Just like healthcare, the cost of education seems to defy gravity. It's not just tuition; textbooks are also a financial burden -- something that nearly every student complains about.Well, this has been a nice opportunity for Chegg.com, which is a textbook rental company. In fact, as a sign of its success, the company has snagged $25 million in venture capital from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Foundation Capital, Gabriel Venture Partners and Primera Capital.
It's a blowout round, which is likely to help boost market share and Chegg.com's brand.
What's more, the website's value proposition is irresistible. Basically, students can save up to 80% or $650 per semester on textbooks. How can a starving student pass that up?
Apparently, Chegg.com has been generating a fair amount of revenue over the past couple years. With its slug of venture capital now, the growth is likely to continue – not an easy feat in the current economy.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-19-2008 @ 1:15PM
Amy said...
The concept of renting books may be good, but if you've actually dealt with Chegg it makes you wonder why anyone would pour more money into this company. Their customer service is absolutely terrible and I've had so many problems with them since ordering my books in the fall. There is absolutely no way I would ever use their service again with all the issues they have. I'm not an isolated case either - just do a search and see how many other students have had problems with this joke of a company.
1-17-2009 @ 2:05PM
Alysse said...
I have used chegg. Yes there were a couple of glitches. But, I save over half and they corrected the glitches in a reasoninle fashion. They also gave me a couponfor my inconvience. I am also prone to give new companies some slack. My glitch was minor. One book got delayed during shipping the other was damaged and we received a prompt replacement.
1-22-2009 @ 6:49PM
Beth said...
Textbook rental is such a great idea, but students should STAY AWAY from this company.
I tried chegg.com for the first time this term and had a terrible customer service experience when one of the books I had ordered didn't show up for three weeks. I sent an email through their web site, which promised a response within 48 hours. The response never came. I called customer service and the woman I spoke to informed me that my order had been CANCELLED about two and a half weeks ago. She insisted they had sent me an email, but I never received an email and my order showed up as "in transit" when I logged into my account.
Since the SAME EXACT THING had happened to my roommate I was adamant that they did not send me an email or contact me in any way, and lo and behold, after typing around the woman confirmed that they had not sent me an email, ever. She then found the book on amazon.com but told me it was too expensive for them to send it to me as promised. She then told me she could "offer" me a full refund.
Hmm, refunding me my money for a product I never received? That's called not stealing and is not any kind of compensation for the three weeks I have been inconvenienced without a textbook, not to mention the fact that I now have to buy it at the bookstore at full price. I asked to speak to her supervisor, who she told me was on the phone. I emphasized that she needed to make sure the supervisor ACTUALLY CALLED ME BACK as soon as possible. It's now two days later and no one has called me.
My roommate got the same runaround when she called about having the same issue, so this is NOT a glitch. Also, if you google chegg.com you will find that they have been fabricating positive student testimonials. Do yourself a favor and find another way to get your textbooks.