Barnes & Noble Reviews 

I experience very bad customer service when returning a workbook that I purchased. I purchased 12 workbooks and items of educational learning materials for my grandchildren. That same night, I looked at the items, and notice that one of the workbooks was used. I took the book back the next day for an exchange or refund. The lady at the checkout counter told me that I could not return the book. I told her that I, nor my grandkids had done this; and that I paid for a new workbook, not a used book. She continues to tell me that she would not give me a refund. Also, she mentioned that they could not sale this used book to anyone else. I told her that I didn’t care what she did with the book, but that I wanted a refund or a new replacement book. Once again, she told me “No”. I then asked to speak with her manager. She told me that her manager would tell me the same thing, “no refund”. I was becoming upset with her. I asked, again to speak with the manager. Another employee told me that I did not have to speak that way; because this was due to me raising my voice, asking to speak with her manager. The manager came and asked how he could help me. I explained that I brought books and a membership card; and that one of the books was used and I wanted a refund or a replacement. The clerk showed him the used book and where it had been written in. The manager told the clerk to give me my money back. I could tell she was upset that she had to give me my money. She asked me for my card to put the purchased item back for the refund. Barnes and Noble need to train their employees in good customer service and proper manner to address customer’s needs.

I brought my young children to Barnes & Noble today to let them pick out a children’s book. I was shocked to see a employee,6’3” big guy grey/blonde bushy hair with his underwear showing. You would think they would at least have a dress code. Very distasteful, the location is in Little Rock.

I am very disappoint in this bookstore that I have frequented most of my life. I never thought I would be in this situation of still not receiving an item that I purchased at the end of January as a gift for February. I purchased "Sous Vide Ketogenic Cookbook: Low-carb, High-fat, Satisfying Sous Vide Recipes. The Ultimate Keto Cookbook to fix Your Metabolism, Lose Weight and Stay Healthy by Sophia Marchesi" with the expectation that the book would come to me within the standard shipping time. When it didn't, I spoke with customer service who assured me that it would reach me by the following Monday (approx. Feb 6th). When I still hadn't received the book, I spoke again to customer service who claimed to put another note on the order for expedition. Even though I was irritated, I decided to be understanding and repurpose the gift as a valentine day gift but still nothing..... When I called today, I told them to please get it to me by the end of the week or cancel the order, as the book has lost it's purpose of being a gift. Once again, I was given the run around of notes, 'it's being processed' and so on.

This is ridiculous. While not receiving the book in a reasonable amount of time is annoying, I think that being misled over and over again with the "we're working on it" tactic is very irritating. I will bare note for the future- if I ever want to give a book as a gift, I need to purchase those from Amazon. Both the rep and manager (I demanded to speak with) gave me the same run around today and I am here left with nothing to give as a gift (or to compensate me for the failed service). And, I am still being forced to honor an order that I would have never made if I was made aware of the possible complications. I am a devout BnN customer ... but now....I don't know ...I am just disappointed....

Have ust been lazy. What's more to say about B&N? It's a fantasy island for bookworms. The collection is phenomenal, hardcovers are something I could die for. I've become an almost monthly visitor after the pandemic and every penny spent is worth all the dopamine.

I ordered 5 books online. 4 of the books arrived in separate deliveries. The tracking information for the 5th book indicated that it would arrive in 10 days. the tracking data stopped after 9 days. After 18 days I asked for a refund. B&N said it would arrive on the 19th day, but I should contact them for a refund if it did not. The book did not arrive and I contacted customer service. They did not respond. I tried again on the 22nd day and did not get a response. I tried once again on the 24th day. No response from B&N. 26 days after my order I contacted B&N and asked for a refund. I did get a response informing me that they would provide me with a refund, but the amount was for less than I paid. The amount was small, but I very disappointed in the amount of effort required to obtain the refund, and with the lack of service provided.

If I could leave zero stars I would. I will never shop at Barnes and Nobles ever again. I preorder books online and the way that they phrase their preorder terms are very weird and after reading them I assumed that, like standard book stores (ie Waterstones and Amazon), they charge you for your preorder about a week before it comes out. So going with that idea I order my preorders during a sale and the first red flag is that they precharge my card for the preorders (which are coming out throughout 2023). This charge sits on my card for 7 days then goes away. Well, my first preorder came up and they charge me the whole amount of the order, not the preorder. I'm talking about charging me $400 instead of the $20 for the book. Now this is crazy because no other company does this; the other companies don't precharge you and they only charge you for the book that you have preordered. And what makes it worse is when you talk to their customer service they act like you are the idiot for not understanding this. This is a terrible system Barnes and Nobles, no other book company does this. And then insult to injury, they explained to me that this amount will sit on my card and then on top of it they will charge the $20 for the preorder that should be included in the amount!! And it again sit in your bank account as a charge for 7 days. I can't afford gas and they don't care. I thought that I was buying a $20 book in February not $400 worth of books for the next year and a half. And then on top of it all they explained to me that for each subsequent preorder I will be charged for the whole amount again (- the $20 from the preorder). So next preorder charge that would come out they would hold $380 for 7 days. This is insane!! Bad business practices! I will NEVER buy from them again!!!!!
**update: I have sent the information to said comment. Which is not a great way to respond. I fully understand your policies I just think that they are terrible. Again, when you respond to someone's complaint like this it makes them feel belittled and you need to change your script for what you write back, because I know that this is just your job, and you, Barnes and Nobles, as a company should change your policy because it is terrible.

Today I went to Barnes and Noble at the Christiana Mall in Newark de and had an unpleasant experience with the employees Tristian. I ordered my books online and then went into the store. He books at the store came up higher than online so I informed the employee Tristan of that. She did however match the price because she said it was built into the system.She then asked if I had a membership with them I said I did and provided her with the my phone number. I took the books and receipt and left. I went outside the bookstore and noticed that I did not get discounted for my books. Yet it discounted me on the original amount.”” I went back in the store to explain and she seemed confused so she then started speaking to the manager about the situation, the manager walked over never saying anything to me just watching me and Tristan go back and forth. During this time I was remaining calm so I said I will return the items and you can ring them up individually n then price match and I will provide u my membership number, the manager walked away all I could do was shake my head. Tristan said we can not use ur membership if we are going to price match. I said that can not be true if you did it the first time but because u didn’t give it to me on the lower amount is why we are even having this discussion. I immediately knew I was not going anywhere in this situation and just walked out the store I was appalled 😳 I just look the price up on Amazon and will be getting it from there. I was really bothered at the time because I still try and support the bookstore but with this type of treatment which I never experienced before I won’t be back here not when those two ladies are working. Why would I have a membership if I can not use it that seems weird..

Always around with the most fascinating work to drive bookworms like myself crazy. love them!

Packaging was horrible came with it ripped all down the side

I had a bad experience with this store being that I did ordered a book on Tuesday January 10,2023 the person who I did talk with said that they would help me to this book, jesus in art and literature by Pierre Marie demont it would be seven days until the book comes in: well this is the seven day ! guess what I learned from the woman at this Barnes and noble store, who i talked with she told me this she never heard of this book ! So the person who i talked with never ordered this book, jesus in art and literature by Pierre Marie demont i learned that the time i ordered to get this book was a waste of time !i am very unhappy with this experience and very disappointed with this store and i was looking forward to getting this book how very disappointing this is!I waited all this time and they never ordered the book if you want this book jesus in art and literature by Pierre Marie demont order directly from where this book comes from magnificent.net!from this experience i learned if this is how someone like this treats customers like me in this way,so I'm never going to order any book from these people again!!

I placed an order on December 25th of last year with an email saying order was shipped on December 28th. Was charged to my credit card and to this day I have not received my order on January 12th. Will never order from this company again. Terrible service

Updating my review as I got contacted by the customer service via Facebook and they were very helpful and issued a refund in a matter of minutes
Highly appreciated their reactivity

Thank you to Nate who helped me at the Resource Desk of the Fort Collins Barnes and Noble store the week of 12/25. He went above and beyond sourcing maps for me at multiple locations, and having them sent to the FTC store. Thank you!

Online ordering is a mess. I ordered books for several people and had to cancel it twice since the website us not user friendly. I tried to order books at the physical store but was unable to add note. How are people supposed to know who sent them the books. After this I will never order online.

Barnes and Noble fraudulently withheld my royalties that they show they owe me and also did not record some sales of my book so that they can further cheat you out of royalties. I have proof of these allegations which I am happy to provide. Just call me at 201-708-7263. Barnes and Noble sent me an author copy of my self published book that I paid them for. When it arrived the printed version did not match the print preview and the professional I was working with confirmed this fact. Barnes and Noble refused to make this right despite the fact that I provided them with all of the evidence proving my case. I also have a tax exempt certificate and they charged me tax and never refunded it. I waited several months. I followed all of their instructions. So I charged back the amount of 30.00 and I prevailed. The bank ruled in my favor.

Now almost a year later, after I have been purchasing author copies during the whole year, they refuse to ship my book to me. I could understand their position if they had prevailed in the dispute, but they LOST and have resorted to very unethical business practices over 30 dollars when I am trying to place an order for 3,000 dollars. What business in their right mind does this?

Their platform was a nightmare to deal with and I strongly advise against using them for self publishing. Go to a more reputable company like Ingramspark. Barnes and Noble is spectacularly unethical! What they did may even be illegal. I have contacted the AG's office and they want me to file a complaint.

Update: Three days after I wrote this review Barnes and Noble took my book off sale I believe in retaliation for my review, but again never contacted me. Like I said they are highly unethical. How bizarre over 30.00 for a book that they printed incorrectly AND I WON the dispute with the bank. As per their response below I did provide them with my contact information yet again and I have not heard from anyone. Their response below seems to be their standard response when in fact they have no intention of contacting the reviewer.

Update: 12.13.22 Now it seems that also in retaliation for my review Barnes and Noble is withholding my royalties. The proper procedure would be to sue me in small claims for the 30.00 not take my book off sale and refuse to pay my royalties. On top of not paying royalties owed, they have not recorded other royalties on their reposts and I can prove this allegation. They lost the dispute with the bank. Their sole remedy is small claims. There is nothing in their terms and conditions either that allows them to withhold royalties or take my book off sale. Also after I posted my review they asked for my contact information. I provided my phone number yet again and on one ever called me! One of the most troubling things about this whole ordeal is not once did anyone from Barnes and Noble ever pickup the phone and talk to me. Not once in an entire year. Emails are great, but there comes a point where they are ineffective and one just had to pick up the phone and talk to the person. B&N prefers to hide cowardly behind email. Whomever has been handling this whole thing should be fired and I suspect they will be once the attorney general gets involved. The only good thing I can say is nothing and I don't believe that I am being unfair in my assessment.

Update: BS that you are interested in more info. That is a very broad request. If you were really interested in doing right by me you would indicate what specific info do you needed This is just a response by a bot. In the meantime I went to Ingramspark. I had not one issue uploading my book and there customer suuport is outstanding! They are very responsive and helpful. Plus by shipping the books myself I have quadrupled the amount that I keep! Barnes and Noble was paying me a paltry 1.92 per book. Please stay away from Barnes and Noble if you are an author.

Purchased three items on 12/8, one to be shipped and two to pick up. Got confirmation email saying I was charged for and purchased all three items. Went to pick up my items on 12/9, it took three in-store reps to figure out that BnN mysteriously canceled one of my items. That means they also removed my bogo 50% discount on the book. Didn't bother to inform me. Since I needed all three items, they were a set, I asked to cancel my order altogether so that I may re-purchase them and have all three items shipped, and receive the discount. The in-store rep told me they couldn't cancel it, I had to ask customer service to cancel it. So I tried using their chat, rep was useless and can't modify or change the order in any way. Couldn't change the missing item to be shipped, couldn't cancel the order, refused to let me place a new order with the rep so the missing item could be shipped and I could receive the discount and shipping reduction, since I have already paid for shipping on my original order. Informed repeatedly that I needed to call the customer service line, they are the only ones who could cancel my order. I tried their email option, they never responded. I tried going back to the store, they said call customer service. So I called customer service and was on hold over 40mins. First rep is from India, can't be bothered to do anything about my order. Demanded a manager. The manager is just as useless, refuses to cancel it, refuses to change it to shipped, refused to let me place a new order, refuses to let me switch it to pickup at a different store that had it in stock. Had to ask for HER manager. Finally I get a really nice sounding lady, told her I just needed to cancel my order. Mind you all this has happened in less than 24/hrs after placing my order, which they canceled 33% of without my knowledge or consent. Finally she says yea, no problem, let me cancel that whole order for you, you will get an email confirming the cancellation. I thank her profusely, since this is all i ever wanted, they cancelled 33% of my order, they can cancel the other 66%. Two hours later, I still havent received confirmation that my order was cancelled and the website shows it as processing still. So there is a good chance they STILL havent canceled my order, even after getting to second stage management and being told repeatedly this is what I had to do to get my order canceled, an order that they sold me and refused to provide. Most likely I get to scream at them some more tomorrow. Seriously, just cancel my order, you sold me a book you don't have, then demand that the only way to receive the book I paid for is to place another order, at full price, and pay shipping, again, as a fully different purchase. I always loved shopping at BnN but never again after this. ***************UPDATE**************** As predicted, that second tier, top corporate management that promised me profusely that this order was cancelled, at 5:30pm 12/9, lied to me. She didnt bother to cancel the order. The charges went from pre-authorization, to a full charge, so I am being charged for an order I was promised that was canceled. The one book has been shipped, after I had already canceled it. I am on hold, right now, with the customer support line, for another 40mins so far, telling them I was promised this was cancelled. According to the reps, this order is still active, so your top tier management lied. I am speaking to the highest level of managers available on phone support right now, who is fully admitting that her coworker, whom I spoke to at 5:30pm on 12/9, also a top level phone support manager, lied to me repeatedly, that there was no guarantee of a cancellation and she was only putting in a request, but that first top tier manager promised me that she was personally canceling it at that moment. The ten minutes I spent on hold, with that top tier management, while she said she annotated my account to say it was cancelled, was a lie. Saying I would get a confirmation email that it was cancelled, was a lie. I am now supposed to get a call back eventually from an even higher manager, but they won't be bothered because it is the weekend. Barnes and Noble values literally the $8 by removing a discount from book more than a customer who has spent thousands in their store. Even their top levels of customer service management are liars and useless at their job.

Barnes & Noble has provided me with excellent customer support, both in person and via telephone/email. They have taken the issues with my orders seriously and provided very reasonable solutions. When I went to pick up the order in question, I was also greeted with a complementary Starbucks voucher. Little details, but from start to finish, B&N Customer support was excellent, thanks!!

They charged me 5 times for an ebook they never sent to me! I purchased, I was charged 5 times, they did not deliver the ebook. They said I wouldn't be charged - I was 5 times! Still waiting on a refund or for them to provide the order. Made a complaint and request for refund - no response. Terrible service!!! Will never, ever use or recommend B&N again! This once reputable business are now crooks and thieves!

This is the second time I ordered a book from Barnes & Noble this year (2022) that arrived with warped, ripply pages. This is generally due to humidity or damp environments.
A brand new book at retail prices should be pristine. The book also has a mildewy smell to it.
I'm returning it.
It's a pity because I've always loved Barnes & Noble and have bought many books from them over the years. No more.
They need to fix this problem by storing their books appropriately so this doesn't happen anymore.

I ordered an item from Barnes & Noble online. On day of delivery I noticed at the bottom of the UPS tracking page a reference to shipping to a PO Box. So, at that point I realize that Barnes & Noble has somehow shipped to an address that I have not used in at least 3 yrs! I immediately logged back on to the site to see if I had missed an entry for my old address somewhere in my account and address settings. Nope! It was nowhere to be found and cannot figure out how they could have done this. I called them to let them know and they basically said there was nothing they would do for me nor could they explain. As far as they're concerned it was not their problem! Since I live elsewhere now, I don't have the option of going to the PO to get it and Barnes & Noble said if it's returned to them they will give me a refund. Not good enough! They OWE me a replacement for that item now. As far as I'm concerned I will never do business with them again. I don't need that kind of treatment.