Waterstones Reviews

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Waterstones
★★☆☆☆
1.6
17.0% of users recommend this
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  • Quality of service

  • Layout of shop

  • Value For Money

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Latest Reviews

“Not customer friendly”

★★★☆☆

written by BigEd1945 on 02/12/2021

Falkland Square, Poole. I ordered three books on line but when I went to the store only two had arrived. In all it took three trips to get the third book. I am a pensioner with cancer and find it difficult to get out. The female staff member I spoke to was not particularly helpful. There is nowhere to sit down in the store. There is no lift and I was not able to manage the stairs so did not get to see the military history section and other genres that were upstairs. Very disappointing and I will not be returning.

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“Purchased Many books”

★★★★☆

written by Nova-44 on 11/11/2020

I have ordered many books from Waterstone online they all arrived quickly without any problem.

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“Love Waterstones N8, but no hard selling in store,...”

★★★★☆

written by 1katya on 15/03/2018

Great to have a Waterstones in Crouch End, but I wish they would just allow me let to quietly browse, and not try and push titles on to me to buy with their enthusiastic hard sell. It's not necessary, and is a bit of a turn off ....

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“I love this book shop so much. And I cant't wait to...”

★★★★★

written by ElisaFarmer on 23/09/2016

I love this book shop so much. And I cant't wait to share with my good friend. And we will visit it tomorrow.

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“WORST. SERVICE. EVER. ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by HaleyMonahan445 on 22/06/2015

I used to love going to Waterstones as the customer service was really good and they had a fair selection of books. In the last year or so they have really gone downhill, I have visited multiple branches and experienced nothing but stress, anger and a fully negative experience. They call themselves a book shop but now where I live the majority is e-readers or pencils or silly joke gifts and desk accessories. The ratio of books to junk is getting worse. The tables in there are so cramped, a skinny woman like myself can barely squeeze through the piles of junk lying around. Books are crammed onto shelves so tightly you break a nail trying to get them out, or they are just slung everywhere, upside down, back to front, floating around the ceiling, thrown on the floor and the assistance don't spare them a glance. Offers? what offers. They cut out 3 for 2, BOGOF, BOGOHP, any money off for your card, the only think they managed to keep is money off for reservations which seems to have gone up so there's little point reserving them now as it's near enough the retail price. Their customer service is the worst. I have been glared at whilst shop assistants stamp past me like I'm a criminal, they throw your change at you, they roll their eyes if you ask for help, they are snide, rude and have even pretended they can't hear me when I ask for a certain section. I will not be spending my money there anymore! taking my custom to WHSmith!!

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“Esperanza Street published by And Other Stories”

★★★★★

written by on 07/04/2015

I loved this book because it drew me in from the start. It is a beautifully written first novel by an author who obviously loves people. The story concerns the community living on Esperanza Street in a town near Manila; it is the Phillipines of the 60s and 70s. Seen throught the eyes of 12 year old Joseph, Niyati Keni gives us so many bright pen portraits of the people Joseph sees every day, either on the street or in the house of Mary Morelos where he works as a houseboy. The community is on the verge of change and Joseph observes with quiet but startling wisdom what is happening around him. Being a houseboy gives his easy access to some of the conversations in Mary Morelos' house when she is entertaining the powerful people of the area. This new author is able to write with grace and gentleness and with brutal force that surprises, as well as humour.I look forward to reading more from her.

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“Used to be good but has gone downhill rapidly”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Solomonj93 on 26/03/2015

I used to shop here just about every week, I have in the past spent a lot of money and time in their stores, not just one, and online. Recently I have noticed how badly this shop has gone downhill. Before Christmas I went into three different stores, they seemed to all have been overhauled with tons of books crammed by the doors (which are left open regardless of how bitterly cold and windy it is) so you may feel like a penguin trying to look at books. I noticed how they have added more gift stock and e-readers to their stock but they've also crammed everything in so tightly it's hard to get around the shop. Waterstones was always renowned as a quiet sanctuary to go and enjoy picking out a book. Not anymore. They removed all the sitting chairs, children are running up and down screaming, people throw everything everywhere and the staff can't be bothered to tidy it up, but they seem more than happy to be as rude to you as they possibly can be humiliating and crushing every ounce of your self-esteem. I have been laughed at whilst looking at books, snappy comments, eye rolls, etc. When I ask if they have a book they tut, sigh and sometimes pretend they can't hear you. I reserved a book online, went to collect it after receiving email confirmation so I phoned them just to make sure as I have had trouble with this service in the past and they confirmed the book was definitely there. I got to the shop and they had sold my reservation to someone else. Another time they insisted they had a book only to then email me later and tell me it's out of stock and I could pay the full retail price instead of reduced online price to have it ordered in within 2 weeks. Not good enough. I will not be shopping in Waterstones anymore!

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“Waterstones online appalling”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 25/03/2015

Been unable to buy digital books online with Waterstones for months due to their sites inability to take Barclays debit or credit cards. After numerous phone calls to my bank and Barclaycard - I eventually find out it is Waterstones issue. If they had replied to any of my emails or calls to customer service, I wouldn't have wasted the hours that I did. Eventually I got a reply from my 5th email to tell me that it was their fault and they couldn't take Barclays cards. The good news was that this would soon be sorted. However after 6 months it wasn't sorted. Eventually after 9 months it worked. Hallelujah! Great news. And then a new site, even better - but hold on Barclays cards don't work again. I've emailed customer services for an answer and once again no reply - despite an acknowledgement tells ng me I would get an answer in 72 hours. Cowboy company with IT people that would struggle with an abacus

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“Complete incompetence”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Aliana467 on 21/09/2014

It's bad enough when the company processes your payment, assures you the book has been dispatched and it fails to show up, but the tracking system is shocking and it would seem that they deliberately make it difficult to contact them. This is my first, and last, encounter with Waterstones online. I will stick to Amazon in future.

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“Check prices first”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Jaxon417 on 05/09/2014

Found a cookbook cheaper in the supermarket next door - wrote privately on Facebook to let them know. Was asked to email them which i did - only for customer services to patronise me and knock copy of the supermarket@ That made me cross.

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“A Relaxed, Professional Environment that is a joy to...”

★★★★★

written by Shopaholic666 on 29/07/2014

Waterstones is definitely my favourite book shop. As soon as you walk in you are greeted by the wonderful smell of freshly printed books, a smiling face on customer services that will bend over backwards to help you and a selection of books and small gift items to die for. As a avid reader, Waterstones has never failed me. They do their very best to stock as many books as possible offering a wide variety of choice for people of all ages and all genres sometimes with good deals on as well. Click and Collect. You can go online and find the book you want, check the stock at your local store and reserve it to pick it up around two hours after reservation (check for confirmation email saying it is ready for you) and you may pick it up at a DISCOUNTED price to in the store and online. They will hold the book for five days after the date of reservation to give you a good chance to pick it up or you can just order them online and have them in your hands in a couple of days. The store also offers you the chance that if they do not have a book in stock you can go to one of the tills and they will order it in for you, depending on the book, usually in a couple of days, and it will be reserved for you, you pay then and there so you only have to walk in and pick it up and they charge no extra cost for it. The staff are always friendly, happy, relaxed and eager to help you. They want you to enjoy your visit and they will bend over backwards for you no matter how busy they are. They know where everything is, they can give good recommendations and they are extremely helpful. The environment is always pleasant. Unlike WHSmith, you are allowed to sit in the store and have a little read of your book on the chairs or take as much time as you need and the employees will not walk up and down glaring at you and pestering you to hurry up and pay or get out of the store. I never feel harassed or patronised in Waterstones as they will ask you once if you need help if you look like you can't find something, other than that they leave you in peace to find your book. I highly recommend this store and it is the first place I will suggest to buy books from when people ask. Great prices, great service, great shop. I have never been disappointed by ANY of the stores I have visited.

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“Titles available , in stock”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Rufusthedog10 on 20/07/2014

Asked assistant , for titles , conn igguldenn , quantum of plait , ( was corrected on the spelling of the tittle , fair enough in a book shop,)not in store but could be ordered from another one , David morrell , the fine art of murder , Russell Whitfield , the gladiatrix series , and jf Lewis ( vampire ) staked , revamped ... Didn't exist ......??

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“Great Range of Books”

★★★★★

written by JonPrice1 on 07/05/2014

I visited one of their stores recently during lunch break, and i was surprises of the books they had in stock, I bought a few novels that were only available online, so I don't have to wait anymore.

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“Waterstones! Never Again ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 26/02/2014

Never again will I order on line or purchase books in store at Waterstones. Having received a gift token for Christmas, I ordered two books on line. 1 is showing as despatched but has still not been delivered 28 days later. The other I'm told is out of stock, and so I'm still waiting to see if that one will ever materialise. 5 days ago I contacted Waterstones customer services to log my concern, again by email, and other than automated reply have heard nothing. Having read other appalling reviews I am now contemplating taking my case to trading standards.

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Snorbens's Comment

Written on: 03/03/2014

I ordered "Winter Solstice" 10th December 2013 as a Christmas gift. IIRC, the website suggested delivery would be around 6 days but it was not until February 2014 when I received an email to say the book had been despatched from the warehouse and would shortly be available at my local store. The onus is still on the customer to contact the local store to ensure it has arrived for collection. I was extremely dissatisfied with their service and will NEVER use Waterstones again.

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“Genuinely the worst online shopping experience EVER!!!”

★☆☆☆☆

written by DHogg on 04/02/2014

DO NOT BUY ONLINE FROM WATERSTONES YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! It only gets the one star, because I am not allowed to give ZERO or NEGATIVE scores. The site is clunky and slow. The search function is terrible. If you forget your password, it will take hours to get a link sent toi your e-mail address. If you send an e-mail to them, you will get an immediate acknowledgement, but then you won't hear any more. I can't get the site to distinguish between billing address and delivery address. I only noticed this AFTER making my order, and when I cancelled the order, I lost my gift card and Waterstone's card balance. Apparently, the gift card balance will be refunded to my e-wallet, but it certainly isn't there yet. ABYSMAL service which has put me off Waterstones for good. Shame as that means that I will lose the joy of book browing, as they have effectively killed all of the competition on the High Street. I will be forced to use Amazon or Play in future.

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“Not all books delivered for Christmas”

★★☆☆☆

written by MissusP on 24/12/2013

We tried to do the right thing this year and not order books from Amazon. Big mistake. I ordered five books on Dec 7 from Waterstones online. A week later we received an email saying that two of the books weren't in their warehouse and they'd have to find them from one of their stores. We have a local store, so this shouldn't have been a problem, especially since the books were current titles that I saw plenty of when we were there. It took a week for them to deliver the three books they did have in the warehouse and the fourth one didn't arrive until two weeks later. They sent an email saying the fifth book was shipped a couple of days before Christmas and, obviously, did not arrive in time for Christmas morning. I won't be ordering online from Waterstones again. Too bad too because I like the store in the city, but ordering from Amazon is always going to be quicker than Waterstones.

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“Christmas Present Out of Stock - Cancelled & Still Charged”

★☆☆☆☆

written by 123456789098765432 on 23/12/2013

What an awful online company, offering poor feedback to customers, and very bad information. I ordered a book, which was not clearly labelled as "out of stock" The order page made me think all was good, until a few days later when I realized I hadn't had any communication about my order. Went to my online account to find the item was out of stock so selected the option to cancel my order. Purchased the product from elsewhere, a week later received an email telling me the book had been "completely dispatched" and I had been charged, instantly tried to call Waterstones, no customer services on the weekend, so sent an email expressing my disgust with the service. 30 minutes later, I received an email to tell me the item was not in stock and would not be delivered until after Christmas (This time now being too late to order elsewhere and receive, luckily I had already ordered it from elsewhere) I did managed to send an email to Waterstones requesting that my order be cancelled, just as I had selected online almost 2 weeks prior, and I have been informed that they have made a full refund, although 2 days later, I have still not seen the refund. Unpleasant experience. There is such a variety of places available to purchase goods from, it seems Waterstones have got the mix between sale price and cutomer service horribly wrong. Pay less and expect poor service, or pay more and expect good service, not pay medium and have very poor service. SORT IT OUT WATERSTONES - Stop conning people to buy items you do not even have for sale.

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“TERRIBLE WEB SITE”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 03/12/2013

Had a gift voucher for £10. Bought 3 books online (£26) all of which stated "Free postage". Went to pay and saw that £4 postage had been added. Still went ahead with purchase, thought I would ring them and sort it out later. Entered gift voucher details but was told that the card was not acceptable. And I was left hanging in the air. There is little wonder that Amazon beats them hands down.

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“Waterstones, Once Bitten, Twice Shy!”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Tonyholbury on 15/10/2013

I ordered two books on line, 'The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy' and 'The Quick Red Fox' the latter was not available and I got the message that the system was waiting for an order, after two months I checked with customer services and it turns out its 'out of print' and they cancelled the order, now the trouble starts... I forgot my password, done this before simple thing reset the password but I did not reckon on the e-site. I sent a password reset request and got a link sent to my e-mail page the link would not operate, I tried to cut and paste into firefox, the link isnt word wrapped and was off the page and I think I managed to cut it but when I pasted it the link took me to a page that read timed out. Waterstones customer services told me to try Google Chrome I went through the same procedure and got the same result 'Timed out' Waterstones customer services are blaming my system but I tried this on windows 7 and Linux Mint and it just doesnt work. Result I'm out of pocket for a book they never had, couldnt get and obviously dont give a stuff about I paid with a 'Gift Card' so my money given to me by my sister as a xmas gift has gone to Waterstones, they have failed to supply the goods and now blame my computer. I will inform my family and friends never never buy me a waterstones gift card ever again. Waterstone failed on so many levels, as a retailer, as a customer orientated service and finally as a receiver of cash and a failure to deliver the goods. Dont use them dont buy from them and dont trust them, a totally rubbish company.

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“Atrocious order tracking - an incompetent e-business”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 20/06/2013

Thought I'd throw a bit of business in Waterstones' direction - an online order with quoted expected delivery time of 7-10 days. 5 days later, I received an automated message to notify me that the book was out of stock and would be ordered in from their supplier. Either I am to believe that Waterstones are so incompetent that it takes them 5 days to figure out if a book is in their warehouse (which is something any e-business that manages stock should know within hours if not instantly), or that they deliberately drag their feet on telling you something is out of stock so that you do not immediately go elsewhere. Another 10 days pass with no further notification. The online order tracking gives no useful information about status, and no estimated shipment dates. I cancelled the order (pending their approval, go figure). I'll be taking my business back to Amazon, and have every confidence that the book will arrive within 3-5 days as claimed. Won't be using Waterstones again and wouldn't be sad to see those heavy debts catch up with them. For a company with such an extensive history in selling books their e-business is hopelessly antiquated.

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