Bookishbesties レビュー 6

I joined Bookish Besties expecting an exclusive, well-run book club with genuine value. Instead, it is a disorganised WhatsApp group charging premium prices for empty promises.

The owner asked everyone to put feedback in one place, which we did, only for her to ignore most of it and then delete the feedback entirely so nobody could raise concerns again. She later sent out a “feedback survey”, but every question was designed to force positive answers like “what do you love about…” rather than giving space for honest criticism. It felt like an attempt to control the narrative rather than actually improve the experience.

Cancelling is another nightmare. You have to email and then wait up to 72 hours for a reply (if you get one at all). Even then, people are removed from the group before their paid month ends, meaning you lose access to what you have already paid for.

Almost everything promised, including newsletters, events, author talks and “exclusive” merchandise, was either delayed, cancelled or completely different to what was advertised. Communication is poor, accountability is non-existent and the overall setup feels like one big money-making scheme rather than a genuine community.

Save your money. There are countless free book clubs that actually deliver what they promise and treat their members with respect.

Pretty sure this business is a scam.
The owner of this company is taking monthly payments from people willing to pay for a book club, not taking any liability for issues, will not answer questions about said issues. I wish I could give it 0 stars, I honestly dont even feel like it should have 1 star.
There are free online book clubs out there, working hard to give their people a great community and flourishing. However, bookish besties is definitely not one of them.
I do suggest if you're looking into online book clubs to not touch this company with a 10-foot barge pole.
Even cancelling was an issue, you have to email and wait and hope for the owner to reply. You cant just press a cancel button.

I joined Bookish Besties expecting an exclusive membership with real value, but it turned out to be completely underwhelming. The so-called “exclusive” access is just a WhatsApp group anyone could set up for free — nothing private or special about it.
The merch that was promised wasn’t discounted or unique, and the prices were far from friendly. Overall, it feels like a scam — all hype and no substance. The marketing made it sound like something premium and community-driven, but in reality, it delivers none of that.
I genuinely believe the creator may have had good intentions initially, but what’s being offered now is misleading and unfair to paying members. Definitely not worth the money or the trust.

If I could give this company a zero I would.

I love reading and when I heard about the exclusive group bookish besties were setting up I was eager to join. It was marketed as a first come first serve so I thought it would be very exclusive especially with everything that was being offered. I’ve never been more wrong.

The group is a complete shambles, we were added to a watsapp group and then left to our own devices, things were promised and never materialised, I honestly have no idea what my monthly fees were being used for.

She had no terms or conditions on the website and it was very difficult to find out who to contact in order to cancel as one of the main email addresses she didn’t have access to anymore.

The exclusive merch launches were not really exclusive and were quite expensive when I’d been lead to believe these would be highly reduced, author talks were not published when promised and feedback was not listened to or taken on board, members were kicked out of the group without actually requesting to cancel and who had paid for a months membership.

All in all it’s very disappointing and I feel like I wasted hard earned money for absolutely nothing, the owner wasn’t present within the groups and really didn’t show herself in a good light when replying to people questioning the groups ethics.

Absolutely ridiculous company and book club. Beth didnt follow through with planned schedules. The giveaways were late. It took over 4 weeks to upload author chats.
She ignored all feedback from the people that were unhappy.
And to make matters worse she is now kicking people out of the group that have paid and not cancelled

I'm writing this review as I think it is paramount that people are aware of the business they are giving their money to. I eagerly signed up for this book club but my experience was honestly beyond dreadful. After signing up to what was marketed as an exclusive bookclub, we were all dumped into a WhatsApp group with over 270 people and left to our own devices. It was other girls who helped to organise the group with no help at all from the owner. We were promised weekly reading check-ins which never happened (in fact weeks when with no interaction from the owner), a monthly newsletter which months later we still have not received, guaranteed author hang outs (which I will speak to later), access to exclusive merch and in-person events. 

There were many issues of which I will not drag on about but will list below: 
* newsletter and reading check-ins weren't provided 
* in person events were never planned (one was spoken about however tickets never went on sale even after multiple prompts from customers) 
* in person events organised by the community were told off for going against community guideline for meeting without the owner (these guidelines did not exist for over a month after this point)
* people were told off for even speaking about their own bookish businesses
* recordings of the author talks were promised, however it took a month to receive this, with customers asking almost daily for updates
* one author talk was cancelled a few hours before starting 
* merchandise was set at such a high price on top of monthly fee that it was out of many customers budget
* people's cancellation requests were ignored and they were charged for additional months
* the owner/business was not listed under the ICO database which is a legal requirements relating to data protection
* customers who had raised issues and cancelled their memberships were kicked out days before their paying period was up (I have spoken to the people removed and as of yet, no refunds have been issued) 

When customers tried to ask questions regarding all of the above, they were put into a feedback group and then ignored. The only responses that people were getting was from friends of the owner calling them "bitchy" and "snarky", or sending boot emojies implying they should get 'booted' from the group for daring to raise their concerns. After quite an extensive time of chasing answers, they were told their questions had been answered in a google doc which the owner later admitted didn't exist. Eventually people were told it was against community guidelines to ask questions in the public chats, however the owner had continually been ignoring direct messages. 

While it is not my experience, I feel it prudent to share that this includes a mother of a child who was in respite who was unable to access her refund of £350 for 6 months, spending another £70 in order to finally get this refund. This mother was in the past Bookish Besties group which was then deleted to make a new one (the existing one).

With no access to redress, or even the ability to raise questions including those about refunds without going against guidelines I must stress I find this a dangerous community to join.