BookDepository

I ordered a copy of Mark Lanegan's autobiography "Sing Backwards and Weep" Feburary 23rd, the day after he passed away. When I attempted to order the book said "available" and I saw that the shipping time was pretty long but didn't think anything of it (around 2 weeks.) I've gone and checked on it's status a couple of times since I ordered it, and every time it still said it was "processing." I noticed that the book went on sale in the meantime. Yesterday I went and checked and the book was still "processing" almost 2 weeks later. I sent customer support a message, and they replied claiming that they are out of stock and their supplier has not sent them their order yet. They claimed they do not know when it will be sent. Here is the kicker, the book is still ON SALE and AVAILABLE on their website.

Have used this website for years, ever since I got posted to HK for work and had to find an alternative to Amazon so I can avoid the crowds at the local library/bookstores. Reasonable prices, free international shipping, and free bookmarks with every order. The orders are sent very slowly via snail mail, but somehow the books always arrive a month or two after ordering, no missing copies to date (knock on wood). Not for people who need books in a hurry, but great for book lovers on a budget who don't mind waiting. It'll get to you eventually, you just have to have faith.

PSI'm not too fussed about book edition, condition or cover/binding, since I always buy paperbacks to carry around in my purse for casual reading, so I haven't had the issues some reviewers had re getting the wrong edition, etc--or maybe I had the same issues and simply didn't notice! The product pics did give me a laugh one time as I ordered what I thought was a red cloth-bound copy only to find out that it was a paperback with a PICTURE of a red cloth-bound copy of the book... it could have been annoying, but given the price, can't complain.

Book Depository sent me the wrong book and had clearly mixed up my order with another customer's; his label was visible beneath mine on the package. I've been trying for several weeks to get either the correct book or a refund, to no avail.

Every time I ask whether the correct book has been sent, I enter the same customer service script where they tell me it was delivered; I explain that it was the wrong book; I answer a series of questions about the title I received, details of the order and the package, and my address; and they promise to send out a replacement, with no indication that they have done so yet. I've repeated this circus three times so far.

I am giving up. The other book I ordered took nearly a month to arrive anyway, and while they blamed USPS, the problem actually seemed to be with their shipping contractor Liberty Express / On Demand Mail Services. Book Depository (now owned by Amazon) seems too much of a mess to bother with again.

They also post fake five-star reviews on Trustpilot. Nasty company with bad-faith fake customer service; not the place I remember ordering books from in past years.

I am in the US and pre-ordered a hardcover copy very popular book only released in the UK for now, on July 13 with the promise it would ship on the release date of 7/21. On 7/21 I eagerly checked my status to see when it would arrive and the status was "awaiting publication". The book has been released for over a week with people posting excerpts, chatting about different chapters but my status still says "awaiting publication".

Emailed customer service and they told me they were unable to get the book from the supplier and never would be able to get the book so they would refund my money in 1-3 days.

Then I received an email from them that it was back in stock, but paperback for immediate shipping. So I placed another order on 7/22. It's now 7/27 and the order status is "processing" and no response from customer service. Meanwhile, they show both the hardcover and paperback available for immediate shipping! The same book I ordered 2 weeks ago that STILL says "awaiting publication".

They did not refund my money so I filed a conflict resolution complaint through PayPal and received an immediate refund for the first book. I'll probably have to do the same with the other book and will end up ordering it from Waterburys.

This is the first time I've ordered anything from bookdepository.com and it is the last. I don't know if they are pulling some type of scam or what they are up to, especially after reading so many reviews of others having the same experience for many different titles over the years.

My suggestion: STAY AWAY. No one needs this type of headache when just trying to buy a book, especially when there are many reputable companies out there who care about the customers and are professional.

What looks like an incredibly professional site is actually ran by people who will purposely ignore emails so they can ship out products even if you don't want them.

I emailed the company trying to cancel an order to which they actually replied (promptly of course) to me... but didn't cancel the order. After this i proceeded to send 3 emails over the course of two days, to which the once "prompt customer service team" suddenly wanted nothing to do with me and wouldn't acknowledge my existence even through their social media websites such as facebook.

So of course, when my order gets shipped that i repeatedly demanded to be cancelled. I'm left out of pocket on the return as they refuse to pay any shipping costs to return. A policy i imagine is set up as most people wont bother returning as the shipping is practically the same as the books themselves!

Absolutely disgraceful to ignore customers and ignore their rights of cancellation. I would avoid this website at all costs.

If you're looking for a legitimate and professional business, look elsewhere.

In this day and age, there's no excuse for not giving customers options like gift receipts and tracking. I've always hated that about them, but it is a way I can reasonable send books to my friend in New Zealand. After the last debacle, I won't be shopping with them again.

I ordered a book for a friend. I am a return customer, and I have always and only ordered for this one person, so it isn't like I didn't know what I was doing and screwed something up. This time, when I got the confirmation, the address was all mixed up - added half of the billing address to the shipping address. I immediately contacted them and was told they didn't see the bad address on their end, and they confirmed the correct shipping address. Six weeks later, the book hasn't arrived, and the order history shows my name and street address with the NZ city, state and postal code. I contacted them again, and they basically said there's nothing they can do about it other than refund the money if the book is returned to them.

Be aware. The company appears in the process of going bankrupt. Orders go in but they don't go out.

I used Book Depository in the past without issue. But I ordered my book on Dec 6th and it didn't show by the January 17th latest delivery date. I e-mailed them and a customer service rep told me it didn't actually shipped on January 8th so I needed to wait until February 5th. Not shockingly nothing arrived either. The latest customer service rep is trying to by time by getting me to go down to the post office despite that larger packages from the book depository have been mailed to me without issue. If a company is asking you to go down to the post office yourself and find a package they shipped to you they're pretty much admit they're bankrupt, right?

Judging from how many similar complaints I've found online from the past couple of days this company either doesn't have enough money to ship out or no longer has access to books. I'm lucky that I'm only out $8 for one book. I feel really bad for people who are losing more than that with their orders. But mostly feel bad for the people at the book depository who apparently won't have jobs soon. Sad news :(

First order was delivered with significant delay.

Second order I haven't received and I can't track it because Boockdepository doesn't provide tracking number.

Order several books March of this year. I emailed their support and was told my email does not match the order email. I checked as I do have business email as well. In my logged in account of the original email it shows my orders -- all the orders! I took screenshots and sent them. Mr Nazihr T. Of customer service refused to help demanding I provide him further information. I sent him answers to his questions. As I was waiting, I tried to find the books myself. I contacted the post office asking them to look for any of packages and found one of them. Again, I received no notification at all for the books. I emailed again Nazihr T telling him I found one package but the other one is still missing. I also asked him why did I not get any notification. Post office said it was the shippers fault.

Nazihr T refused to read my message and continued to ask about the package I already found to prove identify! I told him several times, it's the other one I need. And emailed the response from the other email as well. Again, even though the book is shown in my logged in account at their website.

Two months late and counting! Still missing one package. And purposefully unhelpful and frustrating customer service.

Stay away from Book Depository!

Book Depository staff: do not reply with a insincere request asking me to contact support! I already tried. Let other potential customers see how you're treating customers!

Never received my book, and the company won't refund or replace my purchase. Customer service is stonewalling, and very very unhelpful. Buyer beware.

I placed a pre-order for a book that was due to published on the 21st of July they took the money for the pre-order on the 4th of July. The publication date came and went and the title was no longer in stock on the website and I'd heard nothing so contacted customer services I was completely messed around and told they weren't sure whether it had been published or not then a day later I was told by two advisers they had the book and were processing my order. A week went by and still nothing, no book or dispatch email I contacted again they said it was still in process, today I asked for the status again not to receive a response then I get an email with a refund saying they've cancelled it without me asking for one. They never had it in the first place! No apology or explanation I was lied to, messed around and left empty handed I would NEVER recommend this company to anyone and will never use them again. Disgusting pack of liars who take money from people, lie and deceive and leave you empty handed. This book was a present for someone, one that they will now not receive because of this terrible company.

VERY poor experience using the Book Depository. I ordered a book on September 5th from the UK to Ireland which I never received. I got in contact with the team and eventually after many emails they finally ordered me a replacement book on October 19th. It has been 2 months now and I still have not received my replacement. I wrote to the customer service team twice and apologised, asked me to check my local post office, when I responded that I had I was just ignored.

DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS WEBSITE!