The next time you think about shopping at Barnes & Noble, think again. This company is out to take your money, in more ways than you think. I am a former employee of the compnay and know some things that you should know! I worked as their Head Cashier and Sales Audit.
The Member Card that you may have in your wallet, is not that helpful. The plan is, for $25 a year membership, you save 10% off everything in the store. This may seem like a good plan but the next time you are in the store, ask the cashier for the Tearms & Policies Sheet. Chances are, they won't have them or even know what you are taking about. We are required to have a pad of them for the customers but in the stores that I worked at, the managers simply threw them away. Too bad, because you would see what you are really signing up for. I can't remember the exact terminology but it states something to the degree of "Barnes & Noble may occationally send you information or services of associated companies of your interest".in other words... They may sell your name to other non-book companies! Keep in mind, ANYTHING with a bar code is trackable, so everytime you buy anything, they track what you are buying, when, how often, how much and where. Everything basically! So the coupon you get as a reward, depend on how much you spend! When I was cashiering, I noticed that they were all different. Not only that, as employees, we HAD TO sell at least 3 cards a shift. Everytime we sold one, we had to call the manager and let them know. Yes, it's that bad. We get reprimanded if we don't sell enough. The company standard when I left was a conversion of 1.4%. Think about if, eventually even if everyone has a card, there won't be even a renewal rate of 1.4%.
Because we have secret shoppers and we are scored on those results we are REQUIRED to greet you but, as I found out as a casheir, we are not allowed to talk to you and get to know you. I get talked to by managers for "taking too long with a customer". I like to get to know the regulars and what they read and liked. Even when I called for a back up cashier/manager, no one ever came. The casheir is not allowed to leave the cashier area, so there wasn't much that I could do.
Also, don't ever order from the BN.com website. We at the stores have such problems with the distribution centers. I've ordered 4 times from the site and 3 times they got my order wrong somehow. Nothing against the workers, but they don't speak English... At all. They only go by ISBN numbers. Just go to Amazon, trust me! I worked at Barnes & Nob;e for almost 6 years and quitting was the best day of my life. This company is all about your money. Barnes & Noble puts little bookshops out of business. Remember B. Dalton bookshops... Well Barnes owned them and closed them... Because they weren't making enough money! Barnes buys out publishers to publish their own books and bargain stuff. I can honestly tell you, this company is NOT about customer service. They are only servicing your money!
Anam
West Jordan, Utah
U.S.A.
0 comments