Our Office Max Backpack Experience Today

UPDATE: Today I received a response from Office Max customers service.  Here it is:

Dear Karen,

Thank you for your MaxPerks inquiry.  You will get back what you paid.
That is the item price, minus any coupons applied to the item.  If you
purchased multiple items, each item will have a reduced amount for the
coupon.  You will receive the reduced amount. Please let me know if you
have further questions.

As I understand this, if it was a normal Office Max coupon that scanned, each item would be reduced by a percentage.  So if you were to return one of the items, you would get the discounted coupon price back.  I know this is how Home Depot does it on their receipts.  I understand this policy, and I’m glad I am now better informed.

I have decided to forgo this deal as it really isn’t necessary for both of my children to have new backpacks.  My daughter’s was in poor shape last year and she will need a bigger on this year anyway.   I was disappointed with the selection and prices so I will be moving on and possibly going to Staples this week for their backpack deal, or waiting for clearance to start!

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You can read my previous post on the Office Max Free backpacks for additional info.  I say our, because I had hubby and both kids with me, so they could choose their own backpack.  Hubby also helped me do a nice in store video for you all!  What we should have recorded was our experience at the register.  Now let me preface this story by saying that not every deal is what it seems.  Sometimes you just have to be prepared to walk away.  Which is what we did today.  Who was effected, my kids, because they did not get the backpacks and I had to explain why.  Don’t worry there was no crying involved, I told them there are many backpacks and we will just find others.

Issue #1:

We picked out 2 backpacks for a total of $54.98 (before taxes).  With your MaxPerks reward card you would get all $54.98 back in rewards bucks.  But the story doesn’t end there.  The cashier tried to tell me that I would only get the 100% back for ONE backpack.  I politely showed him the ad copy that says LIMIT 2 under the deal.

What this means is that you can not buy 50 backpacks and get 100% back.  You have a limit of 2 on this deal.  The cashier was reading the top, “It’s like getting A backpack for free”.  Emphasis on “A”, as in one.  This is where experience comes to play.  I’ve mentioned before that we are sometimes more versed on these things than the store employees.  He verified with another employee and confirmed that I would get the MaxPerks reward back for both backpacks.  Either way, it is not his decision, their computer system will automatically load my rewards onto my card.

Issue #2:

Now I hand him the $10 off $50 purchase Office Depot coupon. He entered this coupon by doing a price override on one of the backpacks, reducing the cost by $10.   So essentially, we now get back $44.98 in rewards instead of the original $54.98.  So instead of making a $10 profit we are now breaking even.  Right about now you are wondering what my problem is and why I’m being greedy?  Well in the past, I’ve done these deals at Staples and they take the competitor coupon off the subtotal, thus the computer sees the actual price for the item and I get the full rewards back.  Here’s a previous Staples deal I’ve done with rewards.   Now since I am more versed in Staples rewards and I just didn’t feel comfortable with making my purchase at this point, we walked away.

I hope this makes sense, if not please let me know.

I have emailed customer service for clarification on how it should be done and what rewards will be given for this type of transaction.  I will post an update when I receive it.  I would love to be able to go back to the store this week and make my purchase AND post my video that we made!

Please post a comment if you have any experience with this kind of transaction at Office Max.

I love to end on a positive note, so here is some additional Coupon information for you!

Payless and Office Max have teamed up again this year to offer coupons for corresponding purchases.  These start July 27th and the details are below.

Make any purchase of $.01 or more at an OfficeMax store July 27 thru September 6, 2010 and receive a coupon for $5 off your total purchase of $25 or more valid at any Payless ShoeSource location (excluding Shopko) and online at www.payless.com. Offer valid in Puerto Rico July 8 thru August 9, 2010. See coupon for complete details. Coupon and terms of offer are provided by Payless ShoeSource.

Make any purchase of $.01 or more at participating Payless ShoeSource locations July 25 thru September 11, 2010 and receive a coupon for $10 off your next total in-store purchase of $30 or more, before taxes, at OfficeMax. See coupon for complete details.