Better Business Bureau®, Inc.
Serving Eastern Massachusetts, Maine & Vermont
235 West Central Street
Natick, MA 01760-3767
508-652-4800
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Member Reliability Report
Issued on: 5/30/2007
The BBB reports on members and non-members. If a company is a member of the BBB, it is stated in this report.
General Information
ID: 85488
Company Name: Staples, Inc.
Staples
Company Address: 500 Staples Drive
Framingham, MA 01702
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Original Business Start Date: 1987
Type of Entity: Corporation
Incorporated: 1985 in Delaware
Principal: John Giusti , Marketing Director
Number of Employees: 53,000
Phone Number: (50
253-5000
Fax Number: (50
253-9040
Email Address:
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BBB Member Status: This company is a Member
Date Joined BBB: 3/26/2002
Type of Business: OFFICE SUPPLIES
Web Site Address:
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BBB Membership Status
This company is a member of this Better Business Bureau. This company has been a member of this Better Business Bureau since 3/26/2002. This means it supports the Bureau's services to the public and meets our membership standards.
Nature of Business
Staples, Inc. is a retailer of office supplies, business services, office furniture and technology to consumers and businesses in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. The company was established in Massachusetts in 1985 and incorporated in Delaware in 1987. The company employs 53,000 people. Mr. John Giusti is the Director, E-Marketing of the company. Any questions or problems should be directed to the attention of Ms. Alicia Benoit, Senior Customer Relations Specialist.
Customer Experience
Based on BBB files, this company has a satisfactory record with the Bureau.
To have a "satisfactory record" with the Bureau, a company must be in business for at least 12 months, properly and promptly address matters referred to it by the Bureau, and be free from an unusual volume or pattern of complaints and law enforcement action involving its marketplace conduct. In addition, the Bureau must have a clear understanding of the company's business and no concerns about its industry.
Customer Experience Complaint Information
The BBB complaint process.
When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.
Standard View Enhanced View
The Bureau processed a total of 917 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total 917 complaints closed in the last 36 months, 241 were closed in the last 12 months.
These complaints concerned:
193 regarding Advertising Issues
18 regarding Advertised price not honored
10 regarding Advertised product not available
20 regarding Advertised terms not honored
9 regarding Advertisement did not disclose all conditions required to take advantage of an offer
3 regarding Advertisement misrepresented a product
2 regarding Advertisement misrepresented a service
10 regarding Bait & switch advertisement
121 regarding False or unsubstantiated claims in advertisement
24 regarding Contract Issues
23 regarding Failure to honor a contract or agreement
1 regarding Invalid or false contract
78 regarding Credit, Billing or Collection Issues
72 regarding Failure to correct billing errors
2 regarding Failure to provide itemized billing as requested
1 regarding Improper collection practices
3 regarding Unauthorized credit card charges
125 regarding Customer Service Issues
33 regarding Failure to provide promised assistance or support for products or services
84 regarding Failure to respond to phone calls or written requests for assistance or support
8 regarding Inappropriate behavior by customer service personnel
58 regarding Delivery Issues
1 regarding Late delivery of products
54 regarding Non-delivery of products
3 regarding Non-delivery of services
41 regarding Guarantee or Warranty Issues
5 regarding Disputed warranty coverage and/or terms
8 regarding Failure to honor money-back guarantees
27 regarding Failure to honor service under the terms of warranties
1 regarding Failure to provide promised written warranty or guarantee
43 regarding Product Quality Issues
43 regarding Defective, damaged or incorrect product received
249 regarding Refund or Exchange Issues
4 regarding Failure to honor promised refunds, exchanges, or credit
245 regarding Failure to honor refund, exchange or credit policies
17 regarding Repair Issues
2 regarding Delayed completion of repair
14 regarding Improper or inferior repair
1 regarding Repairs resulted in additional damage
66 regarding Sales Practice Issues
1 regarding Sales presentation did not disclose complete pricing information
3 regarding Sales presentation did not disclose key conditions of the offer
4 regarding Sales presentation misrepresented the product
1 regarding Sales presentation misrepresented the service
1 regarding Sales presentation not consistent with advertisement
56 regarding Sales presentation used dishonest sales practices
23 regarding Service Issues
6 regarding Delayed completion of service
1 regarding Failure to honor service estimate or agreement
11 regarding Improper or inferior service
3 regarding Services resulted in additional damage (exp. Damaged product during shipping)
2 regarding Unauthorized service
These complaints were closed as:
267 Administratively Closed
217 BBB determined the company made a reasonable offer to resolve the issues, but the consumer did not accept the offer.
46 BBB determined that despite the company's effort to address complaint issues, the consumer remained dissatisfied.
4 BBB determined the company provided proper verification that indicated there was no obligation to resolve the issues of the complaints.
650 Resolved
400 Company resolved the complaint issues. The consumer acknowledged acceptance to the BBB.
1 Company offered a partial (less than 100%) settlement which the consumer accepted.
215 Company resolved the complaint issues. The consumer failed to acknowledge acceptance to the BBB.
14 Company resolved the complaint the issues. The consumer failed to acknowledge acceptance to the BBB.
20 Company offered a partial (less than 100%) settlement which the consumer failed to acknowledge acceptance to the BBB.
The following data concerns complaints processed by the BBB over the last 36 months.
Closure Type Definitions Closed Complaints
Last
1 month
to
12 months Closed Complaints
Last
13 months
to
24 months Closed Complaints
Last
25 months
to
36 months Closed Complaints
Total Last
1 month
to
36 months
Complaints Resolved 202 235 213 650 70.88%
Complaints Unresolved 0 0 0 0 0.00%
Administratively Closed 39 112 116 267 29.12%
Complaints No Response 0 0 0 0 0.00%
Total 241 347 329 917 100.00%
Nature of complaint definitions
Nature
Definitions
Closure Type Definitions Complaints
Concerning
Advertising
Issues Complaints
Concerning
Credit or Billing
Issues Complaints
Concerning
Delivery
Issues Complaints
Concerning
Product
Quality
Issues Complaints
Concerning
Customer
Service
Issues Complaints
Concerning
Repairs or
Service
Issues Complaints
Concerning
Guarantee
or
Warranty
Issues Complaints
Concerning
Refund or
Exchange
Issues Complaints
Concerning
Selling
Issues Complaints
Concerning
Contract
Issues Complaints
Concerning
Service
Issues Complaints
Concerning
Miscellaneous Total
Complaints Resolved 145 55 35 18 84 8 23 212 36 17 17 650
Complaints Unresolved 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Administratively Closed 48 23 23 25 41 9 18 37 30 7 6 267
Complaints No Response 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total Last 1-36 Months 193 78 58 43 125 17 41 249 66 24 23 917
Total Last 25-36 Months 66 42 23 20 31 5 13 93 32 4 0 329
Total Last 13-24 Months 76 28 19 8 62 10 14 86 24 12 8 347
Total Last 1-12 Months 51 8 16 15 32 2 14 70 10 8 15 241
Mouse-Over the complaint count to view detailed statistics.
Average number of days for the company to respond, to the BBB, regarding a complaint in the last 90 days 6
Average number of days for the company to respond, to the BBB, regarding a complaint in the last 36 months 9
The information in the table below represents a comparison of all companies in the BBB database in the same type of business as Staples, Inc.. Companies may engage in more that one type of business. The percent of time the business engages in a type of business is not accounted for. The BBB database consists of businesses located in Eastern Massachusetts, Maine & Vermont. There is no known industry standard for the number of complaints a company can expect. Please keep in mind, as stated above the company's size, number of employees, volume of business and number of transactions may have a bearing on the number of complaints received by the BBB.
OFFICE SUPPLIES
# of companies with NO complaints in the past 36 months 116
# of companies with 1-4 complaints in the past 36 months 7
# of companies with 5-25 complaints in the past 36 months 0
# of companies with 26-99 complaints in the past 36 months 1
# of companies with 100 or more complaints in the past 36 months 2 Staples, Inc. with 53,000 employee(s) is in this range.
Total # of companies in the BBB database in this type of business 126
Customer Experience Compliment Information
The below compliment section is a new feature of this BBB's Reliability Report, as of 12/17/2004, and therefore:
Most companies will not have any compliments on file and nothing negative
should be construed because of this.
The compliments are unfiltered.
The information in the two tables below represent Positive Customer Experience via our Compliment a Company service. You may read the text of each compliment from the link below.
Click here to read the details of these 3 compliments
Compliments
Last
1 Month
to
12 Months
Compliments
Last
13 Month
to
24 Months Compliments
Last
25 Month
to
36 Months Compliments
Last
1 Month
to
36 Months
Excellent 0 0 3 3
Good 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 3 3
Nature of compliment definitions
Compliments
Regarding
Product/Work
Quality
Issues Compliments
Regarding
Customer
Service
Issues Compliments
Regarding
Repairs or
Service
Issues Compliments
Regarding
Refund or
Exchange
Issues Total
Excellent 0 3 0 0 3
Good 0 0 0 0 0
Total Last
1-36 Months 0 3 0 0 3
Total Last
25-36 Months 0 3 0 0 3
Total Last
13-24 Months 0 0 0 0 0
Total Last
1-12 Months 0 0 0 0 0
Industry Tips
Office Supply Schemes and Paper Pirates
Solicitations in the Guise of Invoices
Phony Invoice Schemes