Barnes & Noble Corporate Office & Headquarters

I have been a regular customer at barnes and noble in Waterbury, CT since it opened. I have always enjoyed the atmosphere in the store, until new management took over. The environment has become hostile and tense. Since Barnes and Noble offers free wi-fi, I often bring my laptop so that I can work while I am there. I have been told that I can no longer sit and work on my laptop in the cafe area. Since there isn't any place else to sit and work, essentially I can no longer go to Barnes and Noble to take advantage of the free wi-fi service. What is the point of offering the service if there is no place in the store to sit at a table and use it? Several other "regulars" are also disgusted and disappointed by the low regard in which they have been treated under this new management team. If they are trying to increase revenue in the cafe, they should not drive the regular customer base away. Not a smart business move - we can become regulars somewhere else and that won't help your bottom line.

Listen to this one...During the past 2 weeks, the managers at the Waterbury, CT, B&N have been approaching the regular cafe customers and telling them they have a time limit to be in the store (2 hours) and then they have to leave. There were a few men who enjoyed playing chess (sometimes hours at a time) but never caused a real problem. Whenever they were asked to give up a table, they would comply without any problem. Many of the customers were impressed to observe the various age ranges and ethnic groups getting along in harmony during their chess games. Of course other people also visit the cafe...a couple of teachers tutoring their students; nursing students reviewing their notes; instructors correcting papers; business people meeting with their clients, etc. Also, there were a group of women who had a knitting club which would meet for a couple of hours every Monday evening. Not everyone purchased food from the cafe since the prices are ridiculously high but many managed to buy tea, coffee or some other drink or pastry. I realize that many people visit the store and just pick up a book or magazine and read but don't buy it. These are the same people who will spend money buying something to eat in the cafe while browsing the literature. B&N was a nice place to visit, to make friends and to just have a good chat. Well, it seems that now we are being booted out since that new manager (Frank) came onboard. And after reading all these complaints on here, I am so disgusted and now to think we have no other bookstore (with a cafe) in the area to visit since Border's is now closed. It seems to me that B&N is on it's way out also!!! The way they treat customers just maybe the company is getting exactly what it deserves...bankruptcy! By the way, I would have given it 0 stars if there was a category to pick from.

While I love going to my nearest B & N in Valparaiso, Indiana, I absolutely DREAD ordering books from B & N online. The books come from a warehouse in New Jersey, and the packers are very careless there. They do not properly pack the books or ensure that the books do not bang around inside the box during shipping. Ordering only one book is fine, but when ordering multiples at a time, the chances are very high that one or more of them will arrive in a damaged state. One time I ordered 12 books, and they were all put into one huge, far-oversized box, banged around all over the place, and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM arrived damaged. Sure, if you call them on the phone, they will freely replace the book(s) and will send you a free shipping label for you to return the damaged one(s), but this involves further delay in waiting to receive the rest of your order. All this could be prevented by taking steps in the first place to properly package things, fit the box size to the order, and ensure that nothing moves inside the box. Why can't they do this????

I recently had the misfortune to visit your Snellville,Ga. store. There I witnessed a female manager degrading one of the employees because they didn't have "classy business shoes". I talked with the young man after that episode and he said he is lucky to get 20 hours a week and has an hour drive to work. THEN I had the opportunity to meet an anal-retentive clown named James. What kind of horrors of human beings do you people appoint as managers? I can tell you I will NEVER shop at ANY of your locations again. Also I will inform all of my fellow Teachers to do the same. I am so glad I do not work for your establishment, and I pity the part-time employees that do. I suppose with the economy today anyone who has a job is fortunate. Therefore they get treated like dirt by their managers, who are aware of this. Your corporate office probably could care less, as long as their pockets are lined. I am sorry I cannot give you LESS than a one-star rating, because I would like to. I hope all of your managers sleep well at night, some of your employees probably do not.

I have been trying to return a defective Nook for 3 days now. All I get from customer service is the same answer and a refusal to transfer me to a supervisor. As of this date, June 7, 2011, I have received no satisfaction. The only conclusion I can reach is you do not honor your warranties and will charge us for a used Nook. All I ask is a return shipping label. As of now I will not recommend a Nook of any kind to my friends. I will suggest they buy a Kindle instead. It has good customer service. You have lost a once loyal customer. Sincerely, Kim Thompson

I am in the military and spend many months out to sea. I have limited space for storage. I have a Color Nook and bought some screen protectors they did not work as expected. I am over 9,000 miles away from my B&N stores. I am also about 1000 from any land. I wrote to Customer Service and explain my situation. I was asked for a receipt as I wrote in my email I did not have the receipt and asked for a waiver but the customer service turn me down. I am disappointed. I even asked for instead of a check just a gift card. Shock at there reply ---- sorry nothing we can do. Disappointment. I guess Amazon is the answer. For $19.99 they lost a good customer that spends hundreds and hundreds of dollars each year. I usually spend at least $800.00 before I go out on a ship so I have reading materials. I am usually out 2 times per year.

I love my Nook Color. As for the rest of Barnes & Noble........Lets put it this way. Customer relations -5*,Technical Support-5*,Business Ethics-5*,Corporate Concern-5* Overall Rateing -20* I had a simple technical problem, After two months of calling and getting the run around. I finally got an answer. WE DON'T CARE!!! We have your money,We don't care if you have a problem. You have to buy our books so kiss off. Had this happened to a Microsoft product, Quest, Direct TV or any other consumer electronics dealer, it would have been taken care of in minutes. I am just one small voice, but I know at least 250 people that I will tell about Barnes & Noble. They know 250 people too. Do the math you Mr. CEO Eventually this WILL COST YOU.

I work for B&N and I'm trying to get out of here. If you think the employees are bad at customer service, just imagine how bad management treat the employees especially the one I work for. They think propaganda and deception is is a way of keeping the staff in check. So if you consider working for this company, you may want to ask around.

I purchased the Nook this past Christmas, as a gift, for my wife. She really enjoyed it until about two and a half months ago. The nook just stopped connecting to the internet and maintaining a charge. I took it to the B&N in Mohegan Lake, NY. They tested it in every capacity with little result. The B&N Managers in Mohegan Lake determined immediately that the product was defective, called the issue in and was given the okay to replace it and did an exchange for a NEW Nook on the spot. Excellent Customer service...My wife did not open the product for a few weeks, waiting for me to set it up...When I did get to it, the set up was easy...connecting and registering...but it refused to hold a charge via wall plug or USB. It kept sying "Discharging." Frustrated, I took the Nook to The B&N in Newburgh, NY (horrible return policy there). They Tested it with at least four different plugs, plus the USB. They called it in. This time I was told the store could not give me a replacement immediately, and I had to ship the defective one back myself and needed to give a credit card (which makes me feel like I am trying to steal or something. Horrible Customer Service. EVEN WORSE...the company sends my wife a CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED Nook...when she calls a CSR at B&N she has to jump through hoops and a few CSRs over two days and practically scream for a refund, which they said they could not do...eventually they agreed to send a new one. Horible, horrible. We loved B&N before this incident. The Nook is a cool idea, but, the product had some issues that are not being addressed on the technical end. We want this product, but not with this type of headache. IT IS NOT our fault the product failed us two times, but are made to feel it is by being asked for the credit card hold (as if we are dishonest on the return). Your CSRs had no empathy and were very rude at time. You are helping yourself lose the business of customers who really enjoyed what B&N had to offer. I am quite sure if that happened to them, they would be upset. The third time is a charm. You are losing a customer fast...Kudos to Mohegan Lake/Peekskill B&N...Wallace Winston Jr.

I Went to Barnes and Noble with my family and I was told that we could not sit down on the floor to look at books because it is a fire hazard(no chairs anywhere to sit in). I was then directed to children's benches. I did not want to sit on a child's bench. I suppose if I just stood in the store I would be a fire hazard as well. Better yet, I should just buy books online through Amazon and not bother with the store unless I want to be treated poorly. My husband and I are both teachers and we each own Nooks. We have spent nearly $1,000 there just this past year. We were also planning on purchasing books while we were there but I immediately put them back. I am extremely disappointed with the poor treatment today and it will be a long time before I visit your store again. I guess it won't be long before Barnes and Noble starts shutting stores down like Borders had to. I thought the idea was to keep customers happy in your store so they will buy books not boot them out.

Looks like I am not the only giving Barnes and Noble a very poor rating. I order from the website and requested for my order to be shipped express (1-3 business days). Correct me if I am wrong but if I order on Monday and the items ships on Tuesday like it is suppose to, then I should have it by Thursday. Receiving my item after Thursday is not what I paid for and Barnes and Noble refuses to reimburse me or take care of the issue at hand. I have never had this problem with any other website I have ordered from. If I request 1-3 business days, I get it in 1-3 business. I hope my issues gives everyone a heads up as to what to expect with Barnes and Noble.

I'm filing the following complaint with the Consumer Complaints Agency, BBB, and other consumer complaint Agencies: I hope you can help me with this problem. Barnes and Noble won't cancel my membership and have been charging my credit card $25 for past 5 years without my authorization, or knowledge. I sent B&N an email in 2007 telling them I no longer wanted to be a member and to cancel my membership. I cut up the card. They responded saying they needed either my membership #, address used when signing up for membership, or, last store where card was used. I gave them two out of three answers and figured this was end of it. Because I used to do a lot of international travel on a frequent basis. I neglected to learn my membership had not been canceled and they continued billing my credit card $25 every January up to 2011. I never received any more emails, or mail, from them (with the exception of an application for a B&N Master Card, which had my name, address, and membership # on it, in late 2007, also leading me to believe membership was cancelled. I contacted them again earlier this year, after noticing their charge on my statement, and have been given the run-a-round ever since. They keep responding with the same thing.......my name, address, phone #, etc. doesn't match their records. I've even given them my previous addresses, and phone #'s going back as far as the 70's and still nothing. They gave me a phone number to call and there are no options listed for this problem. When I did finally speak to someone they acted like they didn't know what I was talking about. They were unsympathetic regarding my dilemma, and offered me no alternate solution other than to call back with more information. Basically, they just wanted to get me off the phone. This is the last time I'm dealing with them direct because they’re not being cooperative.

I purchased a Nook Color as a gift to myself this past Christmas. Two months later it stopped working. I was replaced, but I did not know it was going to be replaced with a refurbished. I paid for brand new and should get a brand new replacement. Well the replacement also stopped working within two months. Now I am at war because I am requesting a full refund which they are claiming I am not entitled to. Have called customer service over and over, I have been told to email my complaint. That would be great, but all the email addresses they give me are incorrect. I then also called to cancel the two nook book I ordered before the nook stopped working. Another war- I am told that it would take three or four months for the refund on nook books that now I can't read, since I don't have a nook and don't plan on getting another one! B&N is not standing by their customers which is a shame. It appears that B&N does not think of top rate service and the customer is always right. Maybe a class action law suit again B&N will get the message across. I will keep fighting for my refund and everyone else should do the same. If you keep accepting replacements, they will keep up the game until your service warranty runs out and now you are holding a $249.00 (before taxes) piece of trash. I am still looking for the email to the CEO or I will go to the main B&N store in the city until someone listens to me. ALL I WANT IS MY MONEY BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On April 13, I returned a Nook Color that I had purchased from bn.com. The unit was received on April 18 via FedEx. No refund. I called last week and they told me I could expect the refund within one or two business days, meaning by last Friday. No refund. Called again today and was told another week or two. I looked up Barnes & Noble's SEC Form 10-Q and noted their cash position was down about 40% from the year before. My conclusion is that B&N is conserving cash by sitting on customer refunds. Well, color me ex-customer.

I just cancelled my Barnes and Noble credit card. This card is affiliated with Barclay Bank and they outsource. Horrible experience and extremely Un American!!! Please do the same

I have returned a magic set that I purchased many months ago but had to return it the same week I bought it because it was not the one my grandson wanted. I used the pre-printed Barnes & Noble return label. The package was repeatedly sent back "address unknown". After several complaints, I was told that the money would be refunded to me. After a number of months and many, many emails, I am still waiting for my refund. This is the WORST customer service EVER. I also have had problems in the past trying to use gift certificates online. B&N puts it on my default debit card and then won't let me change it. I am pretty much finished with Barnes & Noble. From now on I shall go to amazon.com, Borders Books, and whatever else I can think of that is NOT Barnes & Noble.

I received 2 Nooks as gifts for Christmas. One was a NookColor and the other was a Nook 3g/WIFI. Even though the NookColor was more expensive, I really wanted the 3g so I used the Return Label that was in the gift box and returned the NookColor and a glare screen that was part of the gift. This return was made on January 5, 2011. My husbands credit card shows a credit for the Glare Screen on January 11 but not the $248 for the NookColor. I have made repeated calls to Customer Service about this problem. I get nothing but run arounds from each person I talk to and no results. At this point, I don't have a NookColor but it has been has been paid for since November. What kind of company can have all the mistakes that you see on this review page?????

I got my nook for Christmas, the first day before I learned how to buy books, I clicked a book by accident. I called the customer service and asked if they would refund my account. The nice lady said there was not a problem. That was almost 5 months ago. Called back after 3 months, still waiting. Since that day we have spent over 50 dollars on books. I have had enough of companies that take advantage of you. I will try to find someone who doesn't mind doing business with this company to sell my nook. Then I wont have to do business with them again!

Str: 2102 Reg: 003 TRN: 0912 Cshr: Sandra R. Date: 04/24/11 Time: 01:06p Barnes & Noble alway's asks if we would like to purchase their members card & receive 10% off all purchases. What we noticed on our receipt after total amount $13.01, "A MEMBER WOULD HAVE SAVED $1.20. This is fraud by my calculations! 10% of $13.01 would be a savings of $1.30; Not $1.20! When you add this up by 100's & 1000's they've been doing this to, it really add's up & they benefit in $$$$$! Check over your receipts...You've probably been getting ripped off too.

I worked for Barnes and Noble for over a year, as a cash lead. One night, I was at the front registers by myself after I had come back from dinner break, working the small line of customers, when I started having an allergic reaction from something I ate. I fought it off, and a firefighter came through my line, and refused to move until I called my manager to tell her that I needed to go to the hospital. I called my manager to the front, and she said I seemed fine, and that she couldn't close the store by herself on a Sunday night without me counting down all the registers and safe. I agreed to stay another 4 hours until the store was closed and cleaned, and then go to the hospital. By the time everything was counted down, my manager said I was coughing and scratching my throat a lot, and that I definitely needed to go to the hospital. She had me call my fiance, who picked me up at the store to take me to the hospital. My manager helped me into his car, saying, "Don't worry about your shift at 6am tomorrow, I've got it covered, I know you're going to be at the hospital until the early morning." I was in the hospital until 3am Monday, obviously didn't go to work Monday morning, and went to my next shift Wednesday afternoon. Upon walking in and starting to count the safe, the store manager pulled me into her office and said my services were no longer needed. I was so shocked and upset, I couldn't even speak. It was everything I could do to hold back tears.. and she escorted me out of the store. I've never been so hurt by a company before.. Never been so blind-sided. I was wrongfully terminated, and they know it. Ever since, I have not been a patron of Barnes and Noble, and I tell all my family and friends about their crooked practices. They don't care about their employees OR their customers -- that company is out to make money and that's IT. Don't be fooled into thinking otherwise. Why else would they sell books and cafe items at such high prices, while telling you that you can't sit here, or there, or read that book, or stay too long in a seat that someone else can have... Out to make money. That's it. Close your mouth, buy our member card and $100 in books and crap you don't really need... and be on your way. (Do you think any of the cashiers WANT to stand there and ask 20 questions of every customer they cash out? Do you want to buy a member card? Do you want to renew your member card? Do you want to sign up for our credit card? Are you interested in purchasing a Nook today?) I wish I could give this NO stars. That's what they deserve, and that's what they're making me live with... a horrible taste in my mouth when I think of that company.