Staples - online ordering - BEWARE

lindsayu

My partner is a teacher and I'm back at uni doing teacher training, therefore seem to make lots of trips to staples to stock up on pens,paper and the like. However, we have also bought our last 2 pcs/laptops from there. This last week or 2 however, the netbook (snall laptop) I wanted wasn't actually stocked in the stores and was only available through their website. I hadn't seen the netbook in the flesh and therefore double checked the returns policy over the phone with staples and was pretty astounded by the response. The distance selling regulations state that if you place an order over the phone/internet and aren't there to inspect the goods you have 7 days from receipt to inspect the goods. However, Staples will not honour this legislation as they say they are a business to business sales companyand therefore it does not apply to them. I phoned consumer direct who said if they accept an order of a private individual they have to abide by the legislation. They may get round this by making you sign up as a business so ensure you read the terms and conditions, instead of skipping past them (or order over the phone and state that you are a private individual). Be aware that the prices on the website are before VAT. I ended up ordering from PC World who to be honest I wouldn't rave about. I ordered Monday and received free delivery due to the amount I was spending. They tried to charge me about a tenner to get premium delivery of some sort to arrive on the Fridaym, declined it and the netbook arrived on the Thursday!!

Art_2

lindsayu wrote: »

My partner is a teacher and I'm back at uni doing teacher training, therefore seem to make lots of trips to staples to stock up on pens,paper and the like. However, we have also bought our last 2 pcs/laptops from there. This last week or 2 however, the netbook (snall laptop) I wanted wasn't actually stocked in the stores and was only available through their website. I hadn't seen the netbook in the flesh and therefore double checked the returns policy over the phone with staples and was pretty astounded by the response. The distance selling regulations state that if you place an order over the phone/internet and aren't there to inspect the goods you have 7 days from receipt to inspect the goods. However, Staples will not honour this legislation as they say they are a business to business sales companyand therefore it does not apply to them. I phoned consumer direct who said if they accept an order of a private individual they have to abide by the legislation. They may get round this by making you sign up as a business so ensure you read the terms and conditions, instead of skipping past them (or order over the phone and state that you are a private individual). Be aware that the prices on the website are before VAT. I ended up ordering from PC World who to be honest I wouldn't rave about. I ordered Monday and received free delivery due to the amount I was spending. They tried to charge me about a tenner to get premium delivery of some sort to arrive on the Fridaym, declined it and the netbook arrived on the Thursday!!

The Staples site is clearly marked as being for business customers only. This is further backed up by their prices being VAT exclusive which they would not be allowed to do for retail customers.

Regards,
Art.

PixelPound

They have a new service

Staples OrderCare is a premium service which allows you to return unwanted items to us anytime within 12 months of purchase, for whatever reason. We will even collect the items free of charge. Just call 0844 546 7777 to arrange your free collection and full credit.* OrderCare is included on your order and a small nominal sum will be added to your invoice.

Which costs, but their basic service allows returns

If you choose not to take advantage of our OrderCare returns service, you can still return unwanted items within 30 days of delivery. If you contact us within 7 days we will collect the items free of charge and issue you a full credit.

So that seems like the normal return for free within 7 days that normal retail has?

Hamster1207

Right - I hate printers. They always break down at the most inopportune moment. Or they run out of ink just after the shops have shut, but have you noticed how cheap some printers are nowadays but how expensive the ink is. So I'm toying with the idea of getting a new one whenever the ink runs out. With a cheap printer using the genuine manufacturer inks it works out at about the same price but without the hassle of things not working - ( it will always be in-warranty )
Now I reckon it will be even cheaper if I've read this Staples OrderCare stuff right. How about I buy a printer at £75. Keep it for 9 months or until I've run out of ink. Then I phone them up, tell them I don't like the colour or something and they come and take it away charging me 20% ie. £15 for the privilege. New ink would cost at least £30 so all I do is then get back on the web site and order another brand new printer at £75 and we repeat the process. The only flaw with this I can see is if they won't accept the printer back but the OrderCare wording says that they will take it back for "whatever reason".

Can anyone see a flaw in this ??

Regards


Hamster