Office Depot Employee — "We Changed Prices Too" 492
Avram Piltch writes "Last week, LAPTOP reported that Office Depot employees were routinely lying to customers about notebook inventory, telling them that systems were out of stock if they didn't want to buy extended warranties or tech services. Now LAPTOP has spoken to more Office Depot associates, one of whom goes by the name Alex and reports widespread altering of prices in his region. He says he even Photoshops higher price tags on clearance notebooks so that associates can tell customers that they're getting a free warranty or tech service, when the price has been raised to cover it. LAPTOP also talked to a representative from the FTC, who would not comment on Office Depot specifically, but said that the sales practices described by LAPTOP clearly violate federal law."
They can't do this without help from the store. (Score:2, Informative)
The managers of these unethical scum are completely aware of what is going on.
Learn how to submit a proper article, dude (Score:5, Informative)
"LAPTOP" is not a universally known group, even among geeks. You need to explain who they are. That's just good journalism.
Haven't you ever hung around a person who said "Hey, man, so did you hear about the thing?" and you just look at them dumbfounded because you have no idea what he's talking about?
you guys are suprised? (Score:3, Informative)
I worked for Officemax for 4 months, it was routine for me to lie to customers, change prices, say we didn't have something and stare at it, laughing all the while with my manager. I didn't particularly find it funny, but I needed the money. I quit that as fast as I can like any other respectable person.
Look at it this way though, although they may be screwing their customers, the average person that buys their computers from them have no idea how to use a computer. These are the people from personal experience want to return and or "have us service it in store" at any given time noon or night. I mean honestly how many of you have bought them from the store recently?
Wanna know how to get around shady clerks who don't want to sell it to you? Just go on the internet and have it shipped to the store, that way you can still act like you got it from them, or even easier if you wanna go to the store first just special order it from the warehouse. After I figured out how to do those 2 things at Officemax I had customers tipping me just for being helpful. It really was a learning experience though; working on typewriters older than me.
Quotas (Score:1, Informative)
Profit margins (Score:5, Informative)
This type of behavior is all to do with the profit margins. They have to cut their profit margins wafer thin on the products themselves due to competition, but extended warranties are mostly pure profit. Most people who buy an extended warranty on any product (not just PCs) won't need to claim against it within the time covered, and even if they do, no doubt the small print will have something which exempts that particular issue so they'll never have to actually pay out on it. The small minority who do have to claim and have the warranty pay out often find that one claim pays for the warranty.
The thing that many people don't take into account at the time of purchase, is that if the unit breaks in 4 years, do you want the same thing repaired, or do you want newer technology? If you bought an XBOX which needed repairing 3 years later, wouldn't you rather use that same warranty cash (in part) for an XBOX 360?
I used to work for an electrical retailer in the UK, and the pressure on sales staff to get a certain percentage of their sales figures in extended warranties and instore credit cards (where the compound interest rates were horrendous) was immense. They'd rather you had a little sale with a large percentage of the total price being a warranty, than a large value sale which was all product. They even tried to bully us into visiting the area manager to explain our lack of target achievement.....needless to say, I'm not there anymore. As a customer, it is handy to be able to cut the sales staff off with "I used to sell these things, I know the deal, forget it" when the "would you be interested in....." line comes up.
We got told we could offer discounts ONLY if an extended warranty was being bought at the same time, or they were opening an instore credit card. We were encouraged to just tick the "payment protection" box because it saves time explaining what it is, and it's more profit. I insisted in explaining to the customer as I felt like I was cheating them if I decided for them.
This type of behavior does go further than my ex-employers would go (at the time I worked there at least). It's gonna be interesting how many complaints / lawsuits they get from disgruntled customers who never realized something was fishy at the time but suddenly the penny drops that it happened to them. If this does get through courtrooms / inquiry where the allegations are proven true and they are punished for it, it'll be a hellava hit on their reputation for a while to come. Right now no companies can afford to lose customers.
Re:Ex Office Depot Employee (Score:2, Informative)
For the company is used to work for selling electronics in the UK the statistics for claims on our extended warranty was something around 90% of people claim under within 5 years for laptops, 70% for desktops. These figures were from about 3 years ago so i'm not sure if thats changed now but clearly people do use these things.
I'm not trying to suggest they are good deals or that the price of repairs were much lower than the cost of the warranty in many cases but saying that no one ever uses their extended warranty is just fantasy on your part.
I would also point out that if the laptop i'm typing this on right now were to suddenly break. No i couldn't just afford to replace it.
Also the point on focusing on selling and attachment over the product is that most people actually want the product, the "attachments" normally have a much higher profit margin than the product itself. It's also in a way good customer service to actually make sure the customer has everything they need or want, eg a bag for their laptop or a blank dvd to make the recovery disc etc.
Re:Quotas (Score:3, Informative)
Not the Only Company to do this (Score:1, Informative)
I was a commission salesmen for CompUSA for a short stint for some extra cash between jobs. I was amazed when I found out that the same things were going on there, only it was being forced on the salesmen by the General Manager and Sales Manager.
If I couldn't sell a laptop that was on sale without TAP (their protection warranty) we were told to tell the customer that unfortunately the last one just went out. They would change the stock counts so they had full control. Printers, PDAs and cameras were as bad as Laptops; the world stopped and you got a major bitch session if you sold one without TAP.
They even went as far as to reprint their own prices, raising the price of every laptop and some computers and items by at least $100 in the store. If a salesmen was unable to sell TAP then with permission of the sales manager they could "save" the customer $100 of the price of the laptop if they bought TAP... Fictitiously bringing the price down $100-$200.
Re:Not much of a surprise (Score:5, Informative)
>>>Big businesses like the one mentioned aren't likely to care about a few disgruntled customers
Perhaps that's why Sears almost went bankrupt in 2003, and again this year, while customer-oriented JCPenney is booming (relatively speaking). You screw the customer and soon the customer will shop somewhere else.
Another annoying practice Sears had was to offer "rebates" that had to redeemed from the central Chicago office. So customers come-in expected a sale, but instead they pay full price, and have to go through the hassle of mailing stuff to Chicago to get their refund. I had a LOT of customer come-in and complain they never received the check in the mail. At first we simply refunded the money out of the drawer, but then the stores stopped doing that.
Now you have a pissed-off customer who will go-around the local area "poisoning" the market with stories of how Sears screwed them. It's so short-sighted and stupid. I prefer the Penneys philosophy, which is to follow the golden rule, even if that means a short-term loss. Treat the customer the same way YOU would want to be treated, and keep the customer happy so they'll come back next month & remain a loyal income source.
Not Standard Practice (Score:5, Informative)
I work at Office Depot currently, and I can assure you this is not standard practice where I work, and certainly wouldn't be allowed by any of the managers or corporate. With regards to the issue about people lying about laptops being out of stock, yes, there were some salespeople who were doing that. As soon as it was found out, the practice was halted and everyone was informed that under no circumstances was it to be allowed. (And logically, even selling a laptop without the extended warranty is better than not selling it at all.) I so know that if any of this happened at the place I work, the employee responsible would be fired with no hesitation.
It is true that Office Depot does tend to push for these warranties, add-ons, etc, but you'll find that just about every other store, from Best Buy to Fry's does the same. Like it or not, that's how the business is run.
As a customer, it's annoying, but you just have to put up with it and move on in life, just as you put up with club cards, coupons, mailers, and all the other little annoyances that just about every store dumps on you these days.
As an employee, it can be stressful, but it's unlikely that you'll get fired if you don't contribute to the "quota." (And remember, this is retail. Working in retail sucks in general.)
And just as a final word, I'm not a manager, or corporate, or any higher up at OD. I'm just a lowly employee working there to pay for my textbooks because the hours are flexible enough to accommodate for my classes. I don't particularly have much company loyalty, but it does tick me off that people are spreading what is essentially tabloid journalism without giving any thought as to whether it's a widespread practice, or just some individuals who are giving the company a poor image.
Re:tsarkon reports PHIRST POAST GNAA (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Fixed Pricing (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Not much of a surprise (Score:5, Informative)
Now if I could only purchase bedding from them...
http://www.neweggmall.com/ [neweggmall.com] Looks like today's your lucky day =oD
Re:It's just Good Business (Score:5, Informative)
I am looking to buy a car...Edmunds and KBB both state $25000 for the car...dealerships "those two places don't know what they are talking about. They are looking at national prices"...except both sites have a place for you to enter your zip code. They also said "they don't take into consideration pre-certified", except Edmunds DOES ask if this will be pre-cert or not (and changes the price accordingly). One place w ants 20% more for a car that is less equipped then the other place and literally states the other dealership (same company) is cutting corners. The list goes on.
Sales people can be very dirty...not all of them. When I was in college I worked in retail banking and would give my customers the truth - even if they didn't like it. My customers kept coming back to me for advice (we are talking about 50 year old lawyers asking advice from a 21 year old college student) because they knew I wouldn't lie to them. I would even tell people "hey I don't recommend you buy this product of ours, it's not the best for you". We have honest sales people, but most sales people want the quick sell...they don't think about their reputation. My step-dad was in life/health insurance all of his life. Upstanding, and honest. He has been retired for the past 20 years and still gets calls everyday based on referrals from referrals from referrals. People want to do business with him which he just shifts to his former partner.
Be honest, and true to your customer. It may take you longer to get the big bucks, but 5-10 years down the road and you will be thankful you did.
BTW the one dealership that wanted 5k more then the other. TOld me things like "last month we sold ALL of our pre-certs, this is new stock we are not hurting for your business and won't budge on the price"...they called me a week later...budging on the price. So if you are looking to buy a car big advice - if they don't hit your price...walk out. Don't be afraid to low-ball them, they will do the same to you on the opposite end. And every promise they give MUST be in writing before you sign any documents.
Not that unusual... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Not Illegal. In fact business as usual (Score:4, Informative)
"When you're selling a product, it's illegal to lie," said Lois C. Greisman, associate director of the FTC's Division of Marketing Practices. "It's illegal to make false claims about a product, such as "It's out of stock' when it's not or that a clearance product has a certain markup. You can't lie when you're selling a product." Greisman pointed us to section 2A on this page from the FTC's Office of the General Counsel that outlines the FTC's authority, under the FTC Act, to protect consumers from deceptive practices. "The federal law says you cannot make deceptive statements," Greisman said. "If somebody says a product is out of stock when it's in stock, and they lied because they want to induce you to purchase a bunch of add-ons that you don't want, there may be cause of action under federal law." Greisman pointed us to section 2A on this page from the FTC's Office of the General Counsel that outlines the FTC's authority, under the FTC Act, to protect consumers from deceptive practices. "The federal law says you cannot make deceptive statements," Greisman said. "If somebody says a product is out of stock when it's in stock, and they lied because they want to induce you to purchase a bunch of add-ons that you don't want, there may be cause of action under federal law."