Books-a-million

I would like to point out that this website and company rips off the American public. You order something, you never see it, you never get it, and yet they won't refund your purchases.

[redacted] Apologizes for the inconvenience and disappointment of the said customerWe also apologize for “aggressively pushing” our MFM program on the said customer and hope that the customer was given their “full” refund Thank you [redacted] ***

[redacted]
Apologizes for the inconvenience and disappointment of the said customer. We also apologize for  “aggressively pushing” our MFM program on the said customer and hope that the customer was given their...

“full”  refund.
Thank you
[redacted]

Review: On March 20, 2016 I purchased a book from Books a Million in [redacted], and as I was checking out the cashier offered me free magazine subscriptions. I received the free magazines for several months, but yesterday night I checked my banking account and noticed that I had been charged $23. I initially thought that someone was stealing money out of my bank account. I then called the phone number that was listed with the charge and discovered that I was subscribed and charged for magazines that I was told by the cashier were free. I did not give Books a Million my consent to charge magazine subscriptions to my debit card. I did not give Books a Million my permission to charge anything to my debit card except for the book I purchased. I was lied to and conned by Books a Million. I was charged for a magazine subscription that I had no knowledge of. My debit card was charged without my knowledge or permission.

Business

Response:

Books A Million offers our customers the opportunity to join our free Magazine Trial of selected titles as part of the transaction process when checking out at the register. It would have been accepted and signed up for at the same time as your credit card transaction was processed. A second receipt prints requiring your signature authorizing BAM to fulfill your magazine choices through the Magazine Rewards Center. Please feel free to contact us at [redacted] if you have any other questions.BAM Customer Support

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Regards,

Review: I was billed for a yearly membership. I did not agree to automatic renewals. I contacted BAM on March 20, 2014 and requested a refund to my charge card and was told refunds were done by check via mail. My refund was agreed to. After 6 weeks I called again to inquire about my refund and was told it was ready to be mailed. I have not received it 10 days later and called again. I was told it was mailed to my street address instead of the po box. I am now told that they will not refund my membership until that check is returned to them.Desired Settlement: Membership dues refunded in a timely manner

Review: The Bristol Books a Million store on 3 different visits signed me up for a magazine subscription that was not requested or desired. The folks at the registers offer a "complimentary" subscription to certain magazines and we would reject those. They are usually magazines that we are not interested in and would not buy. But in March we received the first magazine and found out that the store in Bristol had set that up. We got that cancelled. Then we open our credit card bill and see that 2 magazines have been charged to our acct. Bad thing also was that we didnt even get those, so not only did we get charged for them but some one else must have gotten the 3 free issuse.(probably the clerk that signed us up). Contacted the magazine provider, Synapse, and they said that the Bristol store had set both of those up again. We contacted a customer service rep for Books a Million on Sunday the 5th and also the store in Bristol. The issue is unresolved and the fact that it happened it all is troubling. They take our personal information for their rewards card and then use it to subscribe to magazines at a checkout so that some cashier incentive can be met, all without the customers consent. I think there is probably a law against this.Desired Settlement: Refund full amount along with the interest generated by the fraudulant charges on my credit card. An apology from Books a Million. An explanation of how this happened and how they fixed it.

Review: Books-A-Million has an annual membership fee of $20 that allows the customer to purchase books, magazines, etc. at a discount. The third weekend in May, I was in their [redacted], MD store and the cashier told me my membership was about to run out and would I like to renew. I said yes and renewed the membership. A couple of days later I was checking my email and saw that I had renewed my membership back in November, six month prior, not a year ago. I have a copy of this email if the Revdex.com wants to see it.

I went back to the store in [redacted] and presented the problem to the cashier who this time was a manager who was substituting for the regular manager. He told me that apparently I somehow have two membership cards. I insisted to him at that time and state for the record now that I have never had two memberships. I have always had the one membership and one card. This manager gave me the name of the branch manager, [redacted], and told me that she would contact me the following Monday.

[redacted] never called me. I waited one week and then went back to the store. [redacted] was there. First she told me that she never got the message that I needed a call. Then she went on the computer, spoke to someone by phone at Books-A-Million -- I assume this was at a regional office -- and could not resolve the issue. [redacted] said she would investigate this further and call me back. She never did. This matter has now dragged on for a month and Books-A-Million has not done anything to resolve the problem. They have my money but they are not resolving a problem and [redacted] has shown no interest whatsoever in resolving the problem.Desired Settlement: At the very least there needs to be an apology and an acknowledgment that Books-A-Million has made a mistake. Secondly, one of two things needs to happen to resolve the problem. Since I have unecessarily paid $20 for a membership renewal that I didn't need, they should either tack on an additional year to my membership starting this November, or at least they should compensate me with $20 worth of store credit. Long term, they need to do something about their internal communication because their managers clearly do not know how to communicate with each other.

Consumer

Response:

Thursday, June 27, 2013 2:38 pm

Books-A-Million has an annual membership fee of $20 that allows the customer to purchase books, magazines, etc. at a discount. The third weekend in May, I was in their [redacted], MD store and the cashier told me my membership was about to run out and would I like to renew. I said yes and renewed the membership. A couple of days later I was checking my email and saw that I had renewed my membership back in November, six month prior, not a year ago. I have a copy of this email if the Revdex.com wants to see it.

I went back to the store in [redacted] and presented the problem to the cashier who this time was a manager who was substituting for the regular manager. He told me that apparently I somehow have two membership cards. I insisted to him at that time and state for the record now that I have never had two memberships. I have always had the one membership and one card. This manager gave me the name of the branch manager, [redacted], and told me that she would contact me the following Monday.

[redacted] never called me. I waited one week and then went back to the store. [redacted] was there. First she told me that she never got the message that I needed a call. Then she went on the computer, spoke to someone by phone at Books-A-Million -- I assume this was at a regional office -- and could not resolve the issue. [redacted] said she would investigate this further and call me back. She never did. This matter has now dragged on for a month and Books-A-Million has not done anything to resolve the problem. They have my money but they are not resolving a problem and [redacted] has shown no interest whatsoever in resolving the problem.