Downright hostile to people with disabilities. Expect to be told, whether you're a customer or an employee, when you mention you have a disability that "...that's your problem..". The only expection to this rule is if you happen to be related to a manager in which case numbers and figures will be altered so you can keep your company health insurance. Otherwise you're out of luck. Changing numbers and figures is commonplace especially when it comes time for reviews and bonuses. Many an employee have been swindled out of what they deserve due to crafty managers who have no checks or balances in the corporate structure.

test

I frequent book stores, and although I try to help out the indies as often as I can, I enjoy B & N. I am a history buff, no surprise there for some of you, and I find many diversions and bargains there from time to time. You just have to be patient.

I think that if the local bookstore owners/managers in Saugus, MA put a little more time into their own business, and less time slandering competitors, that they would have cleaner bathrooms and would stop losing business to Barnes and Noble. OC: I do like Barnes and Noble, but I prefer Borders. Like my favorite grocery store I've developed a familiarity with Borders. Barnes and Noble though does have often times more seating available, and the greens/browns are condusive to sitting around and reading some books.

I am an avid reader and have bought several(100+) books from one particular Barnes and Noble over the last seven years. I would much rather go to borders but it is an extra 30 minute drive. Anyway, I have nothing bad to say about the service or the bathrooms like so many others. I just wanted to say something about a semi-regular event that I find quite funny. Now, even though I have bought quite a few books(I even used to have the card) I have no friends who are employees. Not even acquaintances. I don't know their names and they sure as hell don't know mine. You also have to remember that I have been in many times and not bought anything. Well, I would guess that approximately 10 times I have walked out the door and the alarm started going off. I would stop, look around for about five seconds at the dumbfounded looks on the employees faces,and walk out the door. Although I have never stolen anything from the store, even being innocent of a crime I would expect an employee or manager to kindly ask if they could do some sort of search just to be sure. After all, if I owned a store I would expect the same of my employees. But they seem too busy or bored to bother. So to the book thieves of the world, B&N might be a good place for some loot. Although I'm over 99% sure I could steal a book from there with no problem(especially if I walked out making no sound by taking out the magnetic sticker) I'm at a point in my life where I don't need the embarrassment of being arrested for stealing a $25 book. Anyway, just a little more wood to add to the B&N fire.

Should we go there in search of hot mamas?

I dislike mega-bookstores in general, but have reluctantly come to accept that they are a reality, and the small and dwindling number of independent book stores are treasures to be savored while they last.

The problem with Barnes and Noble, like all the other big box bookstores, is that they have reduced books to a commodity, and little more than that. I'm not going to bewail the effect they have had on destroying the independent bookstore, but I am very distressed at their effect on the publishing industry.

It is not particularly well understood that the mega-bookstores demand special and favorable terms from publishers, or they will not buy. This includes extra long return dates, very long billable periods and the like. This puts a strain on many small publishers, and some have gone under because of it. The result is that fewer books of eclectic or local interest can find publishers, leading to the continuing homogenization of the industry.

So while I'd rather buy a book from Barnes and Noble than Walmart, Id rather buy from a local independent bookseller, as long as I can still find one.

Barnes and Noble on-line is just flat out awful. This is my third bad experience with them. I placed an order and took advantage of their "buy today and receive free shipping" promotion. Only after I submitted the order did I discover that all books have to be shipped at the same time. One of the books has a publication date six weeks from now, so they are holding the entire order until that book is available. They won't let me split the order or cancel it a this point.

In the past, they lost my order on one occassion and shipped the wrong books on another. I've had it with them an refuse to ever buy from them again.

Four stars if they have the coffee-and-sit-down section. . .good selection of books and a safe bet for shopping for that special someone. . .

But I'm sure sick of them trying to pimp their frequent-shopper card every time I pass through for holiday shopping- can I just make my purchases, pleeze?!

The conditions of the stores in the Greater Boston area are excellent breeding grounds for the Swine Flu.

Not the greatest place if you're a book lover. Stores now resemble a circus.
I've made some inquiries regarding why the stores have degraded so badly.
The response I got was "..why don't you shop somewhere else..".
That's exactly what I did. I go to Borders, Amazon.com, independant bookstore.
Anywhere but Barnes and Noble.
Barnes and Noble has lost me as a customer.
I share this story with all my friends and associates.
They've stopped going as well.

Mr. Erickson, Cambridge, MA

Stores are dirty, very unprofessional service.

I've read the numerous issues customers have with this company.
I've found the following site to be helpful with grievances:

http://couponing.about.com/od/smorgasbord/a/gripe.h tm

If you've seen this Sunday's Dilbert it will make you laugh.
If you haven't, I strongly suggest you read it.

I guess a bad experience is possible with any company. Personally, I have never had anything but good experience with Barnes And Noble.

I must add my voice to the chorus of others here. My nephew worked at the Saugus, MA store for a few years. He eventually left after graduating high school.

First off the employees are on a quota system to get customers to sign up for membership cards. Largely you're not going to make your money back by spending $25 USD per year for a Barnes and Noble membership. Staff members who don't meet quota qualifications are reprimanded. What others have said about the store being filthy is absolutely true. There's no janitor which amazed me considering this is a Fortune 500 company with sales in the billions. When I went into the store I would go to another store to use the facilities in fear of catching that staph bacteria that's resistant to antibotics. There's even an employee, who wears a fur coat, that keeps a journal on the stores daily activities. She's got some serious attitude. The company manifest states that staff members are not allowed to sell on eBay, Amazon or even Overstock.com, yet almost everyone does. Management largely looks the other way unless you get in their bad graces in which they find every excuse in the book to use against you. One staff member even had a stapler thrown at them by their superior one day.

It's really unfortunate that such a wonderful set of stores has been allowed to decompose to the current conditions thus being a store where anything goes. There are a few great people who work there, but they are in the vast minority. Most of the people who work there have a serious attitude problem or have allowed the overall business climate ruin them. There's no joy in the Saugus store or any in the related area. Customer service has been allowed to disintegrate. I noticed that the director of barnesandnoble.com recently left her position. This is not surprisingly considering all the comments here.

I could go on and on about the Saugus store, but there's really no need. Nothing I write here is going to change them. I just feel bad that a store I used to frequent, especially the Downtown Boston store back in the 1980's, has fallen so far.

Don't put up with poor customer service and don't let anyone treat you less than a human being ESPECIALLY in today's economy where retailers are practically begging you for their business. Check out Borders. I have and so has my nephew, who just happens to work there now.

Sincerely,

Dan Preston

I just noticed that Barnes and Noble is laying off 100 workers. I hope one of them is their Greater Boston District Manager. The damage this person has done to Barnes and Noble in the Greater Boston area is astronomical. I won't recommend anyone to shop there anymore let alone work there after recommending someone to work there over a year ago. I didn't even get a letter of "thank you" for recommending an employee. Very unprofessional. Said employee was even management material due to management experience. It would have been nice to get a professional letter let alone something like a coupon for my efforts. After that experience I realized the level of unprofessionalism that is rampant in Barnes and Noble's business culture. I take my family and friends to Borders now even though it's inconvienent due to the fact Borders appreciates my business.

Once again Barnes and Noble indicates that they are not serious about competing in the current business market. None of the positions eliminated were management. Bingo. Buy out the contract of your Greater Boston District Manager and hire some new blood with new ideas with some level of professionalism. Only then will it be apparent to me and likely many others, some who have posted here, that Barnes and Noble is serious about their business and their customers.

Thank you for your time.
Elizabeth Berg

I visit various stores in the Greater Boston area to get a better understanding of my investment. Over the past year here is what I've observed:

Decrease in customer service.
Increase in "attitude" toward customers as if they are an annoyance.
Decrease in general store cleaniness.
Increase in employee unprofessionalism.
Increase in the number of times I've received cold coffee.
Decrease in the number of tea bags. From two to one.
Decrease in Cafe customer service and cleaniness.
Increase in damaged goods.
Increase in theft by employees and customers.

These are just my observations.
I prefer to keep any financial changes to my portfolio to myself.

Thank you for your time.

James Gregario, Newton, MA

I don't see why everyone is complaining about the Saugus, MA store so much. As a struggling college student, along with my buddies, we go to this store all the time to study. Instead of spending all our money on books, we just order the book we want, we read it there and then put it back on the customer service desk. This has been great for those expensive textbooks. Most of the time the staff has no clue where the books are so if you put the books back in the correct spot there's a high probablity no one will find it for months.

We sit in the cafe and don't buy anything. We used to order food there, but it's full of saturated fat and the coffee is usually cold or tastes burned. We bring in our own food. No one bothers us. Sure the store is probably losing money by us just sitting there and taking up space, but no one seems to care. If we bring in our laptops, we just plug them into their electrical sockets and use up their electricity. It's not our fault they don't know how to run a business. The customers that have made positive recommendations are treated poorly. That's why we don't bother.

You see all sorts of things if you pretend you're not looking. People walk out of that store and I'm sure plenty of others with tons of merchandise. We won't cross that line. Hell, there's no need to.

Thank you Barnes and Noble for making us feel so welcome. We're not going to tell you who we are because we just want to mind our business. Plus you don't want to listen to us anyways.

In summary, the Saugus, MA store is great for college students.
Save your money for beer, women and parties!

I don't like Barnes n Noble....as some have said, the stores are dirty, and are pretty much an open bathroom to anybody.  They have a decent selection of books but everything is overpriced.  Probably the most stupid thing is their membership where you pay a membership fee and save a whopping 10%.

Dirty stores. Horrific customer service.

My husband I and are frequent customers of the Saugus, MA store. Unfortunately we can validate everything that is said about that store by other posters. The staff is nothing short of lazy with many of them just sitting around while customers wait for their beverage in the Cafe, or while customers stand in line waiting for some level of customer service if you can call it that.

If I were the store manager or supervisor, most of the staff would be fired on the spot. I'm a former manager myself and the level of unprofessionalism is blantant on the border of arrogance. Very few of the staff have any people skills at all. You can get more help from the customers than you can from the people on the payroll.

The store is also dirty including the restrooms as described by a previous poster. Inquires made to anyone in authority is generally ignored.

My husband and I rarely go to this store anymore. We've tried the Peabody, MA store, but the situation is very similar if not worse.

Considering the hostile economy I would think that Barnes and Noble would be bending over backwards to gain and keep their customer base. This cannot be farther from the truth.

Sincerely,

V.

All I have to say is watch your children when you visit any Barnes and Noble. Pedophiles roam the book corridors. Some stores have installed video surveillance to try and combat the problem. In one case, a female employee was groped in the Cafe, in front of customers by another person.

All types of sexual activity occurs in the restrooms. The men's room is well known for sexual encounters between men. Don't let your children go in alone.

Drug use is also present. One customer found a crack pipe in the restrooms. Watch out for needles and drug accessories.

Don't bother complaining to management about any issues you've had. They don't care and will just talk behind your back when you leave the store. I've seen it happen time and time again. Very unprofessional.

Whatever you do, please, please, do not let your children out of your sight in Barnes and Noble. It's just not safe.

absymal customer service. staff stands around while customers wait in line. inability to find items for customers.

Go to Amazon.com. You'll do better.
Barnes and Noble doesn't seem to care.
They are a dinosaur.

horrible cutsomer service, unprofessional cashiers, dirty cafes

While visiting the Barnes and Noble College Bookstore at Longwood University in Farmville Va. I was approached by the store manager and was complimented on what I was wearing. As I turned to thank him he was not engaged in a conversation with me, but only with my breast. I felt very uncomfortable and embarrassed. Told him that I thought he was very inappropriate and left the store. This is a very small town and word travels very quickly. After confiding in friends of this incident I learned that I wasn't the first person to have been sexually harassed. It would serve the store manager well to focus on doing his job and not the sexual predator of Barnes and Noble. To note, myself and other women will not return to this store,

Barnes and Noble is awful. They sell defective products and their return policy is terrible. I bought a textbook for my MBA program and it wasn't until I reached page 800 during the semester that I realized they sent me a "new" book that was missing about 50 pages. Also some pages showed up in the wrong part of the book. They would not refund or replace this item since I was beyond the 14 day return window. Clearly Barnes and Noble (bn.com) sold me a defective product and they should take some responsibility for this. Their customer service department was very rude in addressing my request. I will never buy a product from a Barnes and Noble store or online from bn.com ever. I find the service is much better at Borders or Amazon.com than taking the risk of the defective products from Barnes and Noble and their poor customer service.

I ordered a book for University and realized I had ordered the wrong book. I called within a half an hour and they would not cancel my order. So I had to wait three days for my order to be shipped. Now I am waiting for it to get here to Canada and I will have to return it express post to get a refund!?! Does this not sound totally ridiculous to any intellegent person?

I liked them until I placed an order online and made the mistake of ordering a pre-order item with some in stock one. Other bookstores websites are intelligent enough to ship you the in stock items, then wait on the pre-orders. But their poorly designed website flagged my entire order not to ship for 5 months. I called to cancel the whole order - and they told me they could only cancel the pre-order item because they other items had scheduled to ship (but not until November - this was in June). So even though I informed them on the phone I didn't want the items because they wouldn't arrive in time for father's day so I would refuse the order - they still shipped them.

 Being a former employee of this corporation, I can state, for the record that this company is one of the worst to work for. Do not be deceived by first impressions, they are almost entirely false. I worked my way up from a cashier to a good management position within the firm. My achievements even earned me management of my own store.

Unfortunately, I too am a victim of Ms. Nybo. I lost my job so she could save hers. Probably not uncommon in the professional workplace, but the manner on how it was done was petty and small minded.

Without getting into too many details and without dragging myself down to her level, all I can say is to avoid Ms. Nybo at every opportunity. She cannot be trusted and plays "dirty pool". I am just waiting until the play plays itself out and karma comes back threefold.

Best wishes to those sorry souls I left behind and worked so many hours for me. I cannot thank you enough for helping me become the best that I thought I could become.

D.

I used to work there. Lousy management who hired their old "friends" for other management positions and tended to hire busty young high school girls over qualified workers. No wonder the whole store was constantly in disarray! Lousy pay, no matter how much skill you had to offer and how long you've been there. Many of the "older" employees were great on an individual basis, but working there overall is a nightmare, especially if you need a paying job. Not worth it. On top of all that is I not only witnessed firsthand the shoddy customer service, but had to take part in it. How were we supposed to locate stuff when we had little to no time to know what was where, were never briefed on new popular books except for harry potter and SOMETIMES oprah, and our computer database was lousier than trash? We couldn't even look up a book by its title alone - it would never show up. Take out a few words and it may appear, halfway down page 2 of a search. You want books fast? Go to Borders or buy online from Amazon. B&N is NOT worth it.

In Rockford IL A Barnes and Noble store came to the Cherryvale Mall.
As a part of their agreement with the Mall a small coffee shop that had been there for many years is being forced out.
Gloria Jeans is a small operation, a counter to order at and a few coffee tea type accessories for sale.
No interior seating just a good cup of joe.
That is more than Barnes and Noble can tolerate, so they are being kicked out.
That truly sucks, it's unfair and un-American, unless of course you support the Bush/Cheney vision of America.

First let me just say that I have placed many orders on BN.com and bought in the stores. The only reason they get 2 stars is because this is the first major screw up they have done and they at least semi resolved it after me keeping my patience and waiting on hold for while. I wanted to order HP7 and the site said order by the 16th and you'll receive your order on the 21st. BEFORE I ordered anything I went into my account and deleted all of my old addresses, since I had recently moved I wanted to make sure the book went to the right address. I verified that the only address left was the current address, THEN I went to place my order. I found my stuff (HP7 & another book) I went to check out, I only had one option for shipping and billing, my current address, so I checked it KNOWING IT WAS CORRECT. I received an email confirming my order, I checked the books to make sure they were correct and the total to make sure I wasn't charged for shipping. I didn't check the shipping address because like I said before the ordering system only gave me one address and it was the correct address. BN sent the first book out early when I didn't receive it I went and checked the tracking service, they SENT IT TO MY OLD ADDRESS!! My former landlords are out of the country and now it'll be sitting in the rain (northeastern US) for a month! I immediately called BN and was told there is nothing they can do about it, I asked them about HP7 and was told it's too late to change anything, but good news since they're actually sending it via the US postal service it should be forwarded to my new address, great I'll get a week after it comes out and I'll end up hearing about it in the media, HELLO that's exactly the point, get it right away so you can read it without the media ruining it for you!!!! Aftering politely arguing my point for what seemed like forever, I asked to speak with a manager, I was put on hold for about ten minutes and I finally got a manager. In the end BN is sending me a postage paid mailer so that I can send back the book at no cost to me and get the price I paid credited to my account (20.99 + tax). I was told they would only do this for me because I have ordered from them many times(equalling thousands of dollars I read a lot) and have never caused a problem before, I said fine thank you and have a good day. I am done ordering with BN, I will do my business elsewhere from now on. But like I said above I gave them two stars because they did try to resolve the issue And I haven't had any issues before this. I hope my experience at least helps anyone that reads this to be really careful and make sure that triple check EVERYTHING before you order on BN.com!!

I like Barnes and Noble I have not had any bad experiences there.  They have a nice selection of books, the only problem is that they are a little bit expensive.

I have always appreciated the unique atmosphere of a B&N.  It is easy for me to find flaws in any major book retailer (I work for one).  B&N's flaws don't take away greatly from the shopping experience.  Granted, I do not know much about their customer service.  I am not the type to ask for assistance.  Also, I guess I have a better time finding my way around a bookstore since I am employed by one (there isn't much varience between the major retailers -- there are only so many ways to lay out a bookstore).  The only thing I can say that I do not like in relation to customer service is that their employees aren't required to where anything special but lanyards.  It does make them kind of hard to spot.  

I am wary of their Starbucks coffee -- quality does seem to vary by location as they are not "true" Starbucks.
  I'd rather leave the store and go to a real Starbucks stand alone than risk the quality there.  

I do appreciate the amount of seating they have.


I am surprised they aren't offering vouchers for the new Harry Potter book.  Hmmm...

Barnes and Noble has no respect for the customer. They are rude from the CEO to the head of their "customer service" department. Do not, shop there, go to Borders. B&N needs to realize that consumers do matter!

Many of the stores are now discouraging customers from staying in their stores for any length of time. I've been asked to leave the Cafe more than a few times because I've been there longer than an hour with my children. This has happened to me three times now. As with baseball, Barnes and Noble has struck out with me. I've moved on to another store.

I was a loyal customer of Barnes and Nobles.com until I had to deal with their customer service, or lack thereof. I ordered 2 books in early January. The first order was sent to the wrong address. When I called customer service, after a lengthy wait and having to speak to several people, A manager told me that it was my fault that the books went to the wrong address and that their computer systems are in infallible. This is while the previous employee had done nothing but complain of how bad the computers and network are while we waited for 10 minutes after her computer crashed and had to be restarted. They had no problem using the correct address to charge my credit card however. I was finally told to dispute the whole thing on my credit card. They said they would then send out 2 more books to replace the ones that were lost. This replacement order was undeliverable as the tried to use their shipper(either FEDEX or UPS) to deliver to a PO Box which cannot be done. Another hour on the phone and the 3rd order was sent out. Both the second and third orders were overcharged on my credit card and I had to spend about 20 minutes 2 more times attempting to fix the situation. Of course failure was the inevitable result. A 5th phone call made recently may have cleared things up finally. Maybe. The books only arrived 4 weeks late.

I'll start by saying I love to go to B&N stores. My experience buying on line was a first class nightmare. The website sucks. I tried to use my gift certificates but in order to use them I had to call in the numbers. OK I call them up and he takes my gift cert numbers and when he is done he tells me he has to transfer me to someone else to finish the other half of the order. I repeat the process only to be cut off in the middle. Back to the automated phone system until I got a third operater to finish my order. By now I try to speak to a supervisor only to be told they need to verify who I am by asking me what is on my order. I tell them one of the items that I ordered and she tells me she has no record of such items. I say its been such a long time I might have forgotten what I ordered. Finally she verifies my order and finally lets me talk to her supervisor. I was placed on hold for quite a while. when I finally talked to the supervisor she listened to my story and said have a nice day. Polite but incompetent!

You should never buy from their online store. They will say it is in-stock when it isn't. Customer Service representatives do not know what they are doing at all. Unreliable, bad online store.

They sell used books. Think about it for a minute, since they encourage potential customers to sit and read in comfortable chairs and sofas. They also have a coffee bar to lengthen your stay. Last but not least, they are EXPENSIVE.

Nice place to get away and lose yourself at. I like to go there, sit on one of their sofas and brouse, scan, and skim through books. I wouldn't buy anything there since they are as expensive as college book stores. I buy books in Costco/Sam's club or some bargain shop.

Great place to browse if you're looking for new titles. Need more cashiers though. Fortunately, big chains like this have not totally displaced the smaller specialty book shops.

Lousy customer Service Dept.

While I am not a big fan of mega-corporations and warehouses that like to put independent bookstores out of business, I truely can't give BN a bad rating. The employees working here always appear to be happy, and they have never asked me to leave if I sit down to read a few magazines or look over a book. Their book selection is western mainstream and somewhat shallow and not very diverse of opinions or cultural writers, but overall their not too bad if your looking for a free place to getaway for a few hours. Prices range at retail which is more expensive than if you got the book online, but their bargain section is a deal. However, their concept of providing chairs and a cafe have led this chain to become more of a library rather than a place to buy books.

I also find the state of the Saugus store's bathroom very poor. I frequent the BN in Framingham and Leominster/Fitchburg, and have never seen bathrooms the likes of these. In fact, most gas stations have cleaner bathrooms than these I would say. I like the people working in the bookstore there, they are VERY helpful and I have never had any trouble with them before. The Cafe workers on the other hand are a totally unlikeable crew. They are unprofessional and loud. They complain about their problems constantly in front of the customers, and I for one don't want to hear about it. Also, the coffee usually tastes burnt in this location. I do go there once in a while because it is close to my house, but in general I find myself spending much less time there because it is just noisy and dirty.

Ok for popular books, but they have very little in the way of scholarly books.

Two weeks after placing order at Barnes & Noble.com, I still haven't received my books! Their tracking option did not work for 10 days! I've placed over a hundred orders at amazon over the past five years and have not had a single bad experience. I used B&N this time because I was given a gift card. This is the last time. Never again. Ever.

they have everything you name they got it.

Quality can vary from store to store, but I do find myself patronizing them pretty regularly, particularly if I want to grab a book, CD, or DVD quickly. I don't have a personal preference for them over Borders, or vice versa, but it does bother me that these big corporate chains have suffocated a lot of the smaller, independently run bookstores, which simply couldn't keep up and went out of business. One of my all-time favorite bookstores used to be Womrath's in Hackensack, NJ, which had been there for decades. It's gone now, thanks to the corporate chains like B and N and Borders. Of course, I can't really get on my moral high-horse in this instance, as I patronized the corporate chains even as I patronized stores like Womrath's and the Happy Booker in Morristown. But it is sad...

Not a disappointment whenever I visit.

I asked about the sexual harassment incident shown below at the Arlington Heights Il store. The employee I asked got the manager, and the manager refused to comment. I did my homework, and got the story from the person who posted the comment below. It rings true to me. I agree with him. A compony that takes no action when a customer is harassed by an emplyee, does not deserve my business. i hope all who read this agree and act accordingly.