ComplaintsforStrand Book Store

• Initial Complaint

  08/13/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Hello Strand Bookstore GM reached out to me requesting a legally binding agreement related to printing, placing and selling my recent book Vibrational Alignment in their bookstore. We agreed on a 15% commission and I paid them $1250 via wire transfer as part of our agreement. Legal documents were approved, agreed upon and signed by general manager and myself. Several conversations have taken place and Strand Bookstore is not keeping their end of the contract. I have all correspondence between bookstore and myself, a signed contract with a year long agreement as well as a 3rd party literary agent who contacted strand bookstore to discuss pricing for me. I have all interaction with literary agent in writing as well. I have attempted to work with strand in a favorable way to no avail. Please help by encouraging Strand Bookstore to keep the contract/agreement OR return/refund my money that they verbal reported arrived and a receipt was provided to me. Thank you very much for your attention in this matter. The agreement was with 4 branch location in ******** owned by Strand Bookstore INCLUDING the book shop at *****************.

  Business response

  08/14/2024

  Strand Book Store does not solicit works from authors, nor does it act as a publisher or contract publication runs with printers. Unfortunately, the Strand name and logo has been co-opted by scammers purporting to represent the company, and the biographical information of actual Strand employees is being put to use to further obscure this fraud. Strand is not in the business of contacting authors to arrange for publication of their works for a fee or asking for a co-op fee for placement of their books in one of its retail locations. 
  
  If you receive a solicitation using the Strand name or the name of a Strand representative, please immediately contact us at ********************************************** One clue we encourage people to use: any official email from Strand Book Store will come from the @strandbooks.com domain. The scammers will typically set up a domain that looks similar: @thestrandbookstores.com, as an example. 
  
  We have come up against this issue previously, as outlined here: *********************************************************************************************************************************;
  
  In this specific case, the author has wired funds to an entity outside Strand Book Store. As such we are unable to produce a refund. We have encouraged the victim to contact her bank as soon as possible, and report this to the police or the DA's office. We have successfully lobbied ************ who were hosting the thestrandbookstores.com domain being used by the scammers, to remove the domain. 
  
  Please let us know if we can provide any further information regarding this case. 

  Customer response

  08/22/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  [The Strand book store is responsible for the managers/employees working for/with Stand bookstore. Additionally, a literary agent named ***************** with ********************* contacted Strand book stores at the general contact number and was provided additional information by the general manager as well as negotiating a contract price. This is not scammer behavior. This is Strand Bookstore and its associates. They are responsible for the $1250 plus wire transfer fee of $25. It is not coincidence that separate agencies contacted Strand book store at different times and spoke with a scammer. Please let Strand bookstore know that the contract has been severed and a refund would be appreciated to solve this issue. Thank you for your full cooperation and good business provision. 
  *****  ***********************;

   

   

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************
  
  
  
  
   
  

  Business response

  09/03/2024

  Dear ******************-

  Thank you again for bringing this fraudulent use of the Strand Book Store's name, as well as the name of its employees, to our attention. We have reported this cyber crime to the **** To attempt to recover your funds, you will also need to file a report with the **** containing the financial information the scammer shared with you. Hoping that you can find restitution, and we will continue to try to alert our customers and the author community about this criminal element preying on them. 

  Customer response

  09/17/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  This complaint’s has not been resolved. Strand bookstore continues to lie about the encounter, contract and monetary exchange. I require a full refund and Strand bookstore can handle any situation within its company or with New York fraud department. I hold Strand book store fully responsible and I will consider the situation resolved when my money is returned in full. All documentation has already been provided to the BBB. 

  
  

  Thank you,

  
  

  ***** ***** *******    

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  
  Sincerely,
  ***** *******  
  
  
  
   
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩