My birthday was Aug. 23 and my brother gave me a book (A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin if you’re curious) and I started reading it a week or two later.
So, I’m only up to page 87 and the pages are falling out as I read them. There is nothing unusual or abusive about the way I read a book and besides the pages falling out you wouldn’t notice any wear on the cover or spine.
It’s a 694 pg. book and it’s cover price is $14.95. Should I consider this a disposable product? It’s really interfering with my reading pleasure to have to keep holding the pages in as I read.
I’m almost certain he bought it at B&N, as he has one of their discount cards and goes there all the time.
A)Am I within my rights to expect Barnes and Noble to replace this book as a defective product?
B)Do you think they will? I have no gift receipt (though I wouldn’t be surprised if my brother still had his receipt, I kinda don’t want to bother him with this)
you’ve nothing to lose by asking. If they refuse, ask whether it would make any difference if you had the receipt. If so, ask your brother for the receipt.
If I had known before I started that book how good it is, I would have invested in the hardcover. I’m going to be reading it over and over and over…
In any event, you have nothing to lose by asking.
Count me as another who thinks you should at least ask. It doesn’t seem unreasonable that they would replace it for you, since it’s new but falling apart anyway.
Since it was a gift, I assume you don’t have a receipt? If this is they case, they may not replace it, though IIRC, most places will do an exact exchange even without a receipt.
A) It is well within your rights to ask. B&N almost certainly has some agreement with the manufacturer (the one who is at fault). They will be notified of the problem if only in a minor way and they need to know some of their books aren’t binded correctly.
B) They probably will give you another copy. I am sure it is not the first time that has happened. National chains are generally very liberal with their return/exchange policies.
Having said that, I’m pretty sure B&N would replace the book without a receipt. They’ll just send it back to the publisher and get credit for it anyway. As long as you get the exact same book in exchange, I don’t think they’d care one way or another.
I would definitely take it back as my understanding is that a damaged book can be returned by Barnes & Noble to the publisher. FWIW, I’ve had similar problems and returned the books for replacement.
Don’t go in and ask. Go to the store with attitude that of course they’re going to exchange this defective book for another copy. Be polite and not hostile, but act like the decision was already made and you’re just carrying it out.
The thing is, if you go in and ask, the clerk has to make a decision. If the clerk has to make the decision, he or she will often say no just to be on the safe side and to avoid extra work. But if you go in there and tell the clerk you’re exchanging a book, he of she has to actively decide to say no. Now the inertia works in your favor.
This sort of problem often tends to be in a whole run of books (the machine wasn’t working right, or the glue was too dry), so you may very well find that when you walk up to customer service with your book, they’ll hand you a new copy before you even tell them what’s up. Yours might be the 353rd replacement copy today.
That’s what happened to me with a Dr. Seuss anthology printed upside down. (Or maybe it was printed correctly and the covers were applied upside down?)
Not necessarially all, just a large enough percentage to make the increased chance of succeeding in the exchange worth the trade off of being considered a pushy ass by the clerk.
I’m not saying book store clerks are lazy or ignorant. In fact, rereading my previous post, I didn’t say book store clerks are lazy or ignorant. But all human beings (and I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that book store clerks are human beings) tend to fall into routines.
If you start out saying “Hello. I was wondering if it’s possible for me to exchange this book for another copy of the same book? This one has pages falling out.” you’ve made the issue the question of whether or not books can be exchanged. If you start out with “Hello. The pages on this book are falling out and I want to exchange it for another copy of the same book.” you’ve implied that there’s no question about whether the book will be exchanged and the issue is making the exchange.
I’ve found through personal experience that if you take the lead, people will often follow you.
I once exchanged a book at B&N because the cover came off. They had to order another copy and were so cool about it that they let me keep the defective book so I could keep reading it while the replacement copy was on its way.
Wow. Every bookstore clerk I’ve ever encountered has been a wonderful, thoughtful, helpful person. Most of them really seem to love the job, and especially love helping people. Think about when you ask where to find something and they jump right up to walk you over to it and pick the exact book out of the stack. (I worked at a B.Dalton the summer before college and I still remember that great feeling everytime I could help someone find something or generally make them happy.)
Maybe your comment applies to workers in other retail stores, but IMO, bookstore clerks are a different breed. I’m not sure they’d penalize you for acting pushy, but I think you’d do just fine with a softer approach.
In case anyone is curious, Barnes and Noble replaced the book with no problem, without asking for a recipt.
I really tried to go in as Little Nemo described, with the attitude that they WOULD replace the book, but I’m pretty sure I still ended up phrasing it as a request.