Doubleday Book Club
Reviews and Complaints

I subscribed for BMC Doubleday Book membership, but nowhere was mentioned that I need to pay them some money. They made two charges ( $15.90 and $46.96 ) from my credit card without permission. I tried to contact them but nobody answers.

Same problem, I bought more than 4 books and they just counted three. They don't explain you when you do your commitment that the books you're going to buy to fulfill your commitment have to be over certain price. Now, almost two month before the due date they're threatening me with charges for the last book. I'm just waiting for this last book to cancel my account, worst deal ever.check this too; I received two books I didn't order and had to do the whole return process. So be on top of your email, they send you features selection and if you don't refuse it they'll send it to you and charge your credit card. My opinion: stick with Amazon and stay away Doubleday book club, no matter how wonderful sounds the deal, it's just a big trap

i ordered books from this company on 11/3/2017. The money was removed from my account. When i sent them an email...they informed me i had no account...yet my bank statement shows that they received payment from my credit card. I cant get anything done...it has ruin xmas for my two grandchildren because they expected to receive the books as part of their xmas gift...

I joined Doubleday a couple of years ago. I received an email reminding me to fulfill my obligation by July 9, 2017. They charged my card $72.00 on JUNE 15, 2017. I managed to finally get someone at Customer Service [protected]) and was told I was sent the wrong date on the email and that it was too bad for me and they would not refund my money or the overdraft fee. They also said they were getting calls like that all day. I told them I would dispute the charge with my bank and they said to go ahead. Really? These people are horrible. If you know a mistake was made, make it right!

This online book club has very limited selection of books. They used a discounted rate to allure me to purchase the membership. But the purchase commitmment policy is not very clear until I learned that hard way. To fullfil the commitment, you have to order books of their own selections, have to be over $9.99 after discounts, etc. So there is very limited selection. The website is very confusing to get the information you need. If you need to call to find an answer, good luck somebody will pick up the phone. I think I won't use this bookclub after I fulfil the purchase commitment.

I completely agree with you on this one. Their membership agreement doesn't say the minimum 'regular price' that you need to buy. I had requested a cancellation before the initial 30 day period but some how I kept receiving the books. I returned all of them and again requested them not to send me any more books. After more than one year they are sending me bills for $78.00 after their attempt to charge my card was unsuccessful. I refused to pay and wanted to see the membership agreement I had signed which they never sent to me. Then I got a call from a collection agency and I told them about my dispute. The collection agency then sent me the agreement. It doesn't say anything about the minimum price or, what the bill will be, if you don't buy the 5 books from them.

I do not plan to pay them without a fight. I haven't used any of their services nor did I read even one book. They just lured my 8 year old son with a seemingly incredible offer and he signed up with my card. I take responsibility for his action but I want to know what made them not cancel my order when I called within the trial period, and why they don't talk upfront about their $78.00 bill if you don't keep up your purchase agreement. I'm no legal expert but some thing tells me, you cannot keep that amount out of the contract.

Risks of not paying this $78.00 are that collection agency might harass me by calling me now and then. That I can live with. Then they can and most probably will report it the credit agencies. As per FICO 2017, any collection amount below $100, won't affect my credit score. Lenders might be able to see this collection but I have a very good credit history so they will not mind. If worse comes, I know enough customers like me to start a class action. Now, that would be fun!

The website is vague at best about how to meet the commitment. I have not seen anything listed next to book descriptions as to whether or not they will fulfill that commitment if you purchase them. This makes it easy for them to scam you in the end. The website says to me (after I signed up) books purchased at regular member's price will fulfill the commitment and on average that price is $18.99. But if you go onto a new member signup page and click on the membership agreement link all it says is their club editions usually cost between $12.99-$18.99 and that you can save up to 50% off the publisher price. It does not say that your purchases have to cost a minimum amount to meet your membership commitment. Yet, if the regular member price is $5.99, they won't count it. It was the regular price, not clearanced. That happened to me.

I too had numerous requests for featured selections through Doubleday Book Club for November/December 2010. I went on the site four times throughout November to deny featured selections. I thought the featured selections were a monthly request. Unfortunately, I did not receive an email re: one of the featured selections requests for November/December (which is a request for two books at a time, not just a single book per request) so missed the chance to decline it and received two books today. I do not plan on paying for them, nor for their return shipping. I have emailed the company three separate times and am waiting for a response as to how to handle this. I'm hoping to return the books on their dime since I did not receive the email re: those featured selections and since it was obviously some type of fraud/scam since 5 featured selections requests were made through November and December. That's a bit excessive!

If you opened an account with Doubleday, write their Customer Service Department including photocopies of the bill(s) and your checks, money orders, or whatever instruments you used to pay. Ask them to cease and desist from seeking payment when you have a zero balance in your account. Tell that you are cancelling that account (have the account number to hand) forthwith. Send a copy (I'd use certified mail with a return receipt for both letters) of the letter to the colletion agency along with a cover letter requesting that they cease and desist from harassing you for money you have remitted in full to the vendor and that you have closed the account.

Check on your state's consumer protection statutes and if there are such that protect you from such conduct, cite the statute in each letter. If the statutes provide remedies for the consumer, cite the remedies the law provides you.

Report the incident to the Better Business Bureau. Do not send any originals of your documentation. If necessary have a notary public certify that the copies you will send are true and faithful copies of the original documents (or whatever wording your state required the notary to put on the documents). Report the removal of charges to your credit card issuer and to the three credit bureaus that track consumer's history of payments. By law you are permitted to challenge and correct misinformation in the records of those credit bureaus.

Do not threaten either the vendor or the collection agency unless you are willing to follow through on your threat.

I have received countless phone calls from the National Recovery Agency telling me that I purchased books from Double Day Book Club in 2008, and that if I don't pay $90 that I owe for the books, then my name will be placed on the "bad credit list" for 7-10 years. They have an address on file that I was not living at in 2008, and I honestly do not recognize the book club's name or books they claim I have purchased.

I refuse to pay the $90 because I think this is a fraudulent company, and I don't want to be scammed.

I did accounts with both Childrens BOMC and Double Day BOMC and eveytime I make a payment I noticed things were not right. They charge me for books I did not order and for charges for books I have not recieved. The fulfillment always changes and seems to never end. The invoice under the website is not right either. You will see charges and no books listed for those charges. I had paid one and did so over the phone and told the CSR to cancel the account, she said she is doing that now and next thing I know I get another bill and no idea what for.

I have recently checked my credit report [protected]) and have found that I am 90 days past due on an account that I have never opened...I am finding more and more companys that enroll you into there business without your permission and are getting away with it, what can we as the consumer do to stand up to this ...Now I have to go through the hassel to clean up my report. I buy straight off the shelve at the store...seemed to be the safest but has still turned my life upside down...This company dosen't list a contact phone number (can't imagine why) but I have found a number for those of you that have also been ripped off...[protected] or [protected]

I specifically sent an email inquiring if Nora Robert book packs costing over $10. counted towards my obligation. I received the reply below. The pack I bought was 2 books for 19.99 plus shipping and handling - nothing in the details or description of the book pack indicated that it did not apply to my obligation. However, upon receivieng the books, I am still showing an obligation. Basically it doesn't seem to matter what you do, even if you specifically ask, they don't have to provide accurate or correct infomation!

I asked: (cut and pasted from the email) - Do multi-book sets over $10. (like Nora Roberts sets) count towards the
purchase agreement?

I recieved back: (cut and pasted from the email) Dear Member,

Thank you for contacting us to assist in your understanding of the types
of purchases that count toward your purchase agreement.

Featured Selections and club-priced selections of at least $9.99 do
count toward your purchase agreement. Sale books may not count, so
please refer to the specific sale offer details to verify. Non-book
items such as music, video, and merchandise products may not count
toward the purchase agreement.

To further clarify, a return of any qualifying selection will reduce
your number of accumulated purchases toward your purchase agreement.

For your convenience, you may view your current purchase commitment
status by clicking on the "Account" icon located below our website
navigation bar.

If we may be of further service, please don't hesitate to contact us.

hmmm strange how it ended up on your report. Usually they need a social security number to do that otherwise they can't prove who actually got the books.

Imagine my surprise after receiving an email from Doubleday stating that I had not fulfilled my requirement of ordering 4 books. (Last year, I received an email from them stating I still had one book left to order towards my commitment.) Called their [protected] number, asking for an audit of all the books I'd ordered since joining. Oddly enough, Doubleday doesn't keep order histories beyond 18 months. Really? A book club that almost insists upon everything being done virtually, and they don't have the capacity to keep order histories? I'm hoping I've saved that earlier email, stating that I have one book left...but if I didn't save it, I'll play their silly game. The email they sent has an order form on it. I'll simply mail it in and insist that they bill me as, oddly enough, I don't have the capacity to keep track of my credit card...which forced me to report it as lost/stolen...thereby canceling it. UPDATE: I just called the [protected] number again. Ordered 4 books from the CSR, but I refused to offer a new credit card #. She stated that they'd "make an exception" this time and bill me directly ($83.42). By doing it this way, I don't get the book or shipping "discounts"...but what I do get is piece of mind, after she confirmed for me that this would satisfy my 4 book obligation. (IOW, if I'd ordered online, one of the books wouldn't count towards my commitment.) Once I get the bill, I'll have my credit union cut a cashier's check w/my DD account number and a statement in the memo section telling DD to close my account, paid in full.

I've been a member of the club for a little over two years and haven't had any real problems yet. Sometimes I forget to cancel my monthly selection but aside from that my experiences have ben good.In the begning I was a little upset about my purchaes not counting towards my commitmet. But after talking to customer service I learned that Booksearch plus books and any book under 10.99 don't count towards it. It's all in the fine print which I failed to read as well. But I find being diligant with customer serivce helps. In the end what little hassle I had was worth it. Their prices are slightly less then retail and when they have a sale it's like highway robbery.I love that I can charge my purchases and pay when I get the chance. I guess it's not a club for everyone but I certainly like it.

I am having the same problem with Doubleday. Got the same info from their customer service about Book Search Plus. And - the books I ordered happen to be on backorder, but Doubleday won't cancel the order - I have to wait for it to show up, return it (no doubt at my own expense after being charged $9 for shipping!) and then wait another 4-6 weeks for my account to be credited. I'm sure by the time all is said and done, I'd be spending more on shipping than on the books so I might as well just keep it when/if it ever shows up.

They won't cancel it, but they can't tell me how long it will be on backorder. Great customer service.

My advice to anyone thinking about subscribing to Doubleday - don't!

I just posted a comment about my book club, The Rhapsody Book club and the problems I've had through them with Book Search Plus books. I got one book through Book Search Plus (with the knowledge of what they were and how it works through my account). I got that one book ok. The second book I ordered, that was over two weeks ago and have no idea when or if I will ever get it. It's very frustrating. I tried the email address for Book Search Plus, and it came back to my email address as being undeliverable. There is a phone number, but it's in Oregon! That's long distance, and I have no long distance service on my phone. I have tried to get this taken care of through my book club, and have gotten no help. It's just ridiculous. What kind of a book club, what kind of a company would have this book search plus as a part of their club, but they don't take responsibility for it? They don't give you any help. They offer it, they should be responsible for it.

YES great post- The "One spirit book club" is doing the Exact same fraudulent move with this made up "Book search plus" Scam.

I'm forwarding all of their responses to me to my State's Attorney General as this clearly needs to be stopped & is illegal. Contact the Better Business Bureau as well!

Please, everyone take an active role & help put an end to these scams by simply being very vocal about them!

Book search plus was OBVIOUSLY the invention of a marketing executive, used to MANIPULATE their club members...VERY INTENTIONALLY DECEPTIVE!

I ordered a book from Doubleday thinking it would be part of my club membership. Well, I received a book from Book Search Plus, with no explanation if it was from Doubleday. It does have a return telephone number out of Oregon. Will attempt to call about order. I got the book I wanted but it will not qualify for the 'Doubleday club. Plus it was $3.46 more!

WOW - just discovered something else! I picked out 4 books that were not "book search plus" books...and what did they do? they discounted me on the cheapest one! Meaning, I would get the book, which was priced at $6.99, for $1.99...sounds great, until they tell me that it wasn't a REGULAR member price.

Thanks SO much for your post... I unfortunately am a member of this godforsaken book club (why, why, whyy?) and I'm getting out immediately, BUT of course I have to buy 4 books. I don't mind, really, I love books. Anyway, I picked some books and noticed that 3 of them are book search plus books! Thanks to you I took them out of my cart! So it seems, as I did search for those books, but the other one I just picked out of the bestsellers, that that's what that means... book SEARCH plus... if you searched for it, you're paying for it! Crazy. Thanks again! I guess I'll find 3 more "bestsellers" and get the heck out of this club. Silly me.

I signed up for them because i was expecting twins and thought it would be a good deal to have some childrens book via mail. I responded and declined all the featured selections they were wanting to send me. I called to be removed from the featured selection offers and the girl was very nice about it, said i was still to fulfill my obligation to purchase 2 more book at full price by Jan 1st 2013. Not a problem. I have 6 months to do so and i will. However, My issue is after not being sent any shipments because i was not on the featured selection and had not received any emails asking to accept or decline, I had a 44$ charge to my bank account that i did not authorize. I even went to the extent when i called originally to be removed from this option to changing my credit card number they have on file so it would come back un-payable there fore me not being charged. However, Don't ever give them ur number cuz when you change it they will still charge you the old card. So, now after being charged for books (i have NOT received) i am obligated to buy 2 more at full price and pay the fees to my bank for a charge on an account that i no longer use. So thank you doubleday bookclub for FML for another day...

I'll let the complaints about false advertising and non-existent customer service stand on there own - no need to repeat those experiences. But you would think that a "book club" would operate with a little class and integrity. Not so Doubleday. In less than a 12 month period I received more than 135 emails. What kind of a reputable business needs to create that confusion in the buying, obligation, specials, etc. There were to have been 12 buying decisions in the 12 months. When I asked them to expain why I received more than 135 emails they simply did not communicate back to me. However, the emails continue even though they now confirm my membership cancelled. One last point; I thought I had completed my purchase obligation by purchasing two book recordings - current selections in their emails - only to find out that $35 recorded books from their
selection list does not count. Stay away from these scam artists.

Doubleday Book Club uses misleading practices to send you books you do not request or want and to chrge your credit card without you realizing until it's too late. 1) DD did not recognize the extra book I purchased when I first joined as applying to my overall commitment, even though DD itself pushed the purchase specifically to help appply towards the final commitment.

2) The Featured Selections process is VERY misleading and seems set up to take your money without you knowing. You are supposed to get a Featured Selections Email which gives you the option to deline the 2 books offered. However, the Featured Selection actually offers 4 books but only lets you decline 2 of them. You have to visit the website to decline the 2 others, but the Featured Selection email does not tell you that, so when decline what is offered, they send you the other books and charge you for those and shipping and wrapping.

3) In a 3 week period, I not only got the Featured Selection email for 4 books, 2 of which I was allowed to decline, buta week AFTER the email, ANOTHER 2 Featured Selection books were posted to the website to be accepted/declined, and I received NO email!

4) Total cost of this process - over $75 in books that Doubleday misleads the visitor in having to pay for in November/December 2010.

Really, don't get sucked in to the promotion. You will find your credit card charged for books you don't even know have been added to your account as a Featured Selection - you literally have to check the website every few days to make sure you aren't getting something slipped into your account without you being told. BEWARE!

This club is the worse book club ever. They send book I never order, they charge for books I never got. They let you wait online for 30 minutes and they can't provide an accurate answer to your complains! I have been trying to email them, it takes several weeks to get a response to a question I haven't made! Horrible, terrible! Don't get involve with those people! they will give you head cakes! I hope they close down and they get suit!

Last December (2012) I was billed for a "Featured Selection" that I never received. I used the e-mail link and received no response. My sister, Anne, has been practicing law for 22 years, including 10 years with the New York County DA's office, where she prosecuted only Felony sex crimes and had a great conviction rate. After her promised 10 years in return to her final promotion to Executive ADA., she joined omen of those "white shoe" law firm we hear so much about on "Law and Order" Anne's first letter (and she a subordinate research the specific statutes). I thought the DD staff simply couldn't understand her prose — OR because she had one of there support staff use her private practice letterhead (even ADAs are entitled to private practices on their own time; of course, they must be licensed attorneys), they didn't take it seriously. I also considered the possibility that true reader(s) didn't understand her prose. I'm a professor of English and Journalism, so I suggested I write the second letter to go out under her signature, after she reviewed it. I did and she did. Now several months later, they are beginning to billing cycle once more and there no phone number connecting us to real people. This isn't a HUGE
amount of money; my sister indicated at at her prevailing rate of $800/hour for "Out of Court" work, she just might send them a bill on the firm's letterhead. I've never had this trouble with any book club — but how stupid is Doubleday to ignore attorneys' letters citing the appropriate statues? An attorney doesn't have to be admitted to the Federal Bar and The Supreme Court of the United States to take action, but I couldn't afford my sister's (and her staff's) help if I had to pay for it. I seem to remember "restarting" an apparently resolved issues by starting from scratch, with the first "reminder" letter. My sister is so annoyed that she's planning on drowning Doubleday with paperwork, particularly Federal Court Orders. She has plenty of subordinates and friends (as well as the entire Civil Division, which she doesn't supervise directly, but friends of a decade) who will be glad to file them. She rankles at the waste of time and said perhaps she'll file suit; Doubleday has the burden of proof (which they do not) and she'll have two of her highest priced colleagues with her so that Doubleday will be saddled with at least $10K in Court Costs. They don't know all the sate and federal judges in this jurisdiction; between Anne and her friends, they do. I should bill them for my time, too. When I tutor college/grad students, I charge $125/hr. As posted above, this once was a honorable and honest company. I was a member about 10-12 years ago and never recalled any trouble of this nature.

I was just billed by Doubleday - for 2 - Automatic Shipments - because I'd failed to reply in time. I have no problem with that. The fault there is mine.'
However, I do have a problem when they bill me for both shipments - at the same time!
And both shipments just happen to be double books?
That's $48 taken out of my account at one time - without my prior knowledge or consent
Not only that - I had yet to even see the shipment from February!

I have since switched to paper notices with them - hopefully they will not repeat this again since they can't seem to bill you in the correct time frame.

when you fist start in this club you think that it is a good deal but they are just trying to get money out of you. they send you books that you didn't buy and then expect you to keep paying the charges from these books. This club really needs to make sure that their costumers understand what they are getting themselves into.

Block them. Easy as that.

Imagine my surprise after receiving an email from Doubleday stating that I had not fulfilled my requirement of ordering 4 books. (Last year, I received an email from them stating I still had one book left to order towards my commitment.) Called the 717 number listed above, asking for an audit of all the books I'd ordered since joining. Oddly enough, Doubleday doesn't keep order histories beyond 18 months. Really? A book club that almost insists upon everything being done virtually, and they don't have the capacity to keep order histories? I'm hoping I've saved that earlier email, stating that I have one book left...but if I didn't save it, I'll play their silly game. The email they sent has an order form on it. I'll simply mail it in and insist that they bill me as, oddly enough, I don't have the capacity to keep track of my credit card...which forced me to report it as lost/stolen...thereby canceling it.

[protected]...I called this number and it is Doubleday Book Club. I have already fulfilled my commitment and called them to cancel the automatic shipping of books from their "featured selection" list, or cancel my membership if they were unable to do that. The customer service rep changed my account over to an "order only" status and said that they would no longer automatically ship me books from their "featured selection" list. What a relief, that drove me crazy! They would send me books automatically from their "featured selection", though I had not received an email on those particular books. Several times I received an email to respond to their "featured selection", which I did every time without fail, and they would turn around and either send me the books anyway, or send me other books that were not even on the "featured selection" list that month. I emailed them and they did, however, send me a shipping label (at their expense) to return the books, which I did. I will wait and see how it goes with the "order only" status on my account and see if they treat me right. If they continue to send me books automatically, I will cancel my account. I do like the fact that their books are much cheaper than buying them at a store, especially when Doubleday runs specials and their books are very inexpensive.