Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Staples is Stupid

I encountered one of those situations yesterday that makes you shake your head and wonder, "What in hell is wrong with these people?"

I run a small business and I'm the only one in my office. I occasionally need office supplies, but not often. I had decided to use Staples because they offered a 2% rebate back when I used my AMEX card (they don't anymore) and they had a couple stores convenient to me. I signed up for an online account. I continued to use them, but because I didn't order $50 to qualify for free shipping, I'd stop into a store when I was out running other errands.

So yesterday, I needed a few things and decided to sign on and enter an online order. Staples Online rejected my signon. When I tried to enter my email address to have them reset my password, the site didn't recognize my email either. This is the same address at which I had received two Staples coupons in the past week.

So I called Staples Customer Service. They tell me that because I hadn't ordered anything online "in the past six months", my ID, PW and email were expunged. Yet they had just sent me coupons to use just days earlier. Go figure.

So the lady in Customer Service tells me, it's real simple, all I have to do is sign up again. When I was quiet for a few seconds, she asked me if she could help me with that or anything else. I said, "Yes, can you give me the web address for Office Depot?" When she told me she couldn't help me with that, I just said, Well, goodbye then."

Bad news on the author front. Andrew Britton, who wrote one of my favorite books of 2007, THE ASSASSIN, died last week at the age of 27. Britton died at his home in Durham, NC of a previously undiagnosed heart ailment. Britton was a big talent and was receiving comparisons to Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum. His first book was THE AMERICAN and his third book THE INVISIBLE was just released. All three feature Ryan Kealey, a former Special Forces soldier, now a CIA Operative. The Raleigh Chronicle did a nice article on Britton here:
http://tinyurl.com/22a38m

Enjoy it while you can. None of us gets out of this alive.
Dave