Barnes & Noble Reviews

The 'new' store layout was probably a marketing ploy to make the customer negotiate the store maze before finally seeking a clerk. It's a terrible design, inefficient and ineffective. Even the clerks who have tried to help, had to return to the desk to look up the books possible shelving. And, near Kalispell we have Blackfeet, Salish-Kootenai, and Flathead Nations, but no Native American section in the store. And, the book I bought recently, The End of Everything, by Katie Mack, has pages throughout that are printed so light as to be barely legible. Clean up your act and bring back the coffee shop.

I'll never again buy from B&N. Yesterday I wasted an hour trying to buy a copy of a book I'd previously purchased there to give as a gift. The staff could barely be bothered to talk to me let alone help me find it. The clerks and that's all that they are, despite whatever self-indulgent, ego inflating name they use themselves, were rude, not particularly knowledgeable, and caught up in their own self-importance. I went home spent five minutes online and purchased the book for half of the B&N price and free delivery within 24 hours.

This review is about your website. It truly stinks. Try to log on and you are kicked out as an improper log on or some other nonsense excuse. I had been a loyal B & N for over 30 years or more. Every year I would send my granddaughter a $100 holiday gift card. I gave up on B & N this go round. Instead I sent her Paypal funds. She had also been a loyal B & N customer and has had similar experiences. Ever since B & N was sold, the company has been on a downward spiral. I am finished with this company and will happily pay more for the books I want through a small independent bookstore. Any emails from B & N now go to the junk folder which is where the company belongs. Another good company destroyed by filthy rich investment bankers.

I ordered 3 books for family members Christmas presents however my address defaulted to an old address of a company I used to work at and they're being delivered there, and I don't live by or work there anymore so I can't get these books. Barnes and Noble has informed me there is nothing they can do because I had the wrong shipping address, one book is being delivered Sunday, and no one is at the building. I'm upset because I spent a lot of money and now, I don't have presents. I used to love B and N but I'm so disappointed with them and their lack of customer service. I may be cancelling my membership and no longer shopping with them. Yep, I didn't check the address before I submitted but they have no interest in working with me or trying to find any other means of reimbursement or replacement of these items.

I wish I had seen this website before I ordered a CD from this company, as it would have saved me time, strife and cash. When the CD arrived, it was the wrong one and so I returned it immediately, ticking the reason on their paperwork and enclosing a typed note saying I should be compensated for the return postage, which was a big additional cost (I'm in Australia). I heard nothing, apart from Auspost's text message confirmation that it had been delivered and signed for. When I contacted them via their Help website, all I got was the run-around and excuses about not being able to escalate the issue to a manager or supervisor...I was told to phone an 1800 (USA) number to speak to a manager/supervisor, which would be more expense with no guaranteed outcome.

Wish I'd read the reviews before placing an order with them. Since it was not available on Amazon I used B&N because I had a time constraint. Paid the expedited shipping fee to have it in 2-3 business days. Nope- it'll be here in 5. Talked to "Customer Service", some guy who could literally care less reading off the fine print that actually it's from the ship date. Not when you order it, nothing they can do. Won't refund the shipping. No reason for delay. Why are these large companies not synced with their shippers? Just refund the shipping as you didn't follow what was quoted at check out. I give this less than 1 star.

I attempted to purchase an EPub book for the Nook platform since it was only available in a digital format for $5.99. There was an error when my account was created and the error message directed me to call or contact customer support. I first tried to contact customer support using the AI chatbot and when an agent was available after 25 minutes, Elinor the agent, could only keep asking me to describe the error message - which I did multiple times. I then tried the customer support telephone number - waited 15 minutes and got a gentlemen named Chris - who was a completely incompetent. I explained that I was attempting to make a purchase for a digital product - a book - and when setting up my account, there was an error message telling me to refresh the page or contact customer support, which was why I was calling. He asked again for the error message and I re-explained what I just wrote.

I ordered a book to be delivered to me on 10/5 and I got notified on 10/6 that it was shipped. For a week the shipping notification only said “awaiting carrier pickup”. Then on 10/14 I got notified that the order was returned and I was credited the amount. I check my account and the only “credited” me for the book and tax without crediting the shipping. However the “credit” came up as a deduction on my account. So, in essence it looks like I spent $40 on something that was never delivered.

I ordered a book from B&N a week ago. I have multiple emails saying it would be delivered on the 11th. Their website said it would be delivered on the 10th until the night of the 10th. Tracking still says it will be here today on the 11th even though it’s not in my state and hasn’t even been handed off to USPS. When I called to find out what was going on the customer service rep was extremely rude and condescending. He told me the original order confirmation email says it will be delivered on the 14th. I explained that every email I’ve gotten from them says the 10th or 11th and asked him where it says that. He responded with “what are you buying books for if you can’t read?” From now on I will be doing all my business with Books a Million and crossing my fingers that Barnes & Noble goes the way of Borders.

This review is not for the Anchorage B&N location, but for B&N as a company. I recently ordered 2 books that had appeared in my suggestions. Once I received them, a few things seemed really odd about them and once I started reading and doing some research, it became clear that they were AI-generated with a FAKE author name. It was NOT transparent that these were AI-generated, neither on the website, nor on the book itself.