Month: October 2009

NJ Stands By Staples Contract Decision

Posted on by chase

As reported earlier, New Jersey recently entered into an exclusive contract with Staples to provide office supplies, which many local businesses were upset by. In a posting on NJBiz.com, the state has been seen to uphold its decision to proceed with the risky single-source contract:

While the companies say they can compete with Staples’ prices, state officials dispute whether the local vendors offer lower prices. A Treasury spokesman provided a list of roughly 450 items for which Staples generally offered lower prices than New Jersey vendors. The suppliers contend their list of 10,000 products shows Staples has higher prices for similar products.

Chatham Superintendent of Schools Jim O’Neill expressed concern that the contract would mean Staples would have no competition, and said Staples’ prices were unclear.

The locals bring up a valid point: while Staples may be able to provide lower prices on paper for a handful of items, there’s simply no substitute for the free competition of multiple vendors. Also, if Staples is hiding anything in its pricing policies, odds are good that the state will lose millions before they ever find out. New Jersey is playing with fire here, and it makes me sad that the little guys are the ones who get burned.

Flu Season Hits Schools Hard

Posted on by chase

The DailyPress is reporting that with H1N1 still fresh in the public’s mind, it’s falling on school districts to provide cleaning and sanitizing supplies to keep kids healthy. The question is, will they have the funds?

…spending to avoid massive outbreaks of H1N1 influenza comes at a time when state budget cuts are forcing school districts to scrutinize every cent in their budgets. Since districts are just now using supplies they ordered for the first part of the school year, it’s unclear how much they might end up spending by the time it’s over.

As they prepare to schedule H1N1 immunization clinics for students this month, health representatives at local school divisions say they will spend whatever it takes for flu precautions. The shot clinics will be paid for in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Health, but no financial help has become available so far for precautionary supplies.

It’s sad to think that kids might be getting sick because schools can’t afford to provide adequate precautions, but all is not lost. As a parent or even a teacher, you can look into low-cost online outlets that offer personal hand sanitizers and even wall-mounted dispensers, and do your part to help keep everyone healthy.

OfficeMax Won’t Send Customer a Working Gift Card

Posted on by chase

One of my favorite consumer advocacy blogs, The Consumerist, has a chilling tale of a retail roundabout in which a customer makes a return to OfficeMax, is given a gift card, and is then unable to use that gift card to buy anything. Rinse, repeat: the cycle continues for SEVERAL gift cards:

I’ve had this gift card for over six months now. Or should I say multiple gift cards from OfficeMax for over six months now. Let me explain.

After I received the card I looked on their website and didn’t see a monitor that could replace my 24″ screen so I found something else to buy with it. I purchased a laptop using the MaxAssurance gift card. About a week later I get an e-mail saying that the laptop isn’t available for purchase anymore. Hmmm, that’s strange. No biggie I thought, stuff happens, so I called up OfficeMax who then issued me a new gift card. I asked if they could refund to the MaxAssurance card to which they told me no, that they’d have to issue a new gift card.

TWO WEEKS LATER, I get a new OfficeMax gift card in the mail. I check the amount on it and see that it’s the right amount. I keep it on my desk a while until I see something that catches my eye on OfficeMax.com – a computer this time. I go through the checkout process and purchase the computer (which was IN STOCK, like the laptop was). I get no e-mail from OfficeMax this time so I figure it went through and I’d be getting in the computer in a few weeks. A week later, I still have not heard anything so I login to my OM account and check my orders.

This time, it says that the computer has been “discontinued” and that it would not be shipped out. Gee, thanks OfficeMax for letting me know. I check the Gift Card balance — which was $0.00 — and immediately called up OM and talked about the situation. Once again they couldn’t refund the money to the card and said that I’d have to wait for a new card to be re-issued to me.

TWO WEEKS LATER, I get yet another OfficeMax gift card in the mail. About a month goes by before I see anything else that interests me. This time it’s a computer again.

Any guesses what happened?

If you guessed anything other than “OfficeMax was once again brutally incompetent”, then you obviously haven’t been reading this blog enough. This level of ridiculous customer service is just one more reason why I advocate using a trusted, reliable retailer. More to the point: this is astoundingly bad customer service. Even if I weren’t in the industry, I would be ashamed of OM’s behavior.