NerdBooks.com Berates Its Customers
I had a team lunch at Cafe Brazil today (the one off 75 & Campbell in Richardson) and I planned on stopping by NerdBooks afterwards since they’re on the way back to the office. NerdBooks, for those who haven’t heard of them, is a bookstore specializing in computer and technology books. They have an online store (with discounts in line with other online bookstores), but they also have a physical store as well.
Up until recently, I couldn’t have recommended them highly enough. In some ways, it was the best of both worlds — you could get significant discounts on computer books (like an online store) but you could stop by the store to get it the same day (like a brick-and-mortar store). For instance, I was going there today to pick up O’Reilly’s Learning Unix for Mac OS X Tiger (just to get a better feel for the command line). It has a list price of $19.95, but NerdBooks was selling it for $11.57. And, with no shipping charges, I thought that was a pretty good deal.
Anyhow, I drove there after lunch, parked my car and walked up to the main entrance. As I opened the door, a Marmaduke-looking dog came jogging towards me. (To be sure, I’ve never had a dog, so it might not have been the same breed as Marmaduke.) The door didn’t have a self-closing mechanism, so it took me a second to realize that I needed to close it manually. As I did, the dog slowly approached the doorway and poked his head out.
“Is he an outside dog?”, I asked, attempting to project my voice into the store. Not more than a few seconds later, a man wearing nylon track pants and a fitted long-sleeved ribbed shirt came running along. He was apparently the owner of the store and, judging by the size of his neck, I was guessing that he lifted more than just books in his spare time. He then reached down and tugged the dog away from the entranceway and finished closing the door. You might think that he’d proceed to needlessly apologize for his playful dog as he welcomed me to his store. That was not the case.
Rather, he took this opportunity to berate me for the next two to three minutes about how I treated his dog. Most of it was a blur of grimacing and hand waving, but a few of his phrases included these tidbits:
- “How could you let him get out? […] ”
- “People open this door all the way and it hits the side of the building! […]” [I guess this was in reference to the non-self-closing door which, though it threw me off at first, I didn’t run into this issue.]
- “I don't mean to be an asshole, but I gotta protect my dog! […]”
- “This isn’t Nordstrom’s, you know. […]” [I’m not sure what he was getting at on this one.]
I was taken aback by these words being shouted in my general direction. All I had planned on doing was walking in, buying the book, and walking out. Instead, my perception of NerdBooks dropped like a stone. After the blowhard stopped talking, I simply turned around and walked out. I will not be shopping there again.
Wow. What a disappointing story. Someone recently posted a similar comment on my old post about Nerdbooks. If you read his story, you’ll see that it was very similar to yours except that this customer had his infant daughter with him at the time. The store owner reportedly thought it was more natural to have a dog at the store than for a customer to bring their child.
Your story corroborates that the owner seems to care more about his dog at the store than his customers. For me that’s very sad because personally the value proposition is to fulfill my need for instant gratification rather than waiting on shipping. That need doesn’t outweigh how my friends are treated though. I most likely won’t be heading back now myself.
Sorry to hear about your experience. Let us all know if you find an alternative local source of current tech books.
I’ll certainly let you know if I find an alternative. Even if there weren’t discounts, a friendly local bookstore would be a nice thing to have.
That sucks. He had no reason at all to get angry. And now he’s not only lost you as a customer, he’s lost a few more, too. I know that was an awful experience, but thanks for your word of warning.
I stopped going about a year and a half ago after I was berated for not having the proper punctuation in my street address. Apparently this causes his price per transaction to go up.
This wouldn’t be a big deal except that he lectured me for two to three minutes about how he’s running and business and how I shouldn’t be so lazy. I’ve never had this problem with anyone else before or since. He was insistent that before I buy anything again I make sure I talk to my bank and go through my address character by character with them. He seemed to take this as me personally trying to injure him.
It’s not that hard to install a self-closing mechanism. I did that once to all the doors in one house I lived in. It took me about 40 minutes to do that for four doors even though I’m not the handiest person with a screwdriver and a drill.
I wonder why Dallas has such a dearth of good independent booksellers. The only BookSense-affiliated bookseller in Dallas closed in December so there are only two in the Metroplex now, the Bookworm in Frisco and Brystone Children’s Books in Fort Worth.
I just experienced the exact same incident, except I had my two children with me. The dogs jumped my children and I tried to pick them up before he came out yelling at me saying this is no place for children. I had no idea children weren’t welcome as there was no sign on the door. I asked him if he they open for business. He proceeded to get real snotty and tell me how this is no place for children? What the heck? If you don’t want to sell books close the doors and lock them…and also don’t put an open sign above the front door. Finally one of his dogs jumped my two year old one too many times and I picked her up and said I was leaving. I said “I guess you don’t want my business” he then proceeded to comment rudely, “we don’t need your business…we ship everywhere all the time…” I said okay, we’re out of here. My children and I walked out and he followed screaming. I said to him at this point, “back off buddy, or I’m calling the cops.” He spewed some hatred at me and thats when I picked up my phone and dialed 911. He then yeller “I’ve got your license plate.” I said to him “Great, I havent done anything.” Richardson then proceeded to send out Animal Control and they had the nerve to ask me if I wanted to press charges. I said of course…they proceeded to write him a ticket. The idot had the nerve to call me a wacko. This guy is a few trees short of a forest. In the meantime, my uncle is a lawyer and I am pursuing owning his business some day. We’ll see! I would not recommend this business under any circumstances.
I can’t say enou
I’ve been to nerdbooks.com many times and have not had the above experience(s). In fact, I was there just last week, and the only dog present was a puppy labrador retriever - probably no more than 12 - 16 weeks old. He did jump on me but was just being playful. The only person I spoke with was polite though he was clearly busy with other tasks. Their place on Firman Drive is more of a warehouse than a storefront. I can look at the selection prior to purchase and leave with no shipping charges.
I’m thinking your story left out a few details but that’s fine. I actually enjoy the experience at nerdbooks and relish in the fact that it is not a “normal” storefront. The dog has been part of the experience. I think it’s cool that the guy can run a business where he can have his dog with him all day. I wish I could do that!
Given the choice between dogs and the bratty, out-of-control kids that seem to be in every public venue these days, I’ll take the Scooby Doos.
Not only is Nerdbooks the best place in the world to buy tech books, it is made even better by the fact that when you enter, you are not greeted by some teenager begging for any work they can get, you are greeted by a real man, and a real dog, and you are allowed to wander and scrounge… The walls are impressive, and the help is fantastic. If the rest of the world was based on this model, we’d all be happier…
Viva Los NerdBooks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ummm…has this post been trolled? There sure seems to be a sudden disagreement about this place. (not that I’ll ever go there since I live 2k miles away)
Josh - it sure seems that way, doesn’t it?
I spent two years as a bookseller at Borders, and while I can identify with Kyle’s comment about the out-of-control kids (there’s a reason Borders stores have the kids’ area sectioned off the way it is…), I don’t buy the notion that having a dog running around a bookstore, let alone a dog that (apparently) jumps all over the place, is anything even resembling a good idea. I’m sure I’ll get some pushback from dog owners about this, but I’ve found that while most dogs are calm and well-behaved around their owners and people they’re familiar with, they have a tendency to spaz out when they’re around unfamiliar people, let alone a store FULL of unfamiliar people. Add in the fact that you’d better be sure that the dog is a) housebroken, and b) knows not to eat the books - otherwise, you’re setting all of your shelves at least a foot off the floor (depending on the size of the dog).
If the owner of NerdBooks can’t keep control of his dog (honestly - a self-closing arm for his front door is too much to ask for?), then the dog shouldn’t be in the store. And he certainly shouldn’t be blaming his customers for the fact that he can’t control his dog. Unthinkable.
you know, I have to say that some of the responses to this post are complete and utter bullshit. the thing that is becoming most commonplace in the retail market is the fact that the consumer doesn’t matter at all; Alex’s experience with this NerdBooks place is just one of a million stories where the person spending the money and buying food for the goddamned dog is treated like a number. Real customer service has nearly disappeared in our society, and it’s a real shame.
Frankly, if the guy relishes the fact that he can bring his fucking dog into work and have that kind of “home” atmosphere about his establishment, you’d assume that he’d treat the people who come in to provide such an atmosphere for him with a little more respect. I’d rather pay a few bucks extra and get my purchases from somewhere that the owner doesn’t treat me like it’s a priveledge to shop at his store.
What a load of shit. Sorry you had this experience, Alex.
The contact us page on the website says warehouse and there is a big sign on the door that says that it is a warehouse storefront (the building is in somewhat of a warehouse district) and that there are dogs inside and be careful if you have small children because one of the dogs is a puppy. Read the sign next time. That being said sorry if you had a bad experience, I never have. I brought my 9 year old daughter there many times and she loves the dogs and has played with them for hours at a time. The dogs aren’t mean but one is a puppy and as such is playful. Nerdbooks prices are lower than amazon and bookpools and they have an incredible selection. I haven’t bought computer books anywhere else for over 2 years now.
I just took my last trip to Nerd books. Upon entering their advertised storefront, the door did not close behind me. I took approx. 5 steps and then turned around and closed the door. Apparently, this was not quick enough for the owner who rather than put a spring on the door would rather berate customers. I got the same degrading speech that other customers have commented on…. We really needed to pick up a ton of books, but there was no way we were going to make a purchase after being treated this way. As we exited the owner tried to give us a smug “Have a nice day”… When we did not respond he followed us outside to tell us that “he did not appreciate it being disrespected in his store!!” This guy is a moron. I hope that anyone that purchases books from this company never has to deal with the staff. In their words, “We only make a dollar per book”…
DK, What Contact Us Page are you looking at? and what sign are you talking about? DK are you the owner of NerdBooks? There is an advertisement right on the front page of the Nerdbooks.com website advertising the storefront, and there are not any signs indicating dogs are onsite. The owner will not even take the time to fix the door you think he is going to take the time to hang a sign? Many companies have storefront warehouses, but if you go into them they dont have the right to berate you just becuase it is their warehouse. You are a moron.
I can’t think of too many online stores that give you the ability to browse their inventory in person. The place is a warehouse not a store. It is not really even staffed and if you think about it, the owner puts a lot of trust in people because you basically have free reign inside. I can’t believe people are so easily offended. Just blow it off or don’t go there.
Like that other guy said, I haven’t bought a technical book anywhere else in the last 2 years.
I do not live near their business as I am from Florida. However, I have ordered several times from their site, and the service was always top-notch. Roughly a month ago, I asked that the books being ordered be sent immediately as I was having surgery (didn’t tell them what type) and wanted to get the box before my hospital stay. I put these comments into their Comments Box on the last page of the shopping cart. Less than a week later and just before surgery, I received 10 dozen roses from an anonymous person at nerdbooks.com - the note said, “Wishing you a speedy recovery”. I’m not only a dog-lover but a nerdbooks.com customer for life. Something seems fishy about some of these postings. same person posting over & over?
My mom, sis & I have a bookstore (Brystone Children’s Books, which was mentioned in an earlier post.) We have 2 dogs with us at all times in the store, but they are kept in the back room, so they won’t bother customers. I wonder why the owner of NerdBooks doesn’t keep his dogs in the back, too?
What bothers me is, he is giving all independent booksellers a bad name! Most independent booksellers are very helpful & friendly.
People, please don’t let this bad experience turn you against your local businesses. Faceless corporations gives little back… independent businesses are the lifeblood of a community!
I was there recently at this bookstore with my wife. Soon after I started looking into books, the owner in shorts came to me unprovoked and said(nearly yelled) “Hey, after you and your wife came here the door was left wide open, letting the dog go out”. I immediately said sorry (I thought my wife did not close the door behind me). That did not make stop him as he went on “Had the dog been run over by some vehicle you would be very sorry for your actions”(that was rough I thought). I said sorry after that eventhough I was upset; later my wife told me that she infact closed the door but the latch was loose. Then the two big dogs were annoying my wife who was sitting behind me and after sometime the dogs were engaged in some lousy acts with each other behind my book rack and me moving there making them growl at me. I called the owner and asked him to call the dogs to his room, instead of being apologetic the owner shows me the door and asks me to read small A4 sheet stuck somewhere on the wall outside. What a pathetic snob.
The owner is definitely a few screws short. I have read the negative posts and same story….My husband is an engineer and a group of people at the large defense contractor company he works for had ordered about 10 books. I picked them up and was just trying to make small talk with the owner about his logo. He was very short and rude with me.
Okay, maybe a bad day - the next time the husband wanted to see if they had a book, and I didn’t want to go in but we had our two kids (4 and 2) with us and it is Texas, so way too hot to wait in the car. We went in and with kids by my side, I went to get them a drink from the little “hospitality” station they have. The owner stormed behind me and yelled, “did you read the SIGN????” What? “oh, I’m sorry, is the machine out of drinks. I didn’t see a sign. Sorry.” Very angrily, he tells me “No! The sign out front that says there is a puppy here!”
Instead of him being apologetic and using a friendly tone of voice, he acted like I was the problem. I am an animal lover and agree with the poster about maniacal children running around, but that was not the case. Needless to say, we will never go back and the rude owner has become a legend at the hubby’s “large defense contracting company” and they are not giving him business any more.
As for the lady who ordered on-line and got flowers, it seems as if this owner has impeccable email manners and should limit his business to on-line only. There are too many people with similar posts for this to be random bad days…. He is a nut case, a squirrel’s dream man.
I can’t say that Nerdbooks’ telephone demeanor is any more reasonable than in person.
I work for a mid-sized provider of solutions here in Dallas. A few weeks ago I needed a book right away, so I called Nerd Books. Mistake #1.
I asked the person who answered what time their retail store closed. This triggered an angry response about how it was not a retail store, but rather a Warehouse.
The unprovoked, condescending language continued until he got to the part about the notes on the door, which he “suggests I read before coming in”.
Brilliance! What customer would not want to drive 30 minutes to a store, just to see if they qualify to shop there? It reminds me of the Seinfeld “Soup Nazi” episode.
I found that the Richardson library had all the books I needed anyway (http://www.cor.net/library). I’ll be donating my used books to them.
Needless to say, I warned my coworkers and those at my wife’s company about this behavior.
If customers are such a nuisance, why doesn’t this guy close the store, and just stand outside all day cursing at people with a megaphone? It would be more healthy for everyone involved.
I have been in there recently. Pretty much everything most people said here was basically true. I am thickskinned so I wasn’t bothered much and already new kinda what to expect.
In fairness to the guy, he is definitely not running a storefront. Walkins are such a small part of his business that he is apparently allowing it to the extent it doesn’t impact his operation. His skills are definitely not in handling walk-in customers. But again, he isn’t operating the store for those people and just as well.
In the end, I saved a great deal of money on the books I purchased. $50. I would do it again. I honestly can’t fault the guy for not having the skills for running a walk-in retail operation when that isn’t what he is running.
And when I got past the initial roughness after walking in, he was quite a nice guy afterwards.
I suggest people keep that in mind when walking in.
On the other hand, he would do well to not be rude to people’s wives, per “large defense business” above. Personally, guys can and should be able to get over alot of things like this. But one thing guys don’t get over easily is someone being rude to their wives, and big business does get lost this way.
Disclaimer: I’m the project manager at a local web development company who routinely go to the nerdbooks warehouse. Myself and my team have probably made at least 20 or more trips to this place.
It seems to me that there are at least a few things in common with the above posts. #1: Most of the people leaving them are angry and are attempting to hurt this business or the persons working there. #2 These same posters had a bad experience #3: Those posting these messages did something to provoke, or at very least they broke the rules in some way.
I have never had a problem there nor have my team members. Their front doors have actually been locked for many months and a sign on the door says that they’re closed to the general public. They allow a few people in that are repeat customers through an unmarked side door. Their rules for entry are on the main front doors and very simple. These guys are running a mailorder business rather than a store. Respect that fact and you won’t have a problem there; the people there are actually very nice. JH
I was there in April or May, and they had the front doors locked. Next to them is a very easy-to-understand sign that says that they’re closed to the general public. They do allow some to enter but only if they: 1) Don’t have kids and 2) Close the side door behind themselves. These people run and Interntet business, and I appreciate the fact that they let locals that follow these rules into their building.
For the woman above, why would you take your kids in through an unmarked side door when the sign on the locked front doors tells you explicitly that kids aren’t allowed and that it’s an “unsafe” environment for them to be? Then you blame them?
Some of you need to take personal responsibility for your actions and stop blaming others. It’s hard for me to believe that the people working there just start yelling at people, especially without cause. Never had any problems (been there at least 3-4 times) myself and don’t anticipate any in the future.
I’ve been going to NerdBooks for a couple years now and like the folks there a lot. Good prices, nice selection, places to sit, a soda fountain, and I enjoy the dogs. I’ve never been there when dogs were anything less than well behaved. Dave doesn’t generally twist off without reason, so maybe he was just having a bad day when the dog almost got out. Everyone does. He has a very strong attachment and commitment to his dogs.
The owner has a right to run his business the way he see’s fit. Personally I like it. If you don’t like dogs, don’t go to the store. Order online if you like. I have a 2 year old son, and there are plenty of places to take him for kid books and he really doesn’t need anything they offer at NerdBooks. So lighten up and be an adult. Let the guy run his business as he see fit. If you don’t like, don’t shop there. His lifestyle and love of his dogs is important to him and the walk-in sales volume are not more important than his love of dogs. I can respect that.
So when I think my boy would like to visit some other puppies (we have one) and I need some technical books, I’ll bring him to NerdBooks. The dogs are sweet and well behaved. Which is more than I can say for most of the people that comment on blogs.
I have to agree with some of you. I’ve been there a few times and had a great experience. I love dogs, so I found it great to have them there. When I first saw a dog walking around, it kinda freaked me out because I thought I was seeing things.
The owner, or at least I think it was, was very nice to me and very helpful. Maybe it’s because I knew how to open and close doors and like dogs.
Plus the front of the “store” doesn’t look like a real store front, so maybe some of you should think it’s not very family friendly.
Before going there the first time, I noticed it’s not in a very “store fronty” area, so I emailed them and asked if they even allow people there, he said yes, but it’s not really a store, but a warehouse with shelves. I expected something very different but it was a lot better than a warehouse would be.
I would highly recommend this place.
Don’t you people get it. Dave Henley is nothing more than a common criminal from California, and if you had common sense you would know this guy isn’t play with a full deck. BEWARE!!!!!
His inventory was built on books that were returned he sanded the black mark off the bottom and then returned them for a full refund. BEWARE, BEWARE, BEWARE
not to stir anything up, but I go to nerdbooks quite a bit, and have never experienced anything like what’s documented here.
the owner of the place is a decent guy, maybe not the most talkative, but he’s certainly never appeared to be emotional as is described here.
I’ve been to nerdbooks.com many times. Nice selection. Nice prices. Decent people. My understanding is the place was being sold or maybe was sold months back. Anyways I asked the (former?) owner last time I was there about the initial incident on this blog and am only now getting around to posting his response. I jotted down what he said on my ThinkPad that day but please don’t take the quotes verbatim. The story went something pretty close to this:
“The incident occured almost two years ago, but I remember it well as so few people have done what Mr. Bischoff did. Without closing our front door, Alex Bischoff stood “like a deer in headlights” (exact quote) about three feet from the door threshold, staring at our Labrador Retriever puppy who was approximately thirty feet away. The pup then playfully ran towards Mr. Bischoff and proceeded to run outside. Mr. Bischoff had ample time to close the door but didn’t. He just continued to stand outside holding the front door wide open – neither making the decision to come in or to stay out. He seemed ambivalent. He then entered and left the door open and the pup outside. I witnessed the entire incident in disbelief. Fortunately, our little friend didn’t go far, and we retrieved him. Meanwhile, Mr. Bischoff had walked in and made a quip afterwards about our puppy perhaps being an “outside dog”. Considering his actions or lack thereof, I thought the remark inappropriate and responded in a curt and not very pleasant manner myself. I told Mr. Bischoff he needed to either come in or stay out when coming to our warehouse. Keeping the door open for a prolonged period wasn’t something that we should reasonably expect, and more importantly the act endangered our small friend as he wasn’t old enough to understand about big, fast-moving cars on the street. Mr. Bischoff walked up and down our isles for about five minutes and then left. I will give him this – he’s a pretty calm guy, and I admire that.
Our signs have always clearly stated that we are a mail order business that allows the local public to enter but only if they are mindful that this building acts as our warehouse and that their experience will mirror that functionality. Mr. Bischoff’s actions indicate that he did not take the time to read the signs (which also state the presence of a Labrador dog inside) and/or isn’t a very quick thinker – at least in this particular instance. Normally, it wouldn’t be any big deal, but it’s a very big deal to us when you negligently endanger the lives of what we consider to be our kids and are then unapologetic and/or sarcastic about it afterwards. I wonder how he would feel if I went to his house, opened the front door and left it open for 5-10 seconds while his pets ran outside? Our place is open to respectful reasonable people. Plenty of retail establishments will practically beg customers to come to their place so they can reap big profit margins. This is a very different place, and we do not hide that fact.”
I should add that nerdbooks.com doesn’t have a cash register. They don’t take cash or checks. Locals pay for books using a credit card and one of their online computers. It’s all self-serve. The front doors are always locked, and people entering are forced to go through an unmarked side door after reading the signs on the front doors. Those front door signs tell people that it’s a Membership Only Club and that to become a member, you cannot have kids accompanying you and must not be terrified of lab dogs. Kinda like Costco for computer books but without the membership fees. If you don’t try to make them adapt to you and take it for what it is, it’s quite easy. They are running a mail order business and not a retail store. Hopefully the new owners keep it the same though someone else in my office said that they are now completely closed to the public.