The Case of the Elusive Staples Whiteboard
As we went through the office build out, we ended up buying some office furniture from staples which we found pretty cheap yet not bad quality at all. A couple of examples would be the desks and the office chairs, where for a leather manager’s chairs $69 CDN was a fantastic deal. I guess the only bad experience I’ve had with Staples Canada is their online store, and the frustrating story that started on February 9th when I ordered a whiteboard…
I went online, and when comparing a few retailers found their pricing for a decent sized 4’ by 6’ whiteboard to be competitive at just over $100… comparable sizes from other suppliers ranged from double to triple the pricing so I was pretty happy I found a good deal. Staples promised next day delivery so I decided to go for it.
The next day I get a call from a very nice lady stating the whiteboard was on backorder, and I’ll have it delivered in about a week and a half. I thought why not, no super rush so no problem. A week and a half goes by; the Friday February 16th comes and goes, no whiteboard, no phone call. Hmm, that’s strange; they’ve been very responsive so far, so on Monday February 19th I give them a call and spoke with a nice gentleman who tells me the whiteboard was on backorder, but they do have stock now and it will be delivered on Friday February 23rd. Great, I thought, so I went about my business working on all the myriad of things that had to get done and next thing I knew it was Tuesday February 27th before I realized that they still hadn’t delivered the whiteboard. I gave them another ring, spoke with someone… “The whiteboard was on backorder. It will be delivered Friday March 2nd. We’re sorry for the inconvenience, but it is showing up in stock now and you will receive it this time”. Although it's a little funny, I have to admit I was also getting a little frustrated by this point as well.
I had been so consumed by work that it was Wednesday March 14th before I was reminded of the elusive whiteboard again… of course no deliveries on either Friday since my last communication, nor any phone calls. So I call them up and this time, understandably, a little miffed to say the least. The response I get? “Sorry sir, the whiteboard was on backorder, but they have stock now and it will be delivered on Friday March 16th”… yeah right… I explained that this was the 4th or 5th time I’ve heard the exact same story, and the person tells me “You’re right, I’m not exactly sure why but *someone* at the warehouse keeps delaying your order by a week every week. Let me look into it and call you back” Thankfully this time I did receive a phone call a couple of hours later “The Mississauga location that was earmarked to make your delivery has been out of stock, and although we're showing a shipment being received on January 27th, it was never delivered so we’ll call you when we receive stock.”
Yesterday, Tuesday March 20th I gave them a call to check on the status “Sorry sir, the whiteboard was on backorder, but we do have them in stock now and you WILL receive it this Friday march 23rd”… <sigh>“If you have it in stock, why can’t you deliver it tomorrow instead of Friday?”… “Sorry, the order is locked so I can’t change it, but I am showing it in stock so you will receive it this Friday”
I’m not holding my breath….
