Barnes & Noble online complaint

[disneysteve]

Did you know that at Barnes & Noble's website, you are not allowed to apply more than one gift card to an order? Amazon let's you "deposit" your gift cards in your online account and spend them however you wish. B&N, however, only lets you enter a gift card number, and one only, at the time you checkout.

I discovered this today. I had done an online survey that paid me a $10 B&N card. Of course, $10 won't buy you much. But we were also given 2 $25 cards as gifts at our year-end Girl Scout banquet. I figured I'd go on and deposit all 3 and that would give us a $60 credit. No such luck. I'm definitely going to write to them to recommend changing that policy. A gift card should be treated the same as cash or credit and I should be able to spend it or combine multiple cards however I wish. They already have the money. Why limit how I can spend it?

ETA: Here's the e-mail I just sent them.

I'm writing to complain about your gift card policy. Specifically, this statement: "You can only redeem one Gift Card or Gift Certificate with each online order. This means that if you have several Gift Cards, their values cannot be combined and used for a single order." I think that policy is quite unfair. Gift cards should be treated no differently than cash or credit. I currently have 3 gift cards ($10, $25 and $25). You already have the $60 represented by these cards. What possible justification is there for not allowing me to use those cards however I wish?

One of your chief competitors, Amazon.com, has a very different policy. At their site, I can "deposit" gift certificates into my online account and spend them whenever and however I'd like. That is certainly a far more customer-friendly policy that I'd suggest you adopt.

Thank you.

[txex86]

Steve, I feel your pain. I tried to make a similar purchase using two gift cards and ran into the same problem. Bummer. I did not e-mail them like you did. Pehaps I should.

[disneysteve]

I did not e-mail them like you did. Pehaps I should.

Please do. Maybe if enough customers complain, they'll change their system. Be sure to mention how Amazon does it, as that's the way it should be done.

Just click on the Customer Service link and you'll get to an e-mail form.

[neatdesign]

My husband works at B&N, and until now I did not know about their online gift card policy. (Since he works there, we normally just buy any merchandise in-store, of course.) He's not around so I can't ask him about it right now, but I'm sure he'd agree that that's a pretty dumb policy for any online merchant to have. I certainly think so!

I looked at B&N's policy online, and although it clearly states that you are limited to using one gift card per online purchase, there is no mention of what happens if your gift card balance exceeds the cost of that purchase. In other words, if you have a $50 gift card but your online purchase is only $30, what happens to the remaining $20? I'm assuming it's held on your B&N online account. And if that's the case, then why can't B&N do what Amazon does and allow customers to pool their gift cards and use the combined balance at their discretion?

I'm very curious about all of this and will ask Mark about it when he's around. I doubt he's even aware of it, because again, we just get all of our B&N stuff from his store. In the meantime, I agree that voicing complaints about this is a very good idea. It's the only way to let a company know that they need to change the way they do things.

~ Jenney

[disneysteve]

Thanks, Jenney. Very curious to hear what he has to say. If he can suggest someone specific I can call about this issue, I would love that info.

[scfr]

I agree with you, Steve. It's not a good business policy. They'd be wise to change it. Unfortunately, I'm no longer a customer of B&N so I can't write ... I get 99% of my books from the library now!

[disneysteve]

Unfortunately, I'm no longer a customer of B&N so I can't write ... I get 99% of my books from the library now!

The only time I buy books is when I have a gift certificate. DD does buy Naruto manga (graphic novels) with her money and an occasional book. DW mostly does the library except for an occasional knitting book that she wants to own.

And of course we will buy Harry Potter. That's actually what I was trying to order when I learned of this policy.

[poundwise]

It sounds to me like they were just too 'lazy' to bother setting up the appropriate function on the web site. I cannot think of any legitimate reason for not allowing multiple gift card redemption online.

Are all of your gift cards physical cards? Can you go to a B&N location? I know that doesn't remedy the complaint but it is one alternative where you could use all three. (I assume.)

[disneysteve]

Are all of your gift cards physical cards? Can you go to a B&N location? I know that doesn't remedy the complaint but it is one alternative where you could use all three. (I assume.)

Two are, one is not. So yes, we could go to store and use 2 of them but that doesn't solve the problem as far as I'm concerned.

[safari]

You can try placing your order by phone. Below is an excerpt from their help page:

----------------------------------
Paying by Phone

Click the "Pay by Phone" button and then complete the Checkout process. Make sure you arrive at the Thank You page to ensure that we receive your order.

As soon as we receive your order, we’ll send you a confirmation email that includes your order number and instructions for completing your payment by calling 1-800-THE-BOOK (1-800-843-2665), 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. (ET) / 7 days a week. Customers outside the U.S., please call 201-272-3651.

Please call as soon as possible -- we will not begin fulfilling your order until we have your payment information. Your order will be automatically canceled if we do not receive payment information within 7 days.
----------------------------------

Link

When you call, ask them if you can pay for your order with multiple gift cards.

[disneysteve]

You can try placing your order by phone. Below is an excerpt from their help page:

When you call, ask them if you can pay for your order with multiple gift cards.

Interesting. I wonder how they would handle the balance of a gift card if the order is less than the full value?

[txex86]

Please do. Maybe if enough customers complain, they'll change their system. Be sure to mention how Amazon does it, as that's the way it should be done.

Just click on the Customer Service link and you'll get to an e-mail form.

I just e-mailed B&N with my complaint. Hopefully, this will help.

[disneysteve]

I heard back from them. safari wins. Here's what they said:

"If you have more than one Gift Card, you can complete your order as a
pay by phone and call Customer Service with your order number and the
Gift Card numbers. One of our representatives will apply the Gift Cards
to your order."

Although that still doesn't address what happens to unused balances. I guess if it is a physical card, it's value would just be reduced, just as if I hadn't fully used it in the store. But what about a partially used electronic certificate?

[neatdesign]

I asked Mark about this, and he was unaware of the online limitation as well. (Again, because he always makes his B&N when he's there to work.) However, he said that it's most likely a system limitation that currently prevents B&N from accepting multiple gift cards for online purchases. That's not to say that they can't update their systems, but that's just his best guess as to why there's that limitation.

~ Jenney

[disneysteve]

Thanks Jenney. It sure is a glitch they should remedy as it isn't very customer friendly.