Books-A-Million — Local services in South Bradenton

I have always loved BAM and have visited this location several times. Each time has been pretty good- the employees are nice and so are the customer service representatives. The first problem I ran into was when I went in a couple days ago for their buyback program. The manager (Vanessa), who ran that section, was late to work by about 10 minutes. That was fine, I understand it happens. However, she was rude to me when I was making an effort to be patient after I'd been waiting for her for several minutes. I asked her several questions about the program and she seemed impatient with me and made no effort to explain anything. I've done buyback at other places before and just was wondering how this was different. Then she actually started processing my books, without giving me a time estimate. About ten minutes after I figured out why she didn't give me a time estimate- she was talking with her co-workers instead of working on processing the books. I wouldn't have particularly cared if she'd given me an estimate so I could have come back, but she didn't, so I'd just been sitting in the store, waiting. When I finally went to check back at the counter, she'd finished and seemed to be making an extra effort to be nice, which made me wonder if she felt guilty for being rude to begin with or perhaps guilty for neglecting her job. Needless to say, I won't be doing buyback at this store again. I wish this experience had been much better because the rest of the employees seem very understanding and...

DISHONEST, SNEAKY CASHIER!! He offered me to sign up for 3 free magazines. I declined because I did not want an ongoing subscription after the initial free magazine and he said it would not automatically withdraw from my card...that I would need to complete and send in the subscription card in order to begin an ongoing subscription. This was a lie! Now I'm dealing with a 'frozen bank account' due to fraudulent activity on the card...which is a result of the first of a recurrent subscription fee being charged to my account. I can no longer use my card and I now have to get a NEW card and re-establish and update all the automatic bill payments that were being billed to my account through the initial card.

Also, during this same visit as I was cashing out, he offered me to sign up for their discount club. He told me it was free. I agreed to sign up. When he rang up my purchase, I noticed that the total was kind of high. I asked him to review the purchases and he tells me that there is a one time enrollment fee (I forget what it was...maybe $25 or something) for the discount club. He failed to inform me of that when he first pitched the discount club to me. I had him void that off the purchase.

He was very dishonest and sneaky and has caused me significant inconvenience, now having to dispute the magazine charge to the account and having to re-establish my auto-withdrawals with certain companies. That was my first AND LAST time at...

SCAMMED OUT OF MY MONEY: Oh this store is lovely. So many books to choose from and cute little toys for kids to enjoy too! This also hides the sleazy, disgusting sales tactics they have behind closed doors. I had never been to a BAM before, but I was going with a friend because he needed something for someone. I had happened to see something I had wanted, so I take it to the register to buy it. My friend used cash, but I used Debit card for mine. The cashier offered me the rewards service, but as nice as the place was, I prefer online shopping so I declined. He tried throwin guilt on me like I was an idiot for declining it, but whatever. It's a sales-tactic. Then, he says I'm supposed to pic three magazine subscriptions for a free-trial. He said I'd just get the three free magazines and be done. Well, he seemingly wouldn't take "No" for an answer, so I circled the magazines and said whatever. I'll use them for crafts or toss them. This was a while ago, so I think I only used my PIN when I finished my purchase, NOTHING was said about any recurring payments. Well scooch up to today, I get $66.00 charged to my bank account. I get so livid. I was told NOTHING about this, and no fine print was shown to be read. Well, I had to do some heavy searching to find some numbers to call and cancel this, and I got a new bank card in case they wanted to try anymore funny business. Never coming here again, and I hope this...