Making the csw soundworks @STAPLES sweeter :-)

[desibaba]

How about returning the extra item you purchased to shoot the total to north of $100.00 ?? you can do it at your local B&M.And you will still have your receipt(or a copy) which you send for th speaker rebate.

a'int that hot n' sweet

 

[MrBond]

It's also fraud, and doesn't the rebate require a copy of the UPC? I imagine they have a database of still unsold items, and if a rebate form comes in with info matching a still unsold item, it probably gets tossed.

 

[desibaba]

Mr.Bond:

I suggest you to read the mail properly before commenting.

this is NOT fraud and i was telling about returning the other item which you added just to boost up your total and NOT the main item (the csw speaker in this case).so you will have your UPC.and returning something is not yet considered fraud ... although technically you are beating the system

let me know if you still did not understand.

 

[Roy2001]

No fraud.

 

[GooberedUp]

I would venture to say that although it may not be illegal, it could be unethical in that you are counting on returning the extra item which is what was needed to get you over the coupon validity threshold and yet still keeping the discount (unless Staples notices it and refuses of course).

I dunno, to save a few bucks . . . whatever.

 

[bargenner]

How about morality? And this topic should not be in the Hot Deals forum. It's no hot deal in here.

 

[Clammy3]

An observant Staples employee will take off the coupon (which is presumably what the purpose of getting the order above $100 was). Sometimes they don't notice, true enough. Still, you end up buying something and using the coupon which you don't qualify for. It may or may not be fraud (since the mistake happens because of something Staples did and not a buyer), but it's close.

If this worked all the time, you could just make money by "buy $100 worth of stuff, use $20 off $100 coupon, return stuff for $100, make $20 profit, lather, rinse, repeat" method.

 

[Vyolent1]

not to mention that most are just adding a pack of rubber bands worth $.30 or some paper clips for $.17....


You wanna explain why your returning 30 cents of merchandise?

 

[GetReal]

And you will still have your receipt(or a copy) which you send for th speaker rebate

Hmmmm...submitting a rebate for a returned item sounds like fraud to me!

let me know if you still did not understand. :disgust:

 

[Zwingle]

Morality issue? There is none to consider....You bought a useless item to get what you wanted. They can resell the item. They know people do this, if they thought it was an issue, they would take the coupon off the receipt and say something like, "Well, if you return this item, you owe us money", which I do not see happening....I have done this so many times. I thought all of you did the same thing. Last time was to use the 20 off 100 for the Yamaha 16x burner, I picked up a 100 pack of cheap cdr's for $14 and brought them back the next day.

 

[Wolverine27]

If your INTENT is to misuse or abuse a coupon, then it is fraud. I would say if you plan on returning the item that put your total over the $100 mark for the coupon and keeping the discount applied, then your intent is pretty clear...

There's a fine line between "creative" coupon use/pricematching and fraud...I think this would be crossing that line.

Just my two cents...

 

[Thump553]

I weigh in with those who say its fraud. I'm no big fan of Staples, by any means, but I think you should deal honestly with vendors if you expect/demand that they deal honestly with you.

 

[winter]

<< And you will still have your receipt(or a copy) which you send for th speaker rebate

Hmmmm...submitting a rebate for a returned item sounds like fraud to me! >>



Reading comprehension 101 isn't require anymore eh? As someone else has already posted, desibaba said return the OTHER item that brought the total above $100, not the item that has the rebate (the soundworks speakers).

I agree this is sleezy and Staples would be correct in undoing the coupon when you try to return the other item but I suspect that they wouldn't catch it. Its crap like this that is going to cause Staples to clamp down and stop allowing coupons altoghter.

 

[Zwingle]

Considering all the sales that are over $100 and do not have the use of coupons, that are freely available to anyone. Staples is not losing much if anything. As I stated, they could say something when you are returning the item, but more than likely will not. If it were stated on the receipt that the coupon would be taken off the sale if an item brings the sale under $100, I would buy into it as fraud. But also consider how often this is done unintentinally, that Staples does not say anything about. I get Staples coupons in my email every week. Do I use them? No. How many others get them and do not use them? Thousands. That is money that Staples is planning on losing on a sale to get a sale. I see no harm done. It all washes in the end. Like rebates, they count on people not using them, just a ploy to get you to shop there and pay their inflated prices.

 

[Healey]

Staples PM and coupon offerings have given many of us some fantastic deals. They are some of the last remaining hot deals available. This of this method might be entirely legal, but it sure seems underhanded.

But if you can live with yourself....

 

[Zwingle]

Still living.....

Why is it that people always yell fraud on an issue like this when some people keep calling Staples over and over to get the &quot;stupid CSR&quot; to do a PM and coupon deal that they know is not legite? Is that not underhanded? Staples is a big business....they will survive. I also don't see Staples killing coupons anytime soon either. I, and others are in the minority, that do this stuff. Staples may change their policy to state that the coupon items cannot be returned without invalidating the coupon if the terms are not met. Again, how about companies that disallow rebates for some lame a$$ excuse? They know they are trying to screw us, and some people don't even say anything.

 

[digiworks]

sounds like fraud to me... and that's why insurance rates keep on going up and up and up...

 

[RONType1]

<< But also consider how often this is done unintentinally, that Staples does not say anything about it... I see no harm done. >>




There is a *huge* difference between unintentional and planning. Is there a difference between 1st or 2nd degree murder? A couple ideas: morals and ethics, I will leave it at that... *sigh*

 

[sharpie00]

Typical of an Indian person to come up with this kind of scam. I can say this because I'm an Indian. However, even I'm not that cheap. If you're worried about the few extra cents from buying rubber bands or whatnot, you don't deserve to use the coupons from Staples. Fraud? Maybe. Unethical? Definitely.

Desibaba, you should be ashamed of yourself trying to scam the system. People like you give us Indians a bad name. :|

Next time, buy something at retail price and realize how much you did save by spending a few extra cents to validate a promotional coupon.

If you had surgery and they put in dissolving staples in your body, you'd probably try to get a refund after they dissolved because they are no longer there. It truly is tragic.

sharpie00

 

[Healey]

I have seen the error of my ways. A previous poster was correct, Staples is a huge company, this type of behavior will not cause them to go bankrupt.

In fact I think I can sweeten the deal a bit further. If you do this in a B&amp;M, go to an aisle that is not very crowded. If you're careful and fast you can take all kinds of items and put them in your pockets without paying for them! Be sure to wear a coat with lots of HUGE pockets.

Staples is a good sized company that charges inflated prices, so I'm sure this won't hurt them. If it does cause problems they can always put everything behind glass.

 

[Zwingle]

Healy....not funny. Were talking apples and oranges......I am not stealing from them. As others have stated, we exploit and use their own policies to get what we want. This is no difference than calling Staples over and over to get a deal to go through because a csr would not give you a deal that was not legite. This is my last post on the issue, you people that think you are &quot;holier than thou&quot; go on cheating companies in other ways.

 

[bargenner]

It's your call not the others. Don't be so cheap to save just a few bucks.

 

[jimmyhaha]

stealing is a NO-NO

 

[spinn]

I recall orderin' some software online for $20 and ended up returning to Staples B&amp;M by just showing the invoice. By that time the price had gone up to $50. I didn't complain.

 

[rs]

This suggestion may or may not be illegal, but it is certainly unethical. This is not a gray area, folks. It clearly crosses the line. You are intentionally buying and then returning an item in order to use a coupon that you are not entitled to use. You are hoping that the clerk will not notice that you did so, and therefore will continue to give you a $30 discount that is no longer rightfully yours. If you succeed in confiusing the clerk this way, you have simply succeeded in ripping off Staples, nothing less. It is a modern day equivalent of the short-change scam, where a crook uses fast-talking and slight-of-hand to confuse a clerk into giving back more change for a purchase than was due.

But the fact that someone would suggest that doesn't actually surprise me, as I could see someone not considering the ethical side of this idea until they took a moment to really think through what they were proposing.

What DOES surprise me is some of the responses to his idea. I am absolutely incredulous at the people who are actually justifying this by saying that Staples is a big company and can afford it. What kind of justification is that???? You should be ashamed of yourselves. I suppose that you are the types who also commit insurance fraud because the insurance companies are big companies and can afford it. And while you're at it, why not just slip the item you want under your shirt next time you're at Staples, because they're a big company with high prices, and certainly they expect some shoplifting and build it into their overhead, so it's not really hurting anybody.

I'm glad you don't live next door to me. The only difference between you and a common criminal is that you are committing white-collar crime against a corperation instead of breaking into my car.

----

ps And yes, getting a &quot;stupid CSR&quot; to pricematch an item when you know that the pricematch is bogus (i.e. you are showing them a refurb item and you know it, but they don't) - yes, that's stealing too. So what's your point, that two wrongs make a right?

We get some killer deals from Staples all the time, without having to resort to blatantly ripping them off. I'm very happy they're around, what with their big coupon discounts, free shipping, and liberal price match policy. Keep ripping them off and it will all go away. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you...