The Journal Shop Reviews 

I can’t understand the bad reviews. Especially about the customer service. I had to cancel my order spontaneously and wrote an email to the shop. Not one day later I got a kind and helpful reply. The cancellation was no problem and I will surely come back in the future!

I had a splendid experience shopping and ordering at The Journal Shop. Extensive selection of appealing, useful goods and extremely helpful customer service. Will order again in 2026.

The tracking code I was given didn't work for quite a few days, I was under the impression that delivery would be much quicker than it was, so I - admittedly with haste - gave them a poor review on here. However since then my order arrived, well packaged (in a card envelope which contained a Jiffy bag) and I great condition. Just marked down a star because there could have been better tracking information and clarity on how long I could expect to wait for my package.

Been shopping here for years and honestly, I can’t fault them. The range is huge – loads of Japanese stationery and plenty of other gems you don’t usually find elsewhere. I’ve discovered so many favourites through them. Customer service is always spot on too – friendly, quick to respond and genuinely helpful whenever I’ve needed anything (I’m surprised reading some of these reviews!). I’ve recently had an order arrive within 48 hours! Delivery was smooth and it’s just been a consistently great experience over the years. Thank you guys, I’ll be back for my next stationery fix soon!

I love the selection of products that they have, and I have ordered from them multiple times with no issues, but the customer service could be improved. There was a hiccup this year with the Hobonichi orders, and I do think that they oversold and perhaps were not prepared for the volume of orders. Somehow I was sent a parcel which I had already cancelled and received a full refund for. Although I did initially struggle to get in contact with a real human, Chantelle was wonderful and sorted my issue very swiftly. Honestly, my one true criticism is the AI chatbot, and I feel like the company could benefit immensely from hiring more customer service personnel. Since then I have ordered from them again with no further issues.

I’ve been a loyal JournalShop customer for a while and have always been impressed with their service as in the past, orders were smooth, communication was clear, and the customer service team (especially Chantelle) was consistently responsive.

Unfortunately, my recent experiences haven’t matched that standard. With a Hobonichi order, it felt like orders were taken before stock had actually been secured. When the expected delivery was delayed without any communication, I tried to get clarity. My emails went unanswered, and when they finally responded days later, my request to cancel was ignored. Instead, I was simply told I could return the item once it had shipped, which wasn’t at all what I was asking for.

On top of that, the new chatbot system has made things worse. Auto-responses ro emails replace genuine responses to enquiries, and even when you ask for a human, it doesn’t happen. At the time of writing, I’ve been sitting in their chat queue for 33 minutes waiting for a support agent, with no reply.

It’s disappointing to see such a noticeable decline in service. Based on how things are now, I’ll likely look elsewhere in the future unless their support improves.

They’re always out of stock for most things anyway!!!

If I could give this company 0 stars I would. I ordered two items. One was just a pack of 6 ink cartridges, but the pack arrived damaged, with one cartridge missing, and another put back into the box upside down. Someone had apparently helped themselves to part of the contents before shipping out the remainder. Also, the brass fountain pen I ordered was mis-described on the website, and is etched with the maker's name. I wouldn't have bought it if I'd been told this. I sent an email to the company and got an automated AI reply. Tried to call, but no answer ... Then received an email from customer services in reply to my email. The customer services representative by email suggested that the fact my box of 6 cartridges arrived with one cartridge missing, and with one of the remaining 5 in the box placed the wrong way round, and with the cardboard box flaps bent and creased - indicating that the box had been opened, then the flaps reinserted poorly - may be a "manufacturing issue." ... another update. I was offered a refund for the cartridges, and was offered a return for the fountain pen, again for a refund. I accepted, and was informed returns instructions for the pen would be sent to me. They haven't. Neither have I been refunded for the cartridges ...

I placed an order on the tenth, 48 hour tracked delivery. It’s now the 15th and I can’t track the order and it hasn’t arrived. I’ve rung the store and they never pick up and their AI chat-bot is useless. I won’t order from them again.

This is my second year ordering my Hobonichi from The Journal Shop. The selection was brilliant. My order did not dispatch for about a week but I expected this as there was a message on the order page. The freebie pens were a nice touch!

I get that they're busy with hobonichi orders, but 10 day delays, issues that seem to be widespread, and no communication is a nightmare. If you email customer service you get a terrible AI bot that barely makes sense. I'd have patience and forgiveness if they didn't do that, I'd rather wait a day for a human being to get back to me. I will not order from them again (and will only reconsider that if they make it publicly known they've got rid of the AI bot)

My order wasn’t sent on time so I had to follow up. It arrived 1 week later than they said and all items were in an A5 cardboard mailer with no padding or protection. Unhelpful AI responses to emails. Nothing was missing or damaged but communication needs to be improved.

I wish I'd read the reviews here before ordering! I paid £4.99 for Tracked 24 delivery but they're slow to dispatch so it's really not worth it if you need something quickly. Package would have just made it in time (just) but then when there was an issue with Royal Mail. Asked them to get compensation from RM so they could refund me the express postage and they just ignored me. There is literally no customer service if anything goes wrong and other reviews say the same. Avoid.

Paid for next day delivery. They didn’t ship the order until the day delivery was due and haven’t bothered responding to emails. I won’t shop here again. Dreadful customer service.

Appalling customer service - left voicemails and emails, have heard nothing back. My advice is go somewhere else.

Returned items to company. They are refusing to communicate despite a number of emails and have failed to refund me. It’s not difficult!!! They have sent me a review form for the service I haven’t received!!!

This used to be a good online retailer and I bought quite a few things from them over a number of years; I’m afraid to say it no longer is and is quite unrecognisable to the company I used in the past.

I expressed clear and legitimate concern over an item the dimensions of which were not clearly assigned in the listing. This concern was completely misunderstood and misinterpreted. The response was frankly worse than a child without a firm grasp of English might provide (the irony of this for a company selling stationary that might support better communication is frankly remarkable!)

Every subsequent attempt I made to seek clarity was just plain ignored (all five of them over a three week period in fact). In the end I wrote a letter to them explaining the issue sending it together with the item for a full refund. I sent it tracked 48h. Nothing happened for over a week until I sent a further two emails when I was finally refunded for the basic amount of the product.

I never got a focused response to my initial concern (or any subsequent response at all apart from the useless one) suggesting that they did not wish to acknowledge any liability for the confusion over the listing and had no sense of customer service. It’s not just poor customer relations that, it rude!

Needless to say, they didn’t refund me the postage of either the initial order or the return order. I’m not surprised really because think it unlikely that they are capable of such redress. Likewise, I am certain I would not have been refunded at all if I hadn’t sent a further two messages drawing their attention to this in no uncertain terms.

This is a faceless company that plays free with its own T&Cs and has scant regard for customer service, satisfaction and lacks any mechanisms to process dispute and resolution appropriately; it does not honour its own T&Cs until reminded (repeatedly) to do so. If I could give it less than a star I would; it’s been dreadful dealing with such unscrupulous and unresponsive people and I won’t be doing so again; I wouldn’t even buy a paperclip from them!

I would not be surprised in the slightest if it takes this review to get a response. It is precisely the kind of cowardly and cynical response that has characterised my recent experience by responding to concerns when it’s too late but not when it matters. This is indicative of the kind of people providing such conspicuously terrible service to only jump into action in their own defence as soon as they are exposed within the public domain.

Bought a cover and after only a few months of little use, it deformed and was no longer able to use. Overpriced and poor quality

I tried to order a couple of items today but gave up due to their appalling website. Overall, it’s really slow. At one point I did manage to click the previously unresponsive Apple Pay button but it timed out. I eventually gave up and went elsewhere.

I repeatedly received unsolicited marketing emails from The Journal Shop. I raised a formal complaint with the company who then advised that they would escalate this to the relevant department, however, no response was received.