Office Depot

This review is for their printing service. I put in a simple same day order to pick up in their store and never heard back from them. When I called to ask them about it they couldn’t find any record of my order even though I had received a confirmation email and had checked my order status online to confirm that they had received it. They said they would look into it and call me back but never did. It wasn’t until I called the next day that someone finally reached out to me and let me know they had been backed up and my order was ready. It would be helpful if you let customers know when their same day order won’t be ready on the same day.

Jeney was super attentive and patient while helping us print some 11×17 pages even though the computers were super slow…
Message to management: please upgrade the computers so your employees can take better care of the customers — they’re super super SLOW…

As much as I like that this place is reasonably nearby I have to be honest and say that it’s in a terrible location. It’s easy enough to get in but getting out and back into El Camino is ridiculous because you can’t make left turns nor u-​turns so you have to drive into Los Altos, go into a driveway and turn around to come back.
The other problem is that most of the time when I send someone there with a flash drive for a quick print job, they can’t read the flash drive. I always have the flash drive brought back to me where I Test it with a dedicated utility and it’s never defective (I can always read the files just fine). It’s the 21^st century, there is never a reason to not be able to read a flash drive. This impacts me a lot because I’m an independent consultant and not getting a job finalized quickly means that the client might not call me back the next time.
I’ve never had any problems printing anywhere else. The employees here are lackadaisical, and are unresponsive when we ask for help. When a flash drive can’t be read by their computer all they say is «it happens». They don’t check in another machine, they don’t reboot, they don’t reinstall their HFS driver, nothing. It’s rather disappointing, and has been consistently this way for years.

The management needs to train or retrain their associates to deliver good quality customer service. I had a terrible experience this morning with one lazy, back-​talking worker who treated me like a low class citizen when I was asking nicely for help in looking for an item after I have been searching in the area I was directed to for a good amount of time. She was just pointing me to the area where I came from. Is it so hard to do your job and go with me so I can finally buy what I was looking for and save us both our time? I hope this is an isolated event and not the norm. I normally don’t step foot in this store and order stuff online, now I am reminded why. I left feeling bad and stepped on and treated like an idiot, ruining my morning. Not acceptable and no excuse for behaving like that on the job. If you work in customer service, you are supposed to help customers and do it in a pleasant manner, especially if you are being asked nicely. It’s not even going the extra mile. It is in the job description.
PS: after reading other Unilocal reviews, it seems to me that poor customer service is a repeat offense in this store. Office Depot really needs to do something about this, it has been going on for years.

I had a good manager, a tall guy (too bad I did not get his name) helping me with my needs as I had so many things to buy for my Office as we just moved here. Appreciate the help and assistance. Keep up the Good Work.

Can you believe that #OfficeDepot charged me 50 cents to put a strip of tape on a pre-​paid #UPS package to return to Amazon. Things that make you go hmmmm?

Super convenient location. Used to go here often for random and substantial supplies. Haven’t been in a long while and… I think it’s even worse than it used to be (only marginal a few years ago).
Stopped in today — walked the store a few times trying to find a tape measure. Actually saw folks in Office Depot shirts TURN AWAY from me when I got near (it was pretty obvious that I was searching for something). Finally caught someone’s attention and he took me to where the item USED to be. The display was no longer there and so he told me they must have run out. I said «Really? You RAN Out so don’t stock them anymore?» and so he asked someone else… who pointed us to the display that (thankfully) still had a single measuring tape hanging on a peg.
Got up to finally pay for the various items I’d picked up and, the cashier asked if I had an Office Depot card. I told him «no, I threw it away when you wouldn’t help me to update the information.» He didn’t even seem to care. I actually did destroy the card when I was told I’d have to go in to their website to update my email address. I’d had the card — opened with my personal phone number — from a previous startup and I wanted to get the statements at my current startup. They couldn’t do anything for me. Hellloooo… welcome to Silicon Valley in the 2000s. Many of us KEEP our phones and update our emails when we leave someplace. I forgot about doing that until after the account was closed. Geez. Stupid short sighted company rule.
So — no help. No help and… no help.
Done.
OfficeMax, here I come! :)
(Oh, and of course… AmazonPrime)

I went to have copies made, after first going to FedEx/​Kinkos and having a horrible experience. The young woman who helped me at Office Depot in the print section was amazing. She asked the right questions to figure out what I needed done and handled my entire print job while I waited. She even separated the major sections of my presentation with post-​it notes without me asking, and that was really helpful. Will be coming back.

After going to three stores where no one wanted to help me, I finally was able to come here. As always, excellent customer service. Helpful even if they don’t have what you’re looking for.

this is a very convenient location for me since i can walk from home. for everyone else, i’d still say the location is pretty good, near the intersection of el monte and el camino, which is a heavy traffic area. fortunately, there is plentiful parking in front of the store.
i come by periodically to stock up on the basics for my home office and i’m always able to find what i need, i.e. reams of paper, writing instruments, notebooks, desk organizers. for my wedding earlier this year, i actually needed to buy some stickers as part of some DIY projects and they had a pretty big selection.
staff is pretty friendly, and i’ve always been greeted by at least one staff member (if not two or three) whenever i stop in. one time i had to return something that i inadvertently damaged (slightly on the outside container) and they were more than happy to let me return the item for a full refund.
since santa clara county is currently in back to school mode, this place has been busy as of late, with students and parents collecting items on their back-​to-​school lists. there have been many great discounts on school supplies as a result of this annual fall event.

Help is always watching er asking if you need anything. Half the lights were out and very dark. But picked up a new briefcase at a great price with great exit service

I experienced some outstanding customer service here today from a Department Manager names Ariel. The item I was looking for is so archaic, that they no longer carry such a thing. He went to the trouble of looking on-​line to see if OD carries it at all, and when he found out that they do not, he pursued the search even deeper, coming up with exactly what I was looking for on
. I left with a print-​out of the relevant page, a big smile on my face, and a great deal of appreciation for the time he saved me and the successful outcome of my search. I will absolutely be going back to this store (over several other office supply options) simply to «repay» the favor that good employee did for me today. Many thanks, Ariel, and kudos as well to whoever hired and trained you so effectively!

LOUSY customer service if you need help with anything. I was ignored while waiting in line for the copy/​shipping services. The cashier looked at me several times, did not say a word, helped someone else who wasn’t in line and then just left. When I talked to the manager he said, «Oh, I saw you there but I was called to do something else.» You couldn’t even acknowledge my presence and let me know someone would be right with me? Do they not train their staff on customer relations?
Copy machines are outdated. Go around the corner to FedEx/​Kinkos on El Camino Real, much better quality and up to date!

You only get two stars, because you only stock the inferior Energizer and not Duracell batts. Shame on you.

I really don’t like shopping at Office Depot. But due to the fact that I’m going back to school and needed a range of items from loose-​leaf college ruled paper to a micro sd card to store my school work, I decided to give this location another try.
This spot is like a ghost town. All of the employees seem to congregate around the cash registers rather than being available throughout the store, or bothering to pick up the empty boxes lining the floor of the store-​perhaps from re-​stocking items. I tried to get the attention of a sales associate, only to realize he was speaking to someone else via his headset. Awkward… not even an acknowledgment. I can’t even express how awesome it is feeling invisible as I seek out a long list of back to school supplies. I may as well have gone to Costco.
I always end up dealing with employees (particularly cashiers) who have no idea what they’re doing. Don’t bother asking them any questions about, well, anything. I’ve tried, and received only confused looks and shrugs.
I realized I didn’t see the cashier go into the «secret electronics stock room» to get my micro sd card (the primary reason for shopping there) after he had finished ringing up my items and asked «Did you put the micro sd in the bag?»
He responded in a slightly sarcastic tone «Oh yeah, I put everything in there.»
Umm…sure. I didn’t believe him but didn’t want to come across rude, so I went outside and looked inside my bag, and JUST AS I SUSPECTED, he had thrown the display box for the item into my bag instead of actually going to GET the item for me. In HUGE LETTERS it says «DISPLAY BOX.» Now what the heck would I have done with a display box? I understand, everyone makes mistakes, but perhaps he should have actually CHECKED inside the bag and noticed his error instead of acting like I’m the idiot for asking. Thank goodness I actually checked before driving home. Needless to say, I won’t be returning to this location. Its an utter waste of time. Low prices aren’t worth the stress of double-​checking a cashier’s work.

Worse service ever! I stayed there waiting to get help for about 20 minutes when I finally decided to make the phone call to Palo Alto and see if they had an item I needed. I walked out and no one said a thing! I was buying furniture! Not a paper clip! This has happened to me SEVERAL times… so it is not based on one trip only.
Yet, I went again and for the first time a couple of weeks ago got great service, perhaps because they were closing and it was just a couple of guys who were really nice. Maybe the night crew is better? I don’t know, but it shouldn’t be that way.

While renovating my company’s new office, I had to buy about 6 oversized whiteboards and 2 oversized bulletin corkboards. Office Depot carries the best selection and best price of whiteboards compared to Office Max and Staples.
This store location is decently clean. After I cleaned them out of the first round of whiteboards, it took about one month before I could buy more. Whenever I’d ask about them, no one could give me an answer. Many times I was led on by an employee that they could go in back and get one for me, but they would always come back with apologies — really not a big deal if they didn’t get a new shipment, but they wasted a lot of my time leading me on.
The service is sort of immature but not hostile.

After surfing through the selection of filing cabinets offered at
I figured I’d give the local brick-​and-​mortar a try.
The furniture display section is pretty ghetto, but I just grabbed a 2-​drawer metal filing cabinet for $ 50. I signed up for the loyalty program and received a $ 10 coupon and a metal water bottle, which is something I just happened to need anyway. That’s a good deal. Better than
anyway and no wait for shipping.

This Office Depot branch went above and beyond for me. I bought discs there as I use burnable discs. However, months passed and the discs seem to not work. A manager here let me return them without receipt, after the deadline for full price and replaced them with higher quality discs. I even ended up with cash back as the latter discs were on sale.
The manager could have stuck by the rules or even been rude to me. He chose not to be and chose to exhibit empowerment in customer service/​decisions and excellence in attitude. I wish more managers were like this instead of being the annoying dreaded «cog» that Seth Godin writes about.
I’m really glad I had a problem solved here.

I had a virus on my computer. Pretty obvious. So, i bought a norton virus package from Office Depot. Unfortunately, the computer was infected so badly, that it didn’t work.
They are offering a new PC service now. So i thought i’d give them a try since i bought the antiivirus from them. When i called the young lady said «We’ll do a pc check up». and when i told them about the virus, «Oh yes, we can fix it. Just bring it in», etc. When i brought in the receipt, that night, they said it wasn’t necessary. «
Brought the computer in, dropped it off. I was called and asked to pick up my computer the next day. since it was «beyond repair, and needed to be sent to the Central Office to be fixed for $ 299. » I decided «not», and came in for p/​u.
They didn’t want to give me my computer. They asked if the antivirus CD was purchased by them. I can understand this. it had to be verified by the manager at home. i had to wait to have the story verified. Then re-​explain it several times before i got the laptop back.
then i was told «It didn’t sound right that we couldn’t fix the problem.»
I’m not the high maintenance type. I don’t care if folks don’t SMILE at me when doing a service. But i am disappointed that ONE person says in ignorance that they can fix a problem, then find out it’s bigger than their capability, then the «right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing».
If that happened where i work? because yes our clients are high maintenance, and whiny, act very childish when they don’t get what they want — i wouldn’t be working.