Staples — Local services in Menlo Park

Horrible, horrible service. Very, very rude manager/supervisor, Theressa, the one that was working on March 13, 2025 around 4:30 pm.

I would give the STAPLES store at 700 El Camino Real in Menlo Park CA a NEGATIVE star if there was such option. I will never set foot in this store again! Maybe that's why this store was almost empty of customers.

I had some AMAZON returns. I got to the store a bit after 4:30. No one was at the copy or AMAZON return counters There was a checker at one of the registers with absolutely no customers to serve. I asked if she can page someone to the AMAZON counter and she said "the person is at lunch, I'm the only one in the store, you have to wait 15 minutes"

I said "that does not seem right that in this huge store there is just one worker and I have to wait 15 minutes for another worker when there are no other customers. You have no customers, can you service me, or can you call the manager to service me?"

She said, "no I can't. I have to stay at the register in case a customer comes and I'm the only one. you have to wait 15 minutes"

Indeed I expressed displeasure about this and said something to the effect of 'that is really horrible customer service. No wonder the store is empty"

There was another man who needed copy service to pick up something that was ready for him. So he sat on the copy counter and he and I chatted about the terrible service at this store.

Maybe 5 minutes later the store manager came (I don't know where she was since the cashier had told us she was the only one working). But anyway the manager came and told us the "my person working the AMAZON counter will come in 3 minutes. She is the only one who can do it' but she could look for the gentleman's copy pickup. She was having a hard time finding it, but I think she did eventually find it. While she was looking I told the manager, 'you know this is not good service that we come here and we are told to wait 15 minutes to be serviced when there is no other customer at the store, and you as a manager aren't able to fill in the gaps, but I'm glad you just said only 3 more minutes, the cashier told me 15'.

I expected some kind of response like "sorry for the inconvenience we had some folks leave sick, couldn't get a last minute replacement" or some such story but instead she got some kind of attitude and said something like "you are lucky we are servicing you at all for free. you don't pay for our service to return AMAZON" To this I responded, 'well you made the agreement with AMAZON, that's not my fault and I am not lucky that you make me wait 15 minutes"

And that turned into a bunch of back and forth her raising her voice telling me that I am lucky, and me raising my voice to be heard over hers saying "take it to AMAZON".

By now 3 minutes had passed and another lady came up, I thought it was the person working AMAZON counter and I said 'oh glad you're here, I want to return these things". she said 'no I'm a customer' I told her 'oh the cashier told me 15 minutes, but the manager said 3 minutes, I thought you were the worker. We have to wait for the worker because she is the only one who can do this.'

After the gentleman left the manager came to the AMAZON counter and called someone by phone asking for 'password'. I told the customer lady I was conversing with 'oh great, she is getting the password' meaning I think we are going to get served, and the manager bellowed with a huge attitude and indignation: "Yes, I do have to get the password, you have an attitude and I don't have to serve you" I was shocked and I told her "yes you do have to serve me. That's your job" but she was talking the whole time and raising her voice and I raising mine to be heard over hers. I asked for her name multiple times and she would not give it to me. And then suddenly she opened her sweater to reveal her badge with her name on it.

I went to Wholefoods, only a few miles further, and returned my stuff there. the worker at WHOLEFOODS was super helpful, super cordial. In less than 5 minutes everything...

I am absolutely appalled and disgusted by the horrendous service my family and I received at the Staples store's photo department during the night shift on 3/13. The employee, a bald man with glasses, displayed an inexcusable level of rudeness and unprofessionalism towards my six-month-old baby, my four-year-old, and my wife.

From the moment we entered, we were subjected to his disdainful stares, eye-rolling, and barely concealed muttering. Despite giving him the benefit of the doubt initially, his behavior only escalated. He not only insulted my wife and child but had the audacity to curse at us in his native Eastern European language, thinking we wouldn't understand. His arrogance was astonishing, he thought i was ignorant and not speaking 4 languages, forgetting people with brown skin might have a prestigious educational background and language proficiency. The incompetence displayed during the photo-taking was laughable; even a toddler could have done a better job. My baby, merely smiling naturally, was met with more eye-rolls and curses. The photos taken were of such poor quality that they were unacceptable, yet he refused to redo them and rushed to print them.

The level of service was abysmal, a stark contrast to the services I've experienced even in war-torn third-world countries. The blatant disregard for customer satisfaction and basic courtesy was shocking. The glitz and glamour of the USA fade in comparison to such miserable experiences. It’s clear that this store, and perhaps the corporation at large, has lost any semblance of caring about its customers.

I am keeping my receipt and await to see if anyone from the corporation cares enough to address this unacceptable treatment. This experience has left me deeply disappointed and frustrated with the state of customer service in...

Disappointing Customer Service at Staples

I called this Staples location at 3:50pm to confirm whether a specific product was in stock, and an associate verified that it was available. I arrived at 4:20pm—well before the posted closing time of 5pm (which I checked before making the 30 minutes drive). A lady working there named "Teresa" told me and another patron who also just arrived that the store was already closed. This was confusing, as other customers were still being assisted, and the doors were open. We checked the signs outside - they indicated closing time is at 5 pm. When I attempted to seek clarification, Teresa was dismissive and unwilling to engage in a constructive conversation. She was quite upset that she's working "late" on Easter Sunday and that her kids are waiting for her — but that does not justify poor customer service. I could not get in a word to explain that I just need to pick up the item I called about and leave - all of which should take less than 1 minute.

This experience was highly unprofessional and reflects poorly on Staples. Several simple steps could have prevented this situation: Updating online hours for holiday closures. Informing me during the call that the store would close early. Teresa could have been more professional and engaged in constructive conversations instead of talking about her personal grievances with her team (How upset she is to be still in the store by that time or how her coworkers did not update the hours).

I will try to avoid shopping here in the future and warn other people how customers are treated at Staples.

Edit- I just checked their hours again and it says:

Sunday (Easter) 12–5 PM Holiday hours

Does this mean someone updated incorrect easter sunday hours or did...