Phaidon Reviews 

Artists beware

I bought a ticket for an art fair they organize via ArtSpace which is a company that phaidon bought in 2019

Soon after they ghosted me
No answers on calls or emails

But still sending bills that haven't been paid in full!

And I called the hotel/avenue Villa Padierna in Marbella where the fair was supposed to be held - the hotel doesn't know anything about it

I charged back, but they didn't reply to the bank to issue a refund

Questionable company. They own Artspace and Art Space Fairs who scam artists. My friend payed the whole fee for a stand and never heard from them again…. Stay away!

Scam experience with Artspace (Artspace Fairs / Phaidon Press) has been extremely disappointing.

After visiting their Marbella art fair in October last year, my artist friend (Mia Dey Art) decided to exhibit with them and paid the full exhibition fee in advance to receive the advertised early-payment discount.

Not long afterwards, the representative assigned to her informed her that she was leaving the company. She contacted her via WhatsApp to say she had resigned and wrote, “I hope they will do what they promised for the artists.” That message immediately raised concerns.

Within a short period, she then received emails from two other individuals using official Artspace email addresses, each informing her that they had also resigned from the company.

After that, communication stopped entirely. She called every Artspace phone number she had, but the numbers were either disconnected or went unanswered. She also emailed every Artspace contact and email address she could find, but did not receive a single reply.

As a result,she has been unable to obtain any information about her booking or recover the approximately €1,300 that she paid. Despite numerous attempts over an extended period, she has received no response from the company.

This has been a very stressful experience for her. She can only speak about her own experience, but based on what happened to her, we would encourage other artists to carry out careful due diligence and proceed with caution before committing funds to exhibit with this organization.

Phaidon has a reputation as a publisher of fine, indeed lavish books, at a premium price point. On purchasing a copy of their £100 Walter Gropius illustrated biography, I was dismayed that on arrival, still in its shrink-wrap, it had a severely battered front top-right corner, with damage severe on the first pages, and damage tailing off and ceasing to be discernible only at page 81. I ordered it from a third-party store, who packed it well but did not warn me the book was already damaged. One expects a premium publisher not to allow its high-cost volumes to leave the warehouse with such a level of damage. I will only get second-hand Phaidon editions from now on.

They really dropped the ball on Vietnam: the cookbook. Normally with their cookbook like the silver spoon and the French cookbook they have the recipe names in English and then a separate name for that language.

Having just spent two weeks travelling round Vietnam I bought this cookbook which is amazing, but I only know the names of the dishes in Vietnamese

Whilst each page has the English name and Vietnamese name, there is no index and I am assuming they did this to cut costs… I used to think this company was the Bible for cookbooks but I am starting to doubt that now

Unhelpful and unprofessional customer service. Horrible to deal with. But I can see that I am not the only one to think this. Avoid!

A couple of weeks after placing my order I e-mailed them about when I could expect my order. Only then did they notify me that they did not even have the product I ordered in stock and that I would likely have to wait another week or so. When that time had long passed it was again me who had to inquire on the shipment to which they said that unfortunately they still haven't stocked up on the product. I had ordered it for a birthday present so I was no more interested in waiting for it and cancelled the order. Remains to be seen if I ever get refunded. Really deceitful modus operandi.

To mirror the complaints of other commenters, Phaidon have once again failed to fulfil their order.

They were more than happy to take my money, before waiting a full week to inform me that the order has in fact been cancelled. The AI generated email was of little comfort to me.

I am still waiting upon my refund, meanwhile, I am left without the time to find a replacement book from another (more reliable) provider.

AVOID Phaidon at all costs.

Dreadful experience. I made an order which I needed to cancel, and I have been emailing for days to cancel the order and there is absolutely no reply from the company. No customer service telephone number. No way of contacting them. Appalling, given the cost of the book I purchased. I will allow them two more days and if not, I will speak to my card provider and process a charge back. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

Use illegal bait-and-switch tactics.
I ordered a limited edition SIGNED book, but was contacted by their customer service telling me the signed coy was sold out - there was 10 copies left in stock when I ordered - and offering to send me instead an UNSIGNED copy.
THis is not the first time they try this trick on me, and I have seen similar reviews. At this point, I believe Trading Standards have to be contacted and seriously look into this.

I ordered a book from Phaidon that said it would be deliver in 3 working days. It's been two weeks, and no update on the order or communication. I've emailed, but as is consistent with other reviews, I've had no response. They clearly don't value customer service, and it's put me off every purchasing a book from them in future.

It is really a disappointment these days a big company to have such a bad delivery service. I ordered 2 books and it was supposed to be shipped within 3 working days. Its 7 days and no delivery, no response to my email. Never again...

I wouldn’t recommend.

I ordered £250 worth of books from these guys expecting good service seeing as they’re a reputable brand, boy was I wrong.

I placed my order on the 2nd of February so I waited, a week went by and I hadn’t heard anything so I emailed and got a friendly response saying there was an issue with distribution and one of the books had been sold out so they refunded me that and gave a voucher which I appreciated, I was satisfied so I thought I’d give them time and a chance.

They told me it be dispatched with 3 - 4 days from the email. So I waited again a total of 7 DAYS and have still not heard anything, my order hasn’t changed and I’m on the brink of cancelling it and asking for a full refund which is a shame because the books are gorgeous.

Based on the reviews I’ve read here I honestly don’t know what’s going on with this company it’s like goblins have taken over and are driving it into the ground, truly bizzare.

Oh how I wish I'd read these reviews before placing an order. I've placed an order on December 22nd and haven't heard a thing since. I've emailed their Customer Service twice in the past two weeks and didn't get a reply. Every time I'm trying to call their number, I get a "user busy" tone (their line is clearly disconnected). This was a very expensive order, and certainly does NOT deserve this treatment. I'm appalled such a big, reputable publisher has such dodgy practices. The irony is that I didn't even think twice when placing my order BECAUSE they are Phaidon, I automatically thought they'd be reliable. I'm a patient person and don't necessarily mind the wait, but find the lack of communication extremely worrying. I'm now having to consider seeking legal advice as I can't afford to just let it go. Disgusting, avoid at all costs.

Incredibly disappointed. I ordered a book directly from Phaidon on the 15th Jan. I am yet to receive any correspondence regarding a dispatch or ETA of the book I ordered. The cost was debited from my account as soon as the order confirmation went through and I have followed up with three emails and a voice message in order to get in touch with customer services and still nothing. I would appreciate an update ASAP.

I bought a book via Phaidon’s website on 26/10/20. I still haven’t received it.
I wrote to them on the 04/11/20 as it was a birthday present needed for 10/11/20 and I hadn’t heard anything by then. Though it stated ‘shipped’ around a couple of days after ordering.
I didn’t get a response for 7 days. Then an email just apologising. Saying the book was supposed to be a preorder for December (at no point did they correct this on the site). They said early December was always the intended delivery date. So I said I wished to keep the order. But they should have corrected the website, even offered a tiny gesture, hell even answered their emails sooner than a week or just not marking shipped so I don’t get my hopes up. So many balls dropped for a respected publishers. Why do they sell direct if it is such a burden.

So now it is 12/12/20 still no book. Or email. Or update. I wrote to them again yesterday. I’ll give that awhile as maybe they don’t operate on weekends. (But I bet they take orders) I can’t imagine the customer service team is more than one person, given the experience and their reluctance to offer any kind of service. The person who answered seemed lovely but a CS representative can only be as good as the powers a business grants them to fulfil that role. Which is clearly no more than the ability to apologise, when her clearly over stretched time permits.

LOVE their books. I ordered some of the beautiful children's books for my niece and nephew, and had them shipped to Spain. I wish you could sort the books by age, but otherwise it was a smooth transaction. (It was Phaidon.com, just to be sure.)

Questionable company - I responded to an advert for a signed copy of a book which was sold out before they issued the advert - I wasn't informed of this until I queried the receipt of an unsigned copy - when I asked about returning the book and asked for a refund they stoped answering my emails.

Fast delivery, great service & Awesome books! Highly recommendable.