Barnes & Noble blocked me for making purchases

[HLS]

Has this happened to anyone?

I basically disputed a $67 charge on my credit card because I never received my Barnes & Noble package. It was either stolen or delivered to the wrong address. Well Barnes & Noble refused to do anything when most companies would replace it or what have you since they probably have insurance on it but anyways. Since Barnes & Noble wouldn’t help me, I disputed the charge with the credit card company and won. now Barnes & Noble has me blocked. I can’t even make an e-book purchase but at least I still have all my previous purchases.

I mean, I sort of understand why they are doing it, but I have no history of abuse with the company, and I think it makes sense that I would dispute a purchase I never received. But oh well. What’s funny is it’s a Barnes & Noble specific MasterCard. I don’t even know why I try to shop there to begin with. I left Barnes & Noble originally for Kindle for bad customer service

Barnes & Noble‘s the first company I’ve ever dealt with that had the attitude of “to bad we don’t care” attitude

[Quoth]

I'd not heard of it with B&N, but common with Amazon in UK. Not heard of it here yet.

This can also happen with Amazon (and you lose your Amazon Library and publishing if using KDP) if you make "too many" returns. There is no T&C explaining how you might violate their rules nor appeal without legal recourse. There is also a massive issue with parcel fraud in UK. Amazon, not you, is responsible till you get it, but delivery signatures / advice is being forged. Amazon tells people to take it up with carrier, but legally, almost everywhere, that's their responsibility.

Google can block your account from purchasing and/or redeeming Gift cards, though unlike Amazon everything else works. Separately they can ban people from gmail (which might since Jan 2024 mean being unable to send to any gmail address if your alternate email doesn't have two kinds of security. This applies now to everyone). Google won't explain why an account is blocked from purchasing.

So Barnes & Noble isn't unusual. There are plenty of international online sellers or services that are problematic. Paypal blocking people from taking money out of account (like a charity or a developer accepting Paypal donations). Ebay can be inexplicable.

Big corporations seem to think the only rules or laws that count are where their HQ is and that benefit them.
X, the artist formerly Twitter, is in dispute with EU and Musk with US SEC over Twitter purchase.

[HLS]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I'd not heard of it with B&N, but common with Amazon in UK. Not heard of it here yet.

This can also happen with Amazon (and you lose your Amazon Library and publishing if using KDP) if you make "too many" returns. There is no T&C explaining how you might violate their rules nor appeal without legal recourse. There is also a massive issue with parcel fraud in UK. Amazon, not you, is responsible till you get it, but delivery signatures / advice is being forged. Amazon tells people to take it up with carrier, but legally, almost everywhere, that's their responsibility.

Google can block your account from purchasing and/or redeeming Gift cards, though unlike Amazon everything else works. Separately they can ban people from gmail (which might since Jan 2024 mean being unable to send to any gmail address if your alternate email doesn't have two kinds of security. This applies now to everyone). Google won't explain why an account is blocked from purchasing.

So Barnes & Noble isn't unusual. There are plenty of international online sellers or services that are problematic. Paypal blocking people from taking money out of account (like a charity or a developer accepting Paypal donations). Ebay can be inexplicable.

Big corporations seem to think the only rules or laws that count are where their HQ is and that benefit them.
X, the artist formerly Twitter, is in dispute with EU and Musk with US SEC over Twitter purchase.

With Amazon I use the amazon locker. Everyone else I use express shipping so that way I can have my package held at a fedex or UPS office. But with Barnes I paid for express and they still sent it by USPS I ran downstairs the second I got the delivered notification and it was already stolen. I contacted Amazon and advised it was either dropped off at the wrong address ( my highrise consists of 3 buildings, 10 floors each building) or it got snatched. B&N was like too bad so sad attitude. In my mind I would think they would have insurance to cover instances like this but I guess not. I bought a brand new nook in november and now can't even buy ebooks. So I am disputing the ban. I am telling them I spent over $600 at the local store since november. I bought like 30 hardbacks not to mention a dozen ebooks and i should not be considered a financial risk. So we shall see

[Sirtel]

Eh. There are other places to buy ebooks. Why bother with B&N? They have had this "sorry, but we don't care" attitude for a long time.

BTW, I don't understand your delivery services. It would be inconceivable here to leave a package at the outer door of an apartment building. No company would ever do that.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Eh. There are other places to buy ebooks. Why bother with B&N? They have had this "sorry, but we don't care" attitude for a long time.

So I've read.

Originally Posted by Sirtel

BTW, I don't understand your delivery services. It would be inconceivable here to leave a package at the outer door of an apartment building. No company would ever do that.

Common in UK and Ireland by many Carriers; apartment blocks, offices, shops and houses.

Here, GLS always does it and AnPost never does. DHL is variable. They don't ring the bell. It's since Covid here, and they used that as an excuse to save time. Drop it and dash off.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Eh. There are other places to buy ebooks. Why bother with B&N?

The poster has a Nook and may like direct downloading. Moreover, B&N has an affinity program and a membership rewards program, which provide kickbacks/discounts. And, there are benefits to being able to use a Nook inside a store. Some like to support a bricks and mortar business. Gift cards can be used for both digital and physical purchases.

BTW, I don't understand your delivery services. It would be inconceivable here to leave a package at the outer door of an apartment building. No company would ever do that.

Presumably they do it here because it's effective, i.e., savings are greater than the costs of "shrinkage." Unfortunately, it seems as if in this case the seller doesn't allow for shrinkage.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by HLS

I ran downstairs the second I got the delivered notification and it was already stolen. I contacted Amazon and advised it was either dropped off at the wrong address ( my highrise consists of 3 buildings, 10 floors each building) or it got snatched. B&N was like too bad so sad attitude. In my mind I would think they would have insurance to cover instances like this but I guess not.

FWIW, I had a similar issue with Costco. Appliance clearly delivered to the wrong building--UPS left "proof of delivery" photo of a box sitting in front of a door, but I had to take my own photo to demonstrate to Costco that it's clearly not my door (different brick pattern). Costco did eventually refund me, but only after forcing me to file a police report.

The moral of the story is: all three of the major postal carriers in the US are garbage, and living in an apartment sucks.

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Eh. There are other places to buy ebooks. Why bother with B&N? They have had this "sorry, but we don't care" attitude for a long time.

BTW, I don't understand your delivery services. It would be inconceivable here to leave a package at the outer door of an apartment building. No company would ever do that.

It's common practice in the states. Some walk-up apartment types have mail boxes in a shared lobby, where many times packages are just sat on the floor. My daughter lived for a short time in an apartment complex where all doors were on outside walkways.

Every single package they received that December was stolen, every single Christmas gift they ordered from Amazon. Amazon made it right, and they moved the following spring. They had a door video camera, the packages were all taken within minutes of being dropped off.

We are fortunate now to live in a neighborhood that isn't troubled by porch pirates. But it is a real problem in many areas. They follow the delivery trucks around, and snag the packages.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Eh. There are other places to buy ebooks. Why bother with B&N? They have had this "sorry, but we don't care" attitude for a long time.

BTW, I don't understand your delivery services. It would be inconceivable here to leave a package at the outer door of an apartment building. No company would ever do that.

I had something once left at the entryway of an apartment building we were living in. The driver who left it was obviously lazy as we were in and waiting for it. The driver did not buzz us to let us know it was here.

What the driver did was lose business for the company. When we called the person who sent the package, she said she would send another out with a different company and the one that caused the problem lost business.

[Sirtel]

Yeah, they'd get stolen here too, if it was something the carriers regularly did. Here they always phone or ring the doorbell; the seller would presumably sue them if they just left the package outside to be stolen.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

FWIW, I had a similar issue with Costco. Appliance clearly delivered to the wrong building--UPS left "proof of delivery" photo of a box sitting in front of a door, but I had to take my own photo to demonstrate to Costco that it's clearly not my door (different brick pattern). Costco did eventually refund me, but only after forcing me to file a police report.

The moral of the story is: all three of the major postal carriers in the US are garbage, and living in an apartment sucks.

UPS can really screw things big time. But if that happened to me, I would have called UPS first to try to get them to go get the appliance and properly deliver it.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

-UPS left "proof of delivery" photo of a box sitting in front of a door, but I had to take my own photo to demonstrate to Costco that it's clearly not my door (different brick pattern). Costco did eventually refund me, but only after forcing me to file a police report..

UPS are often bad in UK and Ireland and Amazon keeps insisting to UK customers they need to make a Police report before they will action. But the police won't accept that from the customer. It's Amazon's responsibility and they own it till the customer gets it. Amazon also have their own deliveries in Irish & UK cities. Fraud seems common on high value items.

Only once have I had something never arrive, and it seemed genuinely lost as Amazon had no idea where it went either. Conversely I've had multiple items delivered that never get marked as delivered on the Amazon site. If it's a 3rd party you can contact them and write you got it and they fix the order status.

[gforgiraffe39935]

I hated to do it, but I had to file a police report for the first time in my life after I had a stolen electronics package this year. FedEx claimed the package was delivered with photos and no responsibility beyond that, and the vendor would not honor a refund for theft of package until I filed a police report.

I would see BN if they would unblock your account if you supplied a police report declaring property theft of the items in question. It is an annoyance, but perhaps necessary to get your account in order.

After that, I would liberate my books, close my BN credit card and shop from BAM, Amazon or Half Price Books. BAM has all the good rewards that BN used to have anyway. Amazon have re-introduced dozens of digital newstand reads through their Kindle Unlimited subscription, and if you can liberate your Nook eBooks, you can upload them to Amazon's servers to read on your Kindle or Google Drive to read on your Kobo Sage.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

UPS can really screw things big time. But if that happened to me, I would have called UPS first to try to get them to go get the appliance and properly deliver it.

I had tried calling UPS before Costco, because yes, my assumption was the delivery guy could probably retrieve it from the right building. They literally made it impossible to talk to a human being. I would put in the tracking number, the automated voice would tell me it was delivered. I would say I wanted to file a claim on that order, it would tell me I needed to contact the seller, and refused to proceed any further. I would try saying the keyword "Agent" or "Representative" to get me transferred to a human--the automated voice literally responded, "I'm sorry, I cannot connect you to a live agent" and hung up on me. First time I've ever had a call-in system flat-out refuse to let me talk to a human. There's a special place in hell for whatever bastard designed that system.

I told Costco, I feel for them, because it was clearly UPS's goof, and I hope Costco took them to the cleaners for it.

[paperwhite13]

One thing we have working here is delivery--it has to be done in person and most of the times even then it can't be completed unless they're provided a PIN. Throwing stuff in the yard or leaving it at the door is out of the question, they won't do it even if you ask them. There are also a lot of app-powered locker boxes, maybe too many even.