Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/22/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I use Ingram to order wholesale for my store. When I first started it was fine, but the service has declined so badly over the last 4 years that I feel I have to do something. They are supposed to ship me goods for resale, but every single package is damaged, with 1/3rd of the contents being totally unsalvageable. I then have to spend my own time and resources shipping the damaged goods back to them. It means a cycle of damaged goods that are wasting resources on both sides and my absoloute lack of trust in their services to begin with. I have tried over and over to speak to someone there meaningfully to lobby for improvement but all I ever get are customer service **** with prewritten speeches. This company is obviously wealthy enough to absorb all of this, but I an others who depend upon them are not. Lately things are getting worse. The problem is that they have a monopoly, though maybe not classifiably so in a legal manner, but in a practical way there is a total monopoly so I am forced to do it to stay in business. Therefore they continue to be dismissive and allow their services to erode further and further every day.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/03/2025

  I am responding to the complaint from Mr. ******* of Aeon Bookstore, in *********  Mr. ******* did not provide any order numbers or an account number so that I could research his issues with damaged shipments.  I was able to track down his account number, which is *******.  In searching our system, we have not had any orders from this account for the last 30 days.  Aeon Bookstore would have a primary and secondary warehouse.  Our Pennsylvania location would be his primary warehouse, we would be his secondary.  There are orders that have shipped out of the Pennsylvania warehouse in the last 30 days.

  I am sorry that Mr. ******* is disappointed in the quality of our service. We are focused on providing books to our customers in good condition, but carrier damage can be an issue.  It sounds like Mr. ******* has been able to return and receive credit for the damages he received from Ingram.  We will continue to strive to improve our packing processes.

  **** *****

   

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/11/2025

  This is not about any single order. Ive been making these complaints directly to Ingram for over 4 years, during which time your company has done nothing to improve either methods or standards by which the merchandise is picked, packed, and shipped, nor has there been any improvement in terms of rectifying your mistakes once made and in fact it has gotten worse. For four years I've had to spend precious hours repacking your faulty merchandise to ship back, costing me time & money and contributing to a cycle of waste. I am shocked that a company with resources such as yours does not see fit to do more to take responsibility. I know other stores discard thousands of dollars in damaged books because it is easier for them to put in the trash than try to return them to you. I work with many other distributors and in every case where they make an error, they take on the responsibility themselves instead of passing it along. Even within your own system, IPS offers flexibility for damaged books to be donated with full credit reversal, which at least allows me to move on from the damaged products instead of having to ship them back with my own resources and then wait several weeks or months to receive my original credit. I expect more and I really hope that you take responsibility.  Whether that means extending the refund that is offered as it is in IPS or other distros like PRH. Or perhaps start using better boxes, better material, better training for warehouse employees, and better overall standards. I say this as a customer of over 6 years who has seen this service decline over that time. Sadly, myself and others need your company to function but at least I can make a statement that I hope is of any consequence towards any kind of improvements at all.
  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/19/2025

  I am sorry that Mr. ******* is unhappy with Ingrams service and apologize for the frustration that we have caused.  We do value his business.  We do constantly review our packing, quality control, and training procedures in response to feedback from our customers.  I have placed Aeon Bookstore on ************* in our distribution center, so that future orders will go through an additional quality check prior to shipment. 

  I cannot address Mr. ******** concerns about Ingrams credit and returns policy, but I will forward them to our home office for review.

  I appreciate Mr. ******* taking the time to share his issues and concerns.  We will use his feedback to make improvements in our processes.

  
  **** *****
  Director of Operations