Here’s a letter I recently wrote to the president of Office Max. Still waiting for a reply!
January 2, 2007
Mr. Sam K. Duncan
Chairman and CEO
Office Max Corporation
263 Shuman Blvd.
Naperville, IL 60563Dear Mr. Duncan,
Most customers have little recourse against large corporations. I, on the other hand, having published three business books, have a decent following, and make my living speaking to audiences all over the world about sales and customer service. Ironically, OfficeMax has recently provided me with some excellent content for my next book, called “how not to deal with customers.”
I have been a loyal OfficeMax customer for years. Even though the local Staples and Office Depot stores are equidistant from my office, we have literally purchased all of our office furniture, equipment, supplies, and technology from OfficeMax. Having spent hundreds of dollars per month, sometimes thousands, I should add that we have never had a problem.
Therefore, when it was time to buy a digital camera for my daughter for Christmas, the first place I thought of was my beloved OfficeMax (store #1122).
Before purchasing I asked, “What is your return policy on these cameras?” The answer was, “You have 14 days after Christmas.”
When I unboxed the camera, I’m no digital expert, but I am fairly adept at detecting poor quality. So, I carefully packaged everything back in the box and drove back to the store.
“Do you have your receipt?” the clerk asked. I did. She quickly radioed a manager who came over. He asked, “Why are you returning this?” I explained that when I got the camera home, it was clear that it was not the quality I expected. “You can’t return a digital camera once it has been opened,” the manager on duty said. I explained that the other manager (not there at the time) told me, “You have 14 days after Christmas.”
This is where the story gets interesting.
“It doesn’t matter what you were told,” he explained. “Our policy states that a digital camera that has been opened can only be exchanged for the same item if the original is defective.” “Where does it say that,” I asked. He told me that it was printed on the back of the receipt.
The manager dug in and took the position, “There’s nothing further I can do.”
When I asked for the CEO’s name and address, the manager relented and offered a store credit in the form of a gift card…mostly to get rid of me. He was obviously not happy with the outcome, and he even went on to explain that OfficeMax would probably lose money by breaking policy.
Like most customers, I have better things to do than argue with an indignant OfficeMax store manager on the day before Christmas Eve. If he had just issued the credit back on my American Express card, I would have happily continued down the path of purchasing everything from OfficeMax.
Maybe your store # 1122 should have an “easy” button.
Thank you for the time.
Best Regards,
Thomas A. Freese
I also have a story about the purchase of a digital camera from Office Max. I purchased a digital camera online and as it turns out “UPS lost the item”. As the customer I simply wanted another camera shipped to me asap as it was a birthday gift for my daughter. I was told that I had to wait for an investigation to take place and then I would be credited the amount of the camera. Basically, if I wanted another camera in time for my daughter’s birthday I had to come out of pocket again with double my money in Office Max’s hands. I had contacted the manager of online customer service, Bob, and he apologized and talked me into waiting and offered me a $20 gift card for my inconvenience. I was not 100% happy but I felt he was doing the best he could do. It took between two to three weeks to get a refund and when I did receive the refund it was short by $12.00 to the penny. I contacted the online manager and left him a message letting him know of the money shortage and the fact that I was still waiting ofr my $20 gift card. I asked him to return my call and I was never contacted, never recieved the $12, and also never received my $20 gift card. I contacted customer service and was told that there was a credit being run and I should have the $12 credited by the following Monday. That was about 1.5 weeks ago. I have yet to have my money refunded. I am shoked by the lack of concern for keeping a customer satisfied. Office Max??!! At one time I thought of and respected Office Max as I do Costco, now I don’t plan to purchase anything in the future from them. There are too many other office supply stores that go out of their way to keep thier customers happy. I am extremely unhappy with Office Max.
As someone who mostly ends up taking the side of the company because 9 out of 10 customers have no idea what they’re talking about (from my experience anyways), I’d have to side with the customer on this one.
1.) You didn’t get irrational, you presented facts.
2.) You asked about the return policy before making your purchase.
3.) The item was still sellable, so the manager was in the wrong. Policy is policy, but, at the same time, part of customer service is knowing when to exercise grace. Throw your book at customers who are being uncivilized and unruly, but not at honest customers who aren’t causing problems. You sacrifice chump change for loyal customers (And loyal doesn’t equal customers who make thousands of dollars weekly).
While I don’t feel that throwing around titles, job descriptions, and monthly incomes is a legit means of getting what you want, I’d have to side with customer due to company error. The manager didn’t know how to handle the situation, and probably took the return personal because it wasn’t defective. “I’m not happy with the quality” is probably what set him off.
I agree. There’s a lot to be said for pushing an “easy button.”