How To Use Your Cengagebrain Coupon

Refer to the following image to first locate the discount code box on your checkout screen.

Alright, so now that you’ve located the coupon box all that is left is to use on of our codes and click the “Apply Code” button. Is it really that easy? YES. All it takes is a few second of your time and you have just further reduced the cost of your books. After apply your coupon you should notice the coupon added to your cart with the price reduction reflected in the total. Well there you have, and in case you happen to need another discount for Cengage, be sure to bookmark this page for future promotions. We will now dive into our Cengagebrain review for those of you interested in learning more about this cutting edge textbook/e textbook service.

CengageBrain.com Review

As eTextbooks continue to gain popularity among college students, more companies will continue to offer dual options between printed and electronic textbook copies. Currently, there are no more than half-a-dozen recognizable names in this field, one being CengageBrain.com.

Formerly known as iChapters, CengageBrain.com is an industry leader in the eBook/printed textbook-renting business along with a few other names like CourseSmart.com and the more popular eCampus.com. The company has been around for a few years enough to assist in growing the eBook industry to what it currently is today. As many students continue to flip-flop between eBooks and printed copies, companies like CengageBrain.com will continue to be viable option in the textbook renting business, hence there is a need to take a detailed look at the company’s historical performance and current policies that are essential in determining product quality, service, and customer satisfaction.

We used the same set of criteria that we have used in previous reviews to examine CengageBrain.com, namely 1) Key Features and Company Strengths, 2) Ease-of-Use, 3) Pricing, 4) Customer Support, and 5) Shipping. It is important to note that company policies vary even within the rented media itself, i.e. different policies apply for eBooks and printed textbooks and one is best advised to study these policies in details in order to determine the best working situation for the customer at minimal cost and maximum satisfaction. As always, we provide a general overview of the company policies and services leaving the rest for the end-user to fill-in. Likewise, we believe that the informed user is the best guard against consumer fraud so caution everyone to be careful in all purchases.

Key Features and Strengths
If one is to purely use the width of title selection as a criterion for determining CengageBrain.com’s viability as a book-renting option, one would find that the company is at best sitting on the fence for both printed and electronic textbooks copies. The selections are modest but not impressive. The fields covered in the book titles span the whole lot from Sciences to Philosophy, Business and Economics, Mathematics, Politics and the typical sort but only commonly used copies have stocks in-house. The optimists in us would like to think that the narrowed selection allows for better navigation and faster book-searching but that’s just us; in the end, the offers still matter and that is why we’re feeling a little bit cold over what is available in CengageBrain.com’s warehouses.

What CengageBrain.com lacks in selection however, it covers adequately in flexibility. Some copies are available in both electronic and printed form, leaving the user to select which is more convenient. One can likewise stay in one place when alternating between eBooks and textbooks eliminating the need to transact with multiple suppliers.

The one thing however that separates CengageBrain.com from the rest of the pack is its offering of eChapters or truncated eBook portions instead of the whole material. This is particularly useful in cases when the professor cherry-picks the important portions while leaving out the rest. Priced at $1.99 per chapter in some selections, it is a very cheap and trendy way to stay engaged in the classroom without having to worry about the rest of the unnecessary reading material.

Our Score: 3.5/5

Ease-of-Use
There are no fancy additions with CengageBrain.com’s website. The layout is easy on the eyes; book searching comes easy with the user-friendly search field that uses either the book title, author’s name or the book ISBN. A simple and dependable help and FAQ section is provided for first-time users and while it doesn’t answer as many questions in an exhaustive manner as the leading websites do, it provides the standard response that most users need and oftentimes that’s all that is necessary.

Our Score: 3.5/5

Pricing
Printed material is rented at 70% off of the actual listing price which is cheaper than the 60% off-industry standard common among established names like Chegg, BookRenter and CampusBookRentals. But perhaps the best value for one’s money is the availability of eChapter options, as mentioned above, which are truncated eBook sections on your selected chapters without getting and paying for the whole eBook with all the extraneous, unnecessary chapters. Priced at $1.99 per chapter, it is perhaps the best value that one can get out of renting books or eBooks.

Our Score: 5/5

Customer Service Support
Not much separates CengageBrain.com from its competitors in the Customer Service aspect as all forms of customer feedback or support seem to be standard like phone and email.

However, it is worth mentioning that CengageBrain.com offers something that no other book renter has done so far and that is to open a virtual hub of sorts where students and professors alike can congregate to share notes, discussions, and help each other with difficult assignments or problems. This is central to CengageBrain.com’s core business of providing e-learning solutions and while it is not customer service per se, it is indeed a welcome addition as a source of help whenever necessary. The site likewise offers feedback and opinion from previous and current customers making it a valuable resource for assessing CengageBrain.com’s performance as a book-renting business.

Our Score: 4/5

Shipping
As in our other reviews, paid shipping leaves us a bit queasy and disinterested. CengageBrain.com is no exception; free shipping is only available for orders above $25. Return shipping is free as in other companies by use of a prepaid mailing label that one can print directly from the website. All in all, nothing in the logistics department allows CengageBrain.com to separate itself from its competitors, but as long as the shipping prices are reasonable, we wouldn’t make too much of a fuzz about it.

Our Score: 3/5

Summary
If you’re looking for fresh options to liven up your book-renting life, then CengageBrain is certainly worth a look. It might currently not be at par with the established industry players but it holds its own in terms of pricing and the innovative introduction of eChapters for eBook rentals. Whether you are looking to save more or just wanting to try out something new, perhaps you can give this company a try.

As always, however, we caution end-users to do their own research prior to choosing the right company for your needs. You’ll find that the best decision always comes when one is vigilant and this is no more needed than in the book-renting industry when one can get ripped-off pretty fast.

If all else fails, trust the established names. At least with them, fewer things can go wrong.