Barnes & Noble Reviews

I asked if I could be compensated in some way as I am meeting the author July 3rd and this book was supposed to be signed by him at that point and I was hoping to have finished it. I paid $19 for shipping. I was told, "Sorry, we don't have any coupons right now." I will never preorder another book from Barnes & Noble and will do my best to no longer shop there after this unless someone is able to own this error and fix it.

I call B&N and the customer service lady tells me that she has no idea why a charge appears in her system $25 and that was already credited. I am very offended by the illegal way this business cheats and steals their customers and does not inform them. I never received any emails, any texts, any correspondence, any contract that I had a membership of $39 first year and $25 AUTOPAY RENEWAL. I sent a letter to them two days ago, I hope they will refund my full amount since 2018 because I have not had any "supposed" benefit from the membership and it is something illegal with the consumer. I would like to attach the screenshot verifying the illegal charges that they are making to me and I want a legal answer.

I will not be returning this book and spending one extra minute within this situation that Barnes & Noble has placed me in. I just do not understand why this company chose to send this book to me in this condition. It is practically unusable. The written statement given is factual. As we all know that Barnes & Noble is a very expensive bookstore and I recommend you choose a different bookstore. This order has changed how I see this company totally. I have never received anything like this in my life and hope to never receive anything like it again. One word describes this situation is disgusting. No explanation or apology can fix this situation.

The shipment arrived on May 25. My elation turned to disgust when I opened the cartons. I specified gloss on the cover, expecting film lamination; I got aqueous flood coating. Apparently, while the coating was still wet, debris had fallen in it, leaving visible specks and lumps. Wrapping of the printed cover sheet over the boards forming the cover was sloppy; the mitered corners had "tags" hanging out and there were several instances of excess glue squeezed out at the edges. 12 of the book covers had dents and/or dog-ears.

Inside, the pages were printed on stock one step above newsprint: grayish and rough. As a result, printing was inconsistent. Photos were dark and muddy or pale and washed out. Text was heavy or faint. I sat with this garbage for 2 days, trying to convince myself the books weren't as bad as I initially thought, and I failed. On May 27, I wrote to B&N Press Customer Support, outlined my disappointment and requested a refund. "Amanda" replied that they don't give refunds, but would do a reprint if I sent photos showing the defects. On June 1, I sent the photos, expressing skepticism that repeating the process would yield different results. After that, I heard nothing. On June 8, I followed up with a status request. The next day, "Amanda" replied that a reprint request had been made. After that, I heard nothing. Since then, I have sent several inquiries, each answered by a different person to the effect of "we're looking into it," followed by silence.

Today is July 25. I have no reprinted books, nor do I have any word from B&N when or if I will ever have reprinted books. If you are thinking of self-publishing a book you've labored over, do not even think of entrusting your work to Barnes & Noble Press!

Original Review: May 29, 2022

Self published author here. I’ve been having some trouble with a few things. I emailed customer service numerous times and two weeks later…still no response. I recently published my 1st book with Barnes and Noble, which is currently listed for sell, however on my account it still shows publishing. Also my mom purchased a hard copy of my book last week and my account still says no sales. I purchased a personal copy which had been showing pending for almost two weeks now. The money for the books have already been taken from both mine and my moms account.

I reached out to find out why my account says no sales and to also get an update on the books, because the tracking number is not recognized in their system but still says pending. Originally I was told I would get my book by June 1st, I’m starting to doubt it as nothing is being updated and I’m receiving no response. I’m second guessing selling my books on bn.com because I’m afraid they wouldn’t report my accurate number of sales.

I’m also afraid of all my buyers near future experience purchasing my books from bn.com. I wouldn’t want them to have to go through this. I also messaged the Barnes and Noble Facebook page, the only time I got a response and I was told to give them time to respond which I already gave them nearly two weeks. Then I was sent a link explaining how to find my sales online, which was obvious but that wasn’t my issue, it still says no sales even though I witnessed my mom purchasing her book. I can’t find help from Barnes and Noble anywhere and it’s very disheartening.

Even more frustrating is the hardcover version of a novel I wrote. I submitted a cover for it 3 times. Each time, they rejected it, saying it didn't meet the specifications, even though I had tried to use the template the provided. I asked for help, pointing out that I have no experience with such things. They responded with their scripted guidelines, which I already had. The template doesn't seem to help at all. So I hired a professional and paid him to make the cover. I sent him the template B&N provided, as well as the specific requirements. The cover he made was rejected. Like each of my rejections, no specific explanation of what the problem was. He tried again. Rejected. I sent him another copy of the template. He tried again. Rejected.

I tried to contact B&N support, practically begging them to tell me specifically what was wrong with the cover. Several days later, still no response. I sent them another message telling them I was cancelling both titles. I'm out the money I paid for the professional cover designer, and probably out the money I paid for the ISBN for the first title.