Need help/advice. Just got scammed from Office Depot

[BamBam215]

I went to Office Depot to buy a Maxtor 80GB HD that was mentioned in the Hot Deals forum. I went home and opened it up to install it but noticed that the computer only picked it up as a 13GB. At first I thought it was a size limitation in DOS but something told me that wasn't the problem. The harddrive itself looked like an older model that Maxtor used to put out. I also checked the model # on the harddrive on google and it came up as a 13GB model. The manufacture date on the harddrive was also in 1998.

The thing was the anti-static bag wasn't open. Someone must have swapped the whole thing and re-shrink wrap the package. Office Depot is closed now but how should I go about handling this situation when I go back tomorrow? This has happened to a few people on here so I want to know how you guys handled it.

 

[KeyserSoze]

Damn, this is tough. They could just accuse you of trying to scam THEM! Umm...I guess obviously, take everything back there tomorrow, and talk to the manager. I would say DON'T get angry at first, try talking to him rationally. But yeah, this will definitely be tough to handle.


Good Luck.




KeyserSoze

 

[BamBam215]

Originally posted by: KeyserSoze
Damn, this is tough. They could just accuse you of trying to scam THEM! Umm...I guess obviously, take everything back there tomorrow, and talk to the manager. I would say DON'T get angry at first, try talking to him rationally. But yeah, this will definitely be tough to handle.


Good Luck.




KeyserSoze

Yes I realized that it'll be my word against their words. I want to know if anyone who went through the same similar situation actually won the argument and what their approach was.

 

[FoBoT]

dude, that blows, good luck

 

[jagr10]

Yikes, that's a bad position to be in. It's other people that give people like you a bad name. Obviously if you went to them with this story nobody's gonna believe you, but you don't care as long as you get your money back. So hopefully, they'll give you a straight exchange. I'm assuming the serial on the drive doesn't match up with the one on the box?

 

[FoBoT]

did you pay by credit card? maybe you can dispute it with your credit card company?

 

[IamElectro]

Good luck, dont get mad it wont help the situation. If they wont help and it was purchased with a credit card maybe they can help you out. Some credit card companies have purchase protection.
Maybe you can get the manager to open another one of those drives up to see if it has the correct contents.

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: KeyserSoze
Damn, this is tough. They could just accuse you of trying to scam THEM! Umm...I guess obviously, take everything back there tomorrow, and talk to the manager. I would say DON'T get angry at first, try talking to him rationally. But yeah, this will definitely be tough to handle.


Good Luck.




KeyserSoze

Nope, it is no problem, you don't even have to say anything, just return it, they have a 14 day return policy. Tell them that you had problems with it and you decided instead of wasting your time on it you would just return it. No questions asked, you start telling them that you have a 13gb hard drive in there and then you are going to have to deal with their 20 year old know it all manager who is gonna give you the run around before sending you home with the drive. Best to take the safe road on this one.

 

[jagr10]

Just find a woman who works in there and give it to her! Chances are she won't know.

 

[BamBam215]

Originally posted by: DaiShan

Originally posted by: KeyserSoze
Damn, this is tough. They could just accuse you of trying to scam THEM! Umm...I guess obviously, take everything back there tomorrow, and talk to the manager. I would say DON'T get angry at first, try talking to him rationally. But yeah, this will definitely be tough to handle.


Good Luck.




KeyserSoze

Nope, it is no problem, you don't even have to say anything, just return it, they have a 14 day return policy. Tell them that you had problems with it and you decided instead of wasting your time on it you would just return it. No questions asked, you start telling them that you have a 13gb hard drive in there and then you are going to have to deal with their 20 year old know it all manager who is gonna give you the run around before sending you home with the drive. Best to take the safe road on this one.

the problem with that is what if they check and accuse me of pulling the swap??

 

[bubbadu]

If you have to, just return the thing and try to do a straight exchange... if you clearly explained what happened, HOPEFULLY they will believe you, but thats a tough call. Working @ Staples... heres what I see almost everyday... one day a guy will come in saying that his ac adapter for his laptop broke.. the next day he comes in and returns HIS broken part, keeping ours. Of course the cashiers have no clue whats going on.... so bascially I spend half my day trying to make sure things go smooth up front, while idealy i should be on the floor selling. Its tough to say, but I would just be completely honest and if you get shot down call coporpate.

-Bubbadu

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Yeah there was a dude here about a year ago who bought an Ipaq from Office Depot and got home to found out it was just full of sand LOL

 

[Kelemvor]

Was anyone with you when you opened the package that can vouch for you? If so, bring them along too...

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones
Yeah there was a dude here about a year ago who bought an Ipaq from Office Depot and got home to found out it was just full of sand LOL

Damn, thats harsh. Note to self, after buying anything from Office Depot open it in the store in front of someone.

 

[Spac3d]

Tell them what happened and that you want an exchange. If they do not let you do an exchange, call the corporate office.

 

[oniq]

Start at the store level, talk to the manager. If that doesn't work, ask for his District Manager's phone number. If that doesn't work, which in most cases it will work, call the Corporate Office. They HATE dealing with customers and will more than likely take your word. If you went through all the trouble, they won't think you're scamming them. And I'm sure they've been scammed before with less of a hassle.

Also, is there any markings on the anti-static bag or is it just a plain one?


Oh, a friend of mine bought a DVD from Best Buy, and when they opened it it was empty. They looked on the side of the DVD and there was a very thin (enough to fit the dvd thru) slit where you open the box. They had a tough time getting their money back, but they did.

 

[BamBam215]

Just a regular static bag. The only markings on the bag is the date that the bag was sealed which is also dated in '98 and a sticker stamped with the serial and model number. It would be alot easier if i had noticed that before i opened it, but really who looks at crap like that when they open a box.

Ah well, I really appreciate all of the advice that everyone has given me. I guess I'm just going to go there when the store opens and tell them what happened. Hopefully, all goes well.

Once again, thanks for everyone's input.

 

[manly]

Pretty crazy to know someone has been saving a 5-year-old drive to pull off a $70 scam.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Whatever happened to the guy who bought an iPaq and ended up with a bag full of sand?

 

[dman]

I would think when you go back, they might be able to pull up a history and determine if that item had been returned previously. Perhaps not, but, I'd still go in and make it known. They might have other drives that were returned by the same person, although it sounds like someone bought a drive a long time ago and never got around to using it and thought they'd be clever. I hope they get caught!

 

[Zugzwang152]

silly employees stealing the goods again

 

[BennyD]

Originally posted by: manly
Pretty crazy to know someone has been saving a 5-year-old drive to pull off a $70 scam.

lol

more to the point, how much would that 13 gb drive cost 5 years ago?

i'd guess more than that 80 he wanted :/

 

[Ns1]

your fuct