Ed L.

Prior to this problem, I was mostly pleased with Better World Books. But after my recent experience I will avoid ordering from them. They sent a book which did not match their listing or the product details. It was not by the author shown, and other details. I informed them of the discrepancy in detail and asked for a refund and a return shipping label. They asked me to find and tell them the ISBN number in the book. I checked the number on the ISBN site, and the description there was what they had shown in their listing. So in fact the ISBN description was wrong! I informed BWB of this and they told me they go by the ISBN number, I would need to pay return shipping if I wanted a refund. That would have cost me most of the price of the book, and have no book. And the book I received was actually an old school text, worthless to me or to about anyone. I explained all this to them and told them they would see the truth of what I told them when they received the book. They repeated their refusal and reason. Over several weeks we exchanged numerous messages, in which the then told me it was a case of my changing my mind, so they couldn't pay shipping. All their messages were full of "sorrys". It began to appear to me that it was not humans but a machine reading and answering me. I said so, but the responses didn't change. I warned them that I would need to complain and could never trust them again if they wouldn't do the right thing. Same responses. I finally reported it to the Better Business Bureau. They quickly informed BWB, and only then did they refund my money. They said keep the book. I can understand that, because they wouldn't want to pay for the return of an unsellable book!

Tracking shows that my month-old orders haven't left Toledo. USPS still awaits them. I wonder if Discovery has gone out of business and kept my money. I had previously made several orders about which I had no complaint.