I have loved Barnes & Noble for years… I have loved Barnes & Noble for years and their customer service (when needed) had always been wonderful. This time was quite different. I pre-ordered a book that unfortunately got delayed by the publisher. That, however, was not the problem. The problem was that I ordered a hardcover copy of the book, but what arrived in the mail (when the book finally released) was a paperback. I promptly contacted Customer Service by phone, hoping to get the situation sorted, and I repeatedly received pushback. I double-checked my records and I had proof that I ordered and paid for the hardcover copy. The agents initially argued that I ordered a paperback. I did not. Then, after diving deeper into their records, they admitted that I ordered a hardcover, but said there was nothing they could do. The system recorded my order as a paperback. The only solution, they said, was for me to order the book again. This was a problem for me because my original order was with a 25% off promo and free shipping. If I had to order again, I would lose those discounts. The agents were able to give me a reference ticket that would approve me for those same discounts, but they refused to apply them until AFTER I placed a second order. They would charge me the full amount and then would retroactively apply a refund for the discount that would take several days. That meant they expected me to pay for the same book TWICE. And the cost of the book had increased, so ultimately I paid more anyway. Not only that, but they were nasty about the copy that I wanted to return. Customer Service flat out refused to issue a refund (on the wrong merchandise) until it was returned to them. I already wanted to return the book, but I can't understand why they had to be so nasty about it - as if I were trying to scam them! One agent (I talked to several) even offered to let me keep the wrong merchandise at no charge (which I didn't want) but then took the offer back! I asked to speak to a supervisor and that went even worse. I got the same story of how I would have to make a new order and they were being condescending with me because I was 'making things difficult.' All I wanted was for them to send me the hardcover I ordered and they already had the money for it! Instead, they acted as if it were all my fault and forced me to make a second order which never should have been necessary in the first place. I don't know what happened that caused my order to get mixed up in their system, but clearly Barnes & Noble is not taking responsibility and that shakes my confidence in them moving forward.

Very Positive Experience, Will Likely Order Again It's been a while since I have ordered books online as I am usually a bit nervous about the condition the books will arrive in based on how they were packaged in the box. However, the shipping material was more than adequate to protect the books I bought and they all arrived undamaged. Will definitely order from B&N.com again if I am unable to go to a physical store or if the store doesn't have what I want in stock, the latter being the case for this order. I also appreciate that this order came at the same time as another order I made despite coming from two different shipping facilities, especially since I was planning to read one of the books in this order sooner than those in the other order.

Love the store but I have to say you… Love the store but I have to say you are lacking in the section or selection of books on atheism and philosophy. I have gone to locations all over the the country and I think I have purchased most of the atheism and philosophy books in your stores I have visited. The bible, christian, and spirituality sections are huge. Take some space away from those sections. I buy a lot of books from Amazon and directly from atheist authors. There are a lot of us who are atheist and enjoy philosophy. That section deserves at least 2 bookshelves but there is less than one in each B&N I go to.

Barnes & nobles was a good place for me… Barnes & nobles was a good place for me to restart in my reading but to wait on delivery is terrible I ordered it on Monday took about a week and a half to get a book never do that again

Barnes & Noble has provided me with… 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!!