I have never purchased anything from Crossway before. So when it was time to purchase a new Bible, I really liked this ESV Bible at my local bookstore. It had a Verse By Verse format which is not always common in Bibles. It was not in stock, so they ordered one from Crossway. Ten days later, I was excited to purchase it once it arrived. But only one month after buying this Bible, I noticed the inside binding on the back cover was slowly peeling away. This was not a sewn binding. It was glued on. It did not concern me at first. I thought to myself that if nothing else peels away, I could live with that. Seeing it as a minor flaw, I decided to ignore it. But then two months later, the front cover binding was now starting to peel away too. It was becoming worse than the back cover.
But how could this be? This was a new Bible that had never been opened. The bookstore actually ordered this in from Crossway. The only remote guess I could think of is that if it had been sitting on Crossway’s shelves for years unopened, it may have resulted in some of the glue to lose its adhesiveness. But that still does not make sense when I read their pledge card inside the front cover. The last paragraph states that because of its quality materials and excellent craftsmanship, this Bible is guaranteed to last for as long as you use it. If you should experience any defect in its printing or failure in its binding during normal use, we will replace it with a Bible of equal or greater value.
That was exactly my situation. I had a defect in its binding during normal use. So I called the number on the card, and the representative told me to send an email to their customer service address with the ISBN number along with pictures of the defects. This was sort of odd because why would the card tell me to call their phone number only to then be told to send an email. To be fair, it does say to call for details; The details to basically email them with pictures and an ISBN number. But couldn’t they have just inserted their email address and explained that on their pledge card? Wouldn’t that save an extra unnecessary step of having to call them first? Anyways, I am digressing now. Let’s get back to the issue at hand.
So I emailed their Customer Service department with pictures and my ISBN number. They got back to me the next day and told me they would repair it and cover the cost of shipping. They just needed my mailing address and phone number. I sent them my email and phone number the next day. But when they realized that I am based in Canada, they emailed me the following day to say that they do not pick up Bibles from Canada. So instead, they just sent me a replacement Bible. That was incredible because that was a $200 Bible. So not only do I get to keep the original Bible I purchased, Crossway gave me a second one for free. This was really awesome of Crossway to do that for me. You can definitely see the difference between the two Bibles. The cover has a different texture and feel to it. And the covers were binded so much better on this new one.
So I want to give a huge thank you to Crossway not only for their great customer service, but also living up to their pledge of delivering a high quality Bible. They have retained me as a future customer. If anyone is looking for a Bible to purchase from, may this story give you an idea of the kind of customer service you may receive from Crossway. Well done Crossway!
