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AwesomeBooks

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GB
1 review
2 helpful votes
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Not awesome at all
June 22, 2017

I ordered 4 books from this company, and they confirmed my order via AbeBooks. I later got 3 emails saying that "due to a listing error, your book order was wrongly displayed as being available in our inventory. We have since searched extensively through our databases and stock to see if we can find a copy of the ordered title. Unfortunately, a copy has not been found."

I guess such things can happen occasionally; but to happen to 3 out of the 4 books I ordered, and then to send automated emails (in the middle of the night) saying the above, seems to indicate that this isn't a one-off but a regular problem. In fact, even after telling me they had no copies, they still state on their AbeBooks listing that they have in stock 9 (yes, 9) copies of one of the books I wanted, and 4 copies of another.

I contacted them; they refused to say why this had happened (or to deny that the false listings are deliberate), just said there was a glitch and it's being sorted. Ten days later, the listings are still there!

Seems to me that either (a) their inventory and/or listing systems are badly broken; or (b) they deliberately list books they don't have to attract orders. I've asked them to explain which but they just say "technical glitch". Either way, I now don't trust their listings and will avoid them in future.

Awesome? Not!

Date of experience: June 22, 2017
Massachusetts
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow k r.
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I've ordered over 6 times in the past year, from the US for UK delivery. Each order has been promptly delivered, with great quality books, and at excellent prices, I wholeheartedly recommend them

Date of experience: June 10, 2021
Canada
1 review
7 helpful votes
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Disreputable
May 7, 2020

Despite my respecting a public notice on Abe Books (Awesome Books' sales platform) advising delays in delivery due to Covid-19, my book never arrived. So-called 'Awesome Books' ignored their own public notice and refused to refund my purchase.

Date of experience: May 7, 2020
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Great Service
May 30, 2021

I ordered 32 books a month ago, and they all came in early and in great condition. I was overall very pleased with the service and website. I highly recommend

Date of experience: May 30, 2021
GB
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Excellence.
March 15, 2024

As always, the books were as described and I received them very quickly.
I've never had any complaints at all, just great books and fabulous service.

Date of experience: March 15, 2024
GB
1 review
1 helpful vote
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Whilst clearing my mother's house we found a lot of Gardeners Chronicle magazines in wire binders dating from the 1960's. An internet search found Awsome Books were selling copies of this magazine so I phoned them to ask advice on how to dispose of them in some USEFUL way - when I got past the robot answering service I asked if they had any interest in the books "WE DONT BUY FROM CUSTOMERS" - can you advise me how to dispose of these magazines "WE DONT BUY FOM CUSTOMERS" - i dont want to just throw them away they must be of interest to someone? "WE DONT BUY FROM CUSTOMERS - YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU LIKE WITH THEM" - Goodbye

Date of experience: July 4, 2018
GB
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Trustworthy
August 7, 2023

Helpful, Reliable, Value for money and efficient delivery. Will always be first source of book search.

Date of experience: August 7, 2023
Canada
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Roger B.
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I live in Canada. I had ordered a hardback book from these people via abebooks and it was in the advertised condition at a good price. I went to order again a few months later and found that the shipping cost had gone from around $5US to $45US! I assumed this was an error, emailed them, and received an email saying they were aware of the problem and had passed it on to the appropriate people to fix.

A couple of days later, I found their website and discovered they weren't shipping AT ALL to Canada due to the rotating postal strikes. Obviously they had raised the shipping to deter people from ordering, but didn't want to give me a straight answer.

Within a couple of weeks, the strikes were over, mail was back to normal, but their site still said they weren't shipping to Canada due to the strikes. I emailed them about this, pointing out that Canada Post's official web site said that everything was back to normal, and they said they were waiting for notification from Canada Post! Why they think (or claim to think) that Canada Post would notify everyone in the UK individually about the termination of the strikes just boggles the mind.

Conclusion: they are either incredibly stupid, or quite dishonest. I certainly will never deal with them again.

Date of experience: December 22, 2018
Canada
1 review
0 helpful votes
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Sustainability!
June 19, 2021

I get used books in excellent condition and it's sustainability at its best... Just cannot wait till they have their website running smoothly

Date of experience: June 19, 2021
Australia
1 review
8 helpful votes
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I recently purchased a book from this seller (UK branch), the second item I have purchased from them. Having been impressed with the condition of the first item, which matched the description (i. E. very good condition, no damage to covers, etc.), I decided to make a second purchase from this seller. It turned out to be a bad idea. Although this second book had a description identical to the first one, it was not at all in the condition promised. I have initiated a refund process, and just sent the book back, but when all the math is done I end up having paid USD 18.00 for nothing, because the return postage was considerably more than what the book + postage cost me in the first place. While my postal service bears some responsibility for this, given their ludicrous international postage prices, none of this would have come about if the book had been in the condition promised in the first place. After checking the listings of this seller again, I noticed that many of their items are described as being in very good condition, etc. Indeed, the descriptions appear to be identical in many cases, which suggests that the company simply assigns an item to a particular category and it receives the corresponding description, rather than a unique description pertaining solely to that item. That said, I don't know how this item ended up in the "Very Good" category; furthermore, if it was damaged in transit, that simply goes to show that for long-distance postage it might be better to package items in something more sturdy than a plastic mail bag.

So, I warn potential customers to take the descriptions with a grain of salt, and be prepared to accept an inferior item, since the cost of returning it may put you in my situation of paying for nothing. Of course, I should have just kept the item and cut my losses; but I had forgotten how much I paid for it and thought I would break even or close to it. It's also simply annoying to have been subject to false advertising, but I guess all of this comes with the territory of international internet shopping of this kind.

Date of experience: September 3, 2015

Overview

AwesomeBooks has a rating of 2.4 stars from 53 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with AwesomeBooks most frequently mention customer service and good condition. AwesomeBooks ranks 8th among Used Books sites.

service
25
value
25
shipping
25
returns
10
quality
23
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