Barnes & Noble -- Idiotic New Customer Policy
 

I'm really upset with Barnes&Noble.com for what I find a totally idiotic policy.

Presently, they have the free shipping on 2 items offer. Therefore, it seemed a good time to use their $10.00 off $40.00 new customer coupon code.

Went there, chose 2 items, put in coupon code. Total tallied up fine with $10.00 off and free shipping.

About 10 hours later, I called their toll-free number to cancel the order, as I had just negotiated a trade for one of the DVDs and wanted to change my selections. Fine, my B&N order was being processed, so could be cancelled. I asked the customer rep to make sure I could use the new customer coupon when I submitted my new, "revised" order. Answer -- yes.

Well, that evening, when I chose one DVD from the cancelled order, plus a new DVD, the coupon code was not accepted, saying it had been used.

Long story a little shorter -- no, I was no longer a new customer because I had established an account with the order I cancelled. Thus, I can never make use of a new customer coupon. What kind of BS is that? I cancelled my first order within 10 hours, and put in a new order, which would be my first shipped order. So as far as I'm concerned, I'm a new customer with that order!

I wrote them a scathing e-mail stating how ridiculous that is, and now, they have totally lost a customer. I got back some automated reply, which shows you how bad their service is.

Thanks -- had to vent!

Re: Barnes & Noble -- Idiotic New Customer Policy
 

I'm guessing it has more to do with the way their online system is setup as opposed to a "policy" per se. Their online system is probably set up to say "Has this person previously established an account?" If the answer is NO, then allow the coupon, if the answer is YES, then do not allow the coupon.

It's probably not set up to ask "Did this person establish an account, then call a CSR to cancel that account before it shipped?" If the answer is YES, then they too are allowed to use the coupon.

In fact, since the CSR said you could use the coupon, it even more points to this not being a "policy".

I'm guessing that if CSR had just erased all evidence of you ever establishing an account, then it would have been okay. You could have started from scratch etc. But I'm not sure I'd blame the CSR for not doing that, or their system for having a very simple method of determining who is a "new customer"

Why don't you try calling back and have a CSR set you up?

Just my 2-cents

I agree.. I'd call and speak with a CSR. Most likely they'll just throw the coupon onto your order or adjust the pricing so you save the $10. I've ordered from BN.com several times with no problems... Don't be so quick to flame them and no use them again.

As for the automated reply, a lot of online companies do that. This way you feel like you're not being ignored. Majority of the time, it will take online ecommerce sites a few days to reply to emails. It takes Amazon sometimes as much as a week to reply to mine. I would always prefer to call than write an email.

Just my $.02...

Thanks for your responses!

When I called back to state that the order page was not accepting my new customer coupon code, the customer rep explained to me that even though I had cancelled the first order, I was already established and could not use the coupon any longer. I asked to speak to someone higher up, who told me the same thing. I told them the rep who cancelled my order told me I would be able to use it again, but was told sorry, the rep was misinformed. There was no offer to change anything in the system to let me use the coupon. He also mentioned many people complained about this.

Didn't mean to totally flame them or anything, but I also found the 3 reps I spoke to rather harried and unhelpful. Anyhow, without the $10 off, it isn't worth my while, so I don't plan to order now.

ahhggg, these freakin' companies! $10 lousy dollars and they can't just give it to you to keep you from being pissed off and losing your loyalty. idiots! where i work we return/refund any overpayment. we reship lost or damaged items on faith(we don't ask you to bother to return damaged as it is a pain for the customer and not their fault anyway) much better to risk being taken(once) than to piss off a customer. shame on b&n for silly "policies".

-skippah

Don't know if you'd still want to deal with them but just setup a new account (not sure it all that constitutes a new customer is a new email though). I wish they'd have another one of those $10/30 coupons now...would be awesome with the shipping special.

As an alternative, checkout Towers. Depending on what you're looking for, they may have better prices (getting 3 lower priced DVDs is ideal since shipping is only $3.95; the same as 2 DVDs).

Thanks for your comments, skipperdee and tenjin!

I think a new account would be difficult, since they have my credit card #, address, etc. on file from the cancelled order.

I've looked at Tower.com, too. But generally speaking, unless there's a really good deal somewhere, I buy at a B&M. I'm in Hawaii, and the cheaper shipping can take a really long time! It's kind of ironic, though, because it usually sits on my shelf a long time once I get it! :) I'm so backlogged!

BN customer service sucks. I've tried to communicated with them before about such issues, and it seems that the IQ level there is about 80.

If you called Amazon customer service with the same problem, they would have simply e-mailed you a $10 returning customer coupon - I know because they have done such things for me before.

People whine about Amazon's pricing techniques, but their customer service is always done on the basis of "this will cost us a couple of dollars today, but we'll keep a customer".

Multiply $10 by the number of users who used it multiplied by the number of times each person used that = a helluva lotta money.

all you have to do is use a new e-mail address...calm down....I just placed 5 orders last week (thanx to all the flooz), each with the same 10 off $40 coupon...

by the way these guys are slow. I placed my orders on 7/9 with DVDs that all ship "within 24 hrs" and my orders finally shipped today...