Staples

Full review
I am someone who used to buy all my computers from Staples and the vast majority of my office supplies, too. However, I have to say that I will never buy another computer from them again. I even shudder now to buy so much as a pencil there. Let me share with you a little story...

In late, late December of 2005, I purchased a new Sony VAIO desktop for my last quarter of college from a Staples store in Hyannis, Massachusetts. Over the next three months, I used my computer regularly to finish my college coursework. I graduated early in March, 2006 and then the computer got a rest. That fall, August of 2006, I started graduate school in Washington DC. So my laptop computer was used again from August, 2006 to May, 2007. A pause for summer. Then I use the computer for my final semester from September 2007 to... clunk. Around December, the computer clunks out on me. It won't turn on. It can't function. This is where things get frustrating with Staples.

So I bring the computer to the local Staples story. They have to send it out to be repaired. Fortunately, I had the computer under a three-year warranty.  So they repair it and replace the entire motherboard. I get my computer back in January. My computer works fine from January to May. But then...

Clunk. The computer fails again. I bring it to Staples. They send it out to be repaired yet again. The hard drive crashed and I need a whole new one. So I get the computer back in late June and I start using it. But then...

Clunk. The computer dies two weeks later. Not only that, but I lose sensitive work information on it. So what happens? Nerds-To-Go says "Sorry, man, but the hard drive is fried." Well, I check my warranty with Staples. I was told that I get a new computer after my present one breaks three times. Oh, no, chimes in Staples Customer Support with red tapish glee. The computer must break three times FOR THE SAME REASON. Apparently, two hard drives and a motherboard isn't good enough. So I send my computer out AGAIN to be repaired. Staples concurs that it's the hard drive, gives me a new one, and sends it back. By late July, I have my computer once more, but then comes early August...

CLUNK!! My computer fails two weeks later AGAIN. I call Staples just to make sure that I'll be getting a new one. Oh, no, says Staples Customer Support. Your computer hasn't broken four times yet. Four times? I thought it was three! No, they say: the computer must break for the same reason three times. Then, if it breaks for the same reason AGAIN a FOURTH time, THEN you get it replaced. Oh, boy...

So I send my computer to Staples. It's the hard drive -- AGAIN. They replace it -- AGAIN. Then they send it back. At this point, I'm praying for it to break. I'm not even using the thing, because I'm too scared it will die on me. I've lost my work four times already and a fifth time isn't happening. So I wait and -- who'd have thought? -- it dies on me! Surprise, surprise...

So I send it out to Staples again. Finally, I get a call that they will replace my computer. FINALLY. A year-long ordeal is over.

Here's what ticks me off: 1) The Staples warranty policy is disingenous. My computer was clearly, openly, logically broken. Computers just don't break down that much. Especially computers that are new and not exhaustedly used. But the Staples warranty policy creates such a high barrier for product replacement that it cannot address common sensical concerns. Furthermore, in my view, the Staples people were sneakily trying to string out my computer woes until December, 2008 arrived and my warranty expired (a-ha!).  2) Staples Customer Support treated me like an idiot throughout the process. I had to call in five times when the hard drive and/or motherboard crashed. Each time, they acted as if it were the first time it happened. I had to sit there on the phone and go through the motions trying out this, that, and the other before they would let me send the computer to their workshop. Not only that, but I had to purchase a $20 VAIO Restore CD to try and restore my computer on two occasions or else they refused to send me a return box. In other words, each time, after all my trouble, Staples Customer Support didn't even make it EASY for me to get my computer "fixed" (or not!). 3) Staples was insulting in not replacing my computer sooner. Nowadays, people LIVE on their computers. You need it for work and you need it for school. Computers aren't just accessories, but necessities of life. Not having one for a whole year is more than just a little bump. Fortunately, I had access to my fiancee's old computer during this entire Staples debacle. But, if I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to work. I was working from home for a DC-based think-tank and I needed my computer. Staples didn't seem to care.

Overall, my experience with Staples was very disappointing and very disillusioning. I will never buy another computer from there again and I even cringe now to shop there. I was a good customer and I still am -- but not for them. An expensive Sony VAIO laptop and $300+ warranty should get you more than bureaucratic apathy. So do please remember that when you read the glowing reviews on this website. Usually, indeed, I'm someone who never writes product reviews, but this experience has lit a fire under me to get typing.