By NintyStar - 30/08/2016 20:15 - United States - Minneapolis

Today, I found out that my college textbooks, which I spent nearly $200 dollars on for the two of them, did not come with the codes they were advertised with. The codes are needed for online classwork that is required to pass the course. Each new code is $90 a piece. FML
I agree, your life sucks 15 822
You deserved it 1 581

NintyStar tells us more.

NintyStar 2

OP here: for clarification, these are the books for one course. The rest of my books for my first semester (I'm a college freshman) drove my textbook costs up to over $500. So having to pay nearly $200 more for my books that did not come as advertised is a bit of a shock, to say the least. For reference, I bought all of my books the week before move-in, and I've only just finished my first week of classes. Luckily, my professor is very understanding, and she just sent me the link to where I could buy the codes and know they were legitimate, and she said she'd just give me credit for what I've already missed. So, I guess you could say this story has a happy ending, more or less. I'll just be better about it when buying books for next semester.

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Top comments

TheEpicKitten 20

I'd contact the retailer and ask if it was just a mishap that the codes were missing

196 1
Nysha 17

They're defective and not as described then - return them and get them somewhere else

193 1

Comments

hoosiergirl94 31

Anything involving college will cost a million times more than expected

44 1
Ch_rae5 19

This is precisely how I found myself with a billion student loans

0 1
TheEpicKitten 20

I'd contact the retailer and ask if it was just a mishap that the codes were missing

196 1
lilstromie 3

Normally if you contact the supplier they will give you a partial refund for the missing items which should cover the price of buying them separately.

2 0
Nysha 17

They're defective and not as described then - return them and get them somewhere else

193 1
taco_warrior17 15

Tell them they didn't follow their code of conduct.

2 7
TheBiggerBoot 7

If they were advertised that they came with codes you should be able to contact the seller and get them without paying for new ones. It's really not that difficult.

27 1
Rawrshi 25

My books were going to cost nearly $700 this year, so I know the feeling OP. It's definitely worth shopping around a bit on various sites to try to find the best prices or rent instead of buying outright though (especially from Amazon or your school bookstore). I try to rent whenever possible or find the textbook online so was able to bring the price down to around $130 collectively. That's with having to pay $100 or so for one of those pesky online codes. Another tip is to contact your professor ahead of time to see if an older textbook would suffice if you purchase the necessary codes seperately. Sometimes you don't even need the new $200 book and a $10 or $20 older one would be fine. If the books were advertised with code you should also be able to return them for a proper copy as well.

24 0
201chasew 22

I paid $187 for my calculus 2 book. After I opened it, someone offered an old one for $5. I couldn't return the new one because I already opened it...

1 0
Oragami 16

Exactly. Sometimes only one or two pages are different, or a few tiny bits here and there. Why spend a freakish amount of money when you don't need to?

0 0
Zbojnik 11

You guys have to pay tuition and still spend this much on textbooks you need for your courses? That's outrageous!

29 1
Rawrshi 25

Welcome to America: Where you practically have to sell your soul in loans to acquire the college degree your chosen career requires to be able to (hopefully) pay off the loans.

25 0
yerawizardlizzy 27

$200 is modest. Though it seems like it's only one class.

2 6
InfiniteSunshine 32

Honestly $200 is actually not that much. My first semester of first year, I bought textbooks from the university book store, it cost $650 for 5 books. After that I refused to buy there again. I always rent now, it comes to about $200 usually for the whole order. Bookstores at the schools are a rip off. Worst part is, I find the books are rarely as "required" as profs make them out to be. Oh, sometimes you can also sell them back to the school, I think I got about $60 back from my original $650. Ridiculous.

14 0
katachristic 19

My school had a student run textbook site where you can meet other students (safely, on campus) to buy lower and sell higher, usually almost good enough to break even. See if something like that exists at your school. If not, organize it; you could do a lot of good. School books really should be mostly free anyways...

9 0
polsen4273 8

Pretty sure this was for one book/class. Probably she can only afford to take one at a time with these prices

3 0
Zbojnik 11

At this rate, it will be cheaper for you to fly out and enroll in a European university. I never had to pay for any textbooks required for my courses. There even were these two professors that wrote a math textbook and let the students from the whole university use it for free.

1 0
Rawrshi 25

It actually is cheaper to get a visa, fly to Europe, find somewhere to board, and attend university there than it is to live at home with your parents while attending in the US. The education is far superior as well. Most can't though because they have kids, work 2-3 jobs that they can't leave, or have other obligations.

5 3
doodlecloud 26

I hope you found this out shortly after buying rather than buying months ago and only waiting till class to work it out. Hopefully you can still get your money back or code sent to you! My friend bought his textbook months before the course, didn't realise it was in fricking German till it was waaaaay past the point of returns and refunds.

8 1
yerawizardlizzy 27

I'm going to say no, or otherwise a different language wouldn't have been an issue.

5 1
Lalala579121 27

I have lost all faith in the intelligence in humanity by now, to the point where I feel someone returning a German textbook for being in German would be a very real possibility.

1 1
ambeerr 14

Either you didn't read the fine print at the bottom of the website, or they're falsely advertising their products. Call them and see if you can return them, or get the codes for less money. Or you can just return them and shop around for cheaper books, or just pay the $90 per code.

5 0
Cow_Girl_Lilly 24

Two things are to say: One: wait to order your books until your first class to see if you actually need them. Two: I know they're a bitch (because of the price) to get in the bookstore but it's better to get it from the college then to get it from an online website. Because you never know if you're going to have all you need. So I'm saying you kind of deserve that but I hope you do get it worked out.

6 9