Waterstones Reviews 

5,372
TrustScore 4.5 out of 5

4.6

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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Considering 645 reviews, reviewers overwhelmingly had a great experience with this company. Regular customers frequently praise the support team for being extremely helpful, friendly, and quick to resolve online ordering questions or account queries. Consumers also love the impressively wide selection of special edition books and deeply appreciate the cozy in-store atmosphere paired with excellent coffee. However, some customers also noted receiving damaged items due to insecure packaging and faced frustrating delays with unfulfilled orders that never arrived. A few people additionally reported encountering unhelpful staff members during physical store visits or waiting extensively for a basic reply to customer inquiries.

What people talk about most

Customer service

People report positive experiences with customer_service, consistently describing support agents as helpful,... See more

Staff

Customers consistently note positive experiences with staff, describing them as exceptionally helpful,... See more

Order

Users describe ambiguous interactions with order experiences, as feedback is deeply divided. While many... See more

Product

Reviewers highlight ambiguous aspects of product quality, with mixed customer experiences. While many... See more

Response time

Clients share positive opinions on response_time, consistently highlighting prompt and efficient service from... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Love visiting a Waterstones. Last visit I bought a signed copy that turned out to be missing the signature - didn’t realise this until I got home. Contacted customer service and they shipped a new s... See more

Company replied

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Lisa was very helpful and quick to respond to my original query, and then gave some additional information which I found really useful. Great Customer Service!! This is one reason why Waterstones is t... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I’m impressed at how helpful Lisa and Peter were when I asked a question about stocking my recently published poetry book (bilingual) . Lisa quickly passed my query to the relevant department and then... See more

Company replied

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great customer service for cancelling an order that was taking to long to arrive before we were moving house and were even given a link for where the book was in stock. Cecilia was very helpful an... See more


Company details

  1. Book Store

About Waterstones

Written by the company

Waterstones' mission is to be the leading Bookseller on the High Street and online providing customers the widest choice, great value and expert advice from a team passionate about Bookselling; uniting readers with the perfect books and bringing them together with authors through our events programme.

Browse millions of books online - Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children's, Textbooks and Audiobooks. Discover our range of Signed & Exclusive editions, Gifts and Games. Sign up for our Waterstones Plus card to earn and redeem as you spend in our shops, cafes and online. Free UK delivery to store and on orders of £25 or more.


Contact info

4.6

Excellent

TrustScore 4.5 out of 5

5K reviews

5-star
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1-star

Asks customers to review

This company invites their customers to review, whether positive or negative

Replied to 62% of negative reviews

Typically replies within 2 weeks

How this company uses Trustpilot

See how their reviews and ratings are sourced, scored, and moderated.

4.6

All reviews

(5,372)

642 reviews in the last 12 months

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Companies on Trustpilot aren't allowed to offer incentives or pay to hide reviews. Reviews are the opinions of individual users and not of Trustpilot. Read more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Customer Service

Customer Service - Lisa, in my case - very helpful and pleasant.

8 May 2026
Unprompted review
Waterstones logo

Reply from Waterstones

Hello Matt,
Thank you for your feedback.
I will be sure to share your kind words with Lisa.
Have a lovely day,
Waterstones Customer Support

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Had a great customer service…

Had a great customer service experience.
Lisa was quick to help when i forgot to input my payment information which ensured i got my very sought after book that i got in the presale :)

7 May 2026
Unprompted review
Waterstones logo

Reply from Waterstones

Hello Hayden,
Thank you for your feedback, I am glad to hear that Lisa could ensure you received your book so quickly.
I will be sure to share your kind words with her.
Have a lovely day,
Waterstones Customer Support

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellent service due to due to my own…

Excellent service due to due to my own error Waterstone sorted the problem efficiently and well executed

8 May 2026
Unprompted review
Waterstones logo

Reply from Waterstones

Hello Cheryl,
Thank you for your feedback, it is great to know our team could fix this error for you so quickly.
Have a lovely day,
Waterstones Customer Support

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Tom from Richmond was truly wonderful…

Tom from Richmond was truly wonderful when I visited Waterstones Richmond today, just five minutes before closing time. I had come into the store at the very end of the day, and I completely understood that the team would have been preparing to close after a long working day. In that situation, many people might understandably have been focused on closing the shop and gently rushing customers towards the exit. However, Tom did the complete opposite. I was looking for a particular book, but I could not find it, and because it was so late, I felt awkward asking properly for help. I was almost talking to myself about the book rather than clearly asking anyone, as I did not want to be a burden so close to closing time. Tom overheard me, noticed what I was looking for, and immediately took the initiative to help.

He went out of his way to search for the book across the different sections where it could possibly have been, and he did so with such kindness, patience, and genuine enthusiasm. He eventually found the book and brought it to me, making me feel welcomed rather than inconvenient. I had not planned to spend any money that day, but Tom’s warmth, honesty, and high standard of customer service completely changed my mind. Because of his support, I decided to buy the book, and as it was part of a “buy one, get one half price” offer, I ended up buying two books instead of one. What started as no purchase at all became two purchases simply because Tom cared enough to help. His genuine kindness really brightened my evening, and I left the store feeling grateful. Thank you, Tom, for such thoughtful and excellent customer service. I will definitely come back to Waterstones Richmond and hope to see him again.

7 May 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great customer service

Great customer service, really quick to answer with very clear answers.

7 May 2026
Unprompted review
Waterstones logo

Reply from Waterstones

Hello,
Thank you for your feedback!
Have a lovely day,
Waterstones Customer Support

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Always super friendly and helpful…

Always super friendly and helpful staff.
I emailed Waterstones support and again they were really helpful and got back near enough straight away. So lovely.

6 May 2026
Unprompted review
Waterstones logo

Reply from Waterstones

Hello Amelia,
Thank you for your feedback, I am glad to hear that our team are so friendly and fast in helping you.
Have a lovely day,
Waterstones Customer Support

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

The best bookshop

The best bookshop! Great selection of books, great staff in store and online experience is great too. The Customer Service Team is tops, fast response, lovely service.

6 May 2026
Unprompted review
Waterstones logo

Reply from Waterstones

Hello Paula,
Thank you for your feedback, I am glad to hear that our teams in store and online are making you feel welcome and responding to you quickly.
Have a lovely day,
Waterstones Customer Support

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Still waiting for a copy of a book I…

Still waiting for a copy of a book I ordered a month ago, in your Carlisle store. My husband has been in to the Branch who again reassured him that I would be contacted by email as soon as it comes in. that was a fortnight ago, still waiting.

3 April 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great experience with customer service

Love visiting a Waterstones. Last visit I bought a signed copy that turned out to be missing the signature - didn’t realise this until I got home. Contacted customer service and they shipped a new signed one (to an EU country) the same day without any extra costs to me.
Great books and excellent, kind customer service!

4 May 2026
Unprompted review
Waterstones logo

Reply from Waterstones

Hello Emma,
Thank you for your feedback, I am glad to hear that our team could ensure you received the signed edition as you had expected.
Have a lovely day,
Waterstones Customer Support

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Click and collect is pathetic

Click and collect is pathetic. You can only order one book at a time. Then tells you that you have to go to a shop 90 mins away and collect it, when i have a dhop 10 mins from me. Waste of time.

3 May 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Website is awful

Website is awful. When typing in an author the results just show authors they are pushing. I wanted books by J M Hall. I’ll go back to using Amazon!

3 May 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

The best bookstore

The best uk bookshops. Always take care of their customers.

2 May 2026
Unprompted review
Waterstones logo

Reply from Waterstones

Hello James,
Thank you for your feedback!
Have a lovely day,
Waterstones Customer Support

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Need to shop elsewhere

Went into the Barrow store to replace all my worn out books. However I was very disappointed when I went in.

Firstly, it’s not wheelchair accessible. I got stuck numerous times and was ignored by staff who didn’t even offer a greeting.

Secondly, most of the shop was dedicated to gifts and accessories, and the books they did have in followed no logical pattern in their placement.

I needed to replace a few series of books, but Waterstones had other ideas. They only had one or two books out of entire series and no gaps for the rest.

I ended up buying just 1 book… and was charged 25p for a PAPER carrier bag!

Guess I need to go elsewhere for the rest.

Shame it’s gone downhill so much because this was my favourite shop. Not anymore.

2 May 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Lisa was amazing!!

Lisa was amazing!!! I had made a mistake on my order and she was able to fix it up for me super quickly!! She is a legend! Always love shopping at Waterstones :)

1 May 2026
Unprompted review
Waterstones logo

Reply from Waterstones

Hello Matilda,
Thank you for your feedback, I am glad to hear that Lisa would fix the error on your order for you so easily.
I will be sure to share your kind words with her.
Have a lovely day,
Waterstones Customer Support

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Customer Service by phone

I had a question on the balance of a gift card. Lisa dealt with my question quickly and efficiently providing a copy of a missing receipt.

27 April 2026
Unprompted review

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