"At checkout, the site will ship to the wrong address, without warning you what the last default address was. Now all my books are going across the country to someone else I sent a gift to earlier. Thanks for nothing."
"Despite the myriad of unsatisfactory reviews posted online (this site and others), I went ahead and took a chance on Alibris, thinking they may have improved in response to the issues described. However, my recent experience only served to reinforce the same comments shared by previous customers. The customer support from Alibris is practically non-existent, from the automated phone system which neither allows you to leave a message (although claiming it will) to the lack of any follow-up by Alibris, to the system for communicating online, which also does not result in anyone effectively responding (only same automated text, asking one to not recontact, but rather wait until someone replied - which doesn't occur, even after five days). While price/selection are among factors to consider, even more important is customer service - particularly, when there is a problem, which based on the reviews, seems often. Unfortunately, I am among the many people who tried Alibris, but will not be returning. :-( "
"The book arrived in a very flimsy package that was torn. When I took the book out of the package the cover and Pages were deformed and turning brown from exposure to moisture or something had been spilt on the book. Product condition is poor and unacceptable."
"Customer support is virtually nonexistent. I don't know what the people who own Alibris do with their time, but it certainly isn't making sure things run smoothly. The first order I placed was charged, then canceled. The book was to be a gift, but that ruined it. Months later I tried again, I got a pop-up saying I would get a $5 coupon if I subscribed to their coupons, so I did, only to find out afterward that the $25 order I intended to place was not large enough for their coupon to kick in. But it didn't say that when it asked me to subscribe, and I went back and double checked. There is absolutely no phone support; just long messages saying so. And when you do get support, it comes through a short email from India. Apparently, this is a company that makes its money off of one time, first-time naive customers who don't know any better. How they have managed to stay in business is one of those imponderable mysteries, but as for their service, I'm done.d"
"After I discovered, that my order didn't get standard Europian Standard shipping, but International one, that takes much more time, I contacted the support demanding a redund and received an affirmative reply in 48 hours and received payment with no delays.
The only problem was a little deceiving information, you would presume, that European Standard pertains to the entire EU. Then, underneath the table containg info about shipping, there is more information:
Countries Qualifying For U.K./European Direct Shipping
For U.K. or European direct shipping, you may send your orders to addresses in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, Norway, Finland, Greece, and Portugal.
You see, in the table about shipping, the exact phrase 'European Direct Shipping' is not even mentioned, contributing to further confusion. I don't actually think this is on purpose, but it is rather bad website structure and user experience."
"Almost all of the books I order from Alibris get cancelled. I ordered 8 books, got charged for them, and only received 2 of them. Several days later, I received an email that my orders had been cancelled and a refund was issued. By that time, prices had gone up on other sites, so I got stuck paying more. I'll NEVER shop with Alibris again!"
"Ordered a college textbook 12/25/17 with enough time for mailing to be received in time to start course on 01/08/2018. The book was shipped on 12/26/17 and was shipped using USPS Standard which per USPS site takes approximately 2–8 Business Days. According to the seller, I should have received the book sometime between Dec 28, 2017 - Jan 4, 2018. The Book to date (1/11/18) has never been received.
I have reached out to Alibris and their contractor BookLab who have been nonchalant about the fact that this book appears to have been lost and has offered NO real solution other than I should wait longer. I can not complete the course work without the book. I have now had to order the book from another seller who at least ships w/ a tracking number so I can complete my coursework - Worst customer service and ordering experience I have ever had."
"My hubby ordered more than $200 of books from the seller, Booklab, as a gift to me. One of them was a very specific edition that cost $60. What we got was a cheap Barnes & Noble edition that retails for $19.95. It took an hour of wrangling to get a refund agreement -- for money, by the way, that was charged to our credit card WEEKS before the book actually shipped. But now here's the kicker: They (Booklab? Alibris?) are making US pay for return shipping. That's not just wrong -- it's unscrupulous. The Seller Sent The Wrong Book. Seller error. Period. (At this point, I'm wondering whether it was truly seller "error" or seller "trying to pull a fast one." My money's on the latter.)
And don't even get me started on (a) the absence of ANY email order confirmation from Alibris; (b) the lack of responsiveness to multiple email requests from him for status; and (c) serious attitude in the response he finally did get: It was, according to them, his fault they didn't communicate order status to him because, "Moreover, you didn't choose to create an account with us...." Excuse me? If that's a requirement for good customer service, then say so and don't play games.
We will never, ever, EVER, do business with this outfit again. "
"I ordered a book as a gift for the holidays, it shipped Dec 11 (so they say) and never arrived. It's been almost a month. They did not track the shipment and have stopped responding to my emails asking for new order or refund. Would never order from them again."
"The book I ordered came in 3 days. It was in better condition than I even expected. I would definitely do business with Alibris again."
"I did not obtain the book I ordered from Alibris.
I want my money back. But I could not hear anything from the customer service to help have my money back.
It is a scam.
I would need to follow up legal actions."
"Ordered books which were received not as described. Was unable to return and can not get Alibris to respond to contact requests.
"
"No need to repeat all the other negative reviews. Absolutely no customer service. No one to talk to. Automated response only. Will not refund or replace defective product; automated response says not eligible for refund or replacement. Buyer be ware. "
"There is a reason why this Company's ratings are so bad and that's because the website indicates "Worry-Free Guarantee" returns, however when you go to return the book your return is denied. The Worry Free is on their side - they don't need to worry because nothing is going to be returned. We purchased a Chemistry book on this site of which we searched for the ISBN number and several books came up. The book cover matched the ISBN # matched, however when you actually ordered the book the book received has a different ISBN # and the cover is completely different. Of Coarse you don't know that when you purchase the book and apparently this Company feels that selling you something you actually don't need is good business. If you needed book ISBN#: 167 ... not sure why the Company feels someone can settle with book ISBN #: 195... If you search carefully you will realize this has happened quit often which is the driver for the very poor rating. "
"I'm very surprised at the poor customer service level evident in my recent order. I ordered four books using a coupon. All four books were eligible for free shipping from Alibris, and were listed as available on the Alibris website. Yet, Alibris cancelled the order for all four books saying they are not available. I could understand one of the books being out of stock, but not all four. I believe that the order was cancelled because I used a coupon that allowed me to deduct $9.00 from my order and receive free shipping for the total purchase. If they are going to advertise books as new and available, they should be able to deliver the product and allow their customers to use coupons and free shipping. Very poor customer service performance, and a terrible fail on Alibris' part."