I had a coupon for $10.00 off at Office Depot. The closest Office Depot to us is about 2.5 hours away. I researched Office Max and they state they accept competitors coupons. I tried to use the coupon and was told they actually don't accept competitors coupons. So I wrote to customer service via their website.


This is what I wrote: This is regarding a coupon for $10.00 off a qualifying purchase of $30.00 or more. I took this Office Depot coupon to our local Office Max because your company states "We accept competitor coupons: Bring in another retailer's coupons, and we'll honor it*. Well, in Elko Nevada that is far from the case. I was told I could not use it there because it was not an Office Max coupon.


And this is what their rep, Chris Mobily OfficeMax Customer Service Direct/Dotcom/Retail Rep, had to say about my inquiry: "We do apologize, but OfficeMax does not match competitor's coupons. Please sign up for our MaxPerks loyalty program to receive future OfficeMax savings and coupons. To sign up for our program please visit http://www.officemaxperks.com".


Ironically, I am a member of the Max perks program and have been trying to get my points/credits straightened out for about 6 months now. That issue is for another post.


As of today, 10/27/09, their website still states:" We accept competitor coupons: Bring in another retailer's coupons, and we'll honor it*. *See your local OfficeMax store associate for details". This is from the Office Max website page addressing "Every Day Values" http://www.officemax.com/home/custom.jsp?id=m3230047

After getting laid off during the economic downturn, my son worked for Office Max for 9 months as a bridge to returning to Grad School. He had to move to another city to attend grad school so he transferred from one Office Max to another after 8 months of employment as an assistant manager.

While working at the first Office Max, he inquired with his manager if he could partake in the Printer Cartridge recycling program which paid $3.00 per cartridge (max 10/week) for all working and empty printer cartridges. His manager didn't know and told him to call Loss Prevention to inquire. Loss prevention indicated that employees were encouraged to recycle and that he could recycle up to 10 cartridges per week, just like a customer.

My son then purchased 100 used cartridges for $1.00 each from a seller on EBay who did not live close enough to an Office Max store to take adavantage of the program and turned in 10 per week per the programs guidelines. When he completed his recycling, he used the gift card to purchase office supplies and a new laptop for school (over $600.00 worth of product) and paid the balance from his own funds.

Upon transferring to the new Office Max, he worked for a month before he received a better job offer through the University with better hours and working in an office as opposed to a retail environment. When he turned in his 2 weeks notice, he immediately began receiving harrasment from his management team telling him that he'd better fininsh his scheduled shifts (20 hours/week which he intended to complete) and not burn his bridges (which he did not intended to do). 7 days after turning in his notice, he was pulled into the office and questioned by the manager and the same loss prevention person he had spoken to earlier about his fraudulent use of the printer cartridge recycling program, basically telling him that they thought he was stealing printer cartridges that had already been turned in and then recycling them again. The questioned him for half an hour and asked him to write a statement. When he completed his statement, they wouldn't let him leave the office until he added some other comments to his statements basically stating that he would pay back the entire $300 he had earned if Loss Prevention found him guilty and requested repayment. They then handed him a form that told him that he had admitted to fraudulent behavior and that the lawyers would be investigating him and he could face termination (ha, he had already resigned). He was then told he was being suspended indefinitely while Loss Prevention and the Lawyers investigated his activity (not very likely that they would bring lawyers in at thier bill rate to investigate a potential $300.00 fraud case but a nice scare tactic to try and get someone to just admit fraud and pay back the money).

He was told he had to call back in 5 days to find out what would happen and that if he didn't he would be immediately terminated (7 days from this date was his last scheduled work day so he was done either way). When he called back on day 5 he was told that the person that he needed to talk to was on vacation and wouldn't be back for a week and that he should call back then. Later that day he received a phone call from loss prevention thanking him for his cooperation and telling him that he had been found to have not broken any laws or Office Max policies (thankfully, he kept all of his receipts from EBay and from when he recycled the cartridges) and that they now considered the matter closed. He then asked if he should show up for his shift that evening and was told that no, his shift had been covered and that he did not need to report to work that day or the next (his last day was the following day). He then asked if he would be paid for the 27 hours that he had been scheduled to work but had been suspended due to the investigation which found him without fault and they laughed at him.

What a great company, an employee betters himself and finds a job that he doesn't have to work weekends and nights and gets to work in an office using skills from his degree and gives 2 weeks notice and they retaliate by accusing him of fraudulent behavior and suspend him without pay with absolutely no proof. It would have been better for him to just resign and walk away with no notice but he has way too much integrity for that.

Why is it that costomers like to think they can do what ever they want? I work in retail and costomers have gotten so bad they think they can get what ever they want well guess what wake up and smell the real world you buy something it breaks its not the stores fault call the company of your product. Dont call the store we cant do anything for you we didnt make it. Why is it you all think you need to get someting for nothing as well get a job and buy your stuff like every one esle does I have never went to a store and been an a** about anything unless it was a real problem and i go to the store manager and tell them not call the company and yell. and for those who like to be rude where do you work ill come there and be rude at your job to you for no reason other to be an a**. I had a costomer come in and yell cause we dont take coupons other then our own and told the cashier she didnt want the the product. then called after we closed saying the product was not in the bag after she said she didnt want it any more and it was put back the manager on duty was nice enough to open the door and put a reg back on to ring them out after she was told she didnt pay for them she flipped and it was told to her she said she didnt want them so they were put back so she flipped out saying i never said that when 2 people heard her and in stead of just ringing out the product she yelled and threaned to wait out side to confront the girl who was ringing before when she said she didnt want the product. she was asked to leave after her product was rung up and refused so she was told the cops wuld be called if she did not leave she said go head i dont care i want to confront that girl NOW. She was then told to leave by both people and the cops will be called if she did not. Filaly she said ill call your district manager i said go head have a nice night she still did not leave afte rthe 3rd have a nice night the other guy said im calling the cops and she left. now uncalled for when someone is doing someone a favor after close cause she was either misunderstood or got in teh car and yelled at for not getting the product by her bf who was in the car but for 2 people asked in 2 different spots to say she didnt want them is not our fault or them lying just someoe wanted to be a bit*h for no reason. Remember with out our stores you will have to order online wait for it to be shipped and if the store goes away you will pay shipping on taht product. When other wise it be free for you to come get it and go home taht day with it.

I received a $70 max perks coupon for quickbooks pro which is now $99 after $100 off in the circulars. My complaints are twofold:

1. Ashley, the clerk at the register, scanned the software at $129.99 instead of $99.00. Why were her register not updated? The promotion started on Sunday. Today is Monday. There's clearly something amiss here.

2. Ashley did not accept the max perks coupon saying it cannot be combined with promotional products despite the fact that the coupon says otherwise. She is clearly wrong. Her supervisor (filipino) agreed with her which was the wrong.

This is an obvious example of poor training, and not accepting the coupon even though it was a legitimate original (not reproduced) coupon that conformed to the terms of its usage.

I will write to the manager of the store and to the ceo of this flagrant and outrageous violation of its own promotional policies. After spending thousands with office max even though it is somewhat less convenient and far away, I will stop shopping there. The store tolerates ingnorance, poor training, and lack of ethics and responsibility.

On 11/21/2008, my mother bought me a really nice oversize photo printer for Christmas. The reason for wanting the printer, was my upcoming baby on the way. Well, a week before Christmas, we lost the baby at 4 1/2 months. On Christmas day, my mom gave me the printer and all the attachments and said she would understand if I wanted to return it, as my intentions were to take pictures of the baby. Mom gave me the receipt to return it ($444 total bought). When I walked into the store, the Counter guy, Eric, asked for my receipt. I gave it to him. He said, OH, this was bought on a Debit card and I don't have that much money to give you, sorry. I said, Well, we gotta do something, i can't just say okay, and leave, its over $400 were talking about. Eric then said with a smirk, "oh, your past the 14 day return policy, i can only give you a gift card". I said very nicely, There must be anther option for holiday purchases? Eric said again with a smirk and a laugh, "Nope, Gift Card only." I said, "Can i talk to the, , , , , " He stopped me and while laughing said, "I am the manager". I said i wanted to talk to the store manager, he said she wasn't it, and he didn't know when she would be. Seeing i was getting nowhere, I asked for the number to corporate. Eric said, "eight hundred office max." At this point, another associate noticed Eric getting rude and loud so he walked over. This associate was very nice, and was also Erik, but with a K. Erik said, "sir, that nubmer is actually 877, office max. As i was talking to the lady from corporate filing a complaint, Eric was saying, "boy, you just screwed yourself, I'm not helping you at all now, you might as well leave." The lady from corporate couldn't believe the way he was talking to me. He continued to say, "Man, your stupid." After i finished my complaint with corporate, Erik asked Eric to go in the back and talk to him. They went in the back for a couple mins, when a female employee walked in (I think she was the actual shift manager). When Erik noticed her walking in, he quickly asked for her to come to the back. After a few more minutes, all 3 exited and approached me. Erik said very nicely, "Sir, I'm very sorry for the way you were treated, and we certainly strive on our customer service, and we definately don't want complaints to go to corporate, so we would like to refund you the money back on your debit card. I said thank you very much. Eric quickly and loudly said, "You don't have to be such an As*hole", The female said, "Eric, that's enough!" Eric then said, "What? He is an as*hole" I said, "Sir, I've been nothing but calm, and never once cursed at your or anybody." Eric said, "I dont' care your and as*hole and I'll say it again, your an as*hole!" Eric was pretty much screaming this, which had caught the attention of all the other customers in the store. The female stopped, and said, "You need to go in the back now! and shut the door!" Eric refused. The female demanded him to do it again. He finally went in the back. The female continued to tell me how sorry she was and that she was sending him home. Erik and her both were very apologetic. After the transaction was complete, I called corporate back, and gave another complaint about the employee Eric calling me an as*hole 4 times. They logged my complaint, which said would go to the district manager. Not sure if it will go anywhere, but who knows. And just so they know, as soon as I got to work (a fortune 500 company), I emailed my entire experience to my entire division (400 people). I received over 150 emails back from my co-workers, stating thank you for the warning and they were going to refuse to shop at Office Max due to this as well as their return policy that they didn't know about. It wasn't slander, just purely what happened. Most said they forwarded it to their friends and family. I will never shop their again and will continue to send that email to people and post my story to any web site I can find that applies, until Office Max Corporate can make this right to me.