Barnes & Nobles turns a fan into someone who will no longer shop at their store

I can spend hours in a bookstore. Whether it's a used book store, an independent (Brobst's in Brookings, South Dakota is amazing) or Barnes & Noble. I find wonderful treasures wherever I go. I've spent thousands at bookstores. Tens of thousands probably. I own a couple thousand books. Probably a tenth of them were purchased used, so were cheap. A small number were gifts. But most were books that I've carried with me some since I was an infant.

'Miss Grimsbee Takes a Vacation' was a gift from my godmother when I was an infant. I still own it. I have books that have been signed by authors. I own mysteries, sci fi, fantasy, math, novels, plays, history, geography, anthropolgy, science, and more. The vast majority of my books are in English. A few are in Russian, a couple in Middle English, one or two in Hebrew, a couple in Latin. I have books I purchased in England when I was there in high school and books that I found in tucked away bookstores when touristing through towns.

I was at Barnes & Noble every month except June or July 2011. I got talked into their membership card in May. I purchased books in May, in June or July, in August, twice in September, once in October and again in November and December. And EVERY SINGLE TIME I went to the store, I asked why I hadn't received any of the offers offered to me when I bought the membership card. I was told I'd get $50 in welcome coupons and weekly offers re: books. I spent 10 months trying to resolve the issue. And then, last week I got an e-mail that my membership would "auto renew". Ten months and all they want is more of my hard-earned money.

Not going to happen.

It's March 2012.

The last three times I was in the city (I live some 75 miles from the nearest Barnes & Noble, 50 miles from the nearest independent bookstore and 20+ miles from the nearest used book store). I'll continue to shop the independent store. And, I'll buy things I can't get there from Amazon. In fact, in the last month I've purchased eight (8) books from Amazon.

I love books.

I can't stand a book store lying to me.

And Barnes & Noble lied to me.

They turned someone who loves books into someone who won't set foot into their chain.