In March, Office Depot in St Petersburg sold me a "performance protection plan" (two year warranty) to go along with my Sony Vaio laptop computer. After about 1 1/2 years of decent service the computer went blank on me and would not start up.
I called Office Depot to use my purchased "protection".initially, there was no problem as they indicated that it sounded like a motherboard and that a box and label would be sent to me. That is when the problems started. It took over two weeks to get the box and label from the contractor in the Orlando area to my house in Clearwater (less than a two hour drive). I called consistently and it seemed to be Office Depot who was dragging their feet, not the contractor. The folks at Office Dept also indicated that the order was in process but there were indications from the contractor that they were not being processed.
Anyway, I finally received the package, boxed and returned the computer in the same day. Another week or so went by. During this time the contractor indicated that they were awaiting authorization from Office Dept to work on the computer.
Finally, they indicated that the work was complete and returned the computer to me.
When I opened the computer, I was shocked to find a note indicating that the computer was being returned unrepaired. There was no indication as to why. So, I called the contractor. They indicated that the computer showed evidence that liquid had been spilled on the motherboard!!!
I knew this was not possible as I had earlier replaced a computer with the same problem and vowed to keep liquids away from the computer and told the contractor company that fact. They indicated that they were "experts" and the evidence was "obvious" anyway.
So, I took the computer to my regular computer repair guy. He opened it up and stated that there was no evidence of any spill and the computer was clean as a whistle.
I called Office Depot again. They claimed that they have pictures of the spill damage. However, when I asked them for copies so I could compare them to the actual computer they refused.
Frankly, I am highly disappointed. I thought Office Depot was a better company than that. I will buy no further products from them and I surely won't fall for the extended protection plan scam again at any store.
I was a regular customer, even buying school supplies for my children in addition to office supplies for my small business. Thankfully, there are lots of options. I notice by the fact that employees way outnumber customers at the St Pete store that others must be getting the facts about Office Depot too.
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