VitalSource TechnologiesReviews of vitalsource.com

COMPLETE RIP OFF!!! I ordered a book and got a text full of quotes and random people's notes -- NOT the book itself!

I purchased 2 books from this company. After a few weeks of using, when I opened one of the books, I received a prompt to download an updated version. After doing this, 3 of the books chapters disappeared. I contacted the company over the course of one week and each time received a reply ‘We are dealing with your request’. To date, I have not had a solution. Definitely would not recommend. I am a Masters student and need the book for assessment. Totally unreliable.

worst website and app ever! I paid €60 for a textbook from Routledge only to be forced to use this garbage app to access it! it somehow took over my system bringing me back to Chrome automatically when I swiped between screens and blocking all my other apps that were open. for example, I couldn't type on Pages anymore!! Also, ever since I opened their garbage bookshelf my Macbook has been making this sound that it makes when it's overworking, and even though I deleted the app and restarted my Mac, the sound hasn't stopped yet. I'm shocked by the sheer incompetency and greed of both Routledge and Vitalsource forcing me to waste so much of my precious time struggling with their garbage software rather than studying. Do not, under any circumstance, make the mistake of buying e-books from Routledge.

You can only use the books within their "bookshelf", you can't export in any way and the reader only let you see 1 page at a time and has to load the next page when you turn a page. You should be able to export it in ePub so you can use a better reader, but then they can't force users to stay on their platform.

"Ready anywhere" except when they never send the confirmation email so you it's literally never ready ever.

Very poor customer service. I am a faculty member and changes institutions. They refused to update my account to reflect my new work email. They gave me no solutions other than, sorry we can't do that. Totally unacceptable and horrible customer service.

I purchased an e textbook that said I'd get access through vital source reading bookshelf app. After purchasing it I couldn't get the access code to work and after a convoluted conversation with support I learned it had to be redeemed on the publishers website. Had issues with the publisher and learned that my instructor needed to create a course and send me a link for access before I'd be able to access the course but my instructor doesn't use that publishers platform. All this to say there's no way I can get access to the ebook I purchased and vital source never told me there were conditions on the access or gave me a refund. Really bad setup overall where I was not informed of the conditions of access before I purchased the book. Lost $50 to this site. Please be careful to know the conditions before you buy from them!

I just can't understand how such an app, which is intended for reading non-fiction and professional books, can be that bad. Alignments are horrible, the choice of fonts is extremely frustrating, you can't download books on more than 2 devices (in 2024!!), the "paginated" view has more bugs than an app from 10 years ago. This is just shameful and subpar.