Fully Booked Online Store Review

I had to wait a whole day before writing this just to make sure I'm not making a review out of frustration.

Here's the thing, it's my nephew's birthday on the 10th, he's turning 9 years old. Sad to say but he's never experienced opening a wrapped present for his birthday. EVER. Let's just say, we're not accustomed to wrapping gifts or throwing themed parties. For birthdays, we usually eat out or cook food at home and invite close relatives.Grandparents, aunts and uncles usually give money as a gift thinking it's better that the money is used to buy something useful and not some random toy they pick up in the toy store.

Sounds practical. But this year, it's different. We wanted to buy him presents.

Being a book lover myself, I wanted to get him The Spiderwick Chronicles. It's not something he asked for but it's something I wanted him to read. It's a personal favorite of mine (which is why I wanted him to share my enthusiasm for the book)

Checking National Bookstore here in my town (we have only one, it's in SM Baguio), I felt outraged that they don't have a copy. Well, to be honest, I was irritated that the woman in their customer service said they don't carry that book. If I wanted it, they can order it through Amazon but I have to wait for a month. I shop online A LOT. I could have done that but I need the books this week. Err.

So browsing online, I found a few sellers here in the Philippines that were selling their used set for cheaper prices. Thing is, how cheap can I be, right? First wrapped present and I buy my nephew a used book. Browsing. Browsing. Fully Booked has an online store. I type in the book and tadah! They have the book. Yeiy me! Despite being unsure how soon they can send it,(nothing on their site has shipping information) I bought the book using my card.

I got this response:

I thought, hmm, who's A-Solutions Inc. Anyway, I got redirected to this page:

Okay, that's it? Alright, let me check my email for a confirmation. NOTHING. Nothing came that day. Nothing. No, Thank You for shopping! No, here are your order details! No, contact this person or this number for more inquiries, etc. NOTHING.

Then the next day, I got an email saying they don't have the books.

I responded hoping that they won't give me store credit like most online stores do.

And this is the response I received:

I've checked my card account and I haven't received my money back. I worked as a customer service agent for T-Mobile UK for 9 months. I understand that it takes a while for vioded payments to reflect on client's bank statements. I completely understand that.

In short, I wasn't able to get my nephew the book for his birthday.

What's my beef with Fully Booked Online store? 

1. Stocks should be updated in their stores. Every online store should do that so customers know it's OUT OF STOCK, thus CAN NOT BE PURCHASED and PAID during Check out.
2. Fully Booked should create a page on the site about payment options, shipping options, number of days to expect your order and more on how to contact them! Their Contact Us page is a list of their stores, addresses and numbers. 

I'm not sure it makes sense to buy their book online and call their stores to ask them about the purchase. Right?

Why am I writing this? Well, I hope that anyone who, (in the future) would want to buy something off Fully Booked's online store would think twice. Buy the book in their stores or elsewhere.

In case you're not familiar, this is Fully Booked's Logo. To avoid any copyright issue, I got this logo from this site.

Don't get me wrong. I love Fully Booked stores! I used to spend house just walking inside Fully Booked in Gateway.