Anna Zakhary

Review of UCF Arena

This is truly the most inadequate establishment at...

This is truly the most inadequate establishment at UCF. First of all, getting textbooks is a time sensitive thing. If the bookstore has a book on backorder it needs to tell you on the website BEFORE purchase rather than risking that kind of email going to someone's spam email and having a student be completely unaware of the delays they would get in studying material and completing assignments. In addition, the customer service is absolutely useless. No one picks up the phone any day at any time of the day nor does anyone respond to emails. I understand there can be a high volume of calls but putting someone on hold is also an option rather than never picking up the phones at all. Since no one picked up calls or answered emails, I had to drive out there (and it's a long drive for me, UCF cannot just assume that everyone lives right next to campus when they disregard other means of contact). There were literally three people at desks with phones and no one was on the phone. So my tuition money is simply going towards people sitting at desks and not doing a key feature of their jobs. Even though I had my book set to deliver to my house, I either needed a refund so I can buy the book elsewhere if it was on backorder or the actual book. They gave me the book and I didn't realize until I got home that the price of the book was updated from $64 to $148 because they only had a new rental instead of a used one. How about updating inventory accurately in a timely manner instead of making a student jump through hoops to receive an incorrect item they're going to get charged more than double the amount they signed up for? So not only did I have to wait almost three weeks for a textbook (which also sets me three weeks behind in class because the textbook is required), I have to drive to UCF a second time to return that book and buy it elsewhere where I can just get a digital copy for $84 and not have the run around from an establishment designed to help students but is just littered with incompetence. UCF cannot just assume a student is made of money and charge them an extra $84 when they feel like it. It is already rough enough for students who suffered job/pay cuts with COVID; we do not need the University charging us more than we were told. Have a site that tells students what to actually expect (regarding both pricing and how soon the order can be fulfilled) and staff that actually does their jobs and picks up the phones and responds to emails because the way this is currently operating is toying with students' time, money, grades, and effort.