Honestly, I never received the books I ordered...... (World Books)

Member Name: emuratty

Product:	World Books
Date:	05/03/05 (133 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Bad customer service, Unreliable, They just ignore you

I read a lot of books, so when I saw the joining offer for World Books I thought great, I can get my first lots of books really cheap and then buy enough to fulfill my committment over a year.

My first order (the discounted books) arrived no problem in June 04, and a book I ordered for my boyfriend's birthday arrived eventually in July 04. Following my holiday in September I found myself short of reading material so I ordered 4 books from World Books via their website. I eagerly awaited delivered as I had absolutely nothing to read, September came and went and when I received a statement in October showing the books I had ordered I telephoned to ask where my books were, but all I got was a recorded message telling me that they had recently changed their warehouse system which had resulted in a delay in despatch of orders, but not to worry I wouldnt have to pay until I received my order. I waited, waited and waited.

Once November came and yet another statement I called them to advise my books had not arrived. After trawling through the very confusing automated phone system I finally managed to speak to a "person" who informed me they would send me a form to fill in to confirm that I had not received the books. The form never arrived, so in December I emailed them to confirm I had not received the books (still receiving statements telling me I owed them money), 3 weeks passed before I got a reply with a form attached, but no address of where to send it to. I completed it by email and returned it with another email confirming that I had not received the goods, in January I received another email with another form attached. Undertandably frustrated by this time I telephoned them demanding to speak to a manager, needless to say they refused to put me through to a manager and promised to send me yet another form, which did not arrive. So in February I wrote them a very snotty letter complaining and attached a copy of the form which I printed from my email and signed to confirm I had not received the books. 3 weeks later I have just received a statement from them which says "we hope this statement answers any queries you may have regarding your account" - they have charged me 2 late payment fees.

My advice is to avoid this company as it has cost me a lot of time emailing, phoning and writing for them to just ignore my complaint. And I have still not received my books or managed to get them to acknowledge my complaint.

I am writing to them again today to advise them that I will not be paying for the goods unless they can prove that I have received them. I have also asked them to remove my details from all of their mailing lists and quoted the Data Protection Act should they fail to do so. I have also send a complaint to BBC Watchdog.

If anyone can help me resolve this I would be extremely grateful.

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