Staples — Local services in Winchester

If the option were available to assign a negative rating to my experience at this location, I would do so without hesitation.

On 11.3.25, I visited the Staples store located on Pleasant Valley Ave, Winchester VA to have custom printing work completed. Upon arrival, I was unable to locate any staff members in the Printing Department. After waiting approximately ten minutes, I proceeded to the checkout area to request assistance or clarification regarding the department’s availability.

The cashier informed me that the sole employee assigned to the Printing Department was on lunch break. When I inquired about the duration of the break, the cashier responded with hesitation and visible irritation, stating, “Thirty minutes.” I then asked when that individual had gone to lunch, to which the cashier replied, “I don’t know; I don’t keep track,” in a dismissive tone. I clarified that I was simply trying to determine an appropriate time to return.

At that point, the cashier gestured toward another employee and indicated that he had spoken with the Printing Department associate. During this exchange, the cashier’s demeanor became increasingly confrontational. When I turned to address the other employee, the cashier abruptly reached between us and struck a can of Coca-Cola on the counter with unnecessary force. The interaction escalated verbally as the cashier made several remarks implying that I was being “rude.” I sincerely hope that security footage, with audio, is reviewed — as such evidence would confirm that my conduct was professional and non-confrontational. I then asked for the cashier’s name, which she provided as “Amanda.” I identified myself in turn and informed her, politely, that I would no longer be engaging with her further.

I subsequently asked the second employee if there was a manager available on-site. He gestured toward Amanda, identifying her as the manager. I then asked for contact information for the district or regional manager and was told that both positions were currently vacant. Amanda continued to make comments accusing me of being “rude” and of having an “attitude” as I exited the store to contact Staples’ customer service hotline.

I have been a loyal Staples customer for over fifteen years, regularly utilizing this location for professional printing needs including POP materials, menus, banners, posters, and various office supplies. Never in that time have I experienced behavior from a staff member that felt hostile, aggressive, or threatening, either implicitly or explicitly...until this incident.

I urge Staples to review its hiring and management standards, as well as to investigate this particular encounter. The conduct exhibited by this employee was entirely inappropriate and inconsistent with any reasonable standard of...

I came in earlier today (Sunday 6/9) to do an Amazon return and purchase a few small items. After what I saw, I felt like I had to post something here, especially after reading alot of the 1 star reviews people are posting lately. So many of the reviews here on Google report low customer service as a result of understaffing. Today I literally watched one young lady run laps around the copy center as she attempted to help customers like me with returns, customers trying to place orders or pick them up, customers wanting to check out with their purchases, continue to print new orders, and keep the entire area clean and organized...AT THE SAME TIME! I could see the anxiety in her face, but she smiled at every person she helped and did not waver. I wish I could have video taped her. She was a superhero. Yet, while I was there, I also personally witnessed at least 3 people get an attitude with her or the manager on duty for not getting them taken care of faster. Are you serious? Please - people of Winchester and beyond...you need to understand that is not always the fault of the business for being understaffed on a given day. Every working human has a right to a sick day or a personal day, a bathroom break and a lunch/dinner break... and, yes, sometimes there just aren't enough employees, period. Our economy is still struggling. This creates stress for everyone. The two employees there were doing the absolute best they could to help everyone and still get their job done well. Sometimes in life...there will be lines...someimes there will be waiting. If you don't have time to wait your turn, just come back another day. Do not make their job harder by being inconsiderate of what they are trying to do with the limited resources they have on hand. You can not understand the stress exceptional customer service puts on an employee when they are being pulled in multiple directions at once unless you've been in their shoes. And if you have been, you sure wouldn't treat another person the way these customers treated these superheros. I have been in these shoes for the last 28 years of my life: retail, food industry, self employed business woman now. It's not easy and it's unfair to take it out on the employees who are already struggling. We as a society have to do better. Kindness is free, compassion is free, empathy is free. It costs nothing to be a decent human being. And a HUGE pat on the back for the two employees taking care of the entire store by themselves. I hope this message is seen by Corporate and their excellence can be...

I went to Staples to purchase a toner for my Brother printer. The staff got me the wrong item which was a problem since I needed to print 200 pages for an event that evening.

$80 later, I did a split payment with $50 being used from a Visa gift card I had. I returned 2 days later to return the toner after I discovered that it didn't fit my printer. I didn't have the receipt so it took a little while to find the proof of purchase. When I did, they refunded $50 to then debit card I used and gave me a store card for the remainder.

I expressed that I didn't think it was fair that I a portion of my money was trapped to their store since I purchase from them infrequently (maybe once a year or so). The staff member was polite but said that she had no other options. That said, I opted to purchase another Visa gift card to liberate my money only to then find out that they didn't allow customers to use their gift cards to purchase other gift cards.

After another brief lecture about Staples policies and procedures, the manager was called to the register. This time it was the manager's turn to teach me their policies and procedures that: If you pay with a Visa gift card and have to return a product partially purchased with that gift card, then the full value of that card will be returned to your other method of payment (in this case my bank debit card). Any remaining value will be put on a store gift card without exception. Staples will not allow customers to use their store gift cards to purchase Visa, Mastercard, or AMEX gift cards.

That's nice...you can attempt to patronize a store with your money but if you have to return a product because their employees sold you the wrong item, the company reserves the right to find a way to keep some of your money permanently entangled to their establishment, unless after painful toil the management team is forced to do what is ethically appropriate and give you back your money!

The manager then said, "I mean I guess we could just give you the cash but you can't buy another gift card. Would that work?" He, obviously annoyed, then begrudgingly returned the Staples gift card and gave me the cash value. The funny thing is I didn't yell and wasn't ever rude. I just stood there and let them lecture me about why it was difficult to do the right thing.

Because they were so willing to dig deep past their policies to find a way to do the right thing, I also found a way to give them a second star. Well done, Staples, well...