Blind Date with a Book

So I've thought long and hard about posting this, and ultimately decided to go ahead, souly as a warning to other possible purchasers from this business

I want to start off with, I'm also a small business owner, it hurts my soul to have to write this review however I also understand that there's a certain level of service that's expected of small businesses, and Country Creations and Crystal's sadly did fall short of that expectation.

First and foremost, they were pretty rude and unprofessional, preferring to play on their phones or talk amongst themselves rather than acknowledge my partner and I when we walked up to their booth.. any of the times, even when I ultimately decided to purchase from them, I had to try multiple times to get their attention, finally getting a sharp "what?!" In return.. when I was trying to make a purchase.

I went ahead and purchased a Blind Date with a Book from them after spending many hours debating whether not not I should; I ultimately decided to go ahead and purchase one, I was a bit shocked by the price (almost $20) but decided it was worth it for the experience.

When I took my book home, I was admittedly disappointed to see all the "goodies" were either drop shipped things, or came from dollar stores (which I understand, we're all trying to save a buck right now). So to start out I was a bit frustrated with the price, but decided that was my mistake for not trying to inspect the items closer prior to purchase.

When I got into the book itself, I was hit with a pungent smell that took my breath away, I'm aware how dramatic that sounds however it needs to be noted that I am asthmatic and am immunocompromised, so strong smells do affect me badly, on the back i saw a barcode stating the book was only worth about $6, which left me a bit more disappointed that I spent almost $20 on a product worth about $12 in total, I once again tried to just move past because again, we're all trying to save and make money where possible

The book itself was in extremely poor shape, the spine was damaged, page's were yellowed and the front/back covers were creased, on top of that the brown paper wrapping had been taped DIRECTLY to the paper cover (which I still can't get off), not to mention that smell it still had.

I decided to try and read it and I started to get sick, bad sick. I spent a week trying to figure out what on earth was wrong; finally my father figures out that it's the book making me so sick, come to find out it had been contaminated with Mildew prior to purchase.

While i understand reselling used books, selling something in such poor shape contaminated with mildew is absolutely unacceptable, not to mention no where on their stand itself (goodness I wish I had an image of it now) stated they were used, while I have nothing against a good preloved book, I'd like to at least be made aware prior to purchase

When I requested a partial refund, one of the owners who replied was a bit rude again, while I understand being wary of scammers, there was no warmth in the messages or any appolgies made for what was sold (while I understand I am not entitled to anything, it still would have been polite)

While in the end, I did receive a partial refund for the whole issue, it did leave a sour taste in my mouth how small business owners can be so rude, hold no accountability and be fine selling something in such poor condition (and a health code violation!) While arguing whether or not they would issue an appeasement

My final piece i leave this review with is, while their website has since been updated to outline that the books are used, which I appreciate, they do still use quite a bit of AI for a supposed craft business, while not everyone's yuck, there's a large group of us who are icked by that.

Perfect, i love reading and the blind date with a book is amazing, i actually got really lucky to, the book i got was written by the man who coined the word Cyberpunk