Orders, Returns, and Claims
Orders
When placing an order, please provide your Hein account number and your purchase order number (if applicable). For new customers, prepayment is required at the time of your order. We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and bank checks in U.S. funds from a U.S. financial institution. If you would like to apply for an open-billing account, please contact our Accounting Department at accounting@wshein.com.
All prices listed in our website catalog, in our brochures, and in our paper catalogs are in U.S. dollars. Shipping and handling charges are additional. Taxes, where applicable, will be added to your order.
In most instances, orders are processed and shipments prepared within three business days. Unless otherwise requested when placing your order, we will use a major carrier such as UPS, FedEx, or the United States Postal Service for shipping. Rush requests are available for an additional charge.
Orders Should be Directed To:
Returns
All material being returned, with the exception of damaged material, must be returned in excellent, resalable condition. A copy of the invoice, or a letter stating the reason for return and invoice number, must accompany every return. Hein will not issue credit for books returned without proper paperwork. Returns will be accepted for defective books and shipment errors within 30 days of the date of receipt, but we will need to be notified before the material is sent back. If a book is received damaged, please keep the original box that the material was received in.
Microfiche is non-returnable/non-refundable.
Please e-mail customerservice@wshein.com with any return questions you may have.
William S. Hein & Co., Inc. has the right to refuse any returns that are not made in accordance with our return policies stated below.
Returns Should be Directed To:
With the exception of special order/bound material, returns will be accepted for Hein books, periodicals, and reprints within 90 days of the date of the invoice.
Hein does need to be informed of the reason for return before the material is shipped back.
Because we deal with many different publishers in obtaining requested books for our customers, we must follow the return policy of each publisher. Prior approval, therefore, is needed for all agent material returns.
Please send such requests to customerservice@wshein.com. If permission is granted, the books must be mailed to Hein in a way that can be traced. Please do not send books directly to the publisher. Hein has the right to refuse any agent returns sent back without prior approval.
All sales are considered final unless permission for a return is specifically granted.
Returns will be accepted for up to one year from the date of the invoice. This excludes special order/bound items, which, as indicated on the invoice, cannot be returned. All returns must be accompanied by required paperwork in order to receive a full credit.
*Please note: The Bluebook is non-returnable at all times.
Returns will be accepted for up to 90 days from the date of the invoice. This excludes special order/bound items, which, as indicated on the invoice, cannot be returned.
Claims Policy
The Hein Company’s policy for claims is more liberal than most other publishers’ policies. As a general rule, we’re able to honor claims for up to four months after the publication for both single orders and continuation/subscription items. Claims for Hein material, or material for which you are using the Hein Company as your agent, may be sent by mail, fax, phone, or email transfer.
Claims of a general nature are entered into our system for transmission in bulk to the publisher. However, for any claim to which you need an immediate response to fulfill a library service, or that is a continuous, serious problem, we will contact the publisher directly by phone until it can be resolved and we can inform you of the outcome.
It is helpful if you can provide us as much information as possible, including a volume/issue number or supplement number, and the date or period covered. This allows us to provide the correct information to the publisher and avoid unnecessary delays in getting the right material to your library.
When claiming, we ask the publisher to confirm that the replacement has been sent to your library. Once we receive that confirmation, we complete your claim in our system, assuming that the material will soon be in your hands. If we do not hear from the publisher, we will send you a follow-up on a monthly basis to see if you have received the claimed material. Please look for the update letters and return them promptly so we can avoid double claiming the material and having duplicates sent to you.
It is critical to claim material as early as possible, especially for serial items such as dailies and weeklies, when the publisher may honor a claim only for a two- or three-week period. Many library systems also allow you to claim based on expected publishing dates; however, please do not set those too early as too many computer-generated claims for not-yet-published material can cause publishers to be less responsive than they otherwise would be.
While we will do everything in our power to resolve the issue, as your agent we are limited by the policy of the individual publishers. In other words, as your agent we pay on your behalf and claim on your behalf, but have no control over the publisher’s response to your claim. In some cases, despite our best efforts, the publisher will not honor the claim and instead advises the subscriber to repurchase the material. Because we are the distributor of back issues for many periodicals, if the publisher refuses to honor a claim and we have stock of the missing issue, we will send it from our inventory at our expense. This service is not available through any other subscription agent.
In rare cases, even when the library has claimed properly and we have notified the publisher right away, the publisher may still refuse to honor the claim. As a last resort when we do not have the material in our inventory, we let you know that you’ll have to pay for the replacement issue. We understand that in these times of tight budgets it is upsetting to pay a second time to get the material for the first time; however, we cannot control the policies of other publishers. We do fight on your behalf and take your complaints back to the publisher but, as the middleman, we do not have the ultimate authority to grant your requests. If, at any time, we have mishandled your claim, causing it not to be honored, we will replace that item at our expense. We appreciate your understanding regarding our role as your agent.
Stay Up-to-Date
On a regular basis, we send out notices regarding delays and other important information on frequency changes, title changes, and problems in the publishing industry. Access our monthly newsletter to get information about new features, new databases, new print publications, major Hein updates, upcoming tradeshow meetings, title and publication changes, and more.
It is our hope that in helping you learn more about our process we’ll be better able to work together to fulfill your library’s needs. We thank you for your understanding and very much appreciate your business.