Books-A-Million - Reviews and experiences

I get an automated email calling my order a pre-order, then a human reply saying it's backordered. So which was it? In stock, pre-order, or backordered? No one seemed to know, and their site flip-flopped to "Unavailable" a few days later. Because it was a signed edition and hard to find, I kept watching the clock and watching the page, feeling more and more like I was on hold with their inventory system rather than with a company that actually wanted my business. I asked customer service directly if my order guaranteed me a copy since I bought it while it still showed available. The answers were vague — stuff about pending charges, that the charge drops when it ships — but no straight "yes, you'll get it" or "no, sorry, we messed up." So after a few days I ordered the same signed edition from Amazon, which I didn't really want to do but, well, you do what you have to. Amazon arrived within a week and the signed copy was exactly what I hoped — the handwriting on the title page felt personal, the paper had that nice density and smell that makes you hold a book a second longer before opening it. That tactile bit really mattered to me; I was relieved to finally have the object in hand, but annoyed at how avoidable the whole thing was. Customer service is the difference between a store that earns repeat visits and one I won't bother with again. A simple apology and an honest update on stock status would have saved me time and the whole extra order. My little tip for others: if it's a scarce signed edition, don't wait for a vague "ready to ship" line — confirm, or if you can, buy from somewhere that actually guarantees it. Emotionally? I was a mix of relief and mild irritation — happy with the book itself, irritated at the process. I probably won't order from Books-A-Million again unless they sort out their inventory messaging and customer replies.