RedShelfReviews 32

I couldn't log in with the accurate email & password then couldn't get any help logging in, they said they would email me the NEXT DAY then didn't. Now I am waiting for a refund from Follett customer support I don't know how many days this will take now or if I will get the refund. They completely wasted my time in the middle of me needing to complete assignments.

Studying process indeed got more effective for me with this service. It's awesome that you can get into any field you are interested in and start cognizing it.
I mean, you can easily find unfamiliar words, you can find definitions, highlight interesting moments in the text and so on.
Plus there is a possibility to listen to the text, change the office and the pace, it's all about convenience and it's silly to deny this fact.
Maybe, there is not a very big range of books, but anyway.

It's just a convenient place for students.
And I guess not only for them, because you simply insert the book's title or some keywords and it offers you a very broad range of books and you will definitely find osmething you are looking for.
Other than that, as I am fond of audiobooks, this service comes in handy in this regard too. You can have your text voiced aloud after selcting needed pieces. So, no troubles in understanding what they are doing whatsoever! Props!

A next to useless web application. Note taking, highlighting, flashcards, search, and downloading for offline are all non-functional features. Top that all off with unnecessarily long loads times to turn a page of text, and you've got yourself a properly miserable reading experience. A big pdf document is infinitely more useful. Red Shelf is merely an effective way to implement a pay wall to texts.

The site was straightforward and easy to navigate. Slightly heavy on the browser, but should be fine for most users. The support was also very good. I got a swift response at the endo of the day (after most offices are shut). It saved my bacon in terms of the fact I had a course starting just after the weekend).

Unfortunately, the flakey DRM kept corrupting my offline access to the book, so I was unable to load it onto my Kindle over the weekend preceeding my course. Customer Support managed to reset my access once, but it corrupted again soon after, and I was too tight on time to go through recovering it again. I was away at the weekend due to a last minute invitation and so I couldn't spend spare moments checking the book out.

I appreciate that sometimes it's necessary to apply some sort of restriction on books, films etc. But it really shouldn't be at the expense of legitimate paying users' convenience. The solution should be robust.

I will be looking at and recommending alternative websites/solutions in future for these reasons.

Picture this, broke college student, $100 book, buys it, THE BOOK NEVER OPENS UP. Only errors. Fails course. Really simple story.

I called 3 different departments, including corporate, to ask a basic question before purchasing a test bank for a class I am teaching. No-one answers the phone. Yes, you do get a friendly voicemail, but otherwise so much for their self-proclaimed "excellent customer service"
DGC

My entire Anatomy textbook was blurry as if they took a screenshot of every page and sent it through so many forms (. Png, pdf, etc.) until it got blurry. I could not read a single word and could not: copy or paste, no highlighting, couldn't download the textbook, you could barely zoom in. I requested a refund, I guess you do get what you pay for. The only reason I made the purchase was because it's the only E-book version of this Textbook that I could find and I didn't want a hardcover. Not worth it, I don't know why they have good reviews, am I the only one this has happened to?

I love having access to online books. As a part-time student who works full-time, RedShelf makes studying easier and more convenient. Being able to use the books offline is also a great perk.

I only have one frustration that keeps popping up... being able to clear my offline sessions when a previous offline session has become disconnected. To be more specific, I will download an offline session to use. Before I can clear it, the bookmarked link stops talking to the offline cached version. However, the Redshelf website doesn't know I can no longer access the cached version, I am blocked from starting another offline session, and the "clear your offline session" link disappears. After the error appeared, I cleared the cache on every electronic device I own, and it still doesn't solve the problem.

Is it possible to make the "clear your offline session" link not disappear regardless of whether or not the website thinks I have an offline session cached to my computer? Or, as an alternative, could there be an option under "My account" to clear all secondary devices or sessions attached to the account? I'm thinking about how Amazon allows you to disconnect devices under their "Device Management" page.

Those suggestions would allow me as a user to solve a pretty easy problem without being tied to the help desk schedule. Thank you!

As law student with a focus in environmental law, I buy all texts in e-version. This wasn't an issue last year when the software contracts were with VitalSource, but things have become nearly unmanageable since having to use RedShelf. The texts typically take over 15 minutes to load, and that's after having to force close and restart the app multiple times because it freezes &/or when it finally does load it doesn't import your highlights/notes so you have to keep refreshing app until it does. I have been in contact with technical support for over 5 months now, who have been extremely kind and communicative, but which has ultimately produced absolutely NO solutions to these issues.

Considering the $180+ price tags on these e-texts, it is absolutely absurd that they do not even work and that the company cannot provide any remedy or alternative option in the interim while attempting to resolve the tech glitches. Knowing that these texts are being sold for educational purposes, the company has an obligation to establish safeguards &/or remedies in these instances where their product is defective. The lack of such is a huge pitfall for me and will likely prevent me from working with them in the future.

This place is awesome. I rented my text book and I was drop from the waitlist and didn't get into the class and even thought it was past my time they still honored a refund! Highly recommend! Navigation super easy as well!

I bought a book from here a few weeks ago for class. It worked fine for about a week and then completely blocked all my access to my book. I contacted support multiple times but they just kept changing the status to solved without actually helping me at all DO NOT BUY FROM HERE.

Students work at all times of day, many because of non-student commitments. When purchasing a text, students should have a choice to purchase a physical textbook for several reasons. It can be difficult to predict when power outages, system downtimes, internet access issues and unexpected error which prevent you from accessing your text may occur. Students may also want a printed text to keep as a resource after completing the course and RedShelf access options limit the ability to retain this information even after paid for. There should be an option to retain the book without limit even if it means paying a little more for the text.

This software has been the bane of my existence since the start of this semester. I bought the textbook at the start of the semester and the freezes have caused my textbook to become unusable. I legitimately cannot do coursework as a result of this software, if I scroll down any amount it freezes for upwards of 10 minutes. The freezing becomes especially bad when checking answers to textbook questions so if you already bought the book I would recommend against even trying to answer practice questions as it will be a waste of time.

So I really like online books because I dont have to physically carry a hard copy and I can import or crop the pictures to put into documents. However, you spend nearly the same amount for the book on this site and they will not let you print more than 20% and acn only download once offline. I did the offline download however the file never made it to my coputer and now I cannot redownload. On top of that it doesnt download the full content. For the particular book I have I need to be able to reach the content online and off and be able to print. Waste of money. Buy on another platform or get the physical book.