Review of Barnes & Noble

Editor's Pick Award

Our Editors awarded this review for providing relevant information that may be useful and inspiring for other travelers.

I had an interesting experience with Barnes & Noble over the past few days. I did some shopping for popular spring/summer sports books on Friday. After gathering my items, I went to the counter to pay for the books.

Purchasing from Barnes & Noble has often been an adventure for the library. Unlike most retail customers, we don't pay taxes and we use an institutional credit line.The person at the register didn't know how to deal with our account, so I waited for a good 15 minutes while she tried to get help from the other staff members. Unfortunately, no one else knew how to work with institutional accounts either.

The store was pretty busy, and I felt bad holding up the line. Finally, we agreed to set the books aside, and they promised to check on the problem over the weekend. I said I'd call back on Monday to check on the status of the purchase.

I called on Monday morning and spoke with the Community Relations Manager. She apologized for the confusion at the register, and offerred to deliver the books to the library personally. When she arrived with the books at lunch time the same day, she brought cookies and a handwritten Thank-you card.

The initial service was certainly slower than I expected, and it was a bit frustrating to leave the books at the store. However, B&N definitely won some brownie points (ok, cookie points) by delivering the books, a handwritten Thank-you, and some treats. -Matt