Woody's Books and online reseller of used books, media and other items. They sell on Half.com and Ebay.com as woodysbooks. I did not follow my own advice of buying from a seller with a rating below 98.5% At the time, Woody's had a rating around 97%. What ensued was an issue of receiving the wrong edition of the book, excuses for the wrong order, lapses in communications and eventuallly a negative feedback. In what appears to be a regular occurance for Woody's the retaliated with a negative feedback and the immediately asked for a mutual withdrawl. Unfortunately, this appears to be Woody's attempt to cover up bad customer service. Below is the full detail of the issue to try to expose the truth and get justice to have bad sellers like this shut down.
I ordered a book from them on August 7 2007, Moby Dick : Herman Melville (Hardcover, 1990). The book was listed as "Brand New, May have small remainder mark. May ship from alternate location..." Not quite sure what "Remainder mark" was, I went ahead and purchased the book. Turns out a Remainder mark was a small mark on a book to denote a return, no big deal.
All seemed fine at the start, Woody's confirmed the order and noted it was shipped on August 7th. Seemed like they had their act in gear.
August 14th, the package arrives as well as the problems. The book Woody's sold was not the correct edition I was looking for. I wanted the full version of Moby Dick, what I got was a Jr. High School picturebook edition, used, yellow and musty, the cover marred from being used as a writing surface. I wrote to woody's books stataing this was not the book I requested and would like to know how to return the book for a refund.
August 15th I received an email from Woody's:
I'm so sorry we sent the wrong item! Unfortunately we don't have a
replacement but I would be happy to offer a full refund (including return
shipping if you ship USPS media mail). Please send the item back to our return
address:Woody's Books ReturnsP.O. Box 2977Martinez, CA 94553Please leave a note
inside with the order number and your first and last name and the reason for
return. Thanks!-April Customer Service Woody's Books
Great, so I package the book and send it back to the address and wait. Meanwhile Woody's continues to sell this book well into September.
August 26th - I sent a follow up email asking if they had received the book and would be sending a return. No response.
Sept 3rd - I sent another follow up email asking if they had received the book and would be sending a return. No response.
Sept 7th - I sent one final follow up, noting they had not communicated with me and they had until the weekend to respond. If not, negative feedback would be left. No response.
Sept 10th - Negative feedback for woodysbooks left and a Half.com buyer protection complaint was filed.
Sept 17th - Half.com sides with me and a refund is issued.
Sept 17th - Woody's books finally responds.
Hello, we have received your item as of today and refunded the amount promised.
Thank you for your return and have a good day. Please feel free to email me back
with any comments or questions you may have. Thank you!
Funny how it took a Half.com complaint to get them to respond.
Sept 19th - I sent an email back to Woody's books:
It would have helped if you had communicated when you received the book and
replied to my emails rather than me having to file a claim with half.com. Thank you for refunding my money.No Response
Sept 27th - I notice I have received my first negative feedback in nearly 7 years as an eBay member. woodysbooks left the following:
Left negative feedback without emailing to let us know about the problem.
I also receive an email from eBay that woodysbooks would like to mutually agree to withdraw feedback:
Message from seller:
I don't think I deserve a negative for this. Would you
consider mutual withdraw, since this isn't worth it to damage both our profiles.
I lose my cool with them, but I had to vent. I realy feel for people who have had to endure a false accusation now. My response to Woody's:
I just received notice of your negative feedback and request to withdrawl. You
people are absolutely incredible. I make a purchase for a new copy of Moby Dick
with an ISBN of the actual book. You send me a used Jr. High school picture book
version. I write to you and request a refund. You say you are out, but you still
sell the same book. I eventually got a response with a return address. I
promptly return the book and wait nearly a month emailing you 3 TIMES requesting
status and I hear absolutely nothing. I warn you that I am going to give you
negative feedback, still nothing, SO WHAT WAS MY OPTION?!?!?
Give
me ONE, JUST ONE GOOD REASON I SHOULD WITHDRAW MY NEGATIVE FEEDBACK. CAN YOU
NAME ONE GOOD REASON?!?!?! I CANT
All the negative feedback you
get, you deserve. The only way I could get your attention was to file a
complaint with paypal buyer protection that threatened your account status to
get any reaction. And then you pretend to have just received the book I know you
already got and then have the nerve to say in your negative feedback that I
never responded. Sorry, but I will not be blackmailed into withdrawl. Your
practices are unethical and I only hope that some day your account and business
gets shut down. I will put all the comments in my blog with all my references of
how you tried to blackmail a withdrawl and expose you for what you are, an
unscrupulous business who should be ashamed of themselves.
Instead
of spending so much time trying to black mail half.com users, why don't you spend the time doing a quality
job. I know I try my hardest when I sell on eBay and Half and it is far more
rewarding.
Again - No response
Sept 18 - After a cooler head prevails, I decide to take them up on their offer but to create this blog and a link from my negative feedback reply so there is a permanent record that they can't cover up.
This is a bad news outfit. I received email from other users who also had problems. Looking at woody's feedback left for others, their last 58 feedbacks left for others, 57 has been with the standard "Left negative feedback without emailing to let us know about the problem" response. Many replies came back with comments of Woody's retaliation.
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=woodysbook&ftab=FeedbackLeftForOthers
Just so you understand, I am not the only lunatic in the asylum, here are some of the negative feedback replies left from others to woodysbooks:
- Bad seller deserved a neg feedback, then retaliated! He should not get away with
- He left neg.feedback to make me withdraw deserved neg. Check his feedbacks left!
- My reply was more than accurate. You have done this with numerous other buyers
- I paid for the item in July, I never received it, take a hint not my fault
Actually e-mailed SEVERAL times and had to have my money refunded by ebay!!! - Left in an attempt to get me to remove a deserved neg. I gave this poor seller.
- This ass did not have item listed and took 9 days to refund.
- An ebay loser FRAUD seller cancels book order of $14 then relists at $240. BBB & DAcontacted
Woody's Books are just bad news. Hopefully their day will come. Sites like mine will try to expose them for who they are. Complaints to eBay from buyers who have been subjected to their tactics can help to get sellers like them suspended or removed. If you had an issue with this seller. Do not accept their abuse.
If you have had an issue or success, please lat me know and I will post constructive replies. As I get omore info on my complaints I will add to this post as well.
7 comments:
Woodys is owned by Woody Hunt, and his phone number is 925-459-5525. I agree that he is tough to do business with. Operates on the shady side of the street.
I also agree this is a bogus vendor. I ordered a book on Deecember 17th, 2009 and am pretty sure I will never receive it. I have finally filed a claim with Amazon to be refunded. I have emailed Woody's tons of times, to be met with pathetic excuses and empty promises. I cannot believe that Amazon uses them as a vendor!!! Do NOT purchase from them!
Wow, I thought I was the only one who bought from the bookseller from hell. I ordered from Woody's via the Marketplace @ Amazon.com. I was replacing a book that Amazon.com sent incorrectly. At the time I placed my order, I used the "ask seller a question" feature and asked if there was anyway to expedite the book beyond their expedited shipping (at my expense, of course) as I was ordering a text book that my college bookstore fouled up, then Amazon sent the wrong book I asked to be overnight shipped 3 days later. No response to my question, so I asked again. Still no response. This was jan 22. I did get an automated response from them Jan 23 they shipped my book USPS Media Mail, which is NOT expedited shipping in my opinion. I was very upset in that they just didn't respond to the question I asked twice or I would have ordered elsewhere. Also their page on Amazon.com said my book would ship from California. My shipping address is in California, so I figured I would receive my book quickly. Imaging my surprise when my automated shipping email stated my book may ship from another zip code (althogh they can't say where) This to me is very deceptive. After the better part of a week going back and forth whith this company, I now get an email saying the book was damaged in transit! Would I like them to come up with some alternatives to replace it or refund my money? This is now Jan 28. I demanded they replace via USPS Express Mail so I could have my book tomorrow, again offering to pay extra. They did respond saying "I apologize but we currently don't have the tools to
overnight or next day any items. Our fastest shipping is
Expedited.
-Oliver
Woody's Books"
This is the EXACT question I asked twice when I placed my order. Had they had the common decency to answer this a week ago, I would have ordered elsewhere. I have reported them to Amazon.com and demanded my money be refunded today. Hopefully that happens and I don't have to dispute the charge with my credit card as I am already having to do that with the book Amazon.com shipped incorrectly 2 weeks ago.
A shame that a simple thing like an unanswered question can snowball into this fiasco.
Woody's Books is still at it. I ordered a book from them at the end of March. I received an email the next day (the 28th) saying that it was shipped. Then, a week later, I got another email saying that it was delayed due to textbook season (hello, textbook season is in the late summer & Dec/Jan). They said that it had shipped on April 5 & could take up to 21 business days. However, I know USPS media mail shipping. It only takes 1 week to get from California to Maryland. Finally, on April 19th, I got my book - but it wasn't shipped from Woody's in California. It was shipped from Housing Works Book Cafe in NYC. Most of their emails were just canned responses and sometimes they didn't respond at all. I agree w/ Jeff, I should've taken a closer look at their feedback rating.
I have a problem with Woody's books as well. Amazon won't allow me to write all that I want to say. I'm just going to place this website address in the feedback box. Thanks for this blog.
I have never had an issue with ordering online with the exception of this online store. I ordered a textbook for a 6 credit course I am taking at my school and he sent me the sixth edition. The book was not in its original packaging and was covered with black smudges and markings. He omitted vital information that I needed to identify the correct book. I ordered based on the picture which shows the ninth edition cover. I checked out two items from amazon the first arrived three days later. I recieved this particular book a two weeks later. I believe the seller intentionally omitted the title information in order to trick someone into buying this outdated version of a book he clearly could not sell otherwise. I filed a claim with amazon and sent the seller two e-mails, the first resulting in a typical impersonal auto response type e-mail and the second I have yet to hear back. I am now several weeks into the course and I do not have the required text which was not made available through the campus bookstore per the instructors request. If the world were just he should have to pay for wasting my time. Terrible model for business ethics!
I just went thru this with this darn company. I used Barnes & Noble Marketplace to order thru. I had never done so, and I will never again. I needed the book I ordered for school, it was listed as new....it came completely highlighted throughout and written on. Also, late as ever! I am currently trying to get my money back, but it is a long drawn out process. B&N tells me to start with them. I've done so, and I am now into week two of this issue!!!
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