Interesting Info Found on the web

I really wasn't thrilled with Staples responses so far, so I decided to do a little searching on the web to see if there were precedents about this sort of thing. Interestingly, I did find that Staples had to pay 850K in fines a few years back due to an inaccurate inventory system... It's not exactly the same issue, but here's the letter I wrote back to Staples regarding the topic. I know that there are a few people out there (I've read on other forums) considering researching legal action. Maybe a bunch of follow-up letters to the FTC / those involved in the original lawsuit will get things moving. Letter below:

Alicia,

Thank you for your response to my BBB complaint. I do not believe the response addressed the core issue within the complaint; the fact that as a consumer, I was mislead by being able to fully check out of the store with an item in my shopping cart, only to have the item removed after the fact. Had a proper inventory management system been in place, consumers shopping online would have received an "out of stock" message at the time of their attempted purchase. Instead, we received an purchase confirmation.

We obviously have different points of view on the situation and how it is being managed. Reading through the 2003 $850,000 FTC judgment against Staples for a similar, misleading inventory issue, I question whether or not today's problem has been given proper attention - http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/05/staples.shtm.

Similarly, the Massachusetts department of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation clearly states that a business cannot practice deceptive or misleading sales tactics - http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocaterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Consumer&L2=Shopping%2c+Retail+%26+E-Commerce&L3=Shopping+Rights&sid=Eoca&b=terminalcontent&f=a_basic_guide_to_the_massachusetts_consumer_protection_law&csid=Eoca

While one could argue that a limited quantity clause is clear and non-deceptive, I could certainly argue that being allowed to reach a webpage that "confirms" a purchase - only to have it later removed - is both misleading and deceptive. Hundreds of Internet posts from consumers prove that others were mislead by the Staples system - I am not an isolated case.Please let me know if there is any additional feedback on this matter from the Staples leadership team.

Regards,
Mike