books for children

goodintentions_3

Hi everyone
I received a leaflet for "books for children" in my boots parenting magazine the other day and they have an offer which seems really good, so naturally I am wondering what the catch is!

The offer is for an 18 book set of thomas the tank books for just £3.99 p+p (which I was going to keep as a Xmas present). Seems like you become a member and commit to buy 4 books in the first year, after which there is no obligation. Sounds a bit too good to be true, so was wondering if anyone had heard of the company and if anyone could recommend them or advise against them?

Thanks

ailuro2

most book clubs aren't filled with offers and prices like that, though, are they ?- the cheapest book will probably be about £15, multiply it by 4, and what's the true cost of those Thomas books?

It's also a common ploy to send you the recommended book of the month if you don't send them your choice, then you'll have to get round to sending it back..Beware is what I'd say, although I've not heard of the company you're asking about.

The library is free to join, will have tons of kids books, which lets face it end up down the charity shop sooner or later anyway, there's no way to keep everything they own forever.

Nicki

The cach, especially if you have a young baby and are busy, is that they automatically assume you will buy the "editors choice" each month, and so will send it out to you unless you actively cancel it within a short time frame. If you are busy, disorganised, or just on holiday when they send you notification of this, then you are lumbered and its a real palaver to send it back. They also make it really difficult for you to cancel after your year is up. You have to be a member for at least a year, buy 4 books and have all payments up to date. That is more difficult than it sounds due to them processing you as being due to get the editors choice so quickly and frequently.

If you want cheap and good quality childrens books, I'd highly recommend you look at redhouse online. They send you a magazine regularly too, their prices are just as competitive as BFC but there is no editors choice and no minimum commitment. I've been ordering books for my kids with them for years, and their age range goes from new born baby right up to teenage. You can also get some really good sets of books from them for less than BFC sets though they don't have introductory offers to lure you in.

denton6

Hi i think this is the company i used years ago. Wouldnt really recommend them , they sent you the book of the month unless you told them in time you didnt want it, i received a few books i forgot to say i didnt want and them you have to send back at your own expense. I would go for red house books or books to school these have very good offers and free postage over £25 which is very easy to do as there is such a good choice and alos no comitment to buy any.

consultant31

My 'children' are now, 30, 29 and 26 and I bought books from Books for Children for them when they were little. The offer then was a set of Disney books in a Mickey Mouse rack - all very tempting.

However, they kept sending things, even when I had replied in plenty of time saying I didn't want it and it had to be returned at my expense. After the offer period was over they still kept on.

I ended up having to send them a formal letter saying that if they didn't stop I would count it as harrassment and get a solicitor involved.

It was all quite stressful as the children were small (and hard work, lol) and it took a year or more to sort out.

So, to answer your question "No, I wouldn't (couldn't) recommend them at all".

goodintentions_3

thanks for all your replies - I will be avoiding them and looking at the other suppliers you named! Knew there had to be a catch somewhere!

Thanks

Gingernutmeg

The Book People often have good deals on children's books (especially in the 'bookends' section). There's no commitment at all with them and they have a good selection of adult boks too. If you search you can often find free delivery codes too.

Loopy_Lobes

I second The Book People. Also www.redhouse.co.uk and https://www.bananas.co.uk All have good prices without needing to join a club and buy more books.

jess1974

This set up sounds very much like Grolier books, if you google them, you can read all the dodgy reviews-steer well clear.....

fernliebee

I agree with the book people and redhouse links. We got the entire set of Miffy books for DD for xmas for £14.99 rather than £65! So you can still get good deals from them, especially in the lead up to xmas they seem to have a lot of boxset deals.