Aussie Readers discussion

Marianne wrote: "So today I had a look at their page and it's officially not showing member pages any more, just all their cr@p: Articles, Quizzes, Lists Videos Galleries and 2 Giveaways via Facebook.
No need to g..."

They're a total waste of space. I haven't been there either since all this started. And it's obvious they don't give 2 hoots about surveys at all. Another waste of time! The only thing I'll do when I go there is close my account!

Really?? I wonder why!?!

No precisely! Run by incompetents maybe? ;)

Veronica ⭐️ wrote: "I haven't even bothered to look. I will miss all the giveaways from Allen & Unwin. I really like their books."

Well, go to the A&U website Giveaway page and apply for them there, plus they still do them on GR and also, I noticed they do them on Facebook... but perhaps we had better odds when A&U listed books with Bookstr?

https://www.bookstr.com/

Yes they have - I just googled them :)

And guess what! They have cancelled my account. I just went to log in as per usual, and it's "unrecognised"!

"forgot your password" - clicked on that; my email address isn't recognised either! They have deleted everything of my account! Unbelievable!

Does anyone have all their reviews yet? I'd guess from this that we'll get nothing now...

I don't care either - but I can't believe how many of us supported their site, giving reviews etc and they've just ditched us all. Pathetic!

Michael wrote: "Mine is exactly the same Brenda. We have ruffled their feathers LOL. Oh well I don't care."

me three. I thought that I just got my user name wrong, but I guess they have cancelled all user accounts. Another good reason not to go there!
But you know, they started off great, then just kept going downhill and downhill, making cosmetic changes but never really listening to what members wanted. I wonder how long they'll last now...

Apparently I don't exist either as far as they are concerned. Guess they can't handle criticism.oh well, I'm not worried. Nothing worth going in there for now anyway.

Dale wrote: "Apparently I don't exist either as far as they are concerned. Guess they can't handle criticism.oh well, I'm not worried. Nothing worth going in there for now anyway."

I don't think it's just us, Dale. I think they have deleted all user accounts.

Also, I tried to search for a book, but all you get are articles with those words in them.
Yep, bye bye!

Personally I hope they fail! Nasty I know but.....

Same here, I didn't bother with complaining or exporting my books. I'll just amend my Netgalley profile, delete the old url and forget about them....at least it's some less emails I'll get 😃

True Marlin!

Wow, I can't believe they've deleted our accounts. I asked for a copy of all my reviews and never received a reply. It's outrageous.

Check out my tweet and jump on board if you want to tell them how you feel: https://twitter.com/Carpe_Librum1/sta...

Oh, and I just gave them a 1 star rating on their FB page. Thought I may as well dig the boot in before I 'unlike' their page. Let's see if they respond. Doubt it.

Yes, it must be all accounts; I can't get in either and I didn't even complain!

Well done on your tweet Tracey. I don't have an account so can't comment or support you, but agree totally. Glad Michael and Mish commented though.

I'll go look at their facebook account now...

Just gave one star and left a comment. No recommendations from me for a site that would treat their members in the way they have.

Brenda wrote: "Just gave one star and left a comment. No recommendations from me for a site that would treat their members in the way they have."

Well done!

I gave them a serve on FB too...

Good on you Marianne!

I have received a reply to my post on Facebook from Bookstr!!

Hi, Brenda. We're so sorry to hear you've been unhappy with our latest changes. First off we want to thank you for being a fan of ours for so many years - that truly makes us so happy to hear! We did phase out our reviews, but we will be getting copies of them all out along with shelves in the coming weeks. Hang tight. As for member profiles, you shouldn't have lost yours! If you did, please send a message to [email protected] with your login information and it will be handled from there. Again, we're very sorry for the growing pains as we expand and transition, but we very much so hope you continue to stick by us. Thank you for your feedback, and let us know your thoughts as we continue to progress! We are always listening!

How can they make out it is just you losing your member profile when so many other people on here are saying theirs is gone too?

I don't know..I said that in my original FB post. And when I respond that's the first thing I'll say! They are full of it!

I got a reply on Facebook too:
Hi, Marianne. We're so sorry to hear you've been unhappy with our latest changes. First off we want to thank you for being a fan of ours for so many years - that truly makes us so happy to hear! You shouldn't have lost your user account, and if you did, please email us your login information to [email protected] so we can get this looked into ASAP. You can still win books, too! We still have our giveaways which you can find in the top bar of the website. Let us know if you have any questions.

If they were going to make reviews available: "We did phase out our reviews, but we will be getting copies of them all out along with shelves in the coming weeks." Then they should have said so from the beginning.

Here is another response from them to me on FB after I told them to read the surveys we all filled in if they reckon they're listening!!

Brenda Telford Hi there! First we want to thank you for being a user of the site, and for following us for so long. As you can see it has been an exciting ride with many changes as we try to work out what our customers want the most. In this case, the reviews and bookshelves were the least visited parts of our site. Although it was very painful for us to make this choice, we made the decision to focus on growing the areas of content our audience loves. We had alerts set up on the website and have emailed about the changes several times. We are working on giving everyone who wants their reviews and bookshelf by the end of the month. If this doesn't happen please let us know. As for the giveaways, we still are very much doing giveaways! Please feel free to enter as you please, you will still receive the books as usual, except now you will have to write a review somewhere else. We really are very thankful for you using the site, and hope to see you on our website soon!

They have also now stated they will still have giveaways - but in the original emails to me and everyone else, they informed us the giveaways were also being phased out! So what on earth do you believe!

They do talk a load don't they!!

This is the direct response to my loss of account

Hi Brenda, we would love to look into this for you! Can you please send us your login information at [email protected] and tell your friends to do the same? That shouldn't have happened, and we're very sorry if it did.

If anyone can be bothered to re-join you're all directed to contact them (see my post above!)

Brenda wrote: "If anyone can be bothered to re-join you're all directed to contact them (see my post above!)"

I agree, what's the point of logging back in? If the bookshelves are gone, as well as the reviews, why are they retaining member logins. Doesn't make sense. I hate how they're putting the onus on us to email them if things don't happen. How about they just do what they said they'd do and send us our bloody reviews.

I can't be bothered responding to them anymore Tracey! They're repeating themselves and have no intentions of honouring anything they say! A waste of time and space in my opinion!

BTW did they respond to you on Twitter?

Brenda wrote: "I can't be bothered responding to them anymore Tracey! BTW did they respond to you on Twitter?"

Hi Brenda, yes they did respond, but only to tell me to email them about the member account logins and to be patient about the reviews. I'm not going to bother taking the time to email them again after they're clearly failing to respect their loyal users.

Exactly! And we wouldn't be the only ones Tracey!

I received an email from Bookstr today, hooray! They've sent me my reviews, but it's in a CSV file with snatches of text in multiple excel spreadsheet cells, completely unreadable and unusable.

Well, that's helpful, isn't it.
I only asked them for mine out of curiosity , to see how they would send me 1300 reviews, LOL

I just re-read their email and noticed they've also offered to send me some books to make up for what's been happening which is brilliant. The best way to get us booklovers back on side is to send us books, right? Looking forward to seeing what they send :-)

Oh, I wonder if I'll get any? I haven't heard from them....

Tracey Allen wrote: "I received an email from Bookstr today, hooray! They've sent me my reviews, but it's in a CSV file with snatches of text in multiple excel spreadsheet cells, completely unreadable and unusable."

Tell them you want them in English Tracey!! Bookstr - what are they??

Tracey Allen wrote: "I just re-read their email and noticed they've also offered to send me some books to make up for what's been happening which is brilliant. The best way to get us booklovers back on side is to send ..."

That's a definite plus!! I'll be waiting for mine and if it's done in alphabetical order I'll be waiting awhile!

Michael wrote: "Nothing for me. :("

Did you send them an email and complain Michael?

Michael wrote: "I don't think I will bother Tracey, even with the free books on offer."

They're not offering books in exchange for complaints, lol! They've offered me books in an attempt to make good on all the things I complained about. So unless you - or others - lodged complaints directly like I did, they won't be making you this offer.

I complained via FB and also the survey form they sent Tracey... is that what you mean?

Brenda wrote: "I complained via FB and also the survey form they sent Tracey... is that what you mean?"

I sent them two email complaints, completed their survey form, poor FB review and tweet. Today they apologised for the formatting in the excel sheet and have re-sent it as a txt file.

I haven't heard from them at all. Apparently I don't exist LOL

BTW, I asked Allen&Unwin if they were going to increase their giveaways on Facebook and GR and their website, to compensate for the reduced number now there are no Bookstr giveaways, and they said, yes, they are!

Tracey Allen wrote: "Brenda wrote: "I complained via FB and also the survey form they sent Tracey... is that what you mean?"

I sent them two email complaints, completed their survey form, poor FB review and tweet. Tod..."

Okay fair enough - I'll wait until I get my reviews and go from there... thanks Tracey!

Marianne wrote: "BTW, I asked Allen&Unwin if they were going to increase their giveaways on Facebook and GR and their website, to compensate for the reduced number now there are no Bookstr giveaways, and they said,..."

That's good news at least!