Pro Quo Books

Alias internationalbooks on Amazon

by Graymalkin2001 at Citysearch

I'm not at all surprised to read of other customers - and former employees - dissatisfied (to say the least) with Pro Quo Books, aka international books.

I've had many Amazon transactions, and the ONLY bad experience I've ever had with a seller was with internationalbooks. Luckily, I could give feedback on my experience:

"I ordered the item, received verification, and a few days later, notice that international books had cancelled my order. Same item was later re-listed at nearly double the price. Apparently greed trumps customer service and honoring a commitment for internationalbooks. Of hundreds of Amazon purchases, this is my worst experience. Did not respond to emails. This seller has ZERO integrity!"

I stand by that feedback. A seller has to be pretty crappy to elicit such negative feedback from me. Yes, internationalbooks is that crappy.

I read the seller's feedback. Yes, quite a lot of sales, at (currently) 93% positive. Heck, let's be honest: What does it take for a seller to get a notification of a sale and payment, put the item in an envelope, and toss it into a mail cart? If a trained chimp can manage that, he'll get 100% feedback.

What interested me in the negative feedback were the customers whose experience was like mine: oreder a book, was charged, and then internationalbooks CANCELLED the order, frequently RELISTING the book at a greatly inflated price.

It's not the trained chimp scenario that concerns me; it's the seller who lists an item, sells it, then realizes "Ah cooda made moh money!" and simply cancels the sale for sheer greed.

Hey, with their sales, it's not like internationalbooks is struggling (unless Steve Revelle or whoever the honcho is has no more management experience than he has professionalism or integrity - which is very likely). I have operated my own business, and I have ALWAYS honored a sales transaction. The key word here is HONOR. Something completely and totally foreign to the greed-driven owner of internationalbooks.

As I informed a customer service rep at Amazon, with their deplorable business practices, greed over honoring commitment, practice of cancelling orders to relist at higher prices, failure to respond to repeated emails, and ZERO integrity, they should NOT be permitted to sell through Amazon, if Amazon is genuinely committed to customer service and satisfaction.

Forget the positive feedback - the measure of a seller's TRUE attitude is measured by the bad customer experiences. And Pro Quo Books, alias internationalbooks, falls FAR short of any standards.

Run very far away from Pro Quo

by Bebinn at Citysearch

I used to work for Pro Quo. I don't know where taylor1956 is getting his books but he isn't getting them from the Pro Quo in Dundalk, maryland. It hasn't existed for 3 years. They really pulled the rug out from me. They hired me knowing they were closing down 2 months later. They did give me a generous amount of severance considering I didn't work for them for long.

I'm not surprised at condition problems. We weren't trained well and we were paid piece-work so it was quantity over quality. IB is the same company as Pro Quo, I saw a business card with that name while I was working there.

they told me that the company was moved to another state, i can't remember which one off hand but wasn't close to maryland, somewhere in the midwest i believe.

Always a Good Experience

by taylor1956 at Citysearch

I am rubbing my eyes in disbelief at some of these reviews, tho so many sound alike I wonder if it's the same person writing under different names. I've ordered easily over 100 books through IB over the past two years and I've never once had a bad experience.

I don't see any evidence IB are buying from other online bookstores because their titles come too quickly to be passing through someone else's hands (one of the reasons I always use IB is that they're local and often the books arrive as quickly media mail as they would first-class).

Don't take my word. You can easily test that out by using Bookfinder or one of the mega book search engines when you come across an IB listing and see if it is listed in the same condition (with the same description) and for the same price, like you will find with Alibris titles listed.

Unless there is a 'names-the-same' bookseller also based in Baltimore, the IB I've used has excellent customer service.

BAD MERCHANT

by boulderreader at Citysearch

I ordered a book from Amazon - vender listed themselves as International Books, and listed the book as being "clean and tight and in very good condition." I received a book with the binding completely broken and separated from the spine. The invoice included with the shipment said the book came from Pro Quo Books. I wrote to them explaining that their very good condition book arrived damaged and in as bad condition as it gets. Not even a library would take a book in this condition. No response. I googled around later and discovered that International Books and Pro Quo Books are the same, and are notorious for false advertising, bad customer service, and being a shady operation. Buyer beware.

Rip Off Merchant

by supert3d at Citysearch

I placed an order with Amazon reseller "International Books" who I later found to also be Abebooks{dot}com Online reseller "ProQuo" Books.

"ProQuo" books simply ordered the book I 'thought' I was purchasing from them on Amazon from ANOTHER Abebooks Online reseller (Friendly Books, or as I found out later, The Lakewood Public Library of Ohio) and simply had the Library deliver it to me instead of ProQuo books, presumably with ProQuo pocketing the difference.

I paid nearly a $100 for this book. Described as 'NEW' on Amazon it arrived any anything but that condition.

I've contacted ProQuo books with no response to date. If anyone wants a phone number for this merchant, if they can call themselves that, these are the two numbers I was given :

1.) 410-633-0410 and 2.) 443-957-1331, both are un-contactable, but you guys might have better luck than me. Feel free to leave them a message on my behalf! : -)

• Pros: None
• Cons: Take your money with no chance of refund.