Office Depot — Local services in Peachtree Corners

It all started when I came in on 8/20, full of hope, with a large poster to be laminated from my recent trip to Jerusalem. After the printing department confirmed they would be able to laminate my poster, I left and went about my day unperturbed. Until I received a fateful phone call later that evening. “Is this Caitlin?” the voice on the other line began timidly. I knew something was wrong. “Yes…” I replied. “There has been an issue with our laminator. I’m sorry, but we need you to come back to the store as soon as possible.” Curious what could possibly have prompted such a drastic recommendation, I made my way back to Office Depot. What I found was deeply unsettling. My precious poster—carried across the Atlantic—no longer resembled the work of art I knew it to be. It had been through hell, and it clearly wasn’t coming back. No, now it was no poster at all, just a mangled, wrinkled splotch of plastic.

“Did you download this image online?” was the first question the employees asked upon seeing my shocked reaction. “If so, we can just print it out here and try to laminate it again.” Slowly and tragically, I shook my head, telling them of the trials and travails this poster had gone through only to be defeated in the end by a simple machine. Thankfully, I was miraculously able to find an online shop in Jerusalem that sold the same poster, and Office Depot offered me a full refund plus the cost of the new poster. On top of that, after the new poster made its way to me after the 2-3 week shipping time, they offered to laminate it for free. What a deal, I thought. How naïve of me.

For reasons I can only regret in hindsight, I agreed to bring them the second poster when it came in. When I dropped off poster #2 this morning, there was remarkably little fanfare: the employee didn’t so much as ask for my name, but simply told me to return in two hours’ time. I figured I’d give them a little cushion just to be safe, but returned to the store approximately five hours after I dropped it off.

I shouldn’t have been surprised at what happened next, but in the moment, I was. After a couple minutes of earnest searching, the employee announced, “I’m not sure that we have it anymore.” In response, I could manage nothing more substantial than a blank stare. Seconds passed. “Let me talk to my manager,” he offered. As he consulted with the manager on the phone, I heard the phrase: “So when should I tell her to come back?” My heart sunk even further. I was told as follows: my poster was indeed there, but it had not been laminated. I had two options: either I agree to have the poster sent elsewhere (another Office Depot? presumably, but this location remained murky) to be laminated, or we could go ahead and try laminating it again on-site, despite the risks. What risks?! I thought. In light of the dwindling faith of the Office Depot employees in their own laminator, I opted for the former course. I signed some paperwork and finally left the store with the knowledge that, once laminated, they would ship the poster to me free of charge.

I thought that would be the end of the story for today, but I received a second phone call from Office Depot this evening. As it happened, due to substantial delays, my poster would not be able to travel to and from the land of functional laminators. Instead, the manager had opted to attempt lamination in store. My blood pressure began to rise. “Unfortunately, ma’am, the poster ended up with a slight wrinkle… but it’s better than the first time!” Well, it certainly couldn’t have gotten much worse, I thought. At this point, I simply had nothing left to say. I managed to mumble an “Okay, thank you for letting me know,” before hanging up the phone.

Maybe the poster is OK, but experience has taught me that I need to take everything from the printing department with a grain of salt. One man’s “slight wrinkle” is another’s Mariana Trench. Regardless, I would advise everyone to seriously consider your level of desperation before relying on the circus that is the Office Depot...

I have visited and/or ordered from this location around 5 times now. Each time has been like the other...terrible. I don't often write reviews, even when I have a bad experience, but after so many awful experiences, I thought someone in higher level management would want to know. Most of the techs at this store are inexperienced and seem as if they don't care to help- which is understandable because it seems they do not have a good example in a leader/manager. Each time they call someone named Kevin up to the register (this time I asked for his name) and I have never felt my business was so unwanted and been treated with blatant disrespect in my entire shopping life. Again, this was not the first time I have encountered him. Each time he is condescending and rude. This last trip, Kevin was called up to the counter again because sadly, the people working the printing didn't know what to do (again). My flyers I had printed had weird pixels all over them and I wanted to see if I could have it fixed. I had the same product printed a week before at FedEx and it did not have pixels. Kevin gave me an extremely rude expression that screamed I don't care and said "I don't know" and I asked if they could try to figure it out if it was the printer or my file I uploaded and he said "no, I don't know". Then I mentioned getting some kind of discount because my flyers were all ruined and he startled me and proceeded to pick up my flyers from in front of me and said "I can take them and throw them into the recycle bin and cancel your order". Keep in mind, I had no hostility or unkind words or anything on my end. There has always been zero effort for him to actually be of service, apologetic, kind, or helpful.

After leaving this location, I called the location near Perimeter Mall. The woman was so sweet and helpful. She looked up my order, printed a sample, and then viewed my file. She explained that it was not my file and that it was their printers. She did not need to do this - I didn't even order my product for her location, but showed what I would expect from a customer service tech. Again, I have never received this kind of service at this location.

In the end, I took my file to FedEx and they printed higher quality with no issue at all.

I would like a refund for my flyers I could not use and I hope by sharing my story, something will be done and other customers will not have to have the same experience I had on what seemed to be an "easy print job"...

UPDATE: The corporate office of Office Depot reached out to me and then the store manager called me. Chris was very helpful and apologized for the breakdown in service. He replaced the poster at no charge and also printed a new one and laminated the new one at no charge. That was above and beyond what I expected and I really appreciate his efforts to make things right.

Paid for a banner to be printed and laminated and it was promised that the project would be completed no later than 2:00 today. I was there at 11:00 to print another poster on one of the copy machines, so I just checked on the banner order. The employee at the counter explained that there was one project she needed to finish first and then my order would be next in line and confirmed that it would be ready at 2:00pm today. So I went back at 2:00pm and the employees said that they needed to warm up the laminator. I waited for FORTY minutes and they STILL didn't have it ready. I overheard them talking to each other about looking up a YouTube video on how to warm up the machine (this is after confirming twice that it would be ready at 2:00, and then me waiting for forty minutes at their counter for the promised order). They had no idea what they were doing. I told them I just had to leave with the banner unlaminated because the event I need it for is starting. So I have a banger that is unlaminated, even though I paid for lamination, and I can only use it once because I have to attach it to a booth for this event. Once I attach it and it's not laminated, I'll have to re-print another banner for the next event. This is an expensive banner and this Office Depot has wasted my TIME and my MONEY. I run a small, family-owned business and cannot afford this extra expense. Please yourself a favor and go ANYWHERE BUT HERE for your office/printing/lamination needs. So deeply...