Terrible experience - 1st and last time ever purchasing from B&N.com
by soling_sailor - Written: Aug 19 '08
| Ease of Ordering: |
 |
|
| Customer Service: |
|
|
| Selection: |
 |
|
|
| Full Review |
My order was lost in the ether somewhere after I entered my PayPal information and before I got the order verification and order number from B&N.com. B&N customer service was useless as there is a delay of 20-30 minutes before any order placed shows up in their computer system. Thankfully PayPal recognized it as a botched order and didn't charge my credit card. I then proceeded to try to re-place my order on B&N.com. It turned out that my previous transaction was still in my shopping cart, which it proceeded to let me know after I placed the first item in it on my second go around. I edited my cart, deleted the 2nd copy of one book and hit the radio button to go to the checkout (N.B. I didn't hit "update cart"...oops...it wasn't obvious on the screen. "Checkout" was obvious at the bottom of the screen. So, I end up checking out with 2 copies of a book because of the above. I all B&N customer service within 3 minutes of this mistake. Again, they have a 20-30 delay of any record of recent transactions. When I call back, Customer Service tries to blame the whole error on me, taking no blame whatsoever in the cause of the transaction problems. They tell me that they cannot make any changes to the order (just placed 30 minutes prior) and that if I want to return the book, I can take it to a B&N bookstore locally and ASK them IF they will take it back (B&N stores are not obligated to accept returns from a B&N.com purchase. Only if they choose to accept the return). It was only after I demanded to speak with a supervisor (and after 10 minutes on hold, one was still not available to address my issue)that the customer service representative offered to send me a return authorization sticker to return the 1 book. This wasn't enough, she had to emphasize that this was a 1 time only offer and she had to reiterate to me that it was not B&N.com's fault (I beg your pardon, if their computer system hadn't screwed up the first order I had placed, I wouldn't have had this issue in the first place... and how was this supposed to be my problem??? In summary, B&N.com's computer ordering system has a lot to be desired and B&N.com's customer service is even worse. This was my first and will be my last purchase from B&N.com or a B&N bookstore for that matter. I will go back to Amazon.com or ebay.com for my book needs in the future. If I purchase from a store,it will be from a local family run bookstore in town. B&N has lost my business over a $4.99 book that they made it a difficult issue for me to return. They have lost out on much more in sales than the $4.99 book they tried to stick me with and tried to deny any plausibility on their part for the error.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Book
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
