Earlier this month, my wife ordered some books from Barnes and Noble (via their bn.com site) as Christmas gifts for her grandmother. Everything seemed to go well, the order was delivered on the 20th, everyone was happy. Or so I thought.
On December 23rd, we got an e-mail from Barnes and Noble stating:
Your order is now packed and ready to leave our warehouse. The details of your order appear below. Within one business day of receiving this email, you may track the delivery status of your order at [tracking link].
The gift had already arrived and the tracking link was for the package that had been delivered three days earlier. Still, I didn't want them shipping it twice and trying to bill me twice, causing all sorts of nightmares in the process of cleaning up the mess. So I wrote back:
UPS says this was delivered on the 20th. Why are you sending me a notice that it's ready to ship, dated the 23rd?
Now at this point, I wasn't of the opinion that they sucked. Mistakes happen, but if they get handled quickly and the damage is minimized, you live and let live. It was when I got the following response today that I decided that Barnes & Noble sucks.
We are in receipt of your email and appreciate your patience. Due to increased holiday volumes, we are unable to respond to your recent email inquiry.
For quicker answers, please consider using our Web Self-Service. [more self-service text cut]
If you still need our assistance we would suggest that you call us at 1-800-THE-BOOK (843-2665).
Basically, they've said "thanks for writing to us, but we're really busy, so piss off. If you really want to talk to us, call up and sit in the hold queue until we can get around to you."
Son of a... You mother... You send me a confusing notice, and then you're too busy to clarify things? What brain-dead executive thought that "we got your mail, but we're too busy to answer" was an acceptable response?
Barnes and Noble, I hope the money you saved is more than the lost sales and goodwill this will cost you.
Entries (RSS)
Alan Kahn, President
Barns & Noble Inc
122 Fifth Avenue
New York NY 10011
Dear Mr. Kahn,
I feel compelled to let you know about my first and most likely last experience with your
company, your order number 120324549 for the nook.
I waited two months for the nook thinking it would be better than other products on the market that I could have had in two days. After waiting two months for the nook I found it came with minimal instructions that were very difficult to read, took too long to get hooked up to my secure wi-fi network, provided no instructions at all on how to download the firmware upgrade, failed to book mark where I was in the book and overall provided a slow boot up followed by a very disappointing user experience.
My attempt to return it for credit was beyond belief. I spent about one hour and twenty
minutes on the phone trying to explain why the nook did not deliver upon written promised features and that I wished to return it for full credit because the nook did not do what I wanted (be as good as or better than Kindle) and that the lack of a book mark feature was the final straw.
I have developed products for another company I run and can appreciate how difficult it is to get a product to do what one wants it to do or what was promised to customers.
When all was said and done I got my credit, however in making it so difficult for me to get a credit means it is likely your company will have one less customer for life.
Your companies failure to deliver on promised features was an easily fixed problem.
Customer service "could have" given a small gift card or promised a discount on the next few books I bought or even just apologized for the problem. Instead customer service refused to do anything at all to recover from the customer service failure. Rather than even bother trying to cure an issue it is likely they lost your company a customer for life just because none of them cared (or knew) enough to use common sense.
Gsus, i hate B&N, but you seem to be one of those types of customers that is always on the edge, one tiny slip and you are out of control. Their crappy email system is delayed, if you bothered to check the tracking numbers you'd see that it is the same as what you just received. Verify it with UPS and im sure you'd see it was already delivered. So why get your panties in a bunch? I really dislike customers like you!
Take a chill pill and think for a moment!
Who's got their panties in a bunch? I'm not the one haranguing a stranger over a 2-year-old blog post. Seriously, dude. Get out of your mom's basement.
I don't know about B&N online customer service, because I use Amazon to buy books.
However, I do know that after my visit to my local Barnes & Noble today, I will not be going back there again.
I will go to Books-a-Million instead from now on. Why, you ask? Because the people at the Pensacola BN are rude. They never smile and they all look depressed. Even the Cafe workers are rude. They have a condescending attitude that I've never encountered anywhere else.
Way to go Pensacola BN!
B&N’s e-commerce is not linked to their inventory. Hence, they can not and will not full-fill all their e-commerce sales. In fact, they just cancel your order without any type of explanation or any attempts to correct the fact they have a flawed e-commerce system. If you complain about their flawed process, your will receive customer “no service” and very arrogant and cavelier responses to your legitimate concerns.
I purchased a .pdf download from Barnes and Noble on 1/1/11. Their web site says the download will come via an email link within about 5 minutes. "After you complete your B&N.com purchase, we'll send you two emails, usually within 5 minutes of placing your order. The second email will have a link to access your SparkNotes or Quamut PDF file". It's now been 11 days and I haven't gotten the download. I've called them numerous times and sent numerous emails. Seriously, this is the crappiest customer service I've ever come across. They cannot seem to do anything right. Very, very frustrating.
THeir customer service sucks. I ordered my wifes college text book, they sent the order to Tree Of Life books, TOL books emailed me 2 days later saying it was cancelled as they ahd sold the book already and B&N had not updated there data base. I called B&N and they could not issue me a refund, so I reordered the book again (DUMB!). Barnes and Noble then sent me an email within an hour stating my original order had been shipped to me, so I immediately went on the website and cancelled the 2nd order. I waited the hour like it says for the email canx message, never got it. Went online and canx the order 3 more times, called customer service, spent an hour with them to no avail, but they told me it would be cancelled. THis morning I got an email stating the 2nd order had shipped, after I was told last night it was cancelled. At that time I went to amazon and got the book (last night). SO I called B^&N again this morning after getting the "shipped" email, and they tell me too bad it has shipped and you cannot cancel it. WHat a bunch of ass clowns... I WILL NEVER ORDER FROM THEM AGAIN
We ordered a headset for Christmas and they charged us twice. We then sent it back and they still haven't given us our refund. It has been over a month now. They are very unprofessional and lie over the phone. They owe us $200.00 and I still have gotten it. I have reported them to the BBB and I hope they read this because they are very close to being sued!
well sue them already…….those that take action and not just talk or type are the ones who get the action
The staff at Barnes and Noble in Gulfport MS are dreadful. Goofy dressed freaky chick pushing the Nook down your throat as you walk in the door. Won't leave you alone. Customer service women mean faced, no knowledge,no help, gossiping among themselves while the line was growing. And if I ask a question about a B&N product and hear "I have no idea" one more time I will write to the local newspaper and let them list it in the local complaints section. Yes, these hillbilly town have something called Sound Off in the paper. I brought my Mom in and she was just discusted with the service and the grumpy attitudes there. And please could you explain why cd's and dvds are 3 times the price of the Best Buy across the road? When I am a good customer who has spent hundreds in your establishment the least you could do is have the decency to train your employees with a small ettiquette course. But please stop firing the good ones and hiring the friends. This does not work. Stop proving to the rest of the world that you are lazier in the south. We would feel too embarassed to behave like you do where I am from in France. You're embarassing yourselves.
In any case I won't be back until I start to hear that they have cleared out some of the dead wood and picked up the protocol in Gulfport. I don't mind the drive to New Orleans. Bigger selection anyway. Not rows and rows of magazines about guns, fishing, tatoos etc. Guess it's the local culture so no comment there.Please Virginia the regional manager have a look at the mess you've created.
Actually, that was a free gift from them as such due to the fact that ANYTHING not ordered by you that you receive via USPS is yours free and you have no obligation to return. If you retained your order via printout or in your e-mail, as long as it says quantity of 1 for each it's a closed case. Contact your credit card, let them know you received this extra stuff not ordered, and 100% they'll reverse the charge and credit you. But you are 150% correct when you say they suck......F-THEM AND KEEP THEIR SHIT !!!! -Gary.
I'm a publisher, small book company in California. We hate Barnes & Noble and will not do business with them. They required publishers to process through their Electronic Portal. It took us one hour to process an order for one book so we cancelled out of the program and stopped selling to them. They continued to buy from our wholesalers, then tried to bypass them by resubmitting orders to us asking for the same resale discount wholesalers get. This was after they just canned their regional buyers replacing them with inexperienced staffers. The problem with Barnes & Noble is they can't do anything quickly. When they tried to contact us again, I gave them our terms which they refused to sign. Why should Barnes and Noble get a better resale discount then an independent bookstore for a three book order? They never signed our agreement and two of their orders were mistakenly filled before we stopped it. They took 90 days to pay then only paid for the books not the shipping. Sadly, the rules just don't apply to them.
I will not set foot into BN Torrance, even with Borders Books closing.
The staff are barely one step above the dregs working at the DMV - and that is being generous.
I bought one their $25 membership cards and then renewed when the first expired. Three days later I used that very same card twice in one trip. I returned the next day and used it again. A week later, I return - only to be told that my card is not valid.
I explain that the card is maybe two weeks old, that I've already used it several times without a problem....but no, the moron behind the desk says the card is no good.
The only solution the idiots could come up with was for me to buy another card. Wouldn't even try to resolve the issue or track down someone that could.
Always liked Borders better. Sad to see it go. Pretty much can't get along with Amazon either. My favorite online book store is The Book Depository in the UK. Great prices - and no shipping charges!
Yesterday I purchased an etextbook from Barnes & Noble thinking what an awesome idea to have one less book to carry and I can get an ereader because that's what they do right?! WELL you cannot view etextbooks at all on their Nook Color because Nook Study is not compatible on it. Would've been nice to know before I purchased the dang etextbook! Customer Service was of no help. I haven't even sat down to read it on my computer, let alone my classes don't start until today. They refused to give me a refund on it because it was however downloaded on my PC, But here's the other catch. I still wouldn't be able to fully use the etextbook I got from them because I later found out that you can only view 76 pages of the etextbook per 30 days. Hello I am a college student! You really expect that professors only assign maximum of 76 pages per 30 days due to digital licenses. This is very disturbing and frustrating. I actually fell in love with my Nook Color but I have to return it since I can't view etextbooks on it. How SAD!
I told customer service how terrible they were and I'd spread my experiences out there. I mean why sell a product like ereaders if it's not compatible with your all of your books. Now that's really ASININE! The supervisor was also terrible trying to tell me that I can return my Nook Color where I got it from just not the etextbook from them. BLEEPIN' BARNES AND NOBLE YOU SUCK!
Barnes and noble took over my college bookstore. In the past the bookstore processed orders by next day. Now it takes weeks. I rented a textbook which came waterstained and written all over. I could have bought a low quality used one from amazon for half the price. Customer service was just plain lousy when I brought it to their attention. I won't push it I just won't ever use barnes and noble for anything again. With all the competition out there, they are just plain stupid. Barnes and noble can bite my ass
I was given a Nook Color as a gift and I agree 100% their customer service is the worst I have ever encountered. They decided my credit card which has been used everywhere else in the country without issue was invalid. I tried 3 different credit cards and got the same message. It has now been 3 weeks since I've been able to order a book. They send an e-mail saying your order has been cancelled and to call a number. I have literally been calling for 4 days. You can't leave a message because their voicemail is full. s of this morning you can't even hold. They just announce they are too busy to talk to you and please call back at another time. Unbelievable. I've called several other numbers and get someone who tells me so one can help me but the sales department. I have now been on hold for 25 minutes with someone who is at least trying to help. There is not even a place on their web page where you can e-mail them. I am planning on returning the nook today if this issue isn't resolved but don't like my chances hearing that the store personnell is not much better. NEVER BUY A NOOK!!!!!
i just did online shopping for the first time yesterday. i ordered some things from bn and they shipped every thing out already just fine. but after reading all this i dont think i will ever do that again.