Stanfords Reviews 14

I ordered a book online that was not available from any other UK supplier. Matt from Stanfords went above and beyond, emailing to let me know that the item would be imported from a foreign supplier and may take several weeks. He emailed again when the book arrived and upgraded the postage for free to make sure that the book reached me before we went on holiday. Also, I wasn’t charged until the book arrived in the shop. So impressed with this level of service!

Great place to start preparing your trip. Good variety of maps and guidebooks.
Staff is always ready to advice and help.

This is my first time ordering from Stanfords and I have to say this company delivers in every way. !
The quality of their maps is amazing !! The person I spoke to on the phone was very helpful & friendly. !
The package arrived in almost perfect condition and in good time. !

''Thanks for everything Stanfords'' ..

(Paul Gretny)

I went to buy a map of swansea and I met with Martin and matteo both of them was so helpful and friendly I can't belive that they are staff or my friends they were listening to me very carefully and tried to understand what I need then explain to me every thing about map I needed and helpd me sooo much for my need and printed map of my city so good actually I don't have words yo admir them specially mr Martin greenaway was a very professional and helpful I really will recommend them to my friends and family I wish them good luck

I ordered from Stanfords and they made a small mistake with my order (sending me a very similarly named book instead of the one I ordered). When I got in touch with them, they were very apologetic, immediately dispatched the correct book, and just asked me to pop the mistaken book in the post (with a provided return label) when I got the chance. Could not have been easier to sort out, and really great customer service.

I always shop with Stanfords when I'm in London, and try to shop with them as much as possible online as well. Although this was actually a 'bad' experience in theory, it only re-affirmed how happy I am to be a Stanford's customer with the way they handled it :)

Very pleased with my Anavasi Greek map. Emailed first to find out publication date and received a response within a day. Ordered map and it arrived within a couple of days. It's the most recent edition
of this particular map. Am very pleased that Stanfords could provide me with publication date (and avail me of the most recent version) as I had been unavailable to find this information (or this up to date map) elsewhere. Keep up the good work!

I am impressed with the lovely range of children's books and nice stationary. Of my four items, three were dispatched very promptly. The fourth arrived a week later, but the staff explained the slight delay.

How I adore Stanfords! Their shop is GLORIOUS.

I visited their online shop and whilst the amount of choice is limited and the helpful shop staff missing (what with it being online!) I was able to get my husband a wonderful Christmas gift.

I look forward to when I can visit their shop in Covent Garden again.

Ordered a map as it said same day dispatch if ordered by 2 pm, paid for postage 7 days later still no map! No communication from the company as to whats going on! After reading the reviews below save your money if you're in a hurry and buy elsewhere

Mail ordered some maps to myself outside UK. Everything went smoothly, with quick confirmation emails, and the maps arrived within the specified time.

For almost 30 years, ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a regular visitor to Stanfords map shop. It’s fair to describe it as my favourite shop in London. That beautiful building with its huge map of London on the basement level – amazing. Stanfords is a tourist destination in its own right and the largest map shop in the world. No matter what map you were after, Stanfords would stock it, along with a HUGE selection of maps from just about any other location you can think of. Over the years I’ve spent hours browsing in that shop and have probably spent thousands of pounds. So, last week I went with a list of maps in preparation for my upcoming holiday, only to find workmen having a cigarette in the main entrance and the building appearing gutted – they told me Stanfords had moved to a new location and gave me directions. I eventually found the new shop, and to say I’m shocked at what I found is an understatement. It’s now crammed into about 1/6 floor space of the old shop, basically now a small depressing basement arranged in a haphazard manner. The wide selection of maps that I loved to browse has now been reduced to a small number of maps for each location, most of them available at Waterstones or Foyles. None of the maps I had on my shopping list were even in the new shop. The assistant I spoke to was unhelpful and ill informed arguing that ‘Insight’ laminated maps had been discontinued as a product – I subsequently purchased the required maps form Waterstones (the same member of staff has previously given me the same incorrect information about another product). The friendly faces from the old shop seem to have gone and almost everyone in the new building looked miserable. As a map lover, I am utterly gutted, and I don’t think I can face going to this miserable basement again. Who ever made the decision to move to a cramped little building from the magnificent old shop and prime location on Long Acre really should be ashamed of themselves – what a pity that after 100 years this wonderful shop has been effectively trashed.

Lovely staff and a unique London travel book store. Sad to hear they're moving to smaller premises. I hope they build back up.

Slow service. Several items ordered went out of stock after I paid for them. No information regarding back orders or delivery, and the items that were dispatched took 8 days from dispatch notification to arrive.

I've always loved the shops, but this has left me pretty disappointed, and let down for a holiday. Ordered the maps a month before we're due to go, but I don't have any confidence in them actually delivering - especially after reading the other review

I ordered three items from this company in early February, 2016. Two arrived within a week, one has never arrived. I have contacted the company on several occasions to chase up the missing item, only to be fobbed off with the digital equivalent of "it's in the post". Staff answering my queries have consistently displayed a "couldn't care less" attitude. Bookshops seem to spend a great deal of time complaining about how Amazon is affecting their business. Amazon is far from perfect but if this is the level of service offered by a "traditional" (and specialist) bookseller they deserve to lose their customers to their online rivals. This is the first time I have used Stanford's online ordering service. It will also be the last.