Barnes & Noble (www.barnesandnoble.com) has a 1.7 out of 5 rating on OK.one, based on 100 user reviews collected here. It is listed under Hobbies & Crafts and its reputation is poor. 72% of reviews are 1 star, a relatively high share; The business has replied to 89% of negative reviews; 73 of them were added in the last 12 months. Last updated 2026-08-10.
They stink.I ordered a textbook for a class, never got it
I ordered a textbook for a class. It took several days longer than expected but I did receive a package. Inside was a children's workbook for the alphabet.(Not what I ordered) I called and they assured me that a new book was going out and would arrive by Wednesday of the following week. Nothing arrived until Saturday. On Saturday I received a large envelope with NOTHING inside and fully sealed. I called and was told someone would get back to me in 72 hours. I asked if it could be expedited and and she said I'd have to wait to hear from B&N. So today I called, 48 hours later and was told that they can issue a refund but they can not send the book out since they have already sent it twice. Um, no, they never sent it. I took the refund, hopefully it processes! I found the book elsewhere. The customer service agents I spoke to were not polite or competent. Their shipping area must really be bad and I will no longer shop at Barnes and Noble. I
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-11-04
We apologize that you didn't have a good experience. We are committed to upholding a high standard of excellence in all that we do, and your feedback is invaluable in helping us review our service commitment. Please respond to the accompanying request for more information so we can document your feedback properly.
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Marija · 1 review · Experienced 2025-11-02 ·
★★★★★
B&N never delivered my order and kept…
B&N never delivered my order and kept me completely uninformed for almost two months. I only learned what was going on after I followed up myself — because I needed the item as a gift for an upcoming event. To my shock, they abruptly canceled the order while chatting with me. Truly disappointing service.
It wasn’t just any book — it was a signed copy of Dan Brown’s latest release, meant as a special gift for a close friend who’s a big fan. Instead of the excitement I hoped to share, I’m left with frustration and a ruined surprise.
B&N’s claim of reliable international shipping feels like false advertising. After this experience, I can’t recommend them to anyone. This was my first — and definitely my last — time ordering from B&N.
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-11-03
We sincerely apologize that you did not have a good experience with your order. Please respond to the accompanying request for more information so that we can take a closer look.
Warning: I will put a TLDR at the end if you want to scroll down.
Note that this ordeal used to be a fun hobby. I have been working on this cookbook since 2020 (covid project), so I've been dedicating 5 years of my life to this project. But BN has been enjoying sucking the life out of me for the past 3 months.
I originally chose BN because they had a reputation for quality. They were one of the few self-publishing printers who could handle hard cover books with colored pages, and they had the benefit of listing said book on their website, which made it easy to sell.
But I have quickly learned to hate this big box retailer for one of the standard complaints of all major companies: They have some of the worst customer service, whose quality is on pare for any health insurance company.
My book has been repeatedly taken off-sale for little to no explanations.
To start, on August 19th, I put my book on sale. And what was claimed to take a few days was not true. They cited long wait times, but on August 27th, they finally posted the source of the problem was due to an error with my book. But it was clear, once I contacted their customer support (the only format of support offered is email---nothing else is available), it was clear that they didn't read my email at all and posted generic nonsense.
On September 3rd, they cited a problem with my book as being "stuck in processing." They didn't know what the problem was and had contacted IT.
On September 8th, my book was FINALLY placed on-sale.
Then on September 9th, the book was taken off sale due to another "error". This back and forth continuously repeated, off-sale to on-sale, and vice versa. In effect, customers had placed orders and then lost updates to their order. BN contacted me with the message, "ERROR: There was an error with your project. Please contact Customer Support referring to your ISBN or project title." They cited word-for-word: ERROR: "General interior issue. Please check the interior file and resubmit, or contact NOOK Press Customer Service." They had no idea about the problem. It wasn't until later that I got more details.
Their error was as quoted: "Bookblock: the ink saturation level in the supplied interior file is not suitable for high. Volume orders. We may be able to fulfill your order by changing to a heavier weight paper or updating the booktype to ultra. Premium color. Please advise if you will be updating the booktype or supply us with a corrected interior file." Not only were there grammatical errors and no details, but upon investigation with more back-and-forth conversation, what they quoted was highly inaccurate. They could not change the ink or color. They could change the paper, but that option was supposedly unlisted on the website (so I do and did not believe them). And they had no idea how I could correct the interior file. Even though it was their staff, their processes, and their printer. They didn't know what was wrong.
On September 11th, when they finally replied with more information, they still were unsure of what was wrong or how to fix it. "Maybe you're using RGB colors and our printers use CMYK. The overall combined percentage of CMYK values of artwork for our presses should be less than 240%." Because this information was unlisted in their formatting directions, I have to imagine they are outsourcing their printing to a 3rd-party company, especially since they have no idea whether this is a solution or how to fix it. When I asked about specific color settings for the CMYK color profile for the PDF, they ignored me.
I finally had to BUY Adobe's subscription, change the color profile, confirm several times that it is fixed, and re-upload the file----with no help or direction from BN, but crossing my fingers this will work.
Then on September 16th, I read the golden words, "Our printer partner confirmed that your project is good and ready for production." Against all belief, I think this is problem is finally over.
But my book goes online for a day, more customers place orders, and to make me further disappointed, they took my book offline. Since then, they have ignored all communication and refused to resolve their issues. The issue is the same issue previously cited about CMYK over 240% even though Adobe Acrobat's print preview has confirmed several times this is untrue.
As of now, I have contacted customer support several times, but I have been ignored. I cannot call BN, because they have no relations and are "separate entities."
TLDR: BN has terrible customer service: 1) they cannot communicate with their customers clearly, 2) they don't understand their own printing processes, and 3) if the problem is too difficult, they prefer to ignore you until you go away.
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-10-14
We apologize for the experience you had and for any disappointment this has caused. Please respond to the accompanying request for more information, so we may take a further look.
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Edward · 61 reviews · Experienced 2025-09-18 ·
★★★★★
1st experience, bad experience
Bought four books online. I wasn't supposed to be charged until the books are ready to ship, according to them. Well, I was charged for four books and only received three. One was delayed and then canceled. I was told that I wouldn't be charged for that book but that book was charged first. I had to go thru my credit card company to get my money back. Their support staff wasn't helpful trying to tell me that I wasn't charged. I even sent them a pic of my account. Yeah, not worth the hassle.
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-10-13
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you experienced. When you place an order, your payment method is authorized for the total amount, but charges for the items are only applied once they have shipped. This authorization temporarily reserves the funds, which most card-issuing banks release after a few days depending on your banks processing times, a process over which Barnes & Noble has no control. If the order is cancelled, you are not charged, and the authorization hold will drop. We truly regret any confusion and inconvenience caused by this authorization process.
I pre-ordered a game 2 months ago to ensure it's timely delivery. My book club had planned a while night, people are coming from our of town, centered around this game. The game dropped the 10/1, I called 10/4 to check updates. The customer rep said it was returned to sender Because the address is undeliverable. It is not, it's a valid postal address. I asked if I could just resend it to store and was told no benadryl it was a pre-order. They placed a replacement order to the same address, I asked whats the difference between the first and second order to think it won't be returned for an undeliverable address again. She said a note would be put in to get a different courier. The delivery date is now changed, with delivery on or before the 10/10, the same day everyone is coming into town. This is so frustrating, I pre-ordered to avoid this. Now I don't know she the people should come or not. I called today on 10/6 to check the status- it's beyond ready but hasn't shipped. I asked if I could refund the order, to just go in person to the store and get it that way, I was told no. This is frustrating also because I used a gift card and my bnn points to cover shipping, so even with a refund I couldn't get my points back. I will never order on line again, nor will i do pre-orders. I get so much from this store, it blows me away that they wouldn't in the least rush the order to give me the same date originally stated, im very disappointed.
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-10-06
We're sorry to hear that the order was unable to be delivered and that your replacement hasn't shipped yet. Please respond to the accompanying request for more information so that we can take a closer look.
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Kimberly Wong · 2 reviews · Experienced 2025-10-04 ·
★★★★★
Missing packages twice in a row
I’m furious. First, I pre-ordered a signed copy of a memoir and its tracking status never got updated. Eventually, I contacted B&N and was told that it’s assumed that the book is lost in transit. Unfortunately, I’d already placed two other pre-orders with B&N at that point. In an attempt to give the store another chance, I chose not to cancel those orders. My first preorder made it as far as the country where I live, but the latest tracking info says my package has been “returned to sender” because the address was “incomplete.” On my confirmation and shipping emails from B&N, the address is complete and exactly as I wrote it when submitting the order. What exactly went wrong here?! How has this happened TWICE in a row where I’m not receiving a signed book I’ve ordered? I am going to cancel the third book I preordered.
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-10-05
We sincerely apologize that you did not have a good experience with your orders. Please respond to the accompanying request for more information so that we can take a closer look.
American Fork, UT. If you are NOT going to put a sign up indicating which way the line forms (according to the clerk "you don't want to"), then you can't expect people to know. I waited in line behind 3 others for my turn. Just as it was about my turn, they made my move to the other end cause "that's where the line forms". Then I just walked back to the other end right away for my turn. And the clerk and manager were rude and dismissive. If you won't be clear, you can't be rude and dismissive to customers who are trying to figure it out. The furniture arrangement is not enough.
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-09-11
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. We apologize for the confusion and frustration you encountered during your visit to the American Fork, UT location. We're also sorry to hear that our bookseller and manager came across as rude and dismissive. That's not the kind of service we aim to provide, and we take our customers' concerns seriously. Please respond to the accompanying request with your contact information so we can document and pass along your feedback properly.
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Taylor · 2 reviews · Experienced 2025-09-04 ·
★★★★★
What shipping?
Wanted to preorder a book only to find out they don't ship to the UK. Ridiculous.
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-09-04
Currently, we do not ship to the EU or UK. For your bookstore needs, we suggest you visit Waterstones.com who ship throughout the UK and EU.
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Lisa Polizzi · 1 review · Experienced 2025-08-28 ·
★★★★★
AI authored books with FAKE author name
UPDATED: The Customer service team got in touch with me and promptly removed the AI-generated books from their assortment. I can appreciate their swift resolution. Assumably, this will be a future issue for book stores in general and I hope that there will be more transparency and accountability on the publishers end.
ORIGINAL 1-star review: I recently ordered 2 books that had appeared in my suggestions. Once I received them, a few things seemed really odd about them and once I started reading and doing some research it became clear that they were AI generated with a FAKE author name. It was NOT transparent that these were AI generated, neither on the website, nor on the book itself.
A few things stood out to me that indicated they might be AI generated:
1. The books had both been just published in August 25 (same month as I had bought them)
2. They had no information about authors, but both had an author name
3. Under ''publisher', the author name was listed, but no other publisher was listed
4. I tried to find the authors on the web, but they clearly didn't exist.
5. As soon as I started reading, it became obvious to me. There were several inconsistencies that no real (human) author would have overlooked in a publication
6. The stories were as generic as can be.
7. The cover images looked like very generic AI generated images.
8. Lastly, after doing some research, the barcode number gave it away: 90000.
I am beyond disappointed and shocked that B&N sells AI generated books, but doesn't mark them as AI generated, and that there is no transparency whatsoever! Even worse, it seems like they are covering up by providing fake author names. I reached out to customer service and this was their response: "B&N has not made any announcement and we do not comment on rumors or speculation."
I have no words for how deceiving and dissappointing this is to me. I wanted to support B&N instead of purchasing from Amazon. I REALLY hope that B&N will be transparent going forward, or better: support HUMAN authors, HUMAN talent and creativity.
J
John O · 18 reviews · Experienced 2025-08-15 ·
★★★★★
Never Received Order
Ordered 2 CD's, email was sent to me that items shipped the following day by USPS. When I checked the tracking number it said package was not received yet from B&N. It is now 11 days later and I never received my order and no tracking is showing on USPS website. Had to call customer service to get a full refund. I will not do any more business with Barnes & Noble after this experience.
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-08-26
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you've experienced. Your order was expected to arrive by the original delivery date provided at checkout, and we regret that it did not. We are committed to upholding a high standard of excellence in all that we do, and your feedback is invaluable in helping us review our service commitment. Please respond to the accompanying request for more information so we can document your feedback properly.
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Kelly Johnson · 3 reviews · Experienced 2025-08-22 ·
★★★★★
I had went into a store to buy an album…
I had went into a store to buy an album that came out on 8/22. There wasn't anything out on the shelf so I asked an employee about it. In the past they have kept it behind a counter to keep them safe. The employee said they had it in the back and hadn't had a chance to put it out yet. So I'm assuming they would say they would go get me one....they didn't. They just said they could hold one for me once it got put out. I said I was from out of town and that wouldn't work and that was the end of the discussion. First off, I was annoyed that it was supposed to be out on the 22nd and it wasn't. But this had happened at Target but there, the employee went and got me the copies I wanted from the back....that is good customer service...what B & N did is NOT. Do better Barnes and Noble!!!
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-08-25
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We sincerely apologize for your recent experience in one of our stores. We are committed to upholding a high standard of excellence in all that we do, and your feedback is invaluable in helping us review our service commitment. Please respond to the accompanying request for more information so that we can share your feedback with our Retail Team and ensure that the issues you raised are properly addressed.
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Jesse Lawrence · 1 review · Experienced 2025-08-18 ·
★★★★★
Horrid online ordering
I have never had a positive experience with the Barnes and Noble app or website. Items are constantly mislabeled as in stock, orders arrive way later than anticipated and now their online pickup is broken. I ordered books for a local store pickup (which their website claims will be ready within 2 hours as long as the store will still be open in that timeframe) and a day later the app still says “finding item” so I went to the store and it wasn’t even in the stores system yet. Luckily the staff at the store were understanding and very kind (literally a night and day experience, store staff is always helpful) but it’s like this corporation just gave up on their website, like “we’ll never be as good as Amazon so why try”
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-08-19
We sincerely apologize for the unsatisfactory experience you had. We understand this was frustrating, and we deeply regret that we fell short of your expectations. Please know that this is not indicative of our usual high standards. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention, as your feedback is invaluable in helping us review our service commitment and prevent similar issues from happening again.
Trash company trash everything waste of time I published a few times they took the book off sale hate them
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-08-19
We apologize that you didn't have a good experience. Please respond to the accompanying request for more information so we may take a further look.
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Kia Schluetz · 38 reviews · Experienced 2025-07-17 ·
★★★★★
Used to be A Good Company
Now they can't even deliver a CD within 3 weeks and will argue to the ends of the earth whether or not they owe me a refund! I never got my product and I had to pull teeth to get my money back.
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Will Moore · 2 reviews · Experienced 2025-06-27 ·
★★★★★
Love this place so much
Love this place so much great variety a little high priced but great place rewards system could be better though in my opinion
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Meili Tark · 3 reviews · Experienced 2025-07-29 ·
★★★★★
They won't give me my gift unless I enter cc information.
I'm not a Barnes & Noble customer but my mom sent me an audiobook as a gift from them. When I tried to access the book I was told I had to enter credit card information.
They stated that it is necessary due to copyright restrictions on the books. That makes no sense and I cannot see this as anything but a cheap trick to get your credit card information on file so they can pressure you into impulse purchases.
From what I understand, the gift is non-refundable. The website is also super buggy. I will never be shopping with Barnes & Noble after this and I will encourage any future gifts to be purchased somewhere else.
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-07-30
We apologize for any frustration this situation may have caused. Publishers mandate that all sellers of digital products implement a system to safeguard their copyrights via digital rights management (DRM). The use of a credit card number aids in enforcing DRM policies by guaranteeing that only permitted users can access and share the content. A credit card serves as a unique identifier that only you, as the customer, would possess. Please respond to the accompanying request for more information, so we can take a look.
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Louis Lafleur · 1 review · Experienced 2025-06-09 ·
★★★★★
I ordered several fairly expensive…
I ordered several fairly expensive books. One was badly damaged. After contacting Barnes & Noble, they responded quickly and offered to replace the book free of charge and by mail. I will always be a loyal customer of this store.
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J Campbell · 2 reviews · Experienced 2025-06-09 ·
★★★★★
NO REFUND GIVEN
I purchased a 9" Nook as a birthday gift and paid for the extended warranty. When the gift was given, the recipient (my girlfriend) told me she actually preferred the Glowlight 4 so went to B&N store to swap them out. She also had no interest in the extended warranty. The swap went well as both items were the same price but any credit for the canceled warranty had to come from the B&N website.
The cancelation was successful, however the refund has been a nightmare. In fact, I never received it despite eventually speaking to a customer service manager named Amy who promised to get it handled.
They love to transfer calls from one department to the next. Retail, Digital, Customer Service on and on.
I'm happy to see that my 1-star review may potentially lower their 2.8 score because this organization is a scam and a fraud.
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-07-11
We apologize that you have yet to receive your refund and sorry for the experience you had. Please respond to the accompanying request for more information so we can take a look.
I ordered 7 books from Barnes and noble. The books were sent separately which is weird since it’s international delivery. Delivery date is overdue and the tracking status of all orders haven’t been updated in a while. I can’t even reach out to the delivery partner cos I don’t know which. Also, I reached to their customer service and their response was your package seems lost in transit and there’s nothing they can do about it. Just like that, they also said they can’t help contact the delivery partner. I need to know where my books are, this is not good at all and it’s frustrating
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-07-08
Items from Barnes & Noble orders may be delivered on different days and in multiple packages, as they can be shipped from various warehouses. We sincerely apologize that your books did not arrive as expected and are now considered lost. The tracking information we have is the same as what you can access. If you would like us to take a look at the order, please reply to the accompanying request for more information.
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Lorenzo Certeza · 1 review · Experienced 2025-06-17 ·
★★★★★
Order was extremely delayed. Requested a change in address for delivery. Customer service just asked for order number then ignored
I ordered 3 books from B&N and had them sent to my airport hotel. I chose the standard delivery that said 3-6 days. It turns out all the books were out of stock and B&N had to delay the delivery for half a month. I will not be at that hotel or even at the same country by that time.
I emailed their customer service, they asked me for my order # and billing address and I immediately replied. No word from them at all after that and now I received a shipping confirmation saying my books are being sent to the hotel even if I told them I won't be there anymore.
I am a longtime customer of B&N and I want to support actual bookstores but I really can't shop with them after this. They can't list their books as out of stock, they can't be transparent with their delivery dates and their customer service is not helpful at all.
Reply from Barnes & Noble2025-07-01
We apologize that you didn't have a good experience. Product availability is based on inventory that can change at any time. Once an order is submitted, only limited changes can be made. We're sorry if the order was unable to be cancelled. Once the package is refused/returned to the warehouse, a refund will process. If you would like us to take a look at the order, you may respond to the accompanying request for more information.
