B&N Complaint

[Fyrefly]

Please excuse me, I need to vent for a moment, and to warn you all to watch what you buy!

I was going to buy a book for my boyfriend as a belated Christmas present that was not going to be released until last Tuesday. Rather than risk Amazon not getting me the order by New Year's, when I was to see him, I decided to go with Barnes and Nobel since I'd be out Wednesday anyway. The prices were within $1 so I didn't really care. I noticed B&N had a new feature where I could hold a copy of the book for later pick-up. Not knowing how popular this title would be, I went for it.

When I go to the store, I pick it up, check out, and am told its $15...wait.

Online it was $8. I thought maybe my memory was playing tricks on me so I asked the guy at the customer service desk to please double-check the online price for me. He did, and was completely unapologetic about it needing to be more expensive because of store overhead and such. He was quite frankly rude and looked at me like I had twelve heads for being surprised at paying double for a book in the store!

So I went back to the checkout and returned it. I told my boyfriend the gift will be coming. I can't yet decide if I will buy it from bn.com as I'm a member and get the free fast shipping, or if I shouldn't even bother giving them my business and go to Amazon. To be fair, I missed VERY fine print on the reserve site saying that the price in store was $15. But I still don't understand paying double for the same book from the same company!

I understand paying a dollar or two more at a brick and mortar for the convenience and extra costs. I think paying double is completely out of hand, though. But as far as I can tell from my research, bn.com is a subsidiary of the parent company and should therefore share all costs, it doesn't seem to be like other companies such as Toys-R-Us that have a bunch of completely different organizations all under one name. If they're trying to remain a competitor to Amazon they seem to be doing a poor job of it and it disheartens me as I've been a loyal customer there since I was old enough to buy books.

I'd like to send them a letter to this effect, but I'm not even sure who to send it to anymore. There is no contact info for my local store I can find, and sending it to customer service online will send it to the bn.com people, who aren't who I have a beef with. I want someone higher up to get my letter, since I'm sure my treatment in store was as much the result of poor policies from higher up as it was from total jerks working that day.

Does anyone have any thoughts? And thanks for letting me rant. Also, remember to double-check your prices...

 

[mtblujeans]

If you're going to be out and about today, Borders has a coupon for 50% off anything but today is the last day to use it. You'll need a Rewards card but they are free.

 

[snowy76]

There is a district manager who has your store in his/her region. That being said, there's not much they can do about pricing. That's set by corporate.

Or you can try this:

http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/misc/contact_us.html

The link is to B&N's corporate website.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Here is the address of their Corporate Headquartes from the SEC filings:

122 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011

And here is a link to information about their management team. If you write to one of them by name you will probably get a Special Assistant with lots of authority.

I have found that if "Customer Service" does not give a satisfactory response, writing poliltely to someone at the top usually gets the problem taken care of.

 

[kaytieeldr]

If they're trying to remain a competitor to Amazon they seem to be doing a poor job of it

But generally, bn.com IS competitive with Amazon; Barnes & Noble bricks & mortar (which, with rent, taxes, utilities, salaries, maintenance, etc., IS more expensive to operate) is competitive with stores like Borders.

 

[bridget]

I love Barnes and Noble. I never noticed that there was a price difference, since I do most my ordering online.

However, I do know that Toys R Us and Walmart both have cheaper online prices and won't adjust prices (at least I've never had any luck). I have gone to walmart and then gone home and ordered the same thing for cheaper and had it shipped to the store!

 

[TinknBellesMom]

Double the price seems a bit excessive. This happened to me and Babies R Us when buying a stroller, although it was only $20 more expensive.

Try signing up for a free trial of Amazon Prime (you can get a free 3 mo trial for parents, I believe, or just the general 1 month trial) and you can have your book shipped with 2 day shipping. Just remember to cancel your membership if you don't want to continue.

 

[simba20]

I used to work at B&N and sadly this is fact that some books are cheaper on the B&N website. Yes, to purchase in the store you are paying extra costs for overhead, and employee that helps you (when you utilize this, even though we are supposed to ask when we follow the 3rd rule, and in general the ambiance of the store). I worked customer service and got this question/complaint a lot.

Since it has been this way for years, writing to corporate won't change anything.

I worked there from 2004-2007. Left because I had DD and started grad school.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I also just want to point out, the $15 is probably the publisher's list price for the book - the cover price, the price printed on the back cover if a paperback or the inside front flap if a hardcover. In addition to covering all of Barnes & Noble's costs, purchasers are also paying the publisher's costs/expenses and, well, the writer's royalties. Books cost

 

[Fyrefly]

Thank you for the corporate information. I'll be sending out my letter soon.

I don't really expect much to happen, this instance just felt ridiculous. And maybe if they get people who bother to write there is a chance they'll realized that if they expect their main stores to stay profitable they can't drive people to other sources.

Well, there is always optimism, right?

 

[Kitzka]

OP I'm sorry the pickup in store did not more clearly state themprice difference.

I did want to add that I have worked in publishing for over 12 years and the bn.com and brick and mortar bn stores are separate companies. They share the same parent organization but are operated but completely different teams. This also means each team of buyers has different abilities to lower prices. This is also true of the bn college stores.

The store person should have explained the difference better and not been so rude and blaize about it.

Sorry

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

They do state that "store and online prices may vary" and that "to confirm availability and pricing, call the store".

It is listed after the list of nearby stores under "! IMPORTANT".

 

[LisaNJ25]

sign up for free amazon prime and order if from them. Free 2 day shipping and no tax.

Sign up for free prime at www.amazon.com/mom

also fyi when I do pre-order for movies or books on amazon they have always come the day of or day before the release date.

 

[Mickeyluver37]

I second the Amazon suggestion....everything we've ever ordered from Amazon pre-ordered that has a "release date", whether it's a movie, video game, or book, has always come usually a day or two early.

 

[kristenrice]

I was planning on buying "The Unofficial Guide to WDW 2011" for my sister and sister-in-law for Christmas. When I was in the B&N store, killing time, I found it for $19.99. When I went home and checked the online price, they were selling for about $12. Naturally, I ordered them online (and got my Sunshine Rewards too!) and I received them in 3 days.

I will never shop in their store again. I love their fast shipping and the fact that I can get cash back from SR AND save about 40% can't be beat.

 

[KellyNY]

Many stores have different online and in store price, not a news. I had same experience with BestBuy. When I asked why is it so, I was told that online price is less because of delivery charges and because there are online only sales sometimes. Of couse there were no need to be rude to you, they could simply explain situation, that is all. I suggest to just forget about it and just order from B&N online if you have free delivery option or just return to the store and buy it, whichever is easier.

 

[chellewashere]

Just went thru the same thing. But I didnt buy the book at the store it was 27 in the store. Went home and ordered it online with a coupon and free shipping got 4 new books that is double what I couldve bought in the store for the same price.

 

[Figment1990]

I love Barnes and Noble and love to spend hours there browsing and enjoying the ambience of a bookstore. However, I TOO experienced your pain last month. One item was double in store what it was online. So I went home and bought it. I still shop at the store for some items, as they are only marginally cheaper online (such as most children's books, and new best sellers if there is a great discount and member discount on top of it). But when buying christmas presents this year, I shopped in store, then bought online.

Fortunately though, our BN employees are pleasant and make shopping there enjoyable.

 

[Wall-E1]

Different stores have different policies. This has happened to me a few times at Best Buy. Fortunately, they just ask me to show them the online price, and after I do, they match it. Petco, on the other hand, would not match their online pricing when I was doing some Christmas shopping.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I love Barnes and Noble and love to spend hours there browsing and enjoying the ambience of a bookstore. However, I TOO experienced your pain last month. One item was double in store what it was online.

Just wanted to point out again that the books in the store are list price - the price determined by the publisher. This covers everyone's costs: the author (without whom there would be no book), the publisher and all their costs involved in printing, promoting, shipping, etc.; the store and its overhead... when you buy online the price of the book is discounted - NOT that the price of the book in the store is "doubled" or higher or highway robbery...

I know the poster I quoted isn't criticizing the stores for their pricing; I merely quoted this post for convenience. I just wanted to point out a couple of things: when we 'shop the store but buy online', we contribute to the demise of the bricks & mortar bookstore. Borders is having financial difficulties right now.

The other thing? Sure, online is cheaper - but try going into Amazon's or Barnes & Noble's warehouse (if they'd let you)and finding your book! It's not all nice and neat and categorized and alphabetized as in the stores. The employees do that for you, and then they help you find the books too. That's not how a bookseller's (any large company's) online facility is set up. At all. It's all computerized and not categorized, at least not as you'd expect. If they'd even let you in, you could wander around for days and not find what you want.