Staples CS Email Exchange (long)

[tdatiger]

I initially emailed from the Staples website for a price match on a Vtech VT9161 phone that Staples had for $75.79 and Amazon, I found later, had it for $55.xx that same night.

That was the night that Amazon was offering free shipping for orders over $99, in addition to a $20 off coupon for orders over $99 (expired at midnight). Since Staples had the lamp I wanted, I ordered from them, expecting to price match to Amazon's price, even with the Staples coupon offer as Amazon had the same coupon and free shipping deal.

I would have bought $100 worth of necessary items to get the coupon and free shipping. Since we live outside of the Staples "Next Day Delivery Area" which is only 20 miles, our Staples packages are sent UPS Ground, which is equivalent to the Amazon Free Shipping method.

Here are the email exchanges:

From: "Staples.com"
>Reply-To: "Staples.com"
>To:
>Subject: Staples.com order#XXXXXXXXXX
>Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 11:17:24 -0500
>
>We appreciate your inquiry concerning this issue
>
>We cannot price match as you requested due to the following requirement not met:
>
>Your order contains a coupon for $20 off of a $100 order. If we were to price match the item to the
>price requested your total would be below the $100 mark and you would no longer qualify for the
>coupon. As such, we cannot do both a price match and allow the coupon to remain on the order.
>
>In addition, we would take into account the shipping costs, the free shipping listed on Amazon is
>for regular ground which would not be applicable to the shipping we currently offer.
>
>We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. Please do not hesitate to contact us for
>further assistance.
>
>Thank you for your patience concerning this matter.
>
>Sean
>Staples.com Website Support Representative

My reply:

In reply to Sean's message below,

To retain the Staples $20 coupon, I would have added necessary office supplies to the basket in order to retain the $100 order value as the Amazon.com $20 coupon was for $99 or more; which I had placed in their shopping basket to use the coupon and qualify for free shipping.

It seems I should have ordered from Amazon as I expected Staples to live up to the 110% Price Match guarantee. If you will review your records, including in store purchases, we have placed substantial orders with Staples in the past, and the outcome of this Price Match will have a determination on where we do business in the future.

In addition, since we are outside the local delivery area for Staples, our Staples orders are sent UPS Ground, which is equivalent to the free delivery method offered by Amazon.com. We do not get "Next Day Delivery" from Staples as we live beyond the 20 mile delivery zone from the only local store which is located in Greeneville, TN - roughly 35 miles away.

Therefore, according the above, we should qualify for the Staples 110% Price Match for this order. If we do not, I will simply refuse delivery on the Staples order(s) and purchase from Amazon/Office Depot/Office Max, for a lower price - free shipping, AND online coupons. We are within the 'Next Day Delivery' zone for Office Depot and Office Max, so we end up waiting several or more days for UPS Ground shipping from Staples, when we can get the necessary items from each of these stores on an actual next day delivery basis.

I look forward to your reply after your review of this information. The 110% Price Match, in this case, is $18. Is is worth $18 for me to take our business elswhere where Price Match guarantees work?

AWN
CEO
AWN Computing

Staples final response:

We appreciate your inquiry concerning this issue.

I apologize I can not price match. If you do not want the order just refuse it.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Please do not
hesitate to contact us
for further assistance.

Thank you for your patience concerning this matter.

Melinda
Customer Support Representative