They didn't deliver my books! Horrible service, high prices. Waste of my time.
Written: Jan 02 '04
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Since I attend Rutgers University, I am forced to deal with eFollett.com if I want to peruse and purchase my textbooks online. I am currently in my fourth semester at Rutgers, and I have yet to have a good experience with this company.
Every semester, Rutgers professors tell the bookstore what books are required for their courses. The bookstore, being part of the eFollett chain, then lists them on their website. I cannot stress enough that the only reason that I bother to go to the eFollett website is because that I can get a listing of required textbooks without traveling to the actual Rutgers Bookstore.
Over the past two years I have had a ton of problems with the company. The most egregious of these problems is that they canceled my order without telling me! Last semester, I looked through the list of books. I ended up purchasing all but two or three books at other locations. However, I had no choice but to purchase a couple books from eFollett. I placed the order in August, about a month before the beginning of the semester.
After I placed my order, I received an e-mail explaining that my books should be shipping within about a week. A while later, with less than a week to go before the semester started, my books still had not arrived. This struck me as a bit odd, since it shouldn't take more than a week at most for the books to arrive once they are shipped. I thought that the best thing would be to log on to the website and check the status of my order. So, I logged onto the website...
It was canceled. Yes, that's right, the order had been canceled, and I had neither ordered it to be canceled nor had I received any kind of notification that I wouldn't be receiving my books. I e-mailed the customer service department immediately, and I was politely told that they didn't have any idea what happened, nor did they seem to think that this was an actual problem.
The worst part, though, is that this was not an isolated occurrence. I haven't ordered any more books from the website, I know several other people who have had the same problem. One person also goes to Montclair University, instead of Rutgers, so it is not a problem with my college. The only explanation is that this company is negligent and they have horrible customer service.
My other problem with the company is that the books are far too expensive. This is, of course, a problem that runs rampant throughout college bookstores nationwide. They sell books brand new, and they also sell them used. However, they buy the used books for a fraction of the original retail price and then resell them for 70-80% of that same retail price. Unless you are looking to buy a brand new book at list price, there is no incentive for you to purchase the books at this store or for you to sell your own used books back to them.
Save yourself some money and purchase your books directly from other students. Half.com and Amazon.com have listings of used books for sale, and they have excellent service records. I purchase all of my books from Half.com, and I routinely save $1-200 a semester over the listed price for used books at the eFollett store. Moreover, the books that I receive are all in new or like new condition, whereas the books that eFollett delivers are generally in much worse condition.
To reiterate, eFollett is flat out the worst online store I have ever dealt with. They do not deliver their items promptly, and in some cases at all. Their prices are too high. There are plenty of better options out there - use them.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Two testbooks for Rutgers University classes.
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About the Author
Member: Brian Rock
Location: New Brunswick, NJ
Reviews written: 48
Trusted by: 3 members
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