Barnes & Noble Booksellers
reviews and complaints

I recently visited the Barnes & Noble store in Vancouver, Washington and I must say, I was not impressed with the customer service I received from the lady Christian who claimed to be the manager while the actual manager was not present. Although the cafe team treated me well, Christian was incredibly rude and lacked basic customer service skills. She asked me to push in my chair, which was understandable, but then proceeded to stand there and find other ways to harass me. She even went as far as telling me not to plug in my Mac into their outlets, which was quite surprising.

I have visited other Barnes & Noble stores before and never had any issues, but this experience left a bad taste in my mouth. As a graduate student, I enjoy studying at Barnes & Noble while enjoying their menu, but this experience has made me reconsider my options. I remember when Borders went out of business, and it all started with poor customer service. Christian represents the entire company and its investors, and as such, she has a fiduciary responsibility to treat paying customers with respect and dignity. It is quite obvious that she has not been trained on the topic, and this is why many brick and mortar businesses go out of business by hiring without proper training.

It is quite unfortunate that I had to experience such poor customer service, and I cannot help but wonder if my race had anything to do with it. I was the only African American in the store, and it is quite sad that some people still judge others based on their skin color. I hope that Barnes & Noble takes this matter seriously and provides proper training to their employees, especially those in management positions. Overall, I would recommend Barnes & Noble, but I would advise customers to be cautious when dealing with certain employees.

I went to Barnes & Noble today to buy a book that just came out 2 days ago. I recently had ankle surgery and it's been a struggle for me to walk around. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the book in the "New Releases" section. I looked around for an employee to ask for help, but I couldn't find anyone. So, I hobbled over to the checkout desk and asked the only worker there. She told me that they had the book in a different section and called someone to bring it to the front. However, she was told that the copy they had in stock was being held for someone. I found this very strange because all the "Hold" books are usually kept on shelves behind the desk where I was standing. I wondered why this book wasn't with the others on hold, and why it didn't show up in the computer when the girl checked. It seemed like the second employee didn't want to help me out.

The worker offered to order the book for me, but I declined because I knew I could order it on Amazon for a lower price and get it faster. It's a shame that the customer service at Barnes & Noble has declined so much that I don't want to shop there anymore. It's frustrating when you can't find what you're looking for and the employees don't seem to want to help you. I hope they can improve their customer service in the future because I used to love going to Barnes & Noble to browse for books.

I recently had an online purchasing experience with Barnes & Noble that left me feeling extremely disappointed. I was excited to take advantage of the book sales they were offering over the Thanksgiving weekend. I placed an order and received confirmation, but soon discovered that the book was being sold by a third-party seller. I attempted to cancel the order, but was informed that it was too late to do so. This left me feeling frustrated, as I did not want to end up with two copies of the same book as a gift for my niece.

I tried to contact the third-party seller multiple times, but received no response. I then reached out to Barnes & Noble twice to get an update on the status of my order, but was left unsatisfied with their responses. On my second attempt, Barnes & Noble directed me to another party that they claimed was responsible for third-party vendors. However, when I contacted that party, I was informed that they only dealt with hardcopy magazine sellers and was sent back to Barnes & Noble.

To my dismay, one day before Christmas, Barnes & Noble cancelled my order, leaving me with no present for my niece. I was forced to brave the holiday traffic and crowds to purchase the book at my local bricks and mortar bookstore, at full price and with the added cost of local sales taxes.

Overall, this was the worst online purchasing experience I have ever had. I am extremely disappointed in Barnes & Noble and will never purchase from them again. Despite the great sales they were offering, the hassle and frustration that came with dealing with a third-party seller and unhelpful customer service was not worth it.

My name is Sylvia Williams. On Friday, March 24, 2023, I went into the Tallahassee (North Monroe) bookstore to purchase 2 books. I went to the Customer Service desk, there was no one there. I saw that the person was assisting another customer, so I waited. After about 3 minutes, she(Sarah) finished with the customer and she just passed by me at the desk and went straight to the Cafe and began talking to the cafe worker. After they realized that I was not a statute just standing there. I began to walk back to my vehicle. Sarah then left the cafe and asked whether I needed help. At this point, I was a bit irritated, but I told her what books I was looking for. After she begin to assist me, all of a sudden, another sales clerk (orange hair) appeared out of nowhere. Where was she when I was standing there waiting for service? After getting my books and ready to make my purchase, there was a gentleman waiting to check out. Sarah thanked him for waiting. When it was my turn in line, I did not get a thank you or an apology for my waiting. This is not acceptable customer service. I did not enjoy the transaction process. I spent $49.44 to be disrespected.

Barnes and Noble has very poor business practices and make it extremely difficult to cancel their "membership".

I've been trying to cancel the membership and they are not able to locate the ID for the membership I've been charged for. I tried using their website and the response I got was that I needed to call. Why it's necessary to call to simply get a membership ID is ridiculous. I'm afraid to see how much money I've wasted on this, years-worth possibly!

I tried finding my "Membership ID" on their site to cancel it. You can't, you have to contact them by phone. I called and they can't locate the ID number using my one and only phone number, my email address (which they've had for years) or using my zip code (guessing along with my name). I additionally tried a second time later today via chat and same run-around.

How in the heck can Barnes and Noble charge anyone for a membership that appears to not exist?! Funny how that works. Can't locate the ID but they sure still can charge you for it.

What's also lame is the "renewbn.com/membership" site that clearly shows on the billing statement line item, it is completely worthless and shady. From the very spartan user interface there's no Barnes and Noble account management or membership cancellation options. You can cancel some magazines and get linked to Rocket Money to use their service to try and cancel your membership. Further, my browsing protection identifies the site as "suspect" and it does indeed look pretty sketchy. I don't feel comfortable browsing the renewbn.com site let alone entering personal/financial information, if that was even possible which it's not for anything related to Barnes and Noble.

On a visit to Barnes & Noble's yesterday, we saw the disgust & shock of customers including my wife & I to see books promoting sexual perversion to children, basic pornography books, most likely written by pedophiles on display in the children's books, games & toy area.

In conversations customers responded with they will never step foot in the store again buy books. What a sick business decision, explains why the company is closing up stores and losing money. Customers said they will be notifying their attorneys and authority's.

Protecto your children and stay away from this business.

I just received my order #[protected]. It consisted of a map and one book. The order was very poorly packaged. The book was apparently just thrown in with the map in packaging which was very much too large. Damage to the book, which came open, was several damaged pages. It is still readable thank heavens. You people have never sent me such a ridiculously packaged order in the years I have bought books from you. I hope you will look into this immediately.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Lee Bassler

I want my personal account on their website deleted for security reasons. I don't use their site, the account was for a 1 time purchase years ago with a gift card from somebody. There are too many data breaches in the world today and I want my account deleted to protect my personal info. They refused because I don't live in California, whatever that means. They have no right to deny me my request for my account being deleted but they have. I submitted multiple requests to the same email, "Not a California resident" and I even replied to their email they included in the email to deny me the request and it has been 2 weeks without a response now. If this fails too I will continue to take more drastic measures to force my account deleted from their service if I must. I want it gone one way or the other, whether they delete it as requested or I force their hand to ban me from their site. I don't care at this point, I want my personal information deleted and they have no right whatsoever to keep it when I requested it be deleted. I have included a screenshot of their auto response sent stating because I don't live in California they are not deleting my personal information from their site. I have cropped it to edit out all my personal information and only show their response to my request. The email they included in that response is what I responded to 2 weeks ago with no response back.

On Friday, August 26th, 2022 at about 7:30pm, we went into the Barnes and Noble in Woodinville, WA because you had a chalk sidewalk sign that read, "Book Haul 50% off". Before we went in I looked closely at the sign to make sure it wasn't "for members only" or had some other requirement like, bogo. Nope. Clear as day.

We purchased three books and were charged full price. I told the cashier that your sign states, "50% off". He said it was on select books. I told him that's not what the sign says. He went out, looked at it, came back in and repeated the same phrase, like I didn't hear him or understand. I told him that's false advertising and you need to be very careful. Multimillion dollar lawsuits about false advertising can put a company out of business, just like, "Justice". They were sued and haven't seen one around for almost a decade. He really was kind but nonchalantly told me it's on selected books and disregarded my complaint, like it's not important. We waited around in the parking lot to see if they were going to bring it in or change the words or something to rectify the misleading claim, but no avail.

Pretty disappointed that, even after it was brought to his attention, he left it up! Maybe tell a Supervisor to come take a look, take the sign inside or even modify the price of my purchase while I was still there. Or he could have even apologized for the error, but nothing.

I understand the lack of employees these days. I really do. But there were many chances and ways for this to be rectified and none of them were considered.

He was kind enough, please don't fire him. Train your employees on correct advertising and some correct/multitude of ways to elevate and resolve complaints to keep your members, "Members".

Called customer service, my original nook cannot accept my spouses account because it was initially mine.

My nook is no longer supported but was told it was eligible for a trade in.

Gave all info(email, serial number)

When I called to do the trade in, was told that that serial number was missing but then CS said it was there but needed 1-5 business days to find missing number?

I did not feel comfortable dealing with this CS rep. I now question B &N in their tactics.

Today I opened up my credit card bill to discover a $25 charge from Barnes and Noble. I immediately suspected fraud and contacted my credit card issuer. After looking on Barnes and Noble's website, I discovered that B&N had indeed billed my card for $25 for a membership renewal which I did not authorize. This is very poor business practice and I want my membership discontinued immediately and a full refund of the $25.

I just checked my bank account and saw that I've been charged a $25 renewal fee for my Barnes & Noble (a month early, which I know is what B&N normally does, but this has always seemed really unnecessary and scammy to me). The thing is, I cancelled this membership months ago. Why am I still listed as a member in their system, why am I still signed up for auto renewal for a membership I tried to cancel, and why do I have this charge on my account?

I bought a bunch of books from B&N. The kind cashier informed me that joining their membership would actually save me money in that single transaction. That was great news. The cashier was also kind enough to inform me that I would be signed up for automatic renewal. I did not want that; so the cashier wrote down the number to call, on a post-it note for me. I called that very same day and canceled the automatic renewal feature. Life was good.

Fast forward 4 years. I transferred money from one of my checking accounts to another in order to pay a bill. Now the original checking account is only used to budget money. I deposit a percentage of my income automatically into said account and transfer it to others when needed. I have not used that account at a place of business in years. I do not have any automatic withdraws authorized on this account. So I felt comfortable withdrawing money from that account and leaving only a dollar or two balance.

Today I was surprised to discover my checking account in the negative after a 25 dollar withdraw from B&N. I called my bank and disputed the transaction. I then called B&N. B&N informed me that I had indeed opened my account in December of 2018, have had no further transactions since and that they have no documentation that I tried to cancel the renewal feature.

Did the original customer service associate mistakenly not cancel the automatic renewal? Idk. How is there no record of it when they record all the calls? Seems fishy. Is this fraud? Seems like it. Will having 75 dollars returned to me change my life? Probably not. How many other people have they done this to? That is a great question. Will B&N rectify the situation? Probably not, but time will tell.

I purchased a vinyl record and a book online. The vinyl came in a plastic sleeve, which offers no stability. I understand that isn't B&N fault. My grievance is with why would you put the book inside the shipping cardboard envelop that is made to protect the vinyl. Needless to say the vinyl was warped really bad, pretty much unplayable. So I can return it but have to pay for shipping. Why should I pay for shipping return when it's no fault of mine. Wrote a review but didn't pass the moderation do to it being a shipping issue. Well it left your store like that, its not Fedex's fault. No wonder Amazon is eating everyone lunch.

October 2021
I do not have client number
Description
I never authorize a B&N membership on my credit card. This is A fraud and Ilegal. I am not even in their records, I do not have a membership at all.

I can not get though costumer service because I do not have a membership. When I try to talk representative, nobody answer the automatic phone system. It came back asking again for membership

Resolution: cancel the membership (whether it is), and return my money back. This is a fraud

I visited the B & N store in the Citadel Mall in Colorado Springs, CO this afternoon, looking for the second time for the September Scientific American. The August issue is in the rack. One of the clerks was putting new magazines out, and I asked her if it was possible that the new Scientific American was there in her box. She told me in no uncertain terms that my request not something she would deal with. I asked for help from mangers Joe and Veronica, who clearly didn't care at all about my customer experience. It doesn't take much to make a customer like me to feel listened to. I didn't have that experience. I spend $2000 a year at least on books. I'm someone who values print and hard copies. And I also value even modest customer service. During the pandemic, I shifted from B & N to Amazon, and given the lack of customer service today, I have no reason to return to B & N.

I bought the book, "Thank You for Arguing" by Jay Heinrichs, on August 11, online expecting it to be delivered on the 18th. I received a confirmation email the same day I bought the item confirming that the book was going to be delivered to my address. I then received a shipping confirmation email stating that the book was on its way. On the 13th I got a billing summary confirming that I was charged, and I received my order number. On Tuesday, August 24th I was informed that the item was successfully delivered but I, in fact, did not receive the book.

Order Number: #[protected]
Tracking Number: 1LSCXH300015926
Complaint Case Number with LaserShip (who supposedly delivered the book): [protected]

-Jennifer Bonilla

I ordered a book I need for class on August 10 and was told that I would receive the book by August 25. A week after that I received another email stating that the delivery date was pushed to Sept 3. I called and the first person that I spoke with stated that the book was in the warehouse and had not been shipped. When I asked to cancel the book order so I could get it sooner they stated that they could not do that. They would send the book with a return label so that I could send it back. I asked for a manager because that makes no sense and was told the same thing. She said that it was a print on demand and that it had not been printed by the publisher because they were running behind. I told her what the previous person had said about it being in the warehouse and she stated that was false. When I called her on the inconsistencies of the information that I was given she kept repeating herself telling me the only solution for a book that they did not even have yet and that had not even been shipped would be for them to receive the book themselves, ship it to me with a return label, for me to return the book back, and when they receive it back only then could they refund the funds back to my account. This would take over a month for something that can be fixed in a day. All I need is to have a cancelation put on my order.

I was with a friend at the store in Delaware at Christiana Mall. I asked to NOT have a membership since I do not live close enough to any of your stores to want one. I didn't realize until the next day when I was back home in PA that I was charged for the membership fee. I tried to call them but I only kept getting put on hold. I'm seriously disgusted with the lack of attention I received. Now I have money taken off my credit card for something I did NOT ask for and nobody wants to reimburse the $25 fee.

I have been trying to place an order for a number of books. have emailed your [protected]@bn.com several times. I have also faxed them with no response. for a business this is very disturbing. I am now looking to other vendors to see placing order with them since Barnes and Noble can not respond. I have called the corporate number [protected] they were no help ether.