Barnes & Noble Reviews

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.

I'm not a Barnes & Noble customer but my mom sent me an audiobook as a gift from them. When I tried to access the book I was told I had to enter credit card information. They stated that it is necessary due to copyright restrictions on the books. That makes no sense and I cannot see this as anything but a cheap trick to get your credit card information on file so they can pressure you into impulse purchases. From what I understand, the gift is non-refundable. The website is also super buggy. I will never be shopping with Barnes & Noble after this and I will encourage any future gifts to be purchased somewhere else.

How does the Barnes and Noble site have 66% 5 Star reviews when review after review is negative?? Well I just had a highly negative experience with this site, leaving me to believe it's just a scam to get all of your information so it can be sold; especially after reading all of the negative reviews here. I came to the site through Google because I was looking for online graphic novels. Barnes and Noble advertised free ecomic books. So I chose a few, but upon checking out, the site wanted me to sign up for an account, which I did. Then trying to check out, the site wanted all of my payment info - credit card, address, phone, etc... Which I input. Then when I thought I would finally be able to check out, but the site says, "We are unable to complete your order. Come back later. Sorry for the inconvenience". Or something to that nature. I was so annoyed! I tried again. No luck.

BUYER BEWARE. BUYER BEWARE.. Several years ago I used my credit card to purchase gift cards for my younger neighbors. Just recently (March 2025), while going over my credit card statement I found that Barnes and Nobles had charged over $25.00 for a membership renewal. I haven't been a member for over 10 years. I called my local B&N store and discovered they've been charging me for several years because I originally paid for that membership with my credit card. According to the manager, if I pay with a credit card, the membership is automatically renewed. I want my freaking money back, you common thieves. I NEVER authorized you to renew this membership. BUYER BEWARE. Date of experience: March 22, 2025.

This review makes me pretty sad to write. I had a problem with an e-book from Amazon, and decided to give B&N and their nook e-book system a try. It's been messy and sad, and if they're like this much longer, I suspect they'll go away. I first found a different edition of the e-book on B&N, it said it had a special forward from the author from the books, which would have been cool, so I set up an account (I had multiple problems setting up account, including the account verification email going to a page that had nothing to do with account verification), added nook app to tablet (again had multiple problems), and after several more difficulties, got the order in and app running. I eagerly opened the book, and it's the Hungarian translation.

I have no idea where to search for the books I want on the Barnes and Noble website. It has to be obvious to ME, not the B&N marketing persons or IT techs. Was a long time store and website user. Not this Christmas season!

I called Barnes and Noble on July 22nd, 2024 to rectify a shipping issue I had with them on 2/25/2024. They issued a refund credit for books I purchased on two separate GFCs and I asked the representative to issue the credit on a specific GFC but he didn't. After the shipping debacle, I was so angry I took a break from BN and ordered all of my books from Amazon. When I went into the store recently to purchase a book with my GFC the money wasn't there. I called Customer Service on Monday and was told that a replacement Egift card with a courtesy amount of 10 dollars added would be sent in 48 hours. I have yet to receive the gift card.

**Edit** the company brought themselves from a 1 to a 4 by coming thru with my order ON TIME! I'm so impressed. I would've given five stars but 5/80 of the books came with printing errors. Otherwise, kudos!!