Comments on: The Book Depository vs Amazon.com

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:12:08 +0000

Wow, so you’re on the opposite side of the world, and it takes 4 days, I’m in the UK and mine still haven’t arrived. Won’t be using them again.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:39:30 +0000

Book Depository is absolutely terrible. Last year I ordered Christmas presents (books) from Amazon. They arrived within 3 days. I have been ordering from BD throughout the year and was happy with their service, week-week 1/2 shipping time.
This year I ordered 3 weeks in advance to leave plenty of time for the books to arrive by Christmas (as recommended on the website). My father ordered two books last week. His arrived yesterday. Mine have not. Thus, nobody in my family will be receiving Christmas presents from me this year.
Also, there was no email confirming the order and the only way I could find an order number was through my credit card bill.
Book Depository are rubbish, stick with Amazon.

By: Barbara Carter

Barbara Carter — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 09:50:53 +0000

I have become a Book Depository fan and the real winner for me are the prices and the free shipping. The only down side is the time it takes to get from UK to Brisbane which at quickest is 2 weeks and slowest so far 4 weeks. I do also use BetterWorldBooks.com which also has free shipping and have the added benefit of also doing second hand books ( not sure in Book D do this also but never noticed!! ).

By: Donna

Donna — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:55:03 +0000

I’ve ordered from them a few times and those went off without a hitch. My most recent order was botched, they sent me the wrong set of books entirely which is annoying but it would be okay if they would tell me how to get these books returned to them, which – over a week later – they still haven’t. So now I’ve asked to cancel the order so I can return their book and get a refund. This has also failed quite miserably which angers me especially since I do not have the money to throw away.
The only question they have ever asked me is what is the ISBN on the book I have received which will ‘help them figure out what happened’. I’ve told them what happened – they put the wrong ISBN label on the boxset and the person who packed the order is apparently illiterate and couldn’t tell if it was the right item.
What makes things worse is that this is a 21st birthday present and it doesn’t look like Book Depository is going to get anything resolved. I am deeply disappointed because I previously thought very highly of Book Depository. Very disappointed.

By: sue

sue — Sun, 22 May 2011 05:04:07 +0000

I have been using book depository for several years. Initially delivery times were very short, but since they switched to using TNT books have been taking more than 2 weeks to arrive.
The website indicates that shipping is free to many countries around the world. What the website does not say, however, is that the price charged for a book depends on where you live. The price is often quite a bit higher if you order it from outside the UK than if you order it from within the UK.

By: Moran

Moran — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 10:41:45 +0000

I found out about The Book Depository around 2 years ago and I bought so many books from them and I’m super happy with the prices, the service and the fact that the books arrive very fast- usually between 3-5 days.

I live in Israel and shipping from other online book stores is just too expensive so the fact they offer free shipping and great book prices is great for me- if I pre order a book most of the time the price is even lower than on Amazon!

I have to say that I had really good customer service from them- one time they didn’t have a book I ordered and 2-3 days later I got an e mail and a full refund.

Another time I wanted to cancel an order of a book I pre ordered and again in a few days I got a full refund. I hope in the future I will have the same service and I won’t have to deal with bad service that some people here experienced.

The only time I will order from Amazon is when I’m visiting family in the US and I can get free shipping because sometimes they offer 40-50% off the original price so it’s cheaper.

By: Stelios

Stelios — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 08:35:54 +0000

I also ordered some books from BookDepository for the first time on October 2010.
At early November, and while my books never arrived, they said that a full refund of 137.5 euros will appear in my account shortly.
Shortly became FOREVER, so at January 10 of 2011 after I managed to find aphone number of them at last(!!!),some representative called Lu reassured me that they would send a cheque shortly (AGAIN!).
Then on February 17 after I wrote them that if I don’t get my cheque until the 25th, everyone on the web would hear my story, they replied that they would immediately contact their accounting department in order to send the cheque ….guess again….SHORTLY!
I really hope they will clear my issue eventually and save me from 137.5 euros of expenditure, which -believe me- in Greece especially is a large amount of money!

By: mark

mark — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:58:24 +0000

You ordered Saturday, and it arrived Tuesday, from the UK to Australia? Very unlikely….That means it took 1 business day to get from the UK to Australia. From state to state even with express can take longer than that. I have ordered many times from them, and minimum 7 days delivery, average 12…they are good, but don’t over exaggerate their quickness.

By: Hoosedanger

Hoosedanger — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 12:21:38 +0000

So long as your order goes to plan, fine, but if anything goes wrong they are a nightmare to deal with. They are obnoxious, will lie to your face and try and bully you into taking a raw deal. They will ignore your e-mails so if they do try and screw you over call up your credit card company and dispute the charge. I recommend abebooks.com and betterbookswork.com instead.

By: Victor C.

Victor C. — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:27:48 +0000

Since quitting amazon.com, I’ve used the Book Depository several times over the last year. It seems to me that their selling point is free delivery. But buyers beware! Their customer service is the least helpful. After several purchases, I finally had to return an item – a book that arrived in really bad shape (torn covers and pages etc). I wrote to customer service 5 times asking if I can return the book and have it replaced. Initially they offered 30% refund, but after I had insisted on a replacement (and telling them that I’ll return the damaged book), they’ve ignored all my subsequent emails.

I am absolutely disgusted at the way they ignore my emails. It’s just a simple replacement for a cheap book, for Pete’s sake!

By: Lyndsay

Lyndsay — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:12:45 +0000

I used The Book Depository for the first time to order a gift for Christmas. It was ordered on 17 December, and stated delivery time of 2-3 days. On 21 December I received an e-mail stating that my order would be despatched “soon”. When I telephoned, I was given a load of contradictory excuses. I was finally offered a refund, but it leaves me high and dry with regards to the Christmas present as I have no time now to get an alternative. A very disappointing experience – I have done all my shopping on line this year and this is the only supplier who has let me down.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:09:47 +0000

I’ve had two orders cancelled today that I placed through Amazon.co.uk with the Book Depository. I placed these orders in the last week of November to make sure they’d get here before Christmas, and now I’ve got to start all over again trying to find them. I certainly won’t be recommending them to anyone. They’re highly disappointing.