I got off on a tangent with my previous post about the $398 Wal-Mart laptop.  My intent was to write about a possible ripoff situation with some other laptops that are being advertised at Office Depot.

A reader who wishes to remain anoymous sent me this link to the Black Friday site about the situation:

Going against my gut feeling, I posted earlier about Office Depot’s $299 (after-rebate) laptop computer: I thought this was Office Depot’s attempt at flying straight. Nope, it’s pretty much border-line con.

The math broke down like this:

$579.99 + ~7.5% tax (this varies by region, I used 7.5% because I think it’s a median value) = $623.50

$623.50 – $280 in rebates = $343.50 + a free printer (including tax).

Granted, this laptop wasn’t as powerful as Walmart’s, it was still $50 cheaper and a comparable alternative. Unfortunately, to order this, you had to go to a retail Office Depot location and have a Customer Service Representative punch in the Configuration Number to order it for you. But that’s not all. Since Office Depot would be shipping to you, they were charging a near minimum $50 shipping fee. One BFAds user reported he was quoted a shipping and handling fee of $78!

The shipping fee would bring the laptop to $400, which would be after rebates and would be a lesser system than Walmart’s. I personally apologize for this over-sight and hope you accept my apologies.

In the original post I said how horrible Office Depot’s rebates were, as evident by the following sites: Ripoff Report, Reseller Ratings (1.52/10) and Shopping.com’s amount of users that will never shop at Office Depot again. And perhaps my favorite thing about all of this, Office Depot owns the site OfficeDepotStinks.com. They are apparently aware of the mass dislike directed towards them!

Office Depot’s less than honest business tactics are not supported by BFAds.net. We will no longer be posting any of their items or Black Friday advertisements. We suggest you look at more respectable office supply stores such as OfficeMax (whose Black Friday sale has ABSOLUTELY NO REBATES) or Staples.

I haven’t experienced this directly, and I have gotten Office Depot rebates in the past.  If true, though, this is a horrible tactic to suck you into the store and then jack up the price through hidden fees. 

Where possible, I prefer to deal with places that either have instant or electronic rebates, as these seem to be the easiest to get processed.  But beware of hidden fees.  This is especially true if the laptop (or PC) has to be custom-ordered.  If it isn’t off-the-shelf, be careful and stay alert.