This is the letter I enclosed with the multiple items I’m returning to Office Depot via UPS today:

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Dear Office Depot,

I can’t even begin to tell you how dissatisfied I am with your company right now.  I will never make a purchase from your company again.  Here’s why:

All I wanted was new ink for my home printer.  I have an eight-month-old at home, work full time, and have an extremely busy calendar in general.  I just wanted to go online, place my order, and have the item I needed land on my doorstep.

Instead what happened is that the wrong ink cartridges arrived.  When I contacted customer service about making an exchange, I EXPLICITLY stated that I wanted some kind of guarantee that the correct ink would arrive at my home on the second try.  I was initially told that I had to simply return the first toner and go back online and order the correct one.  When I responded by indicating that ordering the correct ink is what I did the FIRST time, I was not immediately offered help with remedying the situation. 

Because clearly the customer service rep need a little coaching on how to handle a previously unscripted situation, I suggested that my REORDER be taken via phone, that the coupon I had already used on my first order be applied to my REORDER, and that somebody should flag the order in a manner that indicated to somebody fulfilling that order that the item number be double and triple checked to ensure that correct item would ship on the SECOND try.  (Tip of the day:  quickly shipping a wrong item is WAY worse than shipping the correct item a little more slowly.)

The reorder was handled via phone as I suggested, and I was satisfied with the attempt the customer service representative made to assist me with remedying the situation.  That is, until the next day.

My order arrived the next day.  When I opened it and realized that I received EXACTLY THE SAME INCORRECT ITEM I HAD RECEIVED THE FIRST TIME, I was livid and I think rightfully so.  Both of these incorrect items are enclosed in this package.  I expect to have my account credited for BOTH items immediately. 

I have since placed this same order with Staples, and lo and behold, received the CORRECT item on the FIRST try on the NEXT day!  Gee, that was easy!  That was easy indeed!  (At least THEIR advertising is honest!)  All of my future orders for office supplies will be placed through Staples, and I will have NO trouble recounting this highly irritating experience with Office Depot through Facebook , Twitter and my own blog so that I can reach as many people as possible.  I want everyone I know to avoid the same frustration I experienced with your company. 

Congratulations to YOU, Office Depot, for truly pissing off the WRONG customer and losing a previously loyal customer forever.  You really might want to consider the power of social media before carelessly throwing your orders together in the future.

Sincerely,

Me

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After reading this, I sincerely hope that all seven of you reading this blog will avoid the hassles of using Office Depot in the future…

This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 9:49 am and is filed under The Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed, bookmark the Permalink in your Browser, leave a response, or trackback from your own site.