Barnes & Noble Reviews 

I ordered a book and they shipped the wrong book. I drove to the store and returned it. The person taking back the book was somewhat apathetic - no offer of a small credit for my time and miles as a courtesy. They processed the return and re-ordered the correct book. I noticed the amounts were off by a small amount so I emailed Customer Service - who asked for all my information which I gave. I was curious why they as the vendor couldn't look it up. I was also asked to transmit over copies of the receipts which I did. When I submitted them, I was advised they weren't clear enough. At that point, why bother as my time was worth more - and they lost a customer.

Went in to purchase a canning book yesterday. There was non in the store. I talked to the gal at the desk, she looked it up and that they were out but getting more in a week. So I had her put my name in so they could hold one for me. Today I get an email thanking me for my order, and that they were unable to fulfill my order.

Was glad for the 25% store discount today, but one of the books I wanted was not in stock. Customer service offered to have it shipped to me so that I could enjoy the 25% discount. What they didn't tell me is that I would pay for shipping. When I got home and reviewed my bill, I called to complain, and the same rep who helped me today said that's store policy. I let her know that not every customer will be aware of this, and a heads up would be appropriate. Had I known, I would have skipped ordering it... I paid more than I would have without the 25% off. I'm fed up.

I have informed all my family and friends to never give me a Barnes & Noble gift card again as I will not ever attempt to place an order on their website. The absolute worst order processing site I’ve experienced. Is it there goal to create such a problem attic system that people may not redeem their gift cards? -100% profit. Small online bookstores and the public library will be the only sources for my avid reading from henceforth. No wonder Amazon has cornered the world. Since their media competition is just so absurdly inept, I can understand how consumers will opt to forgo this amount of frustration, even though it means continuing to feed the multi billion dollar earth crushing machinery.

When you purchase e-books from this vendor you don't receive them, you receive the " right" to try and read them on their very glitchy platform NOOK
Freezes, skips pages and resets by itself every few pages or so
I boufpght 3books last week, couldn't enjoy them, asked for a refund
Only 2books were refunded according to the automated email I got
Was unable to obtain refund confirmation for the third book, they claim they refunded all however the glaring difference between invoice and refund notice tells otherwise
I will have to dispute the charge with my credit card company which is a pain
Save yourself the trouble, don't buy e-books from Barnes & Noble

After posting this message I got a message from Barns& Noble to provide additional information allegedly on an " accompanying form", which they didn't attach to their request
Speaks volumes about the disorganization and poor customer service offered
To Barnes& Noble: I already provided all possible information to 3 of your employees,today

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 Nobles 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.

UPDATE December 23, 2025
Changing my review! I’m giving B&N 5 Stars. They went out of their way to make things right and even included a 20% off coupon. Not only that, but yesterday (12/29) I received the last part of my order, which arrived early. Unfortunately, the item arrived damaged due to poor packaging. B&N is sending a replacement straightaway.
Thank you B&N for making things right!

Initial Problem:
Horrible. I ordered from B&N online. I had $25 in rewards. I ordered 3 items. Paid my balance that I owed. One item will not be in until after Jan. 1, which is no problem. The other 2 items are gifts for Christmas. I placed my order Dec. 11. I received a tracking number a few hours later. This is how B&N is paid. Once that tracking number is generated, they get their money because the items are now classified as “shipped.” On the B&N website, it stated my 2 items would be delivered by Dec. 19. Today is Dec. 16. I checked my tracking on my B&N account. It states that the order has not even been picked up by the carrier. I plugged the tracking number into both the UPS and USPS tracking website. Both state the tracking number is invalid. I chatted with customer service for help. I chatted with an agent. The only help she could offer was to repeat my problem back to me. I called customer service. The agent said there was nothing she could do until the 19th.
This is the last time I’m ordering from B&N. I will go to my local bookseller who is an hour’s drive away, but my nearest B&N is 40 minutes away. Octavia Books in New Orleans has my business from now on. Barnes & Noble can keep their incompetence. I surely don’t want to spend my money on it.

Dec. 16 Reply to B&N: I placed my order Dec. 11. B&N does not charge the customer until the item is shipped. A shipping/tracking number was generated. I was charged. I checked my tracking daily since I placed the order. The carrier has not picked up the order, but your website says it has shipped. I plugged the shipping number into UPS and USPS. Both carriers say they have not received the package. I chatted with a customer service help specialist. All she did was echo what I had told her. She said there was nothing she could do. I asked her to tell me which B&N still had the package. She said she wasn’t allowed to do that. I called the 1-800 number. Same useless help. I emailed, but no reply. Now, I’m sitting here explaining this for the millionth time so that B&N can qualify my complaint as legitimate!!!! Just look at your reviews for B&N online!!! I’m not the only one!!! The problem is with B&N!!! You’re taking money from customers, but not shipping anything!!!

"Order Failed Verificiation Process" - what exactly are they verifying? I really love the Nook app, but I guess I'm canceling my membership and buying my ebooks elsewhere, as I do NOT have time to be calling to find out why I can't place a simple order online. Kindle, Kobo and Apple Books don't have this problem.

Website is so garbage I am breaking down while writing this. I just want to shop for a gift for a friend but they keep denying me access to my own credit card number

Some of the worst customer service I have ever experienced. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing and you as the customer will be the one caught in the middle.

I've been dealing with a warranty replacement with them for 6 weeks now, getting the run around from everyone I speak with. Everytime I call, I'm told a replacement is being sent to me and everytime I called back, the next agent tells me nothing has been sent.

I wanted to find a viable alternative to Amazon but unfortunately, I'm going back to my Kindle. Amazon is evil but at least I don't have issues like this with their service. In the meantime, I will be taking B&N to arbitration if they continue to string me along further.

Protect your peace and stay away!

Update: Ok, as of today I have finally received my Nook back. It's too little, too late to change my opinion of B&N but in the interest of fairness, I will try to document here what I believe happened. (Note: The official story from B&N would change depending on who I was speaking to so this is the best I could guess at from parsing the conflicting information I kept getting):

Barnes and Noble sent me a return label for my defective device and only realized it wasn't covered by the warranty (because I purchased through Amazon) after they received it. Despite this when I would call for updates, reps would tell me that they were sending a replacement device. Nothing was said about it being out of warranty. For weeks, everytime I would call, I would get a new rep who would tell me my device hadn't been sent yet but that they would be sending it that day.

Eventually fed up with this, I initiated the 60-day informal dispute resolution process, the first step before arbitration. After I did this, I finally received a call from someone higher up who explained that my device was not covered by the warranty. I suspect B&N may have lost the Nook I sent them because when I asked to get it back so I could return it to Amazon, the person instead told me they would be making an exception and sending a replacement. Fine. She explained that she had hoped to give me tracking information on that call but the device had not shipped out in time. She told me she would email me with tracking info the next day and would personally see to it that my replacement was delivered to me.

Four days went by without hearing anything. I called in again. The first rep I spoke with put me on hold for several minutes and then hung up. The second rep I spoke with tried to claim that he was the higher up I had spoken with and that I had turned down receiving a replacement (note: not only did I do nothing of the sort but the supervisor I had spoken with was a woman and this was a man who was claiming this so... lies).

At this point, I demanded to have the call escalated. I then spoke to a new gentleman who attempted to give me the old line about how my device wasn't covered under the warranty so it wouldn't be replaced. I explained the nature of the call I had been on the previous week and how I had been told an exception was being made. I was then placed on hold again. When the agent came back, he told me that my device had not been shipped yet, despite the previous woman promising she would personally see that it was. He assured me that he would make sure it shipped that day. At that point, I'd heard that line of BS one too many times and told him that I would not end the call until I received an order confirmation email. He reluctantly placed the order for the new Nook while I was on the phone with him and it finally arrived today.

So now that I've finally been made whole, am I satisfied with how B&N conducted themselves? Absolutely not. Having to make numerous calls, threaten arbitration, and fight tooth and nail with every rep I spoke with just to get my own property returned to me is a 1-star experience through and through. I will be selling this Nook on the after market because I don't even want to look at it at this point. Unfortunately, some future chump will have to buy it and find out the hard way how awful they are. My advice remains the same: Protect your peace and avoid, avoid, avoid. They are simply not worth fighting with.

B&N is a nightmare to deal with online. They charge for two-day shipping, and it takes a week or more to get to you. They basically charge you extra for faster shipping but send it normal shipping and pocket your money. Most dishonest bookstore besides amazon I have ever dealt with.

Absolutely terrible. Their system cancels orders and they do not pay back or respond.

I waited for nearly a month to be notified that the order I made for a book has been canceled. It was for a present, so this affected several people by them just being negligent.

I received no adequate communication along the process - a single mail saying that the order has been delayed and then a second one that it was canceled.

Just to clarify - I would suppose that the book is more or less rare. They were about to take my money at the time of shipping which never came.

That said I would expect a respectable brand to better manage 1. their communication 2. their inventories online. Damage is done and I don't think I would ever try to buy from Barnes & Noble again. I would advise anyone in case of uncertainty to avoid their online shop too.

From the first interaction to billing and exit, the entire experience is from a dreamland. Staff is "patient" and helpful, selection is out of this world, and all the additional bookish merch especially from small/independent businesses is incredible. My favorite part - seasonal selections!!! ❄️

Good prices on the books, but the packing is often just throwing them into a box with little padding (or an envelope).

I ordered a textbook for a class. It took several days longer than expected but I did receive a package. Inside was a children's workbook for the alphabet.(Not what I ordered) I called and they assured me that a new book was going out and would arrive by Wednesday of the following week. Nothing arrived until Saturday. On Saturday I received a large envelope with NOTHING inside and fully sealed. I called and was told someone would get back to me in 72 hours. I asked if it could be expedited and and she said I'd have to wait to hear from B&N. So today I called, 48 hours later and was told that they can issue a refund but they can not send the book out since they have already sent it twice. Um, no, they never sent it. I took the refund, hopefully it processes! I found the book elsewhere. The customer service agents I spoke to were not polite or competent. Their shipping area must really be bad and I will no longer shop at Barnes and Noble. I

B&N never delivered my order and kept me completely uninformed for almost two months. I only learned what was going on after I followed up myself — because I needed the item as a gift for an upcoming event. To my shock, they abruptly canceled the order while chatting with me. Truly disappointing service.

It wasn’t just any book — it was a signed copy of Dan Brown’s latest release, meant as a special gift for a close friend who’s a big fan. Instead of the excitement I hoped to share, I’m left with frustration and a ruined surprise.

B&N’s claim of reliable international shipping feels like false advertising. After this experience, I can’t recommend them to anyone. This was my first — and definitely my last — time ordering from B&N.

Warning: I will put a TLDR at the end if you want to scroll down.

Note that this ordeal used to be a fun hobby. I have been working on this cookbook since 2020 (covid project), so I've been dedicating 5 years of my life to this project. But BN has been enjoying sucking the life out of me for the past 3 months.

I originally chose BN because they had a reputation for quality. They were one of the few self-publishing printers who could handle hard cover books with colored pages, and they had the benefit of listing said book on their website, which made it easy to sell.

But I have quickly learned to hate this big box retailer for one of the standard complaints of all major companies: They have some of the worst customer service, whose quality is on pare for any health insurance company.

My book has been repeatedly taken off-sale for little to no explanations.

To start, on August 19th, I put my book on sale. And what was claimed to take a few days was not true. They cited long wait times, but on August 27th, they finally posted the source of the problem was due to an error with my book. But it was clear, once I contacted their customer support (the only format of support offered is email---nothing else is available), it was clear that they didn't read my email at all and posted generic nonsense.

On September 3rd, they cited a problem with my book as being "stuck in processing." They didn't know what the problem was and had contacted IT.

On September 8th, my book was FINALLY placed on-sale.

Then on September 9th, the book was taken off sale due to another "error". This back and forth continuously repeated, off-sale to on-sale, and vice versa. In effect, customers had placed orders and then lost updates to their order. BN contacted me with the message, "ERROR: There was an error with your project. Please contact Customer Support referring to your ISBN or project title." They cited word-for-word: ERROR: "General interior issue. Please check the interior file and resubmit, or contact NOOK Press Customer Service." They had no idea about the problem. It wasn't until later that I got more details.

Their error was as quoted: "Bookblock: the ink saturation level in the supplied interior file is not suitable for high. Volume orders. We may be able to fulfill your order by changing to a heavier weight paper or updating the booktype to ultra. Premium color. Please advise if you will be updating the booktype or supply us with a corrected interior file." Not only were there grammatical errors and no details, but upon investigation with more back-and-forth conversation, what they quoted was highly inaccurate. They could not change the ink or color. They could change the paper, but that option was supposedly unlisted on the website (so I do and did not believe them). And they had no idea how I could correct the interior file. Even though it was their staff, their processes, and their printer. They didn't know what was wrong.

On September 11th, when they finally replied with more information, they still were unsure of what was wrong or how to fix it. "Maybe you're using RGB colors and our printers use CMYK. The overall combined percentage of CMYK values of artwork for our presses should be less than 240%." Because this information was unlisted in their formatting directions, I have to imagine they are outsourcing their printing to a 3rd-party company, especially since they have no idea whether this is a solution or how to fix it. When I asked about specific color settings for the CMYK color profile for the PDF, they ignored me.

I finally had to BUY Adobe's subscription, change the color profile, confirm several times that it is fixed, and re-upload the file----with no help or direction from BN, but crossing my fingers this will work.

Then on September 16th, I read the golden words, "Our printer partner confirmed that your project is good and ready for production." Against all belief, I think this is problem is finally over.

But my book goes online for a day, more customers place orders, and to make me further disappointed, they took my book offline. Since then, they have ignored all communication and refused to resolve their issues. The issue is the same issue previously cited about CMYK over 240% even though Adobe Acrobat's print preview has confirmed several times this is untrue.

As of now, I have contacted customer support several times, but I have been ignored. I cannot call BN, because they have no relations and are "separate entities."

TLDR: BN has terrible customer service: 1) they cannot communicate with their customers clearly, 2) they don't understand their own printing processes, and 3) if the problem is too difficult, they prefer to ignore you until you go away.

Bought four books online. I wasn't supposed to be charged until the books are ready to ship, according to them. Well, I was charged for four books and only received three. One was delayed and then canceled. I was told that I wouldn't be charged for that book but that book was charged first. I had to go thru my credit card company to get my money back. Their support staff wasn't helpful trying to tell me that I wasn't charged. I even sent them a pic of my account. Yeah, not worth the hassle.

I pre-ordered a game 2 months ago to ensure it's timely delivery. My book club had planned a while night, people are coming from our of town, centered around this game. The game dropped the 10/1, I called 10/4 to check updates. The customer rep said it was returned to sender Because the address is undeliverable. It is not, it's a valid postal address. I asked if I could just resend it to store and was told no benadryl it was a pre-order. They placed a replacement order to the same address, I asked whats the difference between the first and second order to think it won't be returned for an undeliverable address again. She said a note would be put in to get a different courier. The delivery date is now changed, with delivery on or before the 10/10, the same day everyone is coming into town. This is so frustrating, I pre-ordered to avoid this. Now I don't know she the people should come or not. I called today on 10/6 to check the status- it's beyond ready but hasn't shipped. I asked if I could refund the order, to just go in person to the store and get it that way, I was told no. This is frustrating also because I used a gift card and my bnn points to cover shipping, so even with a refund I couldn't get my points back. I will never order on line again, nor will i do pre-orders. I get so much from this store, it blows me away that they wouldn't in the least rush the order to give me the same date originally stated, im very disappointed.