C Y.

I ordered a book in October from Books-A-Million that appeared to be in stock. There was a note on the book's webpage that said something like "Ready to ship by September 23" (not sure if that was the exact verbiage or date, but you get the gist :)) I placed my order, and their system allowed it. A day later, I got an automated email that said that the book was in pre-order status. Which sounded odd, if it's ready to ship already. I emailed customer service, and they told me it's backordered. So what was the status - in stock, pre-order, or backordered? Because the item (a signed version of a bestselling book) was sold out on almost every other online site I checked, I found this all suspicious. I also saw that a few days after I placed my order, the status of the book on their website became "Unavailable". I emailed customer service at least twice asking directly "Is the book in stock and am I guaranteed a copy since I ordered it before it became unavailable?" All I got was runaround answers like "that pending charge on your credit card should drop off, we only charge when the item ships". Okay, will it ship? No direct answer. Thank goodness I read between the lines and ordered the book from Amazon while I was still waiting for a direct answer from Books-A-Million. I received the book from Amazon in the mail within a week, and is the signed version I wanted. Book chains should be careful, because they are being replaced by giants like Amazon (who I hate by the way - but resorted to using them since Books-A-Million was giving me the runaround). Customer service is what sets stores apart and makes them last. Will not be buying from this store again. All they had to say was "I'm sorry that our system allowed you to purchase an unavailable book. We updated our system to reflect its current status." and then this bad review would not have been necessary.