Staples — Attraction in Lake Forest

I’ve been a regular customer at this Staples location for quite some time, and each visit has consistently left me impressed with the service, efficiency, and helpfulness of the staff. In fact, I’ve walked out of the store many times wanting to leave a five-star review, but unfortunately, I never found the time, until now. Today’s visit was quite different from my usual experiences. I came in for a simple print job, which typically takes just a few minutes at the self service station. However, due to what seemed like unusually slow machines, the process took much longer than expected. After waiting several minutes for the machine to process, I was told I’d need to pay an express fee to have the job completed behind the counter which was something I wouldn’t have needed if the machines were functioning normally. Or the alternative was to wait and try another machine whenever it became available which also turned out to be incredibly slow and took approximately 20 minutes to print 20 pages. It was frustrating to feel as though I was being charged extra due to a technical problem that was outside of my control. I shared my concerns with the manager on site, who was very professional, empathetic, and kind. He listened, understood my frustration, and graciously offered me a coupon toward my purchase. I truly appreciated his effort to make the situation right. However, just as I thought things were improving, I was told by the same associate that I need to pay an express fee this time for binding the documents. I fully understood and accepted this fee since it was tied to the store’s workflow and clearly not a technical error, but I couldn’t help but feel that the same associate who had earlier denied my request (despite the technical issues I was facing) could have shown a bit more flexibility or customer care, especially given the circumstances considering how small the express fee was! It left me with mixed feelings! Overall, printing 20 pages at the self service station and binding them by the associate behind the counter which included an express fee, took a little over 1 hour at the store! Not great! Despite all of this, I had to pause and reflect. I realized that letting one off day affect my opinion of a store that has otherwise delivered exceptional service over many visits wouldn’t be fair. In the bigger picture, this Staples location has earned my loyalty because of the consistently positive experiences I’ve had in the past. The one frustrating interaction should not outweigh the many good ones. So, I’m leaving the five-star review I’ve wanted to write for a long time. I hope the management reads this not as a complaint, but as a genuine message from a loyal customer. One poor experience can sometimes eclipse many good ones, and that’s a shame! I encourage the team, especially leadership, to continue providing training and guidance that ensures every customer interaction reflects the best of what this store has to offer. Thank you for all the great service over the years and thank you...

I came to this location after placing my print order via email earlier this morning, only to be met with one of the worst customer service experiences I’ve had in a long time. The woman at the print counter was cold, dismissive, and completely unprofessional.

She initially printed my order, but when I realized I needed two more copies, something extremely quick and simple. I explained it took me half hour specially to come to pick this up, the urgency and I can wait while she handle her two more clients on the front. Instead of showing any basic level of customer service, she escalated the situation by having the assistant manager come over and ask me to leave. They told me I would have to come back at 3:00 or 5:00 PM to pick up if I wanted anything else done, or go to other Staples store?!

Even worse, later they claimed they had 24 pending orders from other people since last night, and that those had to be processed first. Excuse me? That’s completely unreasonable. The people who placed those orders weren’t even there to confirm or pick them up, I was standing right there, urgently needing a simple and quick reprint, requesting a time sensitive document, and they still refused to assist me, not because they couldn’t, but because they chose not to.

This behavior felt dismissive and discriminatory. The way they treated customer was unprofessional, cold, and completely lacking in basic customer respect. I was not asking for special treatment, only for a little understanding and flexibility in a time sensitive situation. This isn’t just bad service, it’s blatant disrespect with zero empathy, and made no effort whatsoever to resolve a simple issue.

If this is how this location treats customers who come in politely to consume and ask for basic assistance, then it reflects extremely poorly on your brand. It’s absolutely unprofessional and encouraging others to be cautious about using...

My wife experienced a very unfair treatment last night at Staples To us, it looks like a racial discrimination to Asian customers.

She went to Staples (Lake Forest, CA) to print some photos. The staff at print department first asked her to do it on self-service machine. After she found that the machine was not able to provide photo printing,she turned to the staff for help. However, the staff put her on waiting impatiently and worked on other task. My wife thought he might be working on other customer's order which came in ahead of her, so she kept waiting and waiting. During this time, that staff even helped another customer, a white blonde lady,who came in after her and serviced that customer in a much more polite way. My wife became a little unhappy;however, she was still under control. After that staff finished help the customer who came in after her, she asked him politely if he could help her print out the photos because she needed them urgently. Unacceptably, that staff asked my wife, in a very impatient and rude way, to go to Walmart to do the printing because that was cheaper. My wife thought she was treated unfairly and became angry about it. She went to the store manager to complain about what had happened. The store manager helped her on the print but never said a word about any apology. We don’t know whether or not because my wife is an Asian that they treated her that way.

Any way, we just want to let everyone know about this unhappy experience at Staples (Lake Forest, CA). We will never ever go to that store again. Walmart IS way better....