WobReviews 1,390

I am a regular WOB customer in the U.S. (I buy from the UK site typically-better prices than their U.S. site). I had been quite satisfied with them until now. I ordered a used book about Raphael that was available for a very low price. After inquiring a week later about why there was no shipment notification, I received a canned email stating that because the book was popular, there were alot of orders that could not be fulfilled, and that they would refund my payment. I do not understand why they don't have some sort of automatic inventory update (like Amazon, Abebooks, etc.) to show that the book was no longer available.

After writing them several emails, I finally received another canned reply basically repeating their first email. I really do not enjoy being treated like a mug, so I will probably stop buying from them.

I love this site, a brilliant collection of books, they haven't failed yet with any title I've searched for, quick delivery and i like the way they tell you the condition of the book before you buy it, the first place i look for my books.

I've bought several batches of books & been delighted with quality, price, speed etc. This time there was an error & I emailed to let Wob know. I received a reply almost at once & this was after office hours! Was asked for photo of unwanted books & ISBNs. Did this & now have the 2 missing books & been asked to donate unwanted ones to charity shop. Excellent, ethical, hassle-free solution to a mistake - we all make them - it's how they're dealt with that matters:-)

A great choice of really good value books, especially if you are looking to fill gaps in series that are now difficult to get hold of.

Have always used WOB as my first choice for books. Unfortunately my experience of them this year has been dismal and I will no longer use them. Of the four books I bought this year;

- 1 was received with scribbles all over it despite being described as in very good condition
- 1 took 11 days to arrive despite being described as being in stock at the time of ordering
- 1 I paid £19 for but when it was received it had a £3 charity shop sticker on it!

WOBs has a great selection of books across all genres. Ordering online is easy and delivery is exceptionally quick. I have bought quite a few books and their condition has always been great. I would recommend people to buy books from WOB to save them going into land fill.

This is a review of the paperback edition, published March 2010.
The setting for this book is the Government Code & Cypher School, better known as Bletchley Park. 'Colossus' describes Bletchley's success against a more advanced and more secure German cypher machine than Enigma, which Bletchley codenamed 'Tunny'. The production of this book was only made possible after British Intelligence declassified a crucial 500 page wartime report in June 2000.

From 1942 Hitler and the German High Command in Berlin relied increasingly on Tunny to protect their communications with Army Group Commands across Europe. And Colossus? This was the world's first large scale electronic computer built in 1943, whose function was central to Bletchley's attack on Tunny. The name was apt; it weighed approximately a ton, was the size of a small room, and by the end of the war in Europe in May 1945 ten more of these Colossi had been built.

This book is a veritable goldmine of information, with the thoughts of 31 contributors distilled into 26 chapters, and for those wishing to dig deeper there are also 12 technical appendices. I was pleased to see that the contribution of the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) and the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) to Bletchley's war effort has been duly recognised in this book.

I have been impressed by WoB's service. "Good condition" has meant excellent, and delivery has been earlier than promised. In at least one case the price was spectacularly lower than elsewhere. I shall continue to use WoB.

I choose to order from Wob over other sites, if they have the book I want. The books are always as described and it's cheering to know that they're saved from pulping.

I have bought many books from WOB and have always been satisfied with the quality of the books and the service to provide them.

Book in great condition. Like new.
Great price and fast delivery.
Very happy.
Highly recommend.
Will order again.

I have bought several pre-loved books from WOB. They are all in excellent condition & are much cheaper than buying new. Really good value for money & quick delivery. Definitely recommended!

Books arrived on time although i didnt pay for rapid delivery. One thing i did notice was the price sticker from a charity shop for 1.99 on a book that cost me 5. Naughty ;)

Go to WOB before Amazon for really good condition, very cheap second hand books!
With the demise of second hand bookshops we need to keep a service like WOB going.

All my orders have always turned up and were well packaged. I like it that the price you see is the price you pay. No hidden postage charges. Thank you.

I'm sharing my email to them here as no one would reply even though they asked for this email after my previous 1-star Trustpilot rating.

Dear WoB,

Thank you for your reply after all my previous attempts to get a less than childish reply from your Customer Service. I ordered 5 books earlier in April (on the 13th I think) and PayPal messaged me that I authorised a payment of £17.30 to WoB Ltd. However, when no confirmation email followed from yourselves, I wrote about a week later to your Customer Service asking about my order. Then I was advised that (and I cite) 'due to a gremlin in our payment processor's system' you couldn't process my order and voided my payment. I found this unacceptable for many reasons. First of all, if I hadn't written to your Customer Service, no one would have ever contacted me and I would have been left waiting for an order that was never going to arrive. Secondly, the books were meant to be for my daughter's then upcoming, now over birthday and with this shenanigans they did indeed arrive late much to both of our disappointments. Thirdly, when I reordered the books (4 books first then the 5th later when I miraculously found it on your website after checking it many times previously and it wasn't available) I paid £24.12 plus £5.20 = £29.32 for all 5 books, where previously I only had to pay £17.30.

I requested a refund in one of my emails and after that no reply came, no explanation, nothing. Upon checking my PayPal it became clear that you hadn't taken the original £17.30.

I believe instead of voiding my full order you should have gone and reprocess it so there would have been no delay, also, no extra payment from me, not to mention the stress it has caused.

I ordered from your website a few times before and I was always happy with your service so you can understand my confusion and disappointment regarding this current situation. So what is the next step?

I'm sending this same email for the 3rd time now as no one is taking their precious time to reply me even though you asked me to write. Really, you need to step it up. It's a despicable customer 'service' you've been providing so far with which I'm very not happy.