*Warning* Office Depot Fake Deal and Fake Staples Ad :(

[Jaysnugs]

This is in reference to the deal previously mentioned that offered the following in a Staples Advertisement that seemed just too good to be true to be able to PriceMatch at Office Depot:

100 pack spindle Imation CRDs
PNY 32 Meg RAM
HP CDRW
The Iomega Zip disk drive
Etc...


As good as this offer seemed, I should have known better to think it could actually be true. I took the staples ad (which you can find at this link: https://www.idrive.com/hockeyla32/files/scan.jpg?current-node=6181142472979120169&JServSessionId=dtFg0kKW0.o.!YZgCb.JS24) and went to Office Depot and approached the customer service desk. The manager and the lady behind the counter proceeded to tell me that that ad that I had was a fake and a fraud and that someone made it up on their computer because he had a few people try using the ad earlier in the day, so they were familiar with it. The manager said he called every Staples in the area and none of them had any prices even close to the ones lised in the ad. He also mentioned that bringing in an illegal ad to try and use was also illegal etc... I brushed that one right off because I know I have not done anything wrong. He went on to say that many Office Depot's around the area had not realized the fake ad and lost a tremendous amount of money because this supposed scam. So, I guess some people got away with it.

But out of curiosity I went to Staples to check them out. Sure enough Staples' prices were the same as Office Depot's and those prices in the *Ad* that I printed out from the thread must be a fake as the manager had said. My thoughts are that it was a fake and someone just changed the prices around on the ad, or it was a special run solely for the newly opened store in California, and not for any stores by my in Northern New Jersey.

Anyway you look at it, I am not going to be able to take advantage of this deal/fraud that has seemingly been created. No harm to me, but I wish I would have known this before going into Office Depot. Just thought all of you should know this before trying http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

Jaysnugs

[DrSluggo]

that's because that ad was strictly for a few store openings in the LA/Orange County area of CA, if I remember correctly. So tell the Office Depot guy to go eat it. http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Bandito]

If you do a search in the forums under deals and look for the original post it clearly states 'only for stores in the Los Angeles area.' It was a grand opening promotion. They run those around here (Detroit) when new stores open and do crazy things like sell PIII 500MHz barebones systems (motherboard, cpu, case) for $180 which at the time was 1/3 what it was worth. They usually only have something 100 units and no rainchecks so you end up waiting in the dark for the store to open along with 100 other dedicated shoppers.

[Sador]

Before stomping someone's deal Jaysnugs, you might try consulting the poster...

kinda rude when you don't have YOUR facts straight...

[vadimr]

heh, Northern New Jersey thats where i got my pack.. I wonder which one u went to man? I'll tell you what I can.

[DrSluggo]

BTW... Office Depot chewed me out for trying to pricematch the 80min CDRS that Office Max had of the 74 min. They were like "NO THESE ARE NOT THE SAME. NO, NO, NO." i was like "ok" and they were like "NO, YOU CAN NOT PRICEMATCH."

screw it!

[JIWC]

Okay, Okay people....calm down. There has been quite alot of deals that too good to be true, but do not go accusing anybody or any deal of fraud. It's best to get your facts straight like Sador said earlier. Because this post is on the net, everybody around the world can read it, but they must notice the little details......like sometimes, the deals are restricted to a certain area.

But thanks Jaysnugs for verifying that it doesn't work anywhere else. http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

all in all.....back to the deals.......cause I think this deal is over already considering most OD (in the LA/Orange/maybe SD counties) are "out of stock."

[This message has been edited by JIWC (edited 06-08-2000).]

[vadimr]

Well it did work here in New JErsey I previously posted receipt on another board, But i no longer want it there. So ok.. Over at leat i got 1 pack.

[JIWC]

if you do that at other places, my advice is, dont' get caught......soemtimes it's not worth the try...

[Hrudey]

Hey thanks Jaysnugs. I appreciate bein called a fraud. Dont use the ad if you think its fake, dont blame me. Geez..like I could really make an ad like that on the computer! Try using your brain before accusing people of cheating. There are about a few hundred thousand people in LA and Orange County that saw the ad in the newspaper, thank you very much!

[Jawbreak]

This was not a fraud... I had the real ad and was able to get a 100 pack for $2.60.
Im in san diego, but even though I went to 5 different OD, and only one worked. I was turned down at the others. Just because you get turned down doesnt mean it's not fake. The reason it was so cheap because it was a grand opening sale. Posting on the site not only helped people in San Diego but from the looks of it helped even people not in SD, just gotta get lucky. I got lucky once, remorse, none but it was a REAL ad.
My 2 cents hehe.

Jawbreak

[muffdivr]

i posted the original thread because i had an original add that was indeed posted in the san diego tribune. the ad was specific that it mentioned for san diego county the sale prices were only for one "certain" store in san diego county and i guess it was the same for the orange and LA area. this WAS NOT A FAKE AD!!! i brought the original ad to the store and bought several newspapers so i didn't have to bring in a copy of it. unfortunately i couldn't scan it my self for anyone but as we can see its un necessary. some of the stores i did go to in san diego even called that store in san diego to verify and luckily they did have it in stock at those prices. i dont know where you went and they told you that stuff...but THEY dont know what they're talking about.

[Jawbreak]

He works for OD!!! hehe

Jawbreak

[makm]

hey Jaysnugs, here's a suggestion. Get off your lazy a$$ and read the whole thread next time. i put the link of the thread that started this Staples ad for the people that didn't understand it. here's the bright side, at least you spelled "ad" right.

[Speedfreak]

I used the ad that was in the Sunday LA Times. The add was just for the La Mirada store. It was the SAME as the ad that was scanned in by muffdivr except that below where the scan was cut of it said "THIS STORE ONLY" and a map pointing to the LA Mirada store. I used it at the Tustin store to get my 100-pack of Imation CD-Rs for ~$2.60.

THIS IS NOT A FAKE ADD

Tell those d00ds @ OD to call the La Mirada Staples and ask if they have special prices on 100-pack Imation CD-Rs til' Sunday. That should calm them down..... hopefully. http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

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[Jaysnugs]

Geez, all of you calm down, my gosh!

1st of all, I said the manager called your *ad* Fake, and I was passing on this information. I actually appreciated your help in scanning the ad. Yes, I now see that I overlooked that it was meant for California, but thought otherwise. I am sorry ok? I was just trying to post some useful information so that no one else would make the same mistake as I did, as trying this outside of California accidentally. Please...cut me a break! People do make mistakes, or as it seems you get hung on this site if you mess up. Again, I appologize for the misunderstanding, but I was just relaying what the rude manager told me. I wish some of you who responded so darn rude and inconsiderately to my post would re-read what you wrote and see that it was way out of line. Thanks for being inconciderate to me. My only intensions were to help, I guess that was easily overlooked. I am glad most of you that responded got your daily frustrations out on what I wrote. Have a great day. Hope my next post is more informative http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

Jaysnugs

[ek5686]

JAYSNUGS!!!

THE AD IS NOT FAKE...I REPEAT, NOT FAKE!

[Jaysnugs]

Kimeh... I agree with you and understand that the Ad is NOT fake. It was the manager of Office Depot that ripped me apart declaring that the ad was fake blah blah blah. Hrudey (sorry if splet wrong) was nice enough to post it for us. Hey, I tried like a lot of others have, but we all make a misunderstanding every once in a while...I guess this was my time to do it http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif Happy Deal Hunting!

Jaysnugs

[Asianguy]

Hey Guys, the ad is NOT a fake, but it only works in San Diego cause they opened a new Staples on Rancho Carmel Dr. I went to the Office Depot in La Mesa, near my house and found the 100/pack of CDs. I asked the girl about their pricematch policy then grabbed the CD's and took them to the counter. The Girl scanned it for $80 and I took out the ad and told her that I wanted them to match the price. When she saw that Staples had them for $30, she was quite shocked, and called the manager. The manager came over and told me that the girl forgot to mention that they wouldn't pricematch the item if it was over 10 miles away and kept saying that, that Staple was not their nearest competitors and besides, at the bottom of the ad, it said that that ad was only good at the Staples up in Rancho, that's over 10 miles away so she would not match it. I guess I'm going to find a Office Depot closer to Rancho Carmel Dr tomorrow then. Don't let those guys call the ad a fake, it's not, it's just not in your area. Sorry guys, nothing for me today, maybe tomorrow.

[Dave_7]

Ahhhh La Mesa... the murder capital of San Diego.

On to a related topic. A deal is a deal. But don't go trying to squeeze one by. If a Staples store is opening 2000 miles away from you, do you really think it's reasonable to expect a local Office Depot to pricematch it? The idea of price matching is to get you to bring your business to one local store rather than another. It's $hit like this that is causing the pricematching phenomenon to go away.


Dave.

Now stepping off my soap box.

[jstreet]

Hey hey hey, calm down all http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif "Can't we all just... git along? ;p"

Here's the deal: (no pun intended). The ad was originally intended for a different area, but some people had luck using it elsewhere. In my experience, I took a printed copy from the posted scan to the Office Depot in Warwick, Rhode Island - possibly the farthest Office Depot from where the ad was originally intended for - and aside from the manager coming over and making a little scene that I was getting a product at 3% of its original cost, there were no problems. Perhaps it was just the way my Office Depot runs - perhaps it was just the failure of the staff to check up on the small print of their pricematching policy - perhaps it was just my boyish good looks and natural flirtatious tendencies <G> - at any rate, the deal worked for me and several others outside of CA by the looks of it, and that's that. The ad isn't a fake, as we've already established in the numerous posts above, it's just an ad intended to only reach a certain audience, that instead reached a much larger one. The Warwick Office Depot went with it, and in a little while I'll hop down to the one in Manchester and see if it works. Worst case scenario, I only (only?) get an $80 product for $2.58, and best case scenario, I get $160 of merchandise for $5.16. So, now that I've had my say, I think I'll hop down of this metaphorical soap box and hope that it's clear to the original poster and the repliers that the ad works for some, not all - anyone who wants to try their luck in Warwick can drop by and say Hi on the way back http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

-Ben

[dev_null]

Actually Staples and Office Deport are just prejudice against people from New Jersey

Dev_Null

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Ethernet (n): Something used to catch the Etherbunny.

[Hrudey]

sorry everyone..didnt mean to start a whole argument here...cant we all just get along..comeon now..

[freenet]

To the original poster on this and others: when store clerks, managers, and telephone customer service reps tell us something, unfortunately 90% of the time it is PURE B.S.!! Im stereotyping here, but these people have little knowledge and are trained to sell things at the highest possible price, not to help you get a deal...

Office Depot is NOTORIOUS for having an idiot assistant manager look at an ad for 15 minutes trying to find a way to get out of matching it..Ive been in one store for 45 minutes b/c the guy just couldnt bear the idea of giving me the item for free...If they dont want to do it then dont have the @#%$^ 155% policy. If you are gonna have the policy, dont beat customers heads in for taking advantage of it...Us deal finders are usually 100 times more knowledgable about a deal than anyone we find in the store...

just my two cents

[colossus]

Damn, I've been to 5 Staples and 6 ODs in the LA - all of them with no luck and I'm not even that pissed off about it. You guys are way too upset. And yes the Ad is real if you see the LA Times on Sunday page A12.

Don't bother trying any Staples in the LA area now cuz they issued a frickin memo, and all the ODs are cleared out by those few who managed to escape with one.

I think the only people who still have a shot at this deal are the ones outside of CA like in Jersey or somewhere, and even then I think that borderlines on fraud if you don't show the whole add.

You would think I would have picked up something cuz the La Mirada store is less than 10 miles from my house! Sheesh!

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Ço£o§§ü§ - yeah you can read into it...

[Timotheus]

Hey Dave (or anybody for that matter),

Did you say the Pricematch thing is going away? When is that happening? Is there a thread or story about it?

Tim

[ugly]

Jaysnugs: I feel your pain, man. Mistakes happen. Come on guys; calm down and cut this guy some slack. I think he has already learned his lesson. http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by ugly (edited 06-09-2000).]

[Jaysnugs]

Thanks Ugly http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif What else can I say, I messed up, but I admit it and hope others can find someone else to prey on http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

Jaysnugs

[ugly]

Heh heh! It is so true...what you said about users on this site verbally lynching anyone who makes a mistake.

[makm]

I think Jaysnug learned his lesson by now and i'm sorry for what i said. Hrudey was the only one nice enough to get up and scan the ad for us. so i will back him up 100% on this deal.

[Dunkin' Donut]

I live in the SF bay area in Northern California and I got the price matched at a local office depot and staples. When I first went to Office Depot they wouldn't honor the ad. I then went to the Staples store and they gave me the deal. I took the receipt back to the Office Depot store and they would only match the price, but no 155% guarantee. Still a good deal nevertheless. 64 mb ram for $20 is pretty good. Anyone who lives around here have the ad work?

[muffdivr]

i think its okay now. jaysnug just didn't know what was going on and may have just had a bad experience.

[Megaman369]

Just Breath.. 321 123 what the hell is bothering me helps me out alot.!

Mega

[Fu-Man Chu]

Hey, although I wasn't able to get the ad to work at another OD (they wanted the original ad), I was able to get Best Buy to pricematch the RAM. That's still 32 MB of PC100 RAM for 10 - 4 (10% difference, not 55%). But, warning, you have to buy the RAM FIRST and then show the ad to get the difference, otherwise, they'll only match the 10 bucks and not give the 4 dollar difference, still not bad at all! However, they did make me wait a little over 30 minutes while they tried to figure it out.

[makm]

Hey Dunkin' Donut, where do you live? if you live in the city San Francisco, which stores did you go to?

[Jram]

ANY ONE THAT GOT REJECTED FOR A FAKE AD POST YOUR RESPONSES UNDER NEW TOPIC THIS AD IS REAL AND I WANT SOMEBODY TO MAIL ME THE ORIGINAL AD FOR A FINDERS FEE REWARD ALONG WITH A CHANCE ON AMULTI LEVEL LAWSUIT([email protected])

[Asianguy]

Damn, I just got back from the Staples where the ad originated from, they ran out of the pack of CDs, rams, and zip drive. But they did have a 56k Mach2 Modem for $2, and a 12mb 3dfx Voodoo2 3d Accelerator for $30. Is that video card any good? Anyways, I went to the Office Depot like 3 blocks away to see if I could get a pricematch for the CDs or Ram, but they took it all off the shelf, when I asked to buy it they said they'd get more Monday (after Staples Ad is over).

[irwin]

hello! its late and im still doing my hw! :wavey: