Hive.co.uk - an online bookshop Reviews 

I have ordered from Hive numerous times and the service has always been quick and faultless. Occasionally they don't have a book in stock, but that is the only problem I have ever had with them. I will be buying all my bookish Christmas presents from Hive.

I have ordered once from Hive myself and my friends have ordered gifts from hive more than 3 times. Books in great condition, always cheaper than RRP with free shipping. Shipping is quick and packaged well. One of my favourite online shops to buy books.

Only problem was when my friend bought a book for me, it charged her twice and sent two copies.

I have to say, I did read some reviews before I ordered from Hive, some not favourable - but decided to give it a go, I wanted an alternative to Amazon - So far my orders have been delivered very quickly in perfect condition and free delivery makes this great value for money. I like that they give a donation to your choice of local bookshop too, great idea. I can usually find what I want, with good selection available. I will continue to shop here, glad I found it.

If only I could give less than 1 star. Ordered 20 items… I had to RING up to ask where my order was, only to be told that 2 out of the 20 I had ordered were available and these hadn’t even been sent out to me. A WEEK LATER. Urgently needed these items and heard NOTHING from the company. Now having to spend more money on another website with next day delivery to receive in time.

I've ordered about a dozen books from Hive in the past year and they've always ...always....arrived the next day. First class.

Fast delivery. Highly recommended.

Ordered from Hive twice so far and had a really good experience both times. Fast delivery and good quality products.
On my most recent order, a book that I had bought as a gift arrived slightly damaged - signs of bashing and ink transfer that must have occurred during delivery. I let them know and had a very quick response - they let me keep the damaged book and refunded me so I could buy the book elsewhere. Really great customer service, perhaps delivery could be improved slightly.

Ordered a CD. Cheaper than Amazon and arrived in good condition on time. Liking that a donation goes to a local bookshop. Would use again.

I have always used Hive as an alternative to Amazon and have not had issues with normal orders. I pre ordered a book but started to worry when the release date passed and I had no dispatch email. I emailed Hive to ask if all was well, only for them to reply and say they would ask the warehouse when it would be available. This morning I was refunded. The book is now showing as out of stock on the website so I'm assuming pre orders were not prioritised or very low stock was taken in. It is a bit cheeky not to refund the customer when their order is non existent. Surely I should have been refunded without having to ask. I bought it elsewhere.

Awful customer service.

I used Hive because I am trying to avoid using Amazon. I made a mistake ordering, I emailed to correct it, they acknowledged my email and then went through with the wrong order anyway.

Eventually got back to me saying I needed to return the wrong order in perfect condition at my own expense for a refund. The book is a gift for a family member, so I would have to burden them with the admin.

May use again to avoid Amazon, but hoping they care about customer reviews enough to fix up their customer service procedures (a button on the website could just as easily cancel the order for goodness sake).

I want this company to be good, at the moment they're not, they might be one day.

I started ordering from Hive about a year ago and have been shopping with them more and more as they’re consistently the best deal compared to Wordery and Waterstones. Their top-notch service should be commended as well.

They offer very competitive pricing, dispatches are speedy and are consistently tracked, and they use plastic free packaging. It’s also worth noting they use Royal Mail for shipping!

I had an issue with a book coming not as advertised in the winter and they were fast and efficient with sorting it out.

I’ve noticed a significant improvement in service, offerings, and price points since my first order with Hive so whatever you folks are doing, keep it up!

I would absolutely love it if Hive implemented ApplePay as a payment option. The payment process is a wee bit clunky compared to Wordery.

Great experience, books came in good time, in excellent condition and plastic free packaging.

Books are competitively priced, dispatched and delivered quickly. You are notified if delivery progress along the way. After several purchases, I am happy.
Order#T1079969519

I've placed two orders and experienced great service from a company who support independent local bookshops.

Now I've deleted my Amazon account!

Always provide a good service! My go to book supplier!

Wrong product sent and they expect me to pay return postage. Product misrepresented with outdated images on their website.

Updated: I have emailed several times and am now being ignored by customer service!

Hive did the book I wanted for the best price and it was delivered very quickly, Thank you.

Great! Item arrived fast, well packaged and will buy again

I did have an issue with a purchase, as there is currently no way to cancel / edit an order - even straight away. However Hive quickly responded to my review on here and when I contacted them, they provided a resolution, so I have edited my review. I would still say to other customers to be careful when ordering outside business hours as there is no way to edit an order.

I would also say my order arrived very quickly and its great that Hive are finding a way to work with bookshops while delivering an on-line service.

Update: issue is resolved, impressive customer service team! Thank you, you truly deserve 5 stars!
----
I purchased an e-book that was advertised as "download immediately available". But here I am, 7 hours and counting and there is still no link to download the book or even read it online. It was reasonably priced but I regret my purchase because I have a submission deadline and the only reason I bought the book was because my university library didn't have an electronic copy and I just wanted the book for reference. I have contacted the sellers via PayPal asking for a refund. So if you're purchasing an e-book and want an immediate access to the book, beware that "immediate" has a wider lexical range than usual word usage implies :(