Academic Superstore

Full review
AVAILABILITY and CUSTOMER SERVICE seem to be the things most people are concerned with at this store. Let me tell you about my good experience with Academic Superstore...

Availability was no problem for me because I CALLED TO ENSURE IMMEDIATE AVAILABILITY BEFORE I MADE THE TRANSACTION. Let's face it people, when you are not buying directly from the source, or when you're buying from a reseller, what does that mean? IT MEANS THEY HAVE TO GET THEIR INVENTORY FROM SOMEONE ELSE - THE MANUFACTURER - BEFORE THEY CAN SEND IT TO YOU! Sometimes an item is being offered by the manufacturer (thusly being offerred on a reseller's website) only to have it backordered at the manufacturer level. Sometimes products are announced by the manufacturer, but not yet released. Just because an item is available at a local retailer doesnt mean it will be available online. Manufacturers feel they can make more money through the local retailers, thus, they make items available there first. All academic resellers have this problem, not just Academic Superstore.

As far as customer service, yes, sometimes it's hard to get a hold of their service department. It's frustrating sometimes, but there are ways to get around that. On their policies page, they have email addresses to each of their institutional sales reps, why not ask them for help when all else fails? YOU WANT THE DISCOUNT, YOU HAVE TO BE PREPARED TO GIVE UP OTHER LUXURIES, ELSE GO PAY THE FULL 1300 DOLLARS FOR ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE AT ADOBE!

If you do get through to a customer service rep (which is most of the time, very rarely when you dont get through), then ask that person for their name and extension. Call their extension directly if you want help - this is what my experience has been and I dont have to go through all the hooplah... You can also ask them about backorder status, but keep in mind, they can only give you ETA information, or the information that they have been provided by the manufacturer - which unfortunately can change... Dont expect backorder status by email - even Amazon cant keep track of all their millions of customers and their orders. CALL FOR INFORMATION!!!

All in all, I would use their services if the need arose. I would recommend them to anyone that I know if they wanted a discount from a good store.