Not Always My Cup of Tea
Written: Oct 25 '01
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The Bottom Line
Very cheap prices, but disadvantages of this company can outweigh that.
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| Full Review |
Why would an American buy mail order books from an English book shop? In my case, I live overseas and was working on my degree. College textbooks weren't always cheap nor easy to find. Since much of my daily research involved the Internet, I applied those skills toward finding my books quickly and at the cheapest price available.
The Country Bookshop appeared in the search results of a UK search engine so I checked out their website. At the time (it has since been redesigned), the site was pleasant, colorful, and efficient. I couldn't believe how cheap the prices were! For example, one particular textbook retailed for $95 at the college bookstore. Country Bookshop offered the same brand new book for £26 (about $40). What a savings! I ordered both the books I needed and couldn't believed I had saved almost $100.
Since I live in the UK, my delivery arrived quickly, but only one book was in the box. I e-mailed them and did not receive a satisfactory reply. The first few times I called, there was no answer and this was during normal business hours. Finally, I contacted someone who stated the other book was out of stock and it would take several weeks as the book was on backorder. Although I received a reply, there wasn't any explanation of their poor customer service nor was there any sense of urgency to fix the problem, e.g. helping me to locate it from another UK book dealer or offering to promptly return my money (which they did upon my request).
I gave them a few more chances, but in each case, my requested selections were not in stock and it would have taken several weeks to get them. Unfortunately, this wasn't quick enough to meet my needs. My guess is that they either sell out quickly, or they list books they don't stock and then request them from the publisher as orders arrive.
I have since revisited their website. It has been redesigned and is not as appealing. There are far too many links on the page. In terms of web design, there is not enough white space to break the page up into "chunks" and make it easily readable. The database search is still effective. You can search using author, title, or ISBN, but not by keyword. For example, this would severely limit your search results if you wanted to see all of their books about human resources in a single listing without clicking through the website links.
The prices are still great. While writing this review, I priced "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". Country Bookshop offers it for £5.59 ($8.40) and the same book retailed at Amazon.com for $18.16. Of course, if you live in the USA, postage costs are going to be a factor, but the amount of your book order would have to be considered in deciding if the transaction is economical.
Would I recommend the site? Yes and no. If you want to save money and you aren't in a hurry, this is an excellent place to go. If you need the books by a certain deadline or need customer service, I would keep on clicking to another shop.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ginger136
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Member: Chuck
Location: Orlando, Florida
Reviews written: 47
Trusted by: 11 members
About Me:
Corporate HR Director for 4 companies. In 2003, I completed an enjoyable military career.
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