Of all the B&M stores that engaged in the 155-percent price-match, Office Max was by far the worse in honoring their price-matching pledge. In my several attempts to price-match there, I only had one (1) no-hassle price-match attempt. In two (2) cases they (the OM I did the price-match at) only "refunded" 50-percent of the difference, in one (1) case they only "refunded" 25-percent - as if they thought I wasn't intelligent enough to catch their seemingly "innocent" math-mistake (yeah, right!). And in another case the manager flat-out refused to do anything more than do an even price-match and then refused to refund my money for an unopened spindle of 100 Imation 8x CDRs when I told him if he wouldn't honor Office Max's corporate price-match policy, that I wanted my money back and that I'd never spend money there again.
In these attempts I found examples of price-fixing in the Nashville area between some of the Office Depot - Office Max - Staples stores. But this final example has to take-the-cake.
After having successfully price-matched a Microsoft Intellimouse with Intellieye on 20 Feb, I made an attempt to price-match three (3) more of the Intellimice at another Office Max located in the Nashville Brentwood area the following day. After personally verifying that the Office Depot still had five (5) of the Intellimice on the shelf for $29.99, I went to the store to price-match against Office Max's shelf price of $59.99, for three (3) of the five (5) Intellimice the Office Max had on-shelf.
I purchased three (3) of the Intellimice, went to McD's for lunch and then returned to do the price-match. When the cashier saw what the resulting price would be ($13.49 plus tax) she called for the employee at the Customer Service desk. The customer service employee calls and verifies the price, then calls for the manager. From this point everything goes down-hill. Initially she claims that Office Depot does not sell that product for that price (how would she know?). Then I query the customer service employee to verify she's already called the Office Depot store to verify the price and availability of the Intellimice. She makes a comment that they probably priced the wrong mouse and calls the Office Depot again, this time asking for their manager.
After turning away from me so I cannot hear the conversation, she completes the call and turns to me saying the price was actually $49.99 - not $29.99. Having just been there less than an hour prior and having seen the item on the shelf with a labeled price of $29.99 - I tell her I was there less than an hour ago and had seen the item on the shelf at that price the first employee had already verified. She rather defiantly states she'll only price-match the $49.99 price or refund my money. So I ask her if I can return with a Intellimouse purchased at the $29.99 price, would she then honor the price-match, to which she responds yes. So off I go to Office Depot,... again....
I walk back to the isle where the Intellimice were earlier that morning to now see it marked $49.99! THEY CHANGED THE F-CKING SHELF TAG! Knowing that the Office Depot - Office Max - Staples stores in the Brentwood area of Nashville were engaged in price-fixing, I request to speak to the manager and raise the bullsh-t flag. Within five (5) minutes I have nearly every employee in the store there all denying they or anyone else has changed the shelf-tag. After pointing out that the shelf-tag is new to the point its not even been fully pressed-down against the shelf ledge and having one employee verify that I was in the store less than two hours prior, the manager tells the register clerk to sell me an Intellimouse for $29.99. So off I go (thinking) it's all over now....
I appoach the Office Max manager and show her the receipt. She agrees to do the price-match. After re-ringing the item she hands me $97.43 and an Office Max gift certificate card, telling me their corporate policy only allows her to refund the actual difference and that the additional 55-percent price-match has to be refunded via a gift certificate card. At this point I'm now really pissed and politely explain that I do not live in the Nashville area, that the closest Office Max is more than 60 miles from my home, and that the gift certificate card is of no use to me. After arguing the point for the better part of 10 minutes she won't change her position. But the amazing part is that this isn't over....
Three weeks ago I'm on the Mississippi Gulf coast doing some of my bird-work (ie. research). I go into the local Office Max to see if they have any of the Aureal 2500 Vortex cards that had been on sale for $29.99, but they don't. I pick-up a couple of miscellaneous items totaling roughly $6 and present the gift certificate card I was issued in February - but it comes-up with a zero balance - WTF? So last Monday while passing through the Huntsville Alabama area I have some time and stop-in at the Office Max store to see if the card still comes-up with a zero balance - and it does. So I ask the customer service desk if they can check on the card's history to see where the aprroximately $50 has gone. After nearly an hour of waiting I find out that the Nashville manager had indeed activated the card and placed the price-match difference on it, but had also turned around later that same day and cancelled the credit. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT SH-T?
So after having to waste the better part of two hours at the Huntsville store, taking up that same amount of time of one to two Office Max employees at that store, I got a call at work yesterday from their corporate office in Nashville stating they've reinstated the balance to my gift certificate card. With the 155-percent price-match now gone, it will be a cold day in hell before I buy anything in any Office Max again once I've expended the balance. I've spent thousands of dollars there in the past several years on office supplies and other miscellaneous items, but never again. I'd like to encourage the rest of you to boycott this poor excuse of a company, as I have never seen such dishonesty in any other B&M entity.
I think I'll go back and dig-out all those old price-match receipts now and fire-off a letter about this and demand the other partial price-matches be honored....
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