College bookstore woes

Mike Danger

My sister rented some books from her college bookstore with my parents' credit card. The transaction went through, but the books never showed up.

My understanding of events: she:

1) went to the bookstore, was told they hadn't arrived yet, and left
2) went back to the bookstore some time later, was told they weren't there, and to check another location on campus
3) went to that location, was told they weren't there, and to check back at the main branch
4) went to the main branch, and was told "We have no record that these were not picked up" (in other words, "you should have the books, because we don't")

So now, we're out ~$75, looking at fees when the return date comes around, and my parents are beside themselves. I have been conscripted to go with my mother tomorrow and talk to the people there.

Does anyone have any experience in dealing with stuff like this?

lessthanpi

Two thoughts.

1) It's likely your parent's could contest the charges through their credit card issuer.
2) Find out how they check these books out. I assume the student would need to sign for them or something. If they have a record that they were picked up by someone, they can look back to see what happened.

Another bit of general advice, never deal with College Bookstores. They're terrible.

Gaslight

I will echo the sentiment that college bookstores are wretched, disgusting, and evil. I have never heard of one where you can rent books, and I must say I'm a little surprised that in dealing with a college bookstore you only ended up out $75. I have nothing else to contribute, so I will simply reiterate one more time: college bookstores universally suck dick.

Darkewolfe

Don't make this harder than it needs to be. Politely but insistently work your way up tiers of management making it clear that you have been charged for things which were never provided, and that the problem is on their end and needs to be resolved. It will take some time on the phone and in person, probably, but by being both not-an-asshole and not-leaving-till-it's-fixed you'll be able to get this resolved.

Telex

College bookstores are used to dealing with undergraduates, who often do things like forget they picked up books. If a parent is politely contesting the charges, I don't think you'll have too many problems. Especially considering it is only $75, which is about 1/3rd of the price of some textbooks these days.

Also, college bookstores are staffed by undergraduates, who often do things like charge for books that they haven't actually rented - so I doubt management will be too shocked to hear an employee screwed up.

(No offense to undergrads)

Wezoin

Alternately if you do a chargeback it then becomes the bookstores responsibility to prove you received the product rather than yours to prove you didnt.

Tomanta

Mike Danger wrote: »

4) went to the main branch, and was told "We have no record that these were not picked up" (in other words, "you should have the books, because we don't")

If the books were picked up, they should have record of that. It doesn't work the other way around, and you may be able to use that to press your side.

To expand: there are a lot of things that could cause them not to be picked up (such as, say, the store never setting them aside), there's only one thing that could cause them to be picked up.

Olympia

Hi, I normally don't post but I'm one of those undergraduates who works at a college book store. From my personal experience I can tell you the following: (1) books you order are often not there yet because we have to have them shipped to us from other store locations, and those stores can screw up that process quite easily as they sometimes ignore the order entirely, (2) at least where I work we do NOT keep any record as to whether or not books were picked up, all we know is what orders weren't picked up because we have to save the receipts for inventory adjustments on abandoned orders, and (3) for abandoned orders it is technically the store's responsibility to contact the customer and to at least return rentals to avoid late fees, although where I work we do not issue actual refunds unless the customer comes in or calls about it (business I guess).

All that said, if they're being difficult about it the best thing you can do is take a credit card statement and insist that you never got the books and that you be refunded. Also you shouldn't buy from college bookstores really, they're awful and thrive on ignorant freshman students and overgenerous parents with credit cards. Apologies

grendle

It's their responsibility to prove that the books were picked up. If they have no proof of that then its an open and shut case for the credit card company when you dispute the charges.

Mike Danger

Oops, I kind of forgot about this thread. :S After presenting the credit card statement and order confirmation, the order has been cancelled and the money refunded. Thanks for the input, everyone!