Blackwell's Online

I'm not very adventurous when it comes to ordering things online. I tend to have my favourite places for certain items and stick with them even if somewhere else happens to have the same thing for slightly cheaper, it's only when it's a lot cheaper do I stray. For books I use amazon.co.uk, not very original I know, but it was the first place I used and I've always had great service from them. They let me down recently though so I strayed to a competitor. No, nothing to do with misplaced orders, double-billing or anything like that from amazon, but simply the book I wanted had a month long delivery date - not good when you need it for a taught course which ...  Read the complete review

Steer clear - Advantages: none - Disadvantages: don't deliver, don't explain, dreadful service

One of the great institutions of the both British bookselling and of academic publishing, it was a cinch that Blackwells would also be a major force in online selling. To give this op it’s proper context I should tell you that I work as the librarian for the UK programme of an American University. We have a fairly small library of about 4000 books, about 2, 500 of which I have purchased in the last 18 months, many of them through Blackwells online. We used to use their ‘business’ service, but the regular consumer website offered better service and much the same level of discounts. I have tried out many sites, and still use a few for some ...  Read the complete review

Blackwells, a long established bookstore with a huge range of titles available in every branch. The Internet service however has some way to go. The service shows great promise with easy to use search functions and free postage and packaging (very useful!). However the information on the site isn't always accurate. On a couple of occasions I have tried to order books listed on the website to find that the pricing or edition details are incorrect. Rather than ring or e-mail me immediately to notify me of the problem they have chosen to send a letter (that doesn't always explain the problem clearly, so you need to ring them) via snail mail. Not quite the ...  Read the complete review

I have just finished my final year of a politics degree at Swansea university. I discovered this service at the end of my second year when I was looking for books for my final year modules. I found the website a bit by accident, as I didn't really know it existed. After failing to find some of the books on other reputable online bookstores I began my search for other online book retailers. I came across Blackwell's and was immediatley impressed. The website was clear and easy to follow. Being an academic bookstore I hoped that they would have the books I was looking for.. and I wasn't disapointed! I found books that I hadn't ...  Read the complete review