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Sunday, August 5, 2007

FedEx Kinkos - RIPOFF Prices & Poor Customer Service

Let's put another store on my blacklist. Today's addition is FedEx Kinko's located on 25 Stanyan Street in San Francisco.

Today, I went down to that FedEx Kinko's location so that I can get a couple of signs laminated for an event coming up. Since I knew Kinko's had a bad reputation for higher prices than their competitors, I had no choice but to visit them. I went down to Office Depot to take care of a majority of my laminates that were 8 1/2 X 11 inches (like a buck a page) , but the 8 1/2 X 22 documents I had was too big for Office Depot to do, so Kinko's was the only choice.

When I went in, I was waiting for like five minutes while a dumb lady trying to get her FedEx stuff put it in the wrong envelope and had to refill out forms and use another envelope. Another guy named "Ronnie D." (says it on my receipt) came up to me and asked of what I needed. I explained I needed these two 8 1/2 X 22 inch documents laminated.

Behind the counter was a large laminating machine and he laminated both of them. I noticed that he used an enormous waste of laminate when I noticed that the entire laminate was like a yardstick and a half on both length and width. He then had to cut it up, but he had to use the cutting blade device that was for the public's use. After chopping up the oversized laminate and throwing away the excess waste, he started joking with his fellow co-worker (which got me a little more steamed).

At the register, "Ronnie D." had some difficulty ringing up the price of the two laminates. After finding out the price, he charged me $37.00. I immediately turned from mildly upset to full on pissed. I asked him to breakdown the charges for me. He said to me that my laminates used 7 square feet of laminate, and that was $5 per square foot (plus tax is $37).

I said to him, that this is not right. My two laminates are both 8 1/2 X 22 inches, and the maximum use of square footage should only be four square ft. HE WAS TRYING TO CHARGE ME FOR THE EXCESS LAMINATE WASTE!

I told him that the FedEx Kinko's at Lakeshore Plaza in San Francisco doesn't even rip me off this badly. He reduced the price down to four square feet for $20, and I knew in my mind that it was still a rip-off price.

After paying for my charges, I walked-out and said out loud "this place is going on my blacklist."

Sure, I hate Officemax's copy center, but they would only charge me TWO DOLLARS, yes TWO DOLLARS per square foot of laminate. So my total for doing the two small banners there would be a whopping FOUR DOLLARS.

THANKS FOR THE 16 DOLLAR RIP-OFF, FEDEX KINKO'S on Stanyan.

Let's summarize my rants:
I've already lodged a complaint to FedEx Kinko's main customer support line, and I hope the manager calls me back within 48 hours.
I aint' happy.
Why do laminates cost like five times as much than Office Depot, and Officemax?
Fine, if they were to charge me $37 for the excess laiminate waste, I would say: HEY, WHY NOT GO DIG IN THE TRASH CAN AND GIVE ME THE EXCESS LAMINATE WASTE I'M ABOUT TO PAY FOR!

12 comments:

LJNDawson said...

Fantastic review. You might consider sharing your opinions - as you review so much in the customer service arena - on www.measuredup.com. It's a great site where consumers can share experiences (both positive and negative) with businesses they interact with.

Anonymous said...

Dealing with Fedex has been one of my worst shipping experiences.
The managers all the way down to the driver were inept and really didn't have a clue what's going on.

Will never use FedEx again.

A Very Unhappy Customer

Anonymous said...

For the Lamination, I think you just got a dumb kid. It sounds like you get a bit worked up over things.
You complained and he took the price down. If you hate Fedex Kinko's so much then don't go. They are obviously able to handle things that Office Max can't.

Worked at both Office Max and Fedex Kinko's while I was going to school. Sometimes Office Max is cheaper, sometimes Fedex Kinko's is cheaper. both stores had about the same number of unhappy customers with the workers.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I work for a FedEx Kinko's on the east coast. Sometimes the computer prices are crap. But you can negotiate them/haggle down a bid if needed.

Anonymous said...

You're running a business, not a swap meet. Haggling shouldn't be necessary. If you can't offer fair prices up front, you shouldn't be in business.

Anonymous said...

If Officemax charges $2 a square foot, wouldn't it have cost eight dollars there, not four?

Strauss Family said...

Ive been working at a kinkos in the valley in az for the past 2 years. The cost is $3 per square foot. He should not have charged for excess /waste. Un fortunately we don't set prices, they are set at corporate. You could go the extra step and ask them to do a price match if you have a written estimate from Office Max. Hope this helps. Unfortunately this employee wasnt the smartest one of the bunch. We are stretched to the limit with a hard hiring freeze, lack of training, 1 person doing the job of three. But thats not your problem. It just shows you that Corporations in America is out to make a profit. Go figure - Fedex has the audacity to sponsor their own Nascar Driver/car, but they take away our 401k match. But all I can do is thank God that I still have a job. I go in there everyday and bring a 100 percent. Thats my 2 cents.

Anonymous said...

Hi Akit,

I am a customer service specialist for FedEx Office.

While I am sorry about your negative experience at FedEx Office. I just want to let you know because your print was bigger than 11x17, it was required to be laminated on the roller. That is 3.00 per square foot. Most likely he charged you for trimming. That still seems a bit excessive. Speak with the store and ask to speak to the district's "Customer Service Specialist" they can help you resolve this problem.

Kassi said...

Oh, man we totally just did this. We about died when they rang up our total. We just thought oh, well it is done and we can't tell them to un-do it. But after reading this they did charge us for the excess. LAME! We will be going to Office Max next time.

lufkincy said...

I owned a small commercial print and copy company for almost 50 years, which I sold in 1995. After a 14 years of retirement I started working part-time at Office Depot. In both shops, as well as many other shops I am familiar with, the method of measuring wide format lamination is the same. Say you are using 25" film. The proper way to bill it is to measure from the head of the first piece to the tail of the last piece. There should be no more than about 1" of space between the documents. When completed, multiply 25" (width) times the length in inches and divide by 144. The normal price for wide format laminating in our area is $1.99 per square foot. If the customer wants the documents trimmed out, there is an additional charge of $1.00 per document (actually $.25 per trim). Like most "big box" stores, associates know virtually nothing about how a print & copy center should be run and corporate treats their print & copy centers like their other retail departments, not understanding that the manufacturing process is vastly different from the retail process.

The associate does not the price of the item, but rather the number of square feet and the SKU. The cash register calculates the price. In some stores the associate has the option of over riding the price and in others this must be done by a manager.

In Kinko's behalf, the ones I have been in offer more services than ones like Office Depot, Office Max, and Staples, but their prices are higher and their associates are no better trained than are those in other big box stores

Anonymous said...

Houston, TX, Meyerland location
1 star rating

My experience was with two employees (Oct 2010) - Nancy and Dupree, in store they were INCREDIBLY rude. I was shipping three items and he acted like I was interrupting him and was very rude (in his tone) when I asked him questions. When I asked to borrow the calculator the girl who was sitting on the floor sorting things got up, walked over and tossed it on the counter! The manager Melanie was there and seemed oblivious to how her staff was behaving, in addition to this when I asked about the computers ,(several were not working), she replied: "How much you wanna bet it's user error?" I know she was joking however in the context of everything that was happening it just made it worse. And it was an inappropriate joke. I forgot to add previously that while I was walking out the guy Dupree said 'Now I can finish what I was doing!' I now go the the Fed-ex just off shepherd and 59. I called corporate to complain however I never got a response.

Anonymous said...

There is a Kinko's Fed-Ex very close to my home. I like the services that they offer, however dealing with the employee's is ( to me ) nothing less than a test in patience. They are all rude! The lines are always long , and there is always pleanty of employee's behind the counters not working. I've watched them as they talk about lunch or their weekend while the line gets longer and longer. I don't go there anymore, because I hate to do business with them. I always leave Kinko's Fed-Ex in a bad mood. Do some research for your needs and shop elsewhere. I don't ever go there anymore.
My blood pressure couldn't take it anymore.