
I got up before 6AM, got the computer going and was on the Staples website by 6:01AM. I found the hard drive that I was looking for, it was marked down from $120 to
$110, I had a coupon code for $40 off and there was a $40 rebate to mail in. I added the item to cart, clicked checkout, entered the coupon code, clicked update and saw the price adjusted to $70 ($69.95). There was no shipping but tax was added. The
grand total came out to $74 and change. Having seen this total, that I agreed with, I proceeded to fill out the credit card info.
Now here's the good part, with my credit card,
online, I can generate a one time use number WITH A DOLLAR LIMIT. I put the limit at $75. I went back to bed. Later that day I got an email from staples stating that my order was put on hold (not cancelled, so one hard drive should have been set aside) due
to credit card refusal and to contact staples customer service. When I contacted them they couldn't even tell my exactly why it was refused, they just gave me a list of possibilities.
I had to figure it out for myself. I went to the Staples website and pulled up my transaction,
there it was, the total had CHANGED. It was now $114 and change. It was clear why the credit card was refused, they attempted to overcharge me by conveniently losing the $40 coupon code. Of course I did the call customer service thing and wasted more time.
They told me it was now sold out and it was a special item and could not be back ordered and to make a long story short, I was S.O.L.
I will never be suckered in again by Staples
bait and switch tactics. They lost this possible online customer and I will warn others as well.
I will post this to as many review sites as possible in an effort to save others, like myself time and money and aggravation.
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