TextbookRush.com

We can have tens of thousands of inbound and outbound shipments in a week. Almost all go smoothly, but a few each week do have some sort of issue. Packages may be lost in transit, damaged in transit, or arrive with missing or different contents than what the customer says they packed. The great...

majority of these issues involve USPS Shipping, even if that was not the shipment method used for the majority of packages.  It appears that the customer’s package was involved in one of these mishaps. Our internal notes for their package state: “Received mixed post shipment with label for this BB.” “Mixed post” is our internal phrase for a large cart of books we occasionally receive from the USPS that are not intact, individual shipments.  They are a jumbled collection of what the USPS calls “Loose In The Mails”, or contents separated from packages, or package address labels separated from contents.  When we receive these carts we try to our best to match the items up with open Buybacks or Rental Return shipments based on the ISBN of each book and our system records for those expected shipments.  One of the books was matched to the customer’s Buyback. None of the other books were in the shipment from the USPS. Additionally, we do not receive mail like a normal home or mail box would. Because of our volume, the USPS holds packages shipped to us at their dock, and we send a truck each day for the pick-up.  This is a usually a full truck-load each day – as in a box truck – not mail truck. Also, the USPS marks the items as “Delivered” while they are still on the floor at our local USPS. We mention this to explain that our bulk shipment delivery does not follow the normal process or rules that normal USPS consumers are familiar with.  Our volume makes the process very different. We offer USPS shipping due to its convenience, but it is not our default shipping method and it is provided with a variety of instructions and warnings online because of the significant number of issues we have seen in the past.  These include the examples below: ·        This cautionary text is shown onscreen next to the button they have to “click”  to generate a USPS label:  “Convenient, but not insured or trackable. Your postal carrier can conveniently pick up your package from your home.” ·        Additional information about it is available if they select the “?” icon: “We issue a prepaid FedEx shipping label by default when you submit your buyback. The FedEx label will include insurance up to $100 per package. If a FedEx shipping label cannot be issued you will be issued a USPS shipping label. Insurance is not provided with the regular USPS shipping label. TextbookRush is not responsible for lost or damaged items, and you will not be paid for items we do not receive.” ·        Further information is provided on our Buyback FAQ page under the “Shipping” tab: http://www.textbookrush.com/help/faq/buyback-faq.aspx. “What is the advantage of using FedEx over USPS Ground?  FedEx guarantees delivery in 1-5 business days. Each order shipped via FedEx is automatically insured up to $100.00 per package.  USPS Ground usually takes 4-14 business days to arrive. We strongly suggest you purchase insurance when shipping your buyback to us via USPS Ground; however, optional insurance for USPS Ground packages is not an expense TextbookRush covers. TextbookRush is not responsible for packages lost or damaged in transit.” We pay for the shipping costs for books sent to us, and FedEx is usually more expensive than the USPS. We gladly offer the more expensive option as our default because we have many fewer issues with FedEx. As is our stated policy, we have only paid the customer for the item we received. We would recommend that they contact the USPS about the insurance we recommended they purchase.

Our policies for AbeBooks Buybacks are stated very clearly online here:http://buyback.abebooks.com/faq.aspx  The pertinent sections are pasted at the end of this message.  Our policies detail...

the process for payment, and include " A check cannot be reissued more
than 90 days beyond your buyback submission." The consumer states: "I understand their stated terms and conditions", but also states "I was never informed that there was a 90 day period when I could receive payment."  The customer also states: "Because I was told not to ask for at least a month and a half, I tried to be more patient." We believe that this in reference to her waiting for until approximately one year past the date of the Buyback to contact us again. This was about 9 months past our 90 day window for re-issuance of the check, and the lack of contact during our stated time period is why the check will not be issued for the 3rd time.  To recap, we sent the check to her address once. We offered a different payment method or a different address, but she asked to have it sent to the same address a second time, which we did. As is our stated policy, we cannot resent the check past 90 days.Text from our Website:
How and when will I be paid?
Check: Payments are mailed within 1-3 business days after your
shipment is processed.PayPal: Payments are issued 1-3 business days after your shipment
is processed.

How long should I wait to receive my check?

You should receive your check within
7-10 business days after your shipment is processed. However, if you
have not received your check within 30 days, please contact TextbookRush
immediately.

How long do I have to cash my check?

You must cash your check within 30 days of the check date. The check will be voided
after 30 days.

Why did I receive a check when I selected PayPal as my payment method?

If your PayPal email address is
returned as invalid when payment is issued, then a check will be sent to
your billing address the following business day. Your payment method
will also default to check. In order to receive payments via PayPal in
the future, please login to your account and re-enter your PayPal
address and verify that it is correct.

I cannot find my check or I’ve lost my check. Will you reissue one?

If it has been less than 90 days
from the date you’ve submitted your buyback, you may request a one-time
reissue of your check provided it has not been cashed. Be sure to
include a note detailing your buyback number and the address the new
check should be sent to. Please note that a reprocessing fee may apply
when applicable.

I have my check, but I’ve forgotten to cash it within 30 days of the check date.
May I request a new one?

If it has been less than 90 days from the date you’ve submitted your buyback, you
may request a one time reissue of your check provided it has not been cashed. You
must include your original check and a note detailing your buyback number and the
address to which the check should be sent. Please note that we reserve the right
to assess processing fees when applicable.

It’s been over 90 days since I’ve submitted my buyback, will you reissue my
check?

No. Cashing your check as soon as
you receive it is highly recommended. A check cannot be reissued more
than 90 days beyond your buyback submission.

May I change my payment method?

No. Once a buyback payment method is
selected and your payment is processed, it cannot be changed. For
example, a check cannot be changed to a PayPal payment.

We ask that the consumer reply to us via the most recent email from us directly and provide the name and address they wish the check to be made out to.

The check for this customer's Buyback was mailed to their Billing Address on her account on 12/22/2014. The system processed her payment at 6:10:06 PM that evening. I cannot post the address here to confirm with the consumer, but she has called us numerous times regarding the issue, so we believe...

that the address was correct.As stated online, our checks are valid for 45 days. We can reissue the payment for this consumer on 02/05/14.  If the check is returned to us, we can reissue it earlier. We have not had the check returned to us as of yet.All of this has been previously communicated to this customer, and was posted online at http://www.textbookrush.com/help/faq/buyback-faq.aspx

Their customer service is terrible.  How hard is it to make an exception to policy for a customer.  Apparently I am not the only one who has had problems with their business model,  or lack there-of.  The Director of customer service even stated their policies were distasteful, but he was going to do nothing about them.  How is that for customer service.  What a joke.

We have reviewed the consumer's statements, and there are two issues here.1) The charge for the damaged book: This book was received with stains and was no longer in a condition where we can re-sell or re-rent it. However, we did make an error where we told him the images were on his account. They...

are not - they have to be emailed to the consumer, which we can do.  However, because of our error, we have refunded his damaged item charge. 2) The late fees: We provided the consumer with multiple email reminders, a pre-paid return label, and we did provide a specific time-frame to return the books to us ("a week" = 7 days). He did not follow those instructions, and the books were late. Those charges remain.  We would suggest the consumer reviews our Rental Policies before issuing a charge-back with his bank, as this is clearly documented online.

We have refunded the fee as requested. The consumer should see it on their account as a pending transaction.

We would like to clarify several of the consumer's statements:Our due dates are based on the terms for the majority of colleges and universities in the country. We know that we cannot match every school's schedule, so we provide the due dates 3 times during the order process. We also follow-up with...

an immediate email when the order is completed. As the rental is closer to being due, we provide a series of weekly emails to the consumer with the due date, return instructions, and even a pre-paid FedEx Ground label for the return. The customer agreed to the due date by placing the rental order.FedEx Ground labels are our preferred and default method of returning a rental. It avoids the issues that the consumer experienced. The customer was sent the return label via email on 12/15/2014, and would only have needed to print the label from the email. Instead, the consumer manually selected a USPS label from their account. This was not our choice nor our recommendation. We do not know why the consumer made this choice. We would refer the consumer back to the communications provided to them:1) The due dates were provided throughout the shopping experience so the dates were known and agreed to.2) We provided pre-paid FedEx Ground labels. The consumer selected USPS insteadWe regret that the items were not returned on time, but the Fall Semester ends very close to the start of the Spring Semester, and books that do not arrive by the posted date are not available for us to rent to other consumers for the next term. We recoup a portion of this lost revenue via the late fee, but it is only about 20% of the funds we have lost.

In response to your claim that you "sent the
right text book" and that I only stated "I would assume it's a different
book...," If you refer back to the emails, on January 29th at 4:02PM, you
would notice the PICTURE I attached along with the Email. Since
you seem to have trouble understanding things, I will not only attach
the photo AGAIN, but I will also include some more information.. I
contacted "Michigan state community and technical college", since that
is the name that was on the cover of the textbook. I was able to procure
the ISBN from the school. The ISBN of the INCORRECT BOOK you sent
"Anatomy I and II; Michigan State Community and Technical College" is
978-0-07-780713-9.    The ISBN of the correct book I needed "Anatomy and
Physiology; An integrative approach" is 978-0-07-792704-2. For
FURTHER clarification, (and attached again) is the WRONG book you sent
me, with the return slip, as well as a photo of the correct book I
needed. It's also worth mentioning that on the return slip, it clearly shows a photo of the book that I ordered...  Photos are named respectively "correctbook.jpg" for the CORRECT
book, and "incorrectbook.jpg" for the INCORRECT book. Hopefully that clears up any
confusion as to whether or not you sent me the correct book. In case you
still haven't figured it out, YOU SENT ME THE WRONG BOOK.

When the consumer created their order, they used an email
address from Charter.net.  When they
created the Revdex.com Dispute, and in other correspondence with us, they have used an
email address from Yahoo.com.  Our rental
reminders, updates, and all scheduled correspondence has gone to the...

email
address that they used for their order. This seems to be the crux of the issue.
The most recent email sent to her address was the notification of the full
refund for her order. That was done the same day as her Revdex.com complaint, but done
independently of this complaint.  There
is nothing else for us to do, as the actual resolution is superior to the
consumer’s “desired” resolution.

We continue to be in contact with the consumer regarding this transaction.  Here is the most recent reply to the consumer. We believe that this clarified the customer's transactions with us, and explains that they have saved significantly more money doing it the way that they did.The Product ID...

is the item that was searched for during the order process. The item selected, and the item we shipped, was the International Edition of that text. The items on this order were less than $50 per book. Brand new US Student Editions of those texts are more than $150 per book. At the time of the order, the consumer (you, your daughter, whoever placed the actual order online) selected the lower price option, and we shipped the item selected. The person who placed this order did not select, did not receive, and was not charged for the US Student Edition of the textbooks.Again, you are correct that the Buyback prices are much different for the two different editions, but this order did not select or pay for the more expensive editions.  Your savings for the International editions at the time of the purchase was more than $100 per book, more than offsetting any Buyback price difference.You have saved more money doing the transaction the way you have. We hope that this clarifies the situation.

Unfortunately, TextbookRush has failed to include the REST of the email communication that happened before the "flurry" today. For the record, since they are attempting to obfuscate the issue, I will.After the emails that they attached in their response, the following occurred:

[redacted] with Fed Ex at 1800gofedex, will confirm that Textbookrush will receive a credit due to their mistake.  I believe that a credit to the customer is warranted because the customer contacted Fed Ex and voiced the problem, yet, the representative for textbookrush had no concern, they continued to bill the customer and accept the credit.  We are only contesting the $10.00 charge, which is what Fed Ex is reimbursing to Textbookrush, after a call was made on customer's end.  I believe this practice of charging the customer, accepting the credit is poor business practices.  Numerous emails between customer representatives went back and forth over the weekend with no true understanding of what customer service is.  I have always dealt with [redacted] in the past and never had any problems, this is the first time we used Textbookrush and this nasty practice as well as all the other complaints I read are truly negative to this company.

There is not a shipping label for me to print under "open rentals" or recent orders". Jordan,  I have already explained this to the staff at textbookrush.com. Is there any way you can send me a shipping label so I can return the textbook in due time. CASE_ID_NO: [redacted] Hello, If this item is received by the date specified, we can issue a refund for the buyout fees - $9.99 tax for an additional late fee. Pleas use the shipping label that was provided to you to send the item back for a refund. You can access your label by logging into your account, clicking "My Account" at the top of the page, and locating your order under your "Open Rentals." If the order is no longer located under "Open Rentals," please check under your "Recent Orders" as well. Thank you, Jordan         [redacted]In order for your reply to be processed correctly, your case number MUST appear in the subject![redacted]Do not change the subject line of this email: Your email will NOT be added to the case if you do![redacted]

We are only stating that we had not opened the package. We were not making any claims or statements on what the USPS had done when the package was in their possession. We again refer the consumer to review our stated policies and instructions online that cover this exact issue.

The customer complaint states that “I am a college student and rented a book”, but the content of the complaint matches our chat transcripts with the student’s mother, not the student.  Some pertinent details were left out of the complaint by the consumer/consumer’s mother: We explained to the...

consumer that the copyright page is the most important page of the book.  The copyright page verifies the edition of the text – both numerically and version (US Student Edition, Instructor’s Edition, International edition, etc). Without that page, we cannot confirm which edition has been sent to us, or whether it is an authorized copy from the publisher. Without that page, we cannot use the book.  The rental process, including damage charges, is fully explained on our website’s Rental Terms and Conditions, which the consumer (or her mother) agreed to when the order was placed. Because the customer stated they did not tear the page from the book, we offered the consumer the opportunity to replace the book with another copy of the same edition. This is above and beyond our stated policy, and will save the consumer a significant amount. This has already been communicated to the consumer, and she has accepted that offer. The charge will be refunded minus a $9.99 late fee when the replacement (of the same ISBN) is received.

I reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find the resolution is satisfactory to me as the time they say they will send the money is a week away and I doubt intervention would occur sooner than that.  I do think this company has a policy of keeping money as long as they can and would not recommend them to anyone.

this is not a fair resolution. I returned this book in the exact same condition in which I received it so I should not be responsible for any damages charge. It is not my fault the condition of "good" that was applied to the book did not meet the company's own standard. I have rented books from many other companies & never had this type of problem. Based off complaints against this company this is a typical practice for them. The only way I will be satisfied is if the full damage charge is refunded.

We do treat our Overnight orders as a priority, and the
consumer's order was processed and shipped same-dayWhen we ended the online
chat, Customer Service did reach out to Warehouse Operations to make sure that
this order was going to ship same-day. Our
online commitment was metHowever, where we failed was in the area the
consumer has emboldened in her complaint:
"Or if the agents I chatted
with had stated something that indicated even a possibility of receiving
it the next day, i.eovernight or better yet, had even made an effort to say that
they would look into the order and determine if there was anything they could
do to ensure the companies promised timeline was adhered to."
I have addressed this issue with the Supervisor who took the
escalated chat, as "look into the order" is exactly what we did do, and she should have
been told such. We apologize for the
negative experience that the consumer went through, as better communication
would have avoided it
Additionally, because we did intercede with our warehouse,
her order was given a manual tracking numberThe tracking information in her
email is inaccurate, as is the timeline for deliveryWe will email the correct
tracking to her. The item is in her city for delivery today

Today I found the email where they sent me the packing label with the correct tracking number that matches my receipt. The company cannot say that they did not issue me this tracking number.