A $44.95 lesson in terrible customer service
I rarely leave one-star reviews, but Rare Book Cellar’s handling of a very simple customer service issue earned this one.
I paid an additional $44.95 for USPS Priority Mail Express because the book was a gift for a specific milestone birthday. It arrived too late for the occasion.
When I contacted Rare Book Cellar, Benjamin’s position was essentially that once they handed the package to USPS, the problem was no longer theirs. I pointed out that I had paid Rare Book Cellar—not USPS—for expedited shipping, and suggested an extremely reasonable solution: if USPS is responsible for refunding a failed Priority Mail Express delivery, Rare Book Cellar could simply file the refund request as the purchaser of the postage and pass that refund along to me.
I received no response.
The book itself was lovely. The customer service was not. Losing a customer over a $44.95 shipping charge that the seller may be able to recover from USPS seems remarkably shortsighted, particularly for a specialty business where trust and repeat customers matter.
Unfortunately, I won’t purchase from Rare Book Cellar again.