bad business (original) (raw)

I issue this as a warning to anyone who is thinking about buying their textbooks online.

DO NOT use textbooks.com!!

I used them because they actually had the correct edition of the book I needed for one of my classes (Amazon, where I bought my other book, did not have the correct edition). It was advertised as used and that it may be highlighted. Fine, I usually buy all of my books used from the bookstore anyway, and I have never ever had an issue with a used copy. I paid the extra money for 2-day air, and got my book today.

Lemme tell ya, the books looks like the previous owner practiced their origami skills on the cover and the first 40 pages, and when they were done with their Japanese paper-folding they ran over it a few hundred times in their truck. I'm seriously afraid to touch the thing lest I contaminate the entire household.

There was highlighting in it, obviously, the previous owner was a hideously poor student, they highlighted almost every single word in 3 of the chapters...with a PERMANENT marker, it bled through to the backs of the pages and also bled through to 3 or 4 pages beyond the page they were highlighting. Their lack of studiousness is also represented in the no less than five sheets of notebook paper I found stuffed in various parts of the book, that had some of their writing assignments on them. I truly pray that this person never gets a job in criminal justice seeing as they have no clue about even the simplest rights afforded to accused criminals through the fourth and fifth amendments.

It was supposed to come with the companion CD, nowhere to be found. They state in their return policy that they will not accept books that do not come with all of their original items, cd's etc included, so why the hell would they accept bought back books without the cd's and then send them on to unsuspecting future customers?

Speaking of return policies, theirs is ridiculous, they will give you a full refund minus shipping and handling, you have to pay to ship it back, and they won't credit your card for the amount for two fucking months. Talk about wonderful customer service.

I ordered the other text I needed through Amazon, and paid for the same 2-day air through UPS. Textbooks.com charged me 11.99andIseriouslydoubtairwasevenused,seeingastheyarelocatedinColumbiaMissouri,approximatelytwohoursfromme(which,incidentally,meansIalsoendeduppayingsalestaxonthebook).Amazon.comchargedmeonly11.99 and I seriously doubt air was even used, seeing as they are located in Columbia Missouri, approximately two hours from me (which, incidentally, means I also ended up paying sales tax on the book). Amazon.com charged me only 11.99andIseriouslydoubtairwasevenused,seeingastheyarelocatedinColumbiaMissouri,approximatelytwohoursfromme(which,incidentally,meansIalsoendeduppayingsalestaxonthebook).Amazon.comchargedmeonly7.99 for the same 2-day air through UPS and they were shipping from Georgia. Something's just not right with that picture. I hate being gouged on shipping and "handling"

I seriously doubt that if I were to try to sell this book back to textbooks.com right now, not having even really touched the book, that they wouldn't accept it, I know the people that do the textbook buybacks at the campus certainly wouldn't. I seriously wonder if they even look at the books that they buy back and then send on to future customers, judging by the garbage I got from them, I'm betting on 'no'.

As it stands, I am stuck with the book, class has already started, and because of this particular professors teaching style, the only way to pass the class is to do the reading and ignore the lectures. I can't afford to wait two months for my refund, since I would need the money from this unfortunate purchase to purchase a different copy of the book. With Charlie still in training at training wages, there is zero extra money, which is why I was buying online instead of at the bookstore in the first place. That'll learn me.

So if you value your money, and who doesn't, don't even think about buying used textbooks from textbooks.com, the likelihood of you regretting it is much higher that the likelihood of you getting a good product.