I'm all about Amazon.com from now on. B&N screwed me.
I've been reading all weekend about stuff I should have been reading two weeks ago. Am I lazy? No. B&N is at fault. They were late in delivering my books. Late, and arrogant.
I called their so-called "Customer Service" line twice. Once, I was told told to call back later. The other time, I was mocked and hung up on.
I guess they don't want my money. So I'll go where I'm treated a 'lil better: Amazon.com.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Chris Wilson
I have learned to never go to B & N with something specific in mind. I just browse and almost always find something that sparks my interest. Now if I want something specific - i.e. Life's Little Instruction Book Part 12 - well, I go to Amazon and happily order away......
2 - Ms. Tek
BARNES AND NOBEL SUCKS DONKEY ASS!
3 - Eric Olsen
RJ, you have found a friend
4 - Dwaine AKA Scooter AKA D.J.
RJ, did ya really have to post two complaints about B&N? We heard you the first time.
5 - Eric Olsen
maybe one was for Barnes and one was for Noble
6 - Mac Diva
Thank God this didn't happen to Sam Vaknin before he left. We would be reading about it the 100th time now.
7 - RJ Elliott
Sorry about the 2nd post. I mistakenly thought the first one didn't go through... :-/
8 - Dan
Hey, BN.com is not bad compared to their bricks-and-mortar stores. BN.com only sucks bad, while their retail stores are just god-awful.
9 - noble
how about leaving your house, then you can get the books the day you want them, and we won't have to read your complaints about slow delivery.
10 - Ms. Noble
I am a B&N employee & I am personally sick and tired of hearing your damn complaints. I work for an awesome company-there are way too many books out there to physically carry in the store-we only have so much space, so we carry what's most popular. Anything else you might need, we can order, as long as it's in print-it only takes a couple days, and if it's not what you were looking for, you're not obligated to buy it. If your book is out of print, you can still get it on our website. I hate when you guys come in and get pissed cause your book isn't in stock, & you don't have time for us to order it cause you need it TODAY for school, or your book club, or your sister's birthday. If you knew you needed the damn book, you shouldn't have waited til the last minute! I see teachers do this all the time & it boggles my mind. If you're a procrastinator, you should be used to disappointment by now. WE'RE DOING THE BEST WE CAN! THE PUBLIC'S DEMANDS ARE VARIED AND PLENTIFUL & I THINK WE'RE DOING A COMMENDABLE JOB OF MEETING THEM!
11 - commenting
I am ALSO an employee at B&N, and I will admit that the truth is inbetween. The ONLY reason why it's a good company to work for - i.e. Medical Care, paid sick days, etc... - is because they don't want their workers to unionize, ala Borders. Other than that, it suffers from ALL of the same faults as most corporations; slow to change, no one to take responsibility, a crushing heirarchy that squeezes the humanity out of its workers, and the store where I work specifically is a gynocratic dictatorship of oppression and nepotism.
Customers are perhaps the worst kind of human, and their requests are almost ALWAYS ridiculous, but unlike some corporations like Amazon.com, B&N suffers from "Old Decision Making Illness," otherwise known as ODMI. I am the ONLY employee (keep in mind, I'm at the lowest rung in the shit heep, and actually have a bachelor's degree), at my work that knows ANYTHING about computers. Our operating system is windows 9fucking5, and it takes longer to log into the computers than it does to read "War and Peace." As far as the ODMI goes, B&N is more interested in quarterly profits than in doing anything for the longterm, so all of its technology is out of date, its managers are out of date - as is their way of thinking - it takes WEEKS to get ordered items as opposed to a day or two and everything sells for retail.
I work there, and our 30% discount for employees means that stuff on Amazon.com is only SLIGHTLY cheaper! Don't mistake an easy work environment for a good one. B&N is a frustrating place to work, I can only imagine how painful it must be to shop there, especially with the kind of customer service that I see my fellow co-workers giving our customers. It's almost universally true that the employees with the WORST customer service skills are the ones that get promoted too.
12 - Dave Nalle
Borders seems so much better run than B&N I can't understand how B&N manages to stay in business.
As for amazon.com - they are great in many ways, but wait until you have a non-standard customer support issue, and good luck.
Dave
13 - Bob A. Booey
I normally have mild disdain huge corporations and mega-stores and try and support mom-and-pop operations when I can, but I find myself really being won over by cheap, effective enterprisees like Amazon and Netflix.
I find that I save a LOT more money by ordering from Amazon or getting my movies through Netflix than I would by frequenting a brick-and-mortar store owned by friendly folks. I'll still go to the well-meaning bookstores if I need an obscure academic book or to browse and say hi or if I need an obscure foreign film at the art-house video store (although Netflix has an awesome foreign film selection), but I find that's much less frequent now that the evil corporations have made life so much easier for me.
That is all.
14 - Pete
Same problem I ordered over 35 days ago and have had nothing but trouble. Never again. I will use Amazon.com from now on.
15 - bnshiva
I must add myself to the list of bad experiences with Barnes and Noble. A few days ago, I was banned from ALL Barnes and Noble stores around the country (I have never heard of such a thing). The reason, I requested that Barnes and Noble clean their bathrooms so children and myself, do not get covered in feces and urine. My mistake is that I should have made my request anonymously. Live and learn. I then recieved a phone call from the District Manager who was absolutely rude to me on the phone and made false accusations that I was using Google.com to contact her employees. How this is done is not in my network of knowledge, plus I use a9.com for a search engine.
Most of the time, some the employees, who can tolerate the management, take out the trash from the Cafe and light up some weed. They also transact their drug deals in the process on their cell phones. Security is an absolute joke. I once saw a guy walk out with a $50.00 box of Godvia chocolates. I pointed it out and the management just shrugged. The security alarms go off all the time, but it's largely a joke. Everyone laughs because no one really cares.
I've decided to tell everyone I know to take their business to Barnes and Noble's competitors. They are sitting on their laurels and it's only a matter of time before they fall off their high horse. If you do wish to do business with them on a very brief basis, you can tolerate them, but if you wish to have a long term relationship with them, I suggest you find another supplier. Also, you're not buying "new" books at Barnes and Noble. Employees are allowed to take them home to read them after which they are put back on the shelf to sell. Coffee stains and other types of stains are not uncommon. During business hours, customers are allowed to browse and destroy and number of books they choose. There is no accountability among the management and they cover their tracks with lies and so forth.
If there's anything I've learned from dealing with Barnes and Noble is that they are not customer friendly and I should have stopped doing business with them years ago. Now that I am banned from all their stores, I intend to do just that. Don't bother buying a membership card for $25.00 it's not worth it. Don't bother getting their Mastercard because you must first be a member and your membership is automatically renewed once you get the credit card. Read the fine print. You will hear many good stories about Barnes and Noble, but in general you will hear more horror stories than good.
As with any advise, do your homework before taking mine seriously. You'll find that I am correct.
16 - TARA
BARNES AND NOBLE IS NOT A GOOD PLACE TO WORK. THEY STEP ON THE NECKS OS THEIR WORKERS. THEY OFFER MEAGER INCREASES OF .25 AND .50 A YEAR. THERE IS A KNOWN THREAT OF TERMINATION IF THERE IS ANY MENTION OF TRYING TO FORM A UNION. I NO LONGER WORK FOR THEM AND I WILL NEVER SHOP IN ANY OF THEIR STORES EVER AGAIN!!!!
17 - Hawkeye
I don't work for Barnes and Noble buthave had mostly good experiences there. I'm not sure why people don't post the actual store where they had the problem instead of making general statements about a chain that covers the entire country.
18 - John McNally
I used to only go to independent bookstores, where the booksellers actually got to know the customers and would make intelligent recommendations (it's called "hand-selling" in the business), but both B&N and Borders have both squeezed most of these places out of business. If you want to support independents, go to booksense.com, and they will locate the nearest independent bookstore to you, which will sell you on-line whatever you're looking for. Unlike Amazon, booksense's money gets filtered back into your community. It's not as slick as Amazon and they don't offer as good of discounts, but the long-term benefits should make it worthwhile. John McNally (www.bookofralph.com)
19 - Mike Rodriguez
I work for Barnes & Noble. As I have read some of your comments here, I find various bits and pieces laughable compared to the atrocious workplace that I knew as BEST BUY. Those of you that are employed at Barnes & Noble should quit and work for Best Buy for about 6 months. Only about 10% of you would last that long, and then even most of you would BEG for your jobs back at B&N. I have never dealt with customers worse than those at Best Buy. Trust me, go to Bestbuysux.org, and you will see what I am talking about. About 70% of the negative employee posts on that website are true. When I got the job at B&N, I was the happiest retail employee in the world. I've been there 2 years now, and still like the job.
20 - DrPat
All of which shows, YMMV (your mileage may vary) applies in any walk of life. I buy from anyone who has the book I'm after, and if I get great discounts online, it is offset by the need to wait for the book to be shipped to me.
Hand-selling, by the way, only works if you can find a philosophically-compatible bookseller. Try getting a lib-focused bookseller to recommend a good read by Ann Coulter, Bill Bennett or Frank Gaffney. Not gonna happen!
21 - Mohjho
Barnes & Noble has air conditioning, books, and coffee, thats good enough for me.
22 - Steve Burns
I worked for Barnes and Noble for 21 years, and when my store was to close, first I was told that there would be full time jobs at other stores for all the lead booksellers[myself included], but 6 months later I was informed I could not work full time anymore and was strongly persuaded to take severance pay. I thought about that last year and 1/2 of the assistant manager niggling at me and writing me up about every trivial thing, and felt that I had been set up. What do you people think?
23 - Jeremy Kelley
I also have worked for the company for about 6 years now. It has been a great company to work for while I attend school. I have worked for a few stores across California and have never had a problem with staff or managers. They have gone out of their way to work around my school schedule. . . maybe B&N are managed better on the West Coast?
As far as customers, every store I have worked for has gone out of its way to make customers happy so I am sorry for all of your bad experiences.
24 - April
While I humbly respect the opinions of employees...
I am done with Barnes and Noble...hell Borders...
This little "credit card" promotion has irritated me to no end.
Every employee is set on "kill" and customer service has been deadly for the past two weeks.
As a teacher, i enjoy a 20% discount...which is much better than the card that is being "pushed."
After I have informed the employee that I enjoy a discount...I am treated to the same identical speech about how this card can ease my life and save me money- NO ONE IS LISTENING
Nice contest-to hell with customer service.....
Bye
25 - JT
I was practically attacked by an employee at exactly closing time as she demanded I pay for my books or put them down. I complained to the manager but he didn't seem to care. I'll take my money elsewhere