Barnes & Noble Reviews 1,906

Beginning of March 2024 I ordered five gift cards to be shipped to my address. I received a shipment through UPS of three gift cards. After calling Barnes & Noble immediately and reporting the problem, I was told a replacement for the missing two cards would be shipped from their warehouse. The Barnes & Noble employee requested the gift card numbers off the back of the three gift cards I did received. I requested a tracking number for the replacement cards but was told that he could not give me that information. I thought that was odd since the first shipment had UPS tracking information. The replacement cards never arrived. I contacted Barnes & Noble again and was told that the two missing gift cards were showing as used. I figured this was due to the original customer service representative who asked for the numbers off the cards I did receive. Perhaps he cancelled the other two cards so they couldn't be used? I was given a contact number for the Sales and Audit Team. When I called to speak with the Sales Audit Team I was told that the original cards were spent in a physical store on the day I originally received them; the same day I called about the missing cards. Because of this they stated they could not issue me a replacement. I responded that I live nowhere near the store on record for the usage, not even in the same state. Again, I was told they would review the situation and contact me by email. Over three weeks and still no reply from Barnes & Noble. I called again and was told that it is marked for no replacement or credit. When I asked to speak with the person(s) of the Sales and Audit Team I was told they do not take calls but a request for a callback could be left. I'm doubtful I will receive a callback since they never bothered to follow through by email either. My original three gift cards arrived in a sealed UPS envelope directly from Barnes & Noble. I fear that my missing gift cards were somehow stolen and spent or sold before ever being put in that UPS envelope. Somehow Barnes & Noble seems okay with penalizing their customers for this.

I placed an order on 3/9/2024 for a bag and 2 books. The bag came just as promised. The two books never came. The message kept saying "awaiting pickup" with UPS. I inquired twice, before finding out that they couldn't tell me anything and cancelled the order, issued a refund and resent the books. One book came as promised. The second book came 3/26/2024. The cover of the book is what I ordered, but the inside of the book is a completely different book altogether! I have never had such issues with a vendor before.

Edit: I finally received the correct book today, 4/2/2024. I will say I filled out the form as requested by Barnes and Noble below, and I never heard a word from anyone.

This is a website experience review. A big banner appears announcing a BOGO 50% off deal, but the deal did not appear at checkout. One of the books I wanted was not even listed (not out of stock, simply not listed, major author). Prices are higher than Amazon. Shipping is extra if you want it in a timely manner. After entering my gift card it still wanted me to enter a credit card. After many clicks and refreshes this eventually processed my order without a credit card. I contacted customer service but ended up placing the order without their assistance. Never did get the Bogo. If I didn't have a gift card I would have given up. Highly recommend any other gift - do not give B&N gift card.

This review is for my online and gift card experience with Barnes & Noble. I'd give zero stars if I could. I'd say to avoid ordering online if you can help it - especially if you are using a gift card. It's also best to not give people B&N gift cards period (unless you 100% know that they'll use it in the store and love this particular store for some reason).

I placed an online order only for it to be cancelled soon after. I was told I needed to call first in order for them to remove an authorization hold so I could use it. After waiting a couple days I could place the order. Then the largest part of my order did not get delivered. I understand that this is the carrier's fault, but the handling of this situation to get a resolution has been terrible.

After multiple communications (lotsa time wasted and mostly incompetent and/or ineffective assistance), a replacement order was processed, and the delivery failed again. So I requested a refund to the gift card in order to place the order for pick-up in store. It was processed and I was assured that I could immediately use the gift card. But no. The order was cancelled soon after placing. Once again on the phone, I was informed there's nothing wrong with the giftcard and that it was a random cancellation. This is my worst consumer experience trying to have an order fulfilled. It's been a month from the initial order date and I still do not have the item I ordered. Regardless of payment method, money has been paid and the funds should be usable.
I've refused to give up on being satisfied as a matter of principle. It seems that their gift cards and online ordering process is flawed and maybe the gift cards are meant to be a scam. If it's this difficult to use them, maybe customers will give up on using the gift cards and B&N can just get paid money for nothing.

I received a record for Christmas that I already had . Tried to exchange for a different one ( had receipt and was NOT open) they would NOT exchange. Last time I shop or purchased anything from them POOr customer service.

Going on two weeks and my books still haven't arrives. I could've written a book at this point !!!

I bought an e-book from Barnes & Noble thinking that - like every other e-book I have ever purchased - I would simply be able to download the book and read it on whatever device I chose. Nope.
A few words about customer service:
1) Online chat is a joke. Wait 10+ minutes for someone to log onto the chat and then nothing happens
2) Telephone service is not much better. Hold times of more than 20 minutes, bad connections, off-shore call center reps with limited English (who, for some mysterious reason, feel the need to repeat everything you say endlessly, thereby wasting even more of your time)
3) No explanation of the need to use proprietary software and/or apps to read the e-books

I was able to get a refund, but only after spending hours waiting for e-chat and phone reps, and fruitlessly combing the website for help.
Never again.

IN RESPONSE TO BARNES & NOBLE'S REPLY:
In other words, Barnes & Noble is not actually selling audiobooks; they're selling a membership in a personalized online library. I can 'buy' the audiobook, but I will never actually own it in the same way I would own a real book - which, by the way, I most certainly CAN give away if I choose, and without violating anybody's intellectual property rights.
I am still stunned by the sheer stupidity of Barnes & Noble's response, but it does an outstanding job of proving my point about their ludicrously poor customer service.

They offered me a free rewards card, they end up singing me up for a membership with out my permission. I bought some books and I paid with my debit card, and they staring usinig it taking money out of my debit card for 6 years, to pay for the membership I never signed up for. I called them so they can explain how did they used my card to take money out of my bank account, they said that I used it to pay for the books I bought, so i asked to refund the money, but they only refunded 25 dollars because the rest was to old and is lost, so I lost 175 dollars wich is not a lot for them but for me it is because I work hard for it. Just be careful and Check your rewards card to see if they are Charching you for it..

We received a Barnes and Noble gift card.
Finally tried to use it and found out after one year, $1.50 is deducted monthly so now we have zero balance. We lived over 60 miles from a nearest Barnes and Noble. Very disappointed ☹️

This is the worst experience ordering online I have ever experienced. It took me an hour to order one book. I kept getting error messages and the website would not record changes I made. I changed the order total to one book and the website indicated that the change had been made but then charged me for two books. If I wasn’t using a gift card, I would have given up.

First, I have always loved brick-and-mortar Barnes and Noble stores. There’s nothing like the scent of row after row of books waiting to be discovered!

But BN.com is an absolute cesspool of the online retail world. This is now the second time I’ve been met with the infuriating problem of ordering a product that it says is in stock, BN telling me that the item has shipped, and then giving me tracking numbers from multiple carriers (!) who tell me that though a label has been created, they haven’t received the item for shipment.

This would be a forgivable problem if BN’s customer service was in any way competent. But alas, far from it. Multiple customer service agents tell me different, contradictory things. No one, not even at the supervisor level, can tell me whether or not the item shipped or has any insight into what happened. And they seem utterly confused about why I’d be upset.

I’ve tried to support Barnes and Noble over Amazon in the past even though they’re slightly more expensive, but no longer. I can call Amazon the very next day if there’s an issue with an order and they immediately make it right.

TL;DR - BN.com is a nightmare when it comes to shipping problems and their customer service agents don’t care.

Absolutely love this place they have almost every book you could ever need and want!! They are kinda pricey compared to other places but the books are always in great shape and they always have new releases and they have magazines and also learning activity books for kids. Books for everyone!! You think you can’t find a book definitely look here cause most likely you will find it

The B&N in Birkdale Village is huge. They have a wide selection of books and many hard to find books are available at this location. If you cannot find what you need, someone is always available to assist. The magazine selection is the largest I’ve ever seen along with the Starbucks sitting area.

The books and other merchandise is reasonably priced. There are discounts on selected items all the time.

When you visit, please be aware that parking can be a bit challenging.

I ordered a book to Kazakhstan in the city of Astana, my book flew out of Almaty on December 30 and has not yet arrived in Astana on January 10. Please give me the contacts of delivery company that still can not deliver my package😕

I dont like the fact that They display Israeli Food, as Israeli. Is Palestinian and Middle eastern food, stolen by eastern europeans. Since They choose to take part in the War on Palestine, by supporting Israeli products. They deserve 1 star.

Hebrews to N-groes was taken off shelf at Barnes and Noble. While the RACIST MOVIE BIRTH OF THE NATION is said to be a must see. STOP YOUR RACIST PRACTICES NOW!!!!!

I ordered 4 books from Barnes & Noble. The books were supposed to arrive 2 days ago---still no sight of them. Sorry I dealt with them---going back to Amazon where delivery is assured.

I placed my order on 12/7 and neither item will ship on time for Christmas. Why it takes a month for them to process and ship I don’t know. I would never recommend to anyone to patronize Barnes & Noble.

I had a TERRIBLE experience with Barnes & Noble.

I was looking for two rare books, and found they had them available as e-books.

I signed up, provided my address, credit card details - then completed the purchase.

Immediately my credit card was charged and I was provided a confirmation email, but then a few minutes after it was automatically cancelled.

Despite me clearly showing that I was in Australia, it wasn't until they took my money that they choose to disclose that they do not sell e-books to people in Australia.

I attempted to talk to customer support, but they were unable to assist and told me to contact their FRAUD AND AUDIT support team during business hours.

It took over two weeks for me to finally get my money back.

I ordered a code book from B and N. I payed extra for quick delivery. On the day it was to be delivered, They postponed the delivery for a week and then cancelled the order all together. What a waste of my time. All I got was an e mail saying sorry for the inconvenience. What a joke. How incompetent.