Staples review: Staples sucks! 72

The staff and the lack of product in this store is outrageous... The staff are rude when I have been in this store and to find the product that I use it is never in stock... This store has failed for me in the customer service and product availability.

I received a flier from Staples yesterday (12/13/2008) indicating "7 days of savings!" from 12/14 to 12/20/2008. One of the products offered there is an HP Pavilion notebook with Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P7350 (item # 761021). I went to the store in Milpitas yesterday (12/13) and the people helping me told me they didn't have it in stock, couldn't find it on their computers and couldn't tell me when (or where) I could get it from. I tried calling 3 local stores today (located in the towns of San Jose, Campbell and Fremont)and got the same vague responses with the best response being "try again on Tuesday". Does this classify as false advertising? In addition, the people "helping" me on the phone were mono-syllabic and impolite.

Your first obvious mistake is the fact you were doing your shopping over the phone. Do you know how annoying it is to be talking to a Staples associate about an item I'm buying "RIGHT NOW IN THE STORE" and you lazy ### who are probably on you couches at home watching TV calls asking about a price or stock? Get off your A$$es and come down to a real store to do your shoping and let the real shoppers get real service instead of "could you hold on a sec... could you hold on a sec... could you hold on a sec... ...". Every time I've ever wanted something that was out of stock in that particular store the associate was able to find one in a nearby store that they could tranfer in.

Second you will notice in any big box flier there will be the printed words "While Supplies Last"

Finally don't buy Pavilion they are crap computers that are always breaking down

Wow, that is unbelievable what they did to you. Staples defenitely sucks. Where can I find a certified tech that can fix computers?

I want to go on record an say that I work for staples now as an easy tech. fortunately for my store they do have 1 (me) tech that does hold a computer network degree. the other fug up has nothing to stand on but I have worked on them before. I would never take my pc in for repair at any staples unless they could show me their certs. secondly, my management team is tring to fire me using the excuse that if you don't want to be here then we will find some one with less experiance who wants to be here. less experiance, no degree, no cert... what the f*k!?! if my pc broke and I had to take it somewhere for diag I would take it to best buy first although they aren't much better but at least they are a+ certified. the tech tools that he is talking about are available online from norton. its nothing more than I tool kit. all it does is allow staples idiot techs an easy way to say to look at a system and let it do the work for them. if your computer has a virus. download malware-bytes... its the same software program. to do basic pc set up... it is a joke... the platnim gold and silver setups... you can do them at home. ask anytech they will tell you that you can do it at home but for some people its difficult. how hard is it to place blank dvd/cd in a cd burner? anything else the average computer now adays can handle. uninstall software remove things and install norton 360 how hard is that. my grandmother who is 76 knows how to do that...

Prime example of how stupid the techs are at staples...

A customer comes in and states that the computer boots up intermintantly they ask why. the other tech at my store sales them a virus removal at 169.00 instore... when the hard drive was failing and the bios screen said imminate hard drive failure replace hard drive immediately.

If they sale you a virus removal in store. and give you a card that says instore online. take you pc home you can do it from home. all you have to do is follow the instructions on the back of the card. you can do it at home or like I said download maleware bytes... its the exact same software that they use in store.

As far as I am conserned. I will never take a pc or any advice from any staples associate in the easy tech department, they are idiots and have no idea as to what the hell they are doing...

Staples only certified easy tech out

Every Staples store and every Esay tech has admitted to using Freeware and charging customers. This is because Norton does not work. most everything stated is true. I am a manager from the New England area.

Staples is out to lower costs by removing experienced associates. thus reducing labor costs.

I can't help but agree with most everything said here. I'm currently a "Certified Easy Tech" but that's a joke. A ten minute test that is TOTAL crap, and has more to do with selling than actually fixing stuff. Our resident technician is a pure genius, certified up the wazoo, degree in computer science. Our management wants us to do 3000 dollars a week in tech work, and we have basically a broom closet to work on the computers, and I'm not joking. Room is about 5 foot by 7 foot. Forget about room to actually work on them, where in the heck am I supposed to put them all? Even if every customer spent a hundred bucks on work, and that doesn't happen, that's still 30 computers in that one little room. But Staples just wants your money, and is totally unwilling to spend any to make sure the people working on your computers actually know what they're doing. They have a tuition reimbursement program, but they will emphatically not reimburse you the cost of an A+ test. And the 30 hours a week my tech works, half of that he is forced to be out on the sales floor with customers. If Staples wants to avoid serious lawsuits from the compromise of customer data, or deceptive business practices, it needs to make some core changes. The "Free PC Tuneup" is more or less a total joke, it really doesn't do a whole lot. The funniest thing is that even though the software used is a Norton product, when it scans for installed anti-virus software, it NEVER detects any Norton products, HILARIOUS. And yes, the 3rd party company that now performs all virus removals for Staples does use Malware Bytes, but if a Staples employee installs and runs it on a customer's PC, it's an immediate termination. Basically it works, so you can't use it. I'll stop now. :D

What disgruntledeasytech said is completely TRUE. . It is a horrible thing Corporate staples is trying to do to naive customers.

Staples Technicians who work in the Easy Tech Department not only are certified through Staples for every product sold and service offered totaling in 53 trainings and tests at hire, and recertified every year, they must pass a 100 question test based off the A+ Certification with a 3.0 or higher. Also undergo a background check. Having an A+ Cert is a plus but not a requirement. It is up to the General Manager to higher qualified technicians. (hmm)

Saying that you were ranked #20 and operated the way you explained shows why you were fired.

Saying every Staples operates the way you were trusted to operate yours and FAILED, is very prejudice. Like saying "every person with two strict parents act the same way." Or getting a burnt pizza at a pizza house chain in New York, and expecting every pizza to be burnt in every location. Sort of immature.

It is the duties of the general manager who is paid very well, to operate the business responsibly and ethically.

__

I am an ERT, and Staples Easy Tech in the staples I work for ( in Region 1) may just be the prime example from what you say, of what they intended with free tune ups and risk free diagnostics and attempt at ethical treatment of customers in this retail age.

1st off, at staples we do not have the proper tools or workspace for certain repairs, nor are we corporately permitted to do so. If the problem is unfixable at our location, it is the General Manager's responsibility to refund the fee. Not the technician.

2nd, At our location we follow the rules, as Staples dictates in the Easy Tech Guidelines For General Manager's: "at NO TIME is a computer to be left un-attended, and NO ONE but authorized personnel (who have extensive background checks) are to look at, let alone touch a computer."

We work with Lawyer firms, doctors, government personnel such as Navy Officers, and the Department of Defense, (as we are located close to a Navy Base) as well as the general public. We have the utmost respect for our customers data, and all computers are alarmed even when we are working on them, and locked in a "Master Lock"ed cabinet bin when not. This is checked randomly by our Sales Manager and General manager twice a day.

~~~~~~~As for your theory of how to steel laptops:~~~~~~~~

If the customer we recognize (or not) does not have the copy of the work order and receipt, we are required to not only ask for a government issued (state or federal) ID, but we also have to photo copy it, and if the name does not match the work order, we are not authorized to release the laptop into their custody.

With that said, go give your personal computer to a Technician at the self degrading Geek Squad, who work for commission.

We at Staples are in an ever growing attempt to build long lasting relationships with our customers, whether it be at the copy and print center, on the electronics or HUGE office supply floor, or in the Tech Center. If you feel that you are being mistreated as a customer, you have the right to speak up! At any time go to Staples.com, on the bottom there is a selection for Comments, and type the situation and it will be rectified, whether associates need to be trained better, or General Managers need to get fired. Corporate representatives are here for you.

Thanks~ Harold

No no no, please, save it. Staples "easytechs" don't know squat about computers. Its big business, retail, corporate [censored]. They hire people who barley know how to install an OS and expect them to work on dozens of "real life peoples" computers for outrageous prices. Just because they train you to talk to customers with conviction does not mean you are a professional computer technician. I mean they outsource half the service anyway. I say they get rid of the dreaded Easytech services becuase its giving the computer repair industry a horrible name...

I must say, I am incredibly disappointed in many of the comments here. As many people have stated before, you can not expect every single store to operate in the same fashion. By the same token, you can not expect every store to hire people with the same qualifications. I would be appalled if I found out than any of my coworkers did not have at least basic product and service knowledge of what Staples sells. At the store I work at (also in Region 1) we have 7 EasyTech Associates, out of these 7 only 4 of us have approval to work on customer's computers. Two of those four (myself included) are college students pursuing a degree in Computer Science, both of us also graduated from a Technical High School specializing in Information Technology and are certified with the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI). One of our other technicians is currently employed at an IT firm and has successfully completed many certifications (although I'm not sure exactly which ones). Finally, our "EasyTech Expert" is the final person able to work on computers and he is A+ Certified, and we have a copy of his credential in the store. As you can see, not all stores hire employees who are unfit to service your computers, the problem is not with the Staples chain, but with the individual store to which you choose to bring your machine.

Uhhh...

1. Not true.
2. True in the past, now there is certification but its still not all that good.
3. True.
4. Not true Unless California stores or that particular district had free diagnostics for a while.
5. This is because of bad management. Guess that's your fault buddy. Way to go.
6. Depends. Norton toolkit DOES remove threats but it sucks. Remote virus removals do indeed use freeware but trained techs use other tools to hunt viruses down manually. Also there is a way to remove them with the in store tech PC using Symantec Corporate edition.
7. Not true in the least. The ID pickup policy has been around for a while. Unless of course you are one of those managers who sits around all day and does not work and has no idea whats going on. Hahahaaha... yeah...

Here's number 8: Techs get paid minimum wage at Staples. That's right! Intrust your expensive machine and personal data to a part-time associate making minimum wage. What a great intensive he has to do a good job huh?

ERTHarold wrote:

"Staples Technicians who work in the Easy Tech Department not only are certified through Staples for every product sold and service offered totaling in 53 trainings and tests at hire, and recertified every year, they must pass a 100 question test based off the A+ Certification with a 3.0 or higher."

The 53 training tests do not help. The "100 question" certification is not literally one hundred questions that an associate must answer in full and get a passing grade. You take the test until it determines if you are good enough and then stops. For example I took the test and it stopped after 10 questions and I passed.

Also the pay sucks [censor]. If you think minimum wage is going to make associates care enough about fixing people's PCs then you're wrong. But I don't think you can control that anyway.

Staples needs to get rid of the easytech service! they suck

Most of what was stated is due to bad managers. All of the problems listed have policies in place so they do not happen. You simply took short cuts to get your 3000.oo per week. While it is true that sales associates don't make much higher than minimum wage, easy resident techs (who are certified) do make more money. If you are fixing computers for minimum wage, then your manager did not code you correctly, which amazingly enough leads back to the manager not doing his job correctly. So the way I see it, in any job, if you don't do what you are supposed to do, then you deserve to be fired.

DS
Region 4

***Yes I am a staples employee, yet, I dont fit the rather degrading profile of some (if not most) of my fellow associates
Most of the time you'll find that Staples/Bestbuy/Compusa and retail store do NOT follow the actual rules set up for them, but have some misguided or OCD manager/supervisor who insists on doing things his/her own way.

This bozo who posted the first comment sounds like a garbage manager for a variety of reasons:

1. If you are seriously so stupid as to not enforce the LP policies for releasing computers (ID and paperwork is required, if no paperwork is present, ID required to be photocopied in black and white and kept on file, no ID, no release) then there's no surprise you got fired.

2. The majority of the information you said surrrre sounds bad. OMG AWFUL. THESE GUYS ARE DICKS...please. Dude, for us people who actually know how the company asks us to do the work, and what our actual quality standards are, you sound like a joke of a manager who doesn't even understand nevermind comply with corporate guidelines.

3. Here's the god honest truth: There are a TON of certified, so-called genius computer repair guys out there. Just because you take your precious computer to a mom and pop vs a retail store does NOT automatically guarnatee you quality service. I for one have witnessed many a customer's machine that was "reformatted due to viruses" that some guy down the street supposedly did in his small shop. 98% of virus infections these days can be fixed without an OS reinstallation. But hey, what do I know.

4. Spyware tools used by Support.com (staples remote support affiliate) are not all freeware. They have corporate licensing for programs like Malwarebytes, GMER, etc but also go through a multi step verification process to insure proper remoal. Have you actually sat there and watched these guys work? They are quite thorough, but I guess you wouldn't know as you sit on your sales floor and lie to more customers to compensate for a lack of sales ability. Perhaps if you knew how to sell things correctly and offer customer service, you woudn't find this whole process so reprehensible, or hey, maybe you'd still have a job.

This entire first posting stinks of an "I just got canned" temper tantrum. Lets be honest here, if it was SO morally reprehnesible to you, why didn't you quit on your own, find a better job, and have the last laugh? But no, instead you try to win over random tards on the internet who believe anything you say as long as it jumps on the "hate on corporate america" bandwagon.

Whatever, im sure there won't be any real response from the OP. The night shift at McDonalds can be quite straining.

I am an ERT and my name is also Harold! lol. It is easy to slip in to a company pretending you no what you are doing. Bad management causes problems. Fortunatly at our store we have a sales manager who is knowlagable in computer repair, and three great, if not the best techs in the district. We are 100% customer driven, follow policy, and provide our customers with the total solution. You will find bad companies everywhere, unfortunatly for us the few bum stores down the rep of all of us! That just makes me want to work harder to improve the image, because I care about what I do, what ever it may be.

Dude! you have been brainwashed!

Wake up! doing computer repair at staples is a rip off, how do u live with yourself?! your sales managers have brainwashed you into thinking you know what you are doing. you rip off uninformed customers that you got because thats where they buy their office supplies. this is typical retail [censor]. they can't leave the computer business alone to the honest hardworking real local computer repair shops. they have to get the hands into it and exploit it to squeeze every possible penny out of an uninformed customer.

* for potenial customers of staples * stay away* they profit over 20 million a year from their "tech services".. they just want to upsell you on everything.. the so called "techs" are total noobs who don't know what their doing...

@ uhnonymous

At least take the time for something ressembling human discourse and come back and post something intelligent.

#1 - You are 100% incorrect. Only certified techs are able to work on PC's or even be behind the bench.
#2 - You are again 100% incorrect. All techs go through various certification tests, and now all resident tech's are required to have additional certifications (A+/NET+)
#3 - Everyone has to have a chance, and their not hired "off the street" they need to have some requirements to get a job for staples if applying for an easytech position.
#4 - Duh, the whole point is to fix the PC. The customer can always decline the recommended work.
#5 - 100% incorrect. If a mistake is made it would be reported to the customer. We only recommend system restores if their is a serious problem with the system registry or infrastructure.
#6 - WRONG! Staples does not allow techs to use any type of freeware licensed software. Norton Technician Toolkit does remove viruses, but the service would have to be paid for and a more extensive search for viruses/malware/spyware would be done with that service.
#7 - 100% incorrect again, you need ID to pickup your PC, and now it is required that you must have both the old service information (receipt) and ID

oheee i'm curently working for staples and it sucks .mostly the managment, working for staples are like slavery there is no such thing called job description(you must do every thing the manager order u and u have no right to ask why ) they try to save their money on the back of their workers .if you are ...totaly they are stupid and selfish

Wow, glad to see this thread still alive. @samuel3201, since when are ERTs required to have additional certifications? Have not heard of this yet. I barely make more an hour as an ERT than I did as an office supply associate 3 years ago. Yet for this I am expected to flawlessly handle at least $1500/week in computer repair services, and they really expect me to do $3000. Not me and 3-4 other associates, just me. Within the 15-20 hrs/week that I'm scheduled to work, I'm currently expected to 1)Sell as many EasyTech services as possible. 2) Sign customers up for our "Free PC Tune-Up/Consultation. 3) Perform said consultatations. 4)Maintain daily contact with customers regarding the status of their PC. 5)Assist in covering breaks/lunches on the sales floor/copy center/register. 6)Achieve/exceed PC sales market basket goals, which can be challenging when it's usually "John, can you help this person in laptops that's been waiting for 20 minutes? They look kinda P.O.'ed." 7)At some point manage to turn around all services withing 72 hours, no excuses. 8)If management is feeling especially generous, take a break/eat lunch. I think overall Staples is a good company to work for, but some of it's goals, policies/procedures, and expectations need serious revamping. How did everyone like the Super Bowl ad? Did that make them all come flocking into the store? :D

I agree with you on a few things. They really do need to revamp the goals. I'm currently a resident tech, and soon to be mobile tech. They expect too much out of the resident tech. The resident tech position should be only repairing PC's, and selling easytech services. You should not be required to be on the floor 50% of the day helping customers, that's what the rest of your team should be doing, keeping the customers away from you. I as well never got a raise moving up into the position, yet if I leave the position I am told that I will have to take a paycut, makes sence right? no. The first commerical they had was one of the worst I have seen, it didn't even explain easytech correctly. The second one that deputed is much better, but still could use some work on explaining the easytech services.

I worked for Staples for 2 years...making minimum wage. Staples is a joke. My GM was a [censored], he always had something smart to say to his employees AND customers. Not to mention none of us got any hours. Pretty sad. The company as a whole is just shady. I'm glad I got out of there.

Hi there, Mr pink here. I worked at a Washington staples for a year. I did not get fired I quit to find a better job. I do not claim to know everything about staples but I will tell you what I saw. The hours are a bit crazy, Management did work with me to get time off but other than that I found that I began missing out on my social life worse than I ever had before. Management asked me to start working split shifts and I responded with a definite NO. They did not get mad but I did have to work every late night pricing update night for the rest of my career! If you ever worked at staples and had to deal with the 3000 or so price updates and had to re size signage from corporate you will know my pain. Moving on, Management was ok. Breaking it down, The GM was a 45yo big guy who suffered from diabetes. He was demanding but quite fair. Next was the OPs manager, he was a mild mannered fellow who had trouble asking his crew to help him. He tried to do everything himself and got fired soon after I started. After that we had no POs manager for office supply for the rest of my career there. Finally we had a sales manager. He was a little man who could be quite funny at times. He did have a temper problem and a few times he tried to hit me for stuff that did not seem like a big deal. Case in point, He asked me to relieve a tech at the register and to tell him to help a customer. I did as I was told but the tech refused to leave his register. I then went to help the customer when the sales manager pulled me into the stock room and got angry. Oh by the way I might have made him angrier when I laughed at him when he was screaming at me in a violent PVT pile kind of way, sorry but i thought he was screwin with me!
Next, Management did not listen to the associates. One day I was using one of the expensive price scanners and noticed that I had it in my pocket when I helped a customer out with his chair. I found it odd that the anti theft alarm at the door did not go off, so I proposed to management that we put one of the little tags that set off the alarm at the door, if it is not deactivated, inside the battery box of the scanner. I told them that the scanners looked a lot like a PDA and a customer may try to pick one up, for these scanners were often left lying around the store. They told me it was not a good idea. A few months later one of the scanners disappeared and guess who had used it last. If you guessed me you would be right. I looked for that thing for weeks but it was gone. I got yelled at for the next 6 months in a predictable pattern depending on how many managers worked during my shift.
Next, One day I was restocking the paper wall and noticed that there were many cases of paper in mid stock. I decided to count them and worked out their weight to be a little under two ton. I then realized that that amount seemed excessive for the shelving that they rested on and asked the GM if he could ask corporate how much paper should be up there. He and every other associate laughed at me and said that the rack could hold all the paper that you could stack on it. A month later I was ordered to remove all the paper in mid stock orders sent directly from corporate! As I found out, a store's paper mid stock had collapsed in another state due to the over loading of weight on the shelves!
I seemed to be doomed to point out obvious errors in the store's managers judgment Until I learned the secret of success at staples was to just shut my mouth.
On to sales: easy sales "engage, ask, show, yes" That is in this guy's opinion is a recipe to high pressure sales. Not every customer will find what they are looking for in staples and once in a while you may just need to refer the customer to a place that would better suit their needs. Do not do this at staples! Or at least do not get caught actually helping the customer if your store does not have the product that they need. I was told over and over again to get to the YES no matter what even if that meant selling the customer stuff that they did not need. I once asked the GM if I could sell a FPP---Furniture protection plan on some file cabinets. I had read the FPP and it said that this brand was not covered, but I ran it by my GM to be sure that their had not been updates to the plan since the booklet was printed. He responded "sell the plans" It turns out that I was the only associate who had actually bothered to read the damn plan!
I could go on and write a book about all the strange stuff that goes on at staples buy I will do this in my memoirs LOL.
I understand that most of these problems were due to poor management but they are still fun to read about.
Corporate, In my opinion they are the devil! They manipulate the law so that even if you are working 40 hours a week somehow you still only get part time benefits. I am not a lawyer so I have no idea how they get away with this. Next, Sell Sell Sell, they force workers to sell an extended warranty with everything. Oh and they do keep track of who sells what and use it to goad employees to sell more, and guess what happens if you don't sell...FIRED. I felt dirty trying to slip in a warranty on elderly people's purchases and tried to avoid doing so. This worked for a week until the sales #s came in, then I was in trouble:( I once sold a $10 warranty on a $20 chair just so i didn't get fired. I learned to sell just enough to get by.
Wrapping this up, At the end of the day it was not any of these things that contributed to me quitting. I just found the job to be way too boring. It takes a special person to do the same thing every day without variation and the person is not me.
Would I ever work at staples again, no it is a mindless thankless job.
Pointers, Staples throws away tons of good stuff in their dumpsters. If an item is status 13 it is supposed to be destroyed and thrown away. The fact is that many staples drones, , , , eeer um i mean associates are just too lazy to destroy the stuff so it goes in the dumpster im new shape! I could probably make more money selling stuff they throw away than working there LOL.
They also throw food away from their snack isle away, so if you are reading this from a public library and are homeless and hungry try staples:)

Tech - This guy is 100% right. I work at staples and I can tell you first hand that its true. Staples is a company that wants you to think that they are there to help you get to the next level as along as you follow the Staples way. I was told to walk a customer if the PC sale did not reach a Total basket of 200.00 if not that’s not a staples customer ( so a staples customer is only the one who purchases 200.00 or more with every laptop) I think that Staples need to reconsider their marketing plan. There are better way to make sure that customer get what they need if they market far better.

Cashiers – Also cashiers are put a enormous about of pressure for the staples rewards cards sign up and making sure that they reach a penetration lever of 70% or more and 10 new sign ups per shift. Also they need to see 3 or more protection plans per shift. Last time I checked they are not sales people and want them to work like they are without any compensation for there are work so the Managers and District manager look good. Again another problem that can be changed by staples corp

Office supplies – This is the best of the best. Staples the office supply superstore ha ha 2/3 of all staples store are Electronics and the other 1/3 is office supply. They hire one guy to run this department and he is in charge of breaking down the trunk and filling is department. So many pen and paper products that it is overwhelming for one person to do while customer are stopping him for help. But he needs to have it done before his shift ends if not a write ups happens. Also if there is no tech guy on the floor he is responsible to sell laptops with no experience.

Easy Tech - This is the top of all positions. I oversee most people in this department The resident tech which is the person that supposed to fix Most of them are right out of school and have no experience in fixing anything at all. The processes is to use a usb stick that has a program designed by Norton that is in bed with staples as they are the main Anti-virus program, For the Free PC tune up. (Nothing is free here) most customer will have to pay at least 20.00 of a pc boost . They use a company called support.com to clean virus online. When you go there they tell you you have a virus based on that Norton tool with gives false positives. After that they tell you that one of our tech will be able to remove the virus in turn your information is remotely being clean by a support.com agent ( where in god he maybe in or out of the USA) cleaning your machine with your information. At 200.00 per removal. At the end you need to make 1200 a week in tech and make sure that you have it if not your you will be replace BY SOME OTHER SHUMK.
So to all that want to work for staples remember you will be ask to do more than what you think. Every day you will have to do the job of 3 for you one and get paid like a third class citizen
Your Adviser
Florida guy

Well hey I just got hired for staples easy resident technician and the only reason they hired me was because I have my A+, how did I get that, by taking a certification test. A+ is required by almost all technician jobs. Ohh and I'm not getting paid minimum wage Fyi, I am getting paid 14.50 starting and after 3 months it will go up to 16 dollars/ hour. I know how to fix PCs. Now for the manager that got fired on top, the reason u got fired was because u went and suggested stuff u should have been doing in the 1st place. And at my store not everyone is able to touch the computers only certified technicians can the only thing the easy tech associAtes can do is input the customers information into our system. Then he hands the pc to the certified technician to fix. The regular associates can't do pc tune ups. Only certified technicians can.
ERT Michael

Complaints should be rectified by staples.
I'm still waiting for my rectification.

DS wrote:

"If you are fixing computers for minimum wage, then your manager did not code you correctly, which amazingly enough leads back to the manager not doing his job correctly. So the way I see it, in any job, if you don't do what you are supposed to do, then you deserve to be fired."

Oh I'm sorry. Techs working on PCs get 40 cents more than minimum wage. What a difference! Thanks Staples, that totally beats Geek Squad et al.

Staples started as a decent company to work for.in the north carolina market, we had a decent caring regional, a good lp officer, an awesome dm, and a flakey micromanaging gm, who despite his annoying tendencies and sometimes awful bo, made you feel like a person, not a number, and would go the extra length to make sure you were happy. I left the company as an ert, which I was for 3 and a half years, added to a total of 5 years with staples. business was well, and the easy tech x.0 process was just being formed, which allowed alot of us techs who actually had tech bench experience actually perform and do well, because there was minimal interference from corporate gooning. I joined the company as a furniture specialist, which is no longer a coded position due to the fact that all staples furniture now sucks, and the majority of it is pushed through advantage or catalog.

I was not a+ certified, never have been a+ certified, other than the excerpt test staples made me take earlier this year. even though I have 10 years of back to back summer experience blowing up, and eventually, fixing pc's as a teen job, I for the employee above who stated that everyone must be certified: what region are you in? because here, I can tell you, that is not true. and if you're talking about the excerpt a+ test that allows you to be coded as "certified", its a load of crock. half the questions my 11 year old god son could answer, whom I would let him work on my own rig, before I let half of the "certified techs" work on mine at staples. i've seen guys pass this test with the use of google at the tech pc, and also with the power of android or the ipoon. I would never recommend a close friend, or family member walk into any staples store without me being present if they were buying anything other than a ream of paper, which is ridiculously priced, like the majority of products @ staples.

Transferring to the central fl market was the worst decision of my career. most customers would never come back if they realized the things that went on behind the counter. my duties as ert consisted of damage control, due to incompetent employees being hired behind my counter. we had no support or respect from our dm, our lp officer was a crook, I witnessed people fired for bringing unethical claims forward to lp versus using the ethics 1800 line. erts are expected to not only work the floor, which includes selling pc's, printers, machines, furniture, finding ink for the countless elderly people, but also work whatever is on the production board, bench, or what is coming up to your counter simultaneously, while doing freight, directed pulls, and replenishment. coverage is horrible, and scheduling is done back to back to save hours. the only communication I had with our other et assocs. is "hi", and "bye", thus further breaking down communication, which culminates into a cluster f*ck of mis-communication.

All easy tech services start to your friendly 3+ years and running "free pc tune up". ever heard the term, "nothing is free in life you idiot". as any business ploy, its to get you in to spend more money. I can sit here and tell you that there is marginally, nothing that you yourself cannot do that a "free pc tune up" does. I have never seen a "free pc tune up" do anything other than spout false positives. support.com, which is the third party in which online services are rendered through (services which include virus removals), is horrible. their techs are rude, snide, and above all else, never get the job done. we have incomplete tools, which the majority of the tools I had, I brought my self, and the tech kits I had, were my own personal flash drives, which was against company policy to have, however, I never would have been able to get anything accomplished if I didn't bring something in that worked. why? because staples easy tech believes that all you need is a diagnostic on every sale, a flash drive with ntt (norton) on it, and pc doctor. a diagnostic is marketed as "if we cant find the issue, you get your money back" however, I have never, since this slogan has launched, seen anyone get that fee back, because staples easy techs default response to issues that will take too long, or noone has any clue on is to "send it to depot repair" for $369. pick up and drop off procedures are nightmares... there is so much paper work that not only prints, but also has to be written in a certain way. on more than one occasion I have had customers walk away, and take their pc's elsewhere because of the way staples wants the initial intake process completed. the system we used to catalog services and keep information is extremely unreliable, as well as difficult to utilize in a snap. the parts depot is also unreliable, and always seems to be staffed with some guy who sounds like joe pesci from my cousin vinny, which also has an equally [censored] attitude because the part which is promised to the customer within a max of 10 days is taking 15 to 20.

You can say whatever you want, but customer data is not safeguarded in an efficient manner, in either of the three stores i've worked. it is opened to everyone, and anyone. I consistently found all manner of associates behind my counter, using the tech pc, or running "free pc tune ups". the cable locks for lock the pc's and the storage bins (for those stores that have upgraded tech counters), are of the cheapest quality. your unit is not safe at night, or during the day. I have used screwdrivers on more than one occasion to open the doors, because some idiot once again took the only key home, which by the way, is able to be duplicated with the right gear and the right cash waved in front of someone to ignore the warning stamped on it to not duplicate it.

The network was always going down, which multiple calls to is over the course of a year never fixed the issue. if I had to call you and tell you your service was delayed, normally, it was because our network was down again.

All associates are brainwashed, and pressured into selling extended plans and warranties at all costs. I would never buy a computer with a warranty at staples, as I have been apart of the warranty claim process, and literally cringe each and every time I have to be apart of it... as the computer never comes back fixed, ever. associates are taught to sell certain products, which to no surprise includes warranties, and norton, whom staples has a cute relationship with. if you're sale is not a weighty one, its almost expected to tell the customer "you dont have the pc", because they aren't buying any extras at the ridiculous price that they are at. stores send customers back and forth while playing this game, because noone wants to take a hit on their numbers or metrics. there is no discount, oh wait, 10% on everything but computers and services.

I started pleasantly pleased, and ended up completely embarrassed I had ever worked for the company. I left on my own terms, and am now working part time at compusa, holding a full time medical career. I would never, in a million years, suggest anyone think about joining staples. it's a company going down hill, and they have filed bankruptcy protection once already. they underpay, overwork, and try to squeeze every last ounce of sweat, blood, and tenacity out of decent employees, all while trying to mimic other techno-giants like best buy, and do it the cheapest, most inefficient way.

Staples Ink Cartridge Scam-
If you wish to return your ink cartridges to Staples, beware. When you receive your redemption coupon, it is only for a small window of time, then they will not honor it.
I was out of the country this summer for over a month and went to use my 12.00 coupon, but was not allowed to do so.
If this was based off what i had bought, I could have lived with it, but those ink cartridges are personal property, not perks and I do regard this as theft.
I will not use the company any longer and I wanted people to know that this is how this store does business.

This whole post is ridiculous. I see why you got fired as a GM. You're very unprofessional. I, myself, am an Easy tech, sales hybrid. I work on computers on a daily basis, and definitely know what I'm doing. I WAS NOT pulled off the street. We DO NOT over charge customers. We actually do a lot of price cuts with tech services depending on what was paid for prior, and what is needed to finish service on the computer. My Resident technician is the most knowledgeable technician I have ever met, and actually does tech work for 2 other MAJOR companies. Staples techs CANNOT use freeware. We have certain virus removal tools and diagnostic tools that we are allowed to use, and they are all very costly. We CANNOT perform virus removals. Virus removals are done in store, over the internet. The computer is booted into safe mode, and is taken over remotely for the service. There are many certifications that I had to go through to become a technician and a lot of supervised training with my resident tech. Any future employee that does not have some form of degree does NOT get hired directly as a technician. They get hired into "sales" and slowly, through various certifications and training, become a technician. And lastly, a copy of the work order, and ID are needed to pick up a computer. If we saw you drop it off, we're lenient on that matter. Or if you call in advance, and let us know who will be picking it up. Just because you're a disgruntled and embarrassed man, who was let go from a General Management position for being unprofessional, does not mean you have to bad mouth an entire company.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.
balbosta@gmail.com

Come on people, lets get real. As a former employee from this company i can tell you that their services are bad, I am a certified tech so I got a real job that pays me a decent wage based on my certifications. For one thing the priorities on Staples have changed, for example if you are working on a machine and they pull you over the cash register to do cashiering jobs, you have to drop everything you are working on to do attend the registers. I was forced to up sell always looking for the company not the customer, we ha to meet quotes, easytech to get $2000 a week, warranties about 7%, the hard part was to work in the floor put away merchandise, sell, and upswell and at the same time to work on computers, there were times when only one employee had to cover everything. But for some weird reason we had lots of cashiers.
I know that every store is different and maybe they are some good techs out there, but if they know how much they are worth, they should a better paying job, get certified and apply somewhere else, Staples wages for tech can start about $9 to $ 11 per hr, with the certifications you can get a starting pay at Best Buy for about $17.
One thing about Staples is they are good at selling office supplies, but tech services have a long way to go. If the company wants to become the best they need to hire the best with the best pay, at least $18 plus commissions based on sales. Then maybe they have a chance.

Hmm..not all Techs that work at Staples are incompetent...I am the Easy Tech Lead at a Best tech Store, and do a majority of the work on customers computers in-store and on-site. Certifications currently in my possession... CompTIA A+, NET+, Security +; CISCO CCENT; Microsoft MCP. I am a experienced Network professional by trade, so you can't say that all techs are hired off the street with zero experience because that just isn't true.

thats false all easytechs are certified and knowledgable, I agree staples pushes easytechs on selling services and sales and tech work, doesnt provide a car for onsite techs and pays very close to miniumum wage for someone thats experianced and knowledgable and does the same or more work for someone that should be making atleast 15-16 dollars an hour. I found that its all about money working for them. Its a really nice place to work and the push on the sales can be sometimes fun but when you think about how much they pay its kind of dissapointing. They came out with the whole VIBE and ET 2.0, I hope they look at the value of the employee in the future becuase I would like to stay there if they actually pay us more attention and stop underpaying us and value their employees.

Okay, I worked at Staples briefly and all the negative posts in this thread are true. I don't know where the positive posts come from, but my Texas store fits all the negative points

easyTechs aren't hired with formal certification

The pay sucks, all employees are expected to "Sell, Sell, Sell" protection plans, rewards, and store credit accounts without any commission. All employees are expected to be proficient on the cash register in addition to their hired position.

The hours suck, at best you can get 30 hours on a schizophrenic schedule (open, close, midday, overnight) there are no set shifts and if you're new, expect to work 1 or 2 days a week on average and expect to be sent home early often.

I joined Staples because in the interview they said that I could expect to work 20-30 hours per week on average.

I left Staples because they were only working me 8 (16 if I was lucky) hours per week and giving me the run around about the promised scheduled hours.

The store manager told me" "it's just how things are in retail"
I replied: "not in any of the retail jobs I've had previously"

...when did they start requiring us to have additional certifications? I must have missed that particular memo.
Now, for the point by point rebuttal...

1: I catch anyone other than someone who's allowed to work on the computers even standing behind the counter? Management is informed and I personally (and physically) escort them out of there.

2: Way back when I started, to be a technician, you had to actually attend a training event. Even now, there is a certification test, but it's no walk in the park, honestly. It is an adaptive test that changes based on how you answer. There is no training going over the test, it is not actually administered by Staples, and it requires either personal knowledge, Google, or another employee walking you through it. Of course, a manager allowing the second two would be a major violation of ethical policies...

3: This gets you hired into the DEPARTMENT, not to be able to work on computers. You get hired, you have an A cert, and you can't pass the Staples requested certification test? You don't get to work on computers, just the sales floor.

4: You, sir, seem to be getting the "Free PC-Tune Up" and the (relatively now) Diagnostic Refund confused. Yes, we offer a Free PC-Tune Up, which is a basic check to see if we can get some money out of you. Scan for viruses, defrag the system, run windows update...nothing truly groundbreaking. It's mainly to see if we can find viruses. The Diagnostic Refund is not 'free'...it states (running from memory, here...)That if we cannot fix your machine, your diagnostic is refunded. I don't recall ever being outright told (by way of company policy) to refund the diagnostic elsewise. The diagnostic is not free. Best case, it goes towards your repair (a Data Transfer, by the way, does NOT fix a problem...)...and it's supposed to be charged in advance. If you haven't been collecting money in advance, I can see why you were fired.

5: I. Am. Offended. We f*** up your computer, we fix it. It's right there in the legally binding contract that is signed at intake. This seems more ineptitude of the individual store than a company wide thing, as it's an easily exposed lie. A customer can opt out of ANY service before it's performed. They come in and a computer is in worse state than when they dropped it off (brought it in for office to be installed, come in and it's now an Elder God...) that kind of raises red flags that the store screwed something up, and should fix it. It doesn't apply to all situations, we've had a couple of hard drives fail outright on us in the middle of a tune up due to unseen errors, but for the most part, if your computer breaks on the bench? It's fixed by staples.

6: Yes, Support.com (not the in store. It's actually explicitly listed that using unauthorized software on the store level is a terminable offense) uses software that can be downloaded by the user for free. I've actually got a bit to go along with this in a moment, so not going to be redundant. But it's not the in-store technician using the software.

7: It's also not required to have the intake paperwork unless it's someone whose name doesn't match picking up the computer. You pick it up, we're supposed to check ID. If the name mismatches, and we don't have permission for you to receive the computer, you don't get it until we call the person whose name is on the computer. If you have permission to pick it up, we make a a photocopy of the ID (black and white only) and then you get it. Not all stores do this, just saying how it's supposed to be done.

What the fired manager, who appears to have been posting out of sheer butthurt for being fired, has forgotten is that (and this applies to ALL computer repair locations)...there isn't a THING that we do that the customer cannot do themselves. From the lowliest of defragmentations to replacing every part in a laptop after a liquid spill, the customer can do all of this on their own. Do they have time to do so, or patience? Do their hands shake so bad they can't get a screwdriver into the guides? Fear drives a lot of people in, afraid that if they click the wrong button, their computer will burst into flames and a screamo band will start a performance in their lap. Why yes, the prices are high. Consider it less how much the service is worth and more 'how much is the convenience worth?'.

You appear to have been GROSSLY breaking policy, which is the only reason you would have been terminated without cause. As a GM, you should've known this..you cannot just 'be fired' in Staples, with a few exceptions. If they do not have a writeup or a note to file on the record for you, you for the most part cannot be fired. Unless you were to steal (immediate), or...

...well, let's say that if you were a General Manager, knowingly letting your employees release computers to people without checking ID, letting your employees use freeware that is unlicensed by Staples to use, letting whatever employees were on shift look at customer computers without them being authorized to work on computers...these are all offenses that can result in immediate termination, without cause, to the individual. A GM letting this go on for so long without curtailing it...let's just say that the employees are obviously not the cause of the issue.

Sources: Work for Staples. Work in a Right to Work state. Have watched management fruitlessly try to fire employees. Also, do all of my own computer repair, build my own machines, administer my own server and network, and generally have (and had before starting there) experience working on and with computers. But, if you think this is better than attending a class and being told that you're now able to work on computers, such as with A certifications or the Staples certification process... (see what I did there?)

Also, it feels weird writing this post defending Staples after, on another site, condemning Staples for a different reason.

Dear Ms. Zyda,

Your feedback is much appreciated. We would like to contact you directly and hear from you.
May we have your email address or contact number?
Or, is it possible to contact us at m.alulod@samsung.com

Again, thanks for your valuable time. We hope to hear from you soon.

Monei Alulod

Customer Service Division

Samsung

I'm a ETE in California who get harassed about all the time on how my numbers aren't good enough. I'm also a key carrier who is MOD and closes the store 4 nights a week with no other manager and is responsible for Tech, BM, OS, Load, Planograms, Copy Center at times, and covering breaks and lunches . And they wonder why are ESP is at 5% all the time. This company can suck my dick and anyone else who defends it can suck it as well.