Hostile Service. Triangle Town Center, 27616.

It used to be that when you got an email coupon, it would say something like, get an additional 20%, 15%, etc., off your member discount. When I used a coupon this weekend I found that the discount was a discount on the" list price"--which by the way B&N like all other bookseller almost never charges, it's more of a fiction--so I was actually getting a 2% discount, as I found out. A call to Customer Service confirmed this this morning. So, Gentle Readers, don't be lured into buying by the online coupons you're offered, better to wait for a store coupon, if they haven't been eliminated. I realize things are tough in the publishing business, but please don't mislead us and insult our intelligence.

Also: It used to be that as a member one got a 10% discount when ordering online and free shipping after $25. Now you no longer get the additional members' discount because now B&N offers free shipping regardless of the total spent. There is less and less reason to renew my membership card when it expires.

I ordered textbooks from B&N on 9/2. I got an email receipt which I have to confess I didn't look at closely because I figured my books were happily on their way (3-7 days!). When I finally looked, I noticed the ship date was 9-23 with no explanation. I called on 9/8 and found out the entire order was held up because one item was on back order. I cancelled that item and was assured I'd have my other books in 3 days which would have been Friday. Well, turns out my other items didn't ship until Friday and will arrive too late for my assignment. Changing an order apparently takes 24 to 48 hours to process. How can that be?????? I will end up purchasing all my books at full price, will have to return the B&N books and will be out all the shipping costs.

Textbooks are time sensitive. Why wasn't I notified that one of my items was backordered? Why weren't my other items immediately shipped separately? I would have long since received them. Amazon provides these services all the time.

Recently, I purchased a Barnes Noble membership ($25/year) and received the card about two weeks ago. Then after it happen, I experienced a series of stupidity and foolishness made by this big bookstore chain. First, I could not get my membership number to work. I can't register the number to the online profile, nor can I use it for online purchase in their website. I constantly get this stupid message: "Your membership number is already assign for another account. Please re-check your number again." I got this message both when I try to register the profile and when I went to the "payment" box when I was about to pay for my purchase. Needless to say, it is quite useless to pay $25.

I tried to call the TOLL FREE customer service and I did manage to talk with them. The only good thing out of all this mess is the fact that I didn't wait long until an agent answer my call. But all other things are just none sense. The agents were not able to fix the problem because in their system, they cannot see any problem, at least that's what they said. I tried to communicate via e-mail to the membership dept and another stupidity happened. I was asked to give names and membership # etc. After I gave it, there was no certain solution that was given. Hence, after I had a series of long e-mail conversations I tried to reply one of the e-mails and guess what?
One agent replied to that e-mail asking me to give my names and membership # AGAIN!!! As if it was the first time I e-mailed them.

I STRONGLY SUGGEST EVERYONE NOT TO CONSIDER BEING A MEMBER OF BARNES NOBLE. YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY $25 AND GET ALL THAT MESS I GOT.

In October 2007 I mailed in 10 books, in one box, for return credit to Barnes and Noble. All the packing slips were included in the shipment. They were ALL packaged in ONE box. I received credit for 7 of the returned books, but it has been a constant battle for the last three books. The customer service people insist that they have not yet received the books in question but I know that is impossible as I sent them all in the same box - realistically, if they received the first 7 books, then they must have received the last 3. I have been corresponding with these people since October and have found them to be completely without empathy and have no idea what customer service is. I have all the original emails sent to me by them, most of them with differing stories and resolutions. In fact one of them promised that I would have my credit within two billing cycles, that was two months ago. Someone owes me for the 3 books returned. This is getting increasingly more frustrating. Barnes and Noble has the Worst customer service I've ever experienced. I've cancelled my B&N membership and Credit card and will never do business with these people again. Can anyone help me??!!