Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

I wasn’t planning on purchasing “Ruthless” but now I’ll think twice before buying any ebook from B&N. If I do encounter a problem, I want to know that whoever I’m purchasing from will try to fix it as soon as possible (and that isn’t several days later.) Thanks for the heads up, Sarah and Melinda. I hope B&N steps up their game before bad press slows or stops their ebook sales.

I had a similar problem with the Sony ebook store. I bought Larissa Ione’s Ecstasy Unveiled. The file was corrupt. I went through CS, did live chat, proved to them it wasn’t user error by going through numerous pointless steps, then was given a phone number to call. Hubby called it. They said give them a few days. A week later we called again because we hadn’t heard anything and the file is STILL corrupt. Finally, got a refund for more than I paid for the book and was promised the book when the file was fixed on top of that. Here we are how many months after release and is the book fixed yet? Nope. I ended up buying a print copy instead.

Reading your praise of the Kindle CS only adds to my wanting a new Kindle, though I swore I would never buy one. Never say never, huh?

Hope56 - I could hope for 56 years and that book file still wouldn’t be repaired.

I can’t sing the praises of Amazon enough. I don’t have Kindle, but I order a lot of various goods from them and their customer service is GOLD. They are super fast and polite.

I also have a Sony Reader and I have found their customer service to be excellent, too - quick and efficient.

Oh, for the fuck of shit. I was, like, three days from purchasing a Nook when 1) B&N’s board announced they may be willing to sell the chain, and 2) this entry appeared. I give up.

I’ve been underwhelmed with B & N’s customer service as well. I spent three hours trying to purchase a new release from them (went to them instead of Amazon because the title was not available on Kindle yet). I kept getting a weird message that cookies were disabled in my browser (they weren’t) with instructions on how to fix it (I followed them). I finally emailed for support because the whole point was that I wanted the book RIGHT NOW! NOW, DAMMIT! I let them know that I was a Kindle user but that my husband was considering eReaders and I was pushing toward Nook since new release availability was better on B & N. A happy, rapid resolution would go a long way toward influencing our decision.

Meanwhile, I went through another computer, got the book added to my bookshelf, and back through my computer to get it, which finally worked. Around my arse to get to my elbow, as it were.

That was in May. Still haven’t heard from B & N.

I’ve had a Kindle 2 since Feb. ‘09 and never once had an issue.  Not. Once.  (I have 150+ books on the Kindle). It’s a shame that B&N doesn’t understand that if you provide good customer service, people will be happy to be your customer!  And tell people about it. And come back to buy more books.  No wonder the company is in financial trouble.

Just as a counterpoint to the B&N and Sony stories, here’s one from Amazon. I received this email last week:

Greetings from Amazon.com.

We’re writing about your past Kindle purchase of ‘Walking the Small Group Tightrope: Meeting the Challenges Every Group Faces’ by Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson. The version you received contained some errors that have been corrected.

An updated version of ‘Walking the Small Group Tightrope: Meeting the Challenges Every Group Faces’ is now available. It’s important to note that when we send you the updated version, you will no longer be able to view any highlights, bookmarks, and notes made in your current version.

If you wish to receive the updated version, please let us know via e-mail at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

If you prefer, you can reach us by phone directly and toll free from many countries by clicking the Contact Us option in the right-hand column of our Kindle Support pages at:

http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport

We apologize for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your business with Amazon.

Some obsevations:
- this was a free book when I “bought” it in April. They are fixing something I didn’t even pay for!
- I didn’t even know there was a problem, because I have been too busy reading fun stuff to open a book that might help my career [hah! I first wrote “crack open a book”. This is the first time I’ve realized that cracking sound of opening a new hardcover book doesn’t apply to eBooks.]
- I replied to their email asking for the update and they replied to me within an hour telling me they’d sent me the new file and reminding me to make sure my Kindle networking was turned on so I’d get it
- the new file showed up in both Kindle for PC and Kindle immediately

I know a lot of people are not happy with Amazon over a lot of things related to eBooks, but this kind of proactive support from a big company makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

Nook users don’t have to buy from B&N.  Looks like Ruthless is available on the Sony e-bookstore as well.  Does anyone know if it’s the correct file, before I buy (because I have a nook and was considering buying this book)?

On the other hand, I have purchased hundreds of books from B&N without any problems whatsoever.

B&N customer service by email is pretty much non-existent.  90% of it is a delayed autoresponse asking you to call.  I’ve found (due to nook issues during the initial release of the product, not any e-book issue) you’re always better off calling, which is counterintuitive in this digital age.

Well!  That settles that. 

I have a Kindle2 which I love (but am going to return it for a K3 since I JUST bought it) and have had the same good experience with Amazon.com’s customer service.  But I was thinking of buying either the Nook or the Sony Touch as a backup and also so I can borrow library eBooks to read.  Now it’s down to the Touch, if I even decide to get another.  I’m finding that borrowing dtBooks from the library and reading eBooks on the Kindle works just fine.

I cannot sing the praises of my Kindle and Amazon enough. For a company that is so incredibly HUGE their customer service rocks!! I have a friend that has a Nook and she can’t always download the same books that I can get through Amazon because their “store” selection is not as good.

I also have bought books through ARe and the first time I did I screwed up on the format I downloaded. I sent them an e-mail for help and had a response within an HOUR!! That’s right I said an HOUR!! And it went something like this - “No problem. Here you go!” *sigh* Little bit of girl-love going on there for such awesomeness that is ARe.

Enough can’t be said about good customer service. It goes a long way in my “book”, even if I have to pay a little more.

Oh and by the way - @chicklet “Oh, for the fuck of shit! - I freakin’ love that, I’m stealing it!!

spam word - only25…don’t I wish.

Since buying my nook in February, I’ve kept an eye on the nook forums at bn.com (for update rumors and freebies, etc) and I’ve learned a few things.

1) B&N’s customer service sucks.

2) The forum “regulars” are asshats who treat everybody like shit. Not surprisingly, B&N doesn’t seem to care.

3) You HAVE to call. Email support is nonexistent.

4) B&N’s customer service sucks.

If/when the day comes the Kindle supports digital library books, I’m all over it.

Argh! This is the third instance I’ve heard of regarding the Sony file for Ecstasy Unveiled.  Heather, I’m so sorry.  I know they don’t give refunds, but will you please email me? I’d like to help make it right. My email is larissaione AT gmail.com

B&N customer service as a company sucks big time but the customer service at my local B&N is awesome. Just from experience and unrelated to your topic (sorry!) if you ever have a problem with your Nook for any reason at all, take it to the store. Do not go through the company. As relating to the incorrect files, I’d dispute the charge if it was on my Amex until they got it fixed. But that’s me. Good luck.

The same thing happened to me with Saving Grace by Julie Garwood from Books on Board.  I received a copy of a book called Saving Grace by a different author.  e-mailed customer service and they got back to me right away.  Unfortunately, they had to discuss it with their distributor.  After more than a month and three follow up e-mails from me (they didn’t update me, so I kept e-mailing them), they finally gave me a store credit for the book (although I probably would have prefered a credit to my credit card).  The problem is still not resolved (I just received the credit on Friday of last week) and while I have been waiting they still listed the book for sale and as of this morning it is still on sale there.  Doesn’t make sense to me.

I was going to be on the Nook wagon until I ran into several horrible CS incidences with BN. I have always enjoyed their bookstores—but I don’t think they are ready for the Information Highway.

Hugging my Kindle.

As I read this I was thinking, “She found a way to write to B&N?”
And then we reach the bs of having to call.
I recently had bad experience while attempting to buy a couple of ebooks. There was a problem with the credit card on my end. I figured no big deal - I’ll switch to a different card.
Their system kept telling me that I had already bought the book (which had not downloaded), would not let me clear the order, would not let me enter the different CC number. The order history said “CC problem - not charged - please call 1-800…” No email or chat option. Huh? What part of “online business” isn’t clear?
So I bought the books from Amazon that night instead.
Called B&N the next day, told them to cancel the order - and why. A week later a received the cancellation notice via email.

(I continue to use my iTouch, so that I’m not limited to vendor-specific stores).

Sorry for another post.

Diesel is the best if you ever have a problem.  They get back to you immediately, follow up regularly, and resolve the issue to your satisfaction.  With agency pricing and everyone having the same prices I find myself buying more and more from them.

AllRomace is also good at resolution and contact, too.

I do agree that costumer service at Amazon is great.
I don’t buy many e-books but Amazon is my primary source of dead-tree editions because they ship internationally. Whenever I’ve contacted their costumer service, and even if it’s just to ask about a one dollar discrepancy on my bill, they answer in less than 12 hrs, usually within a couple of hours, even if I mail in the middle of the night.

For me costumer service is invaluable, I don’t live in the US (I just visit a couple of times a year), I can’t go yell at anyone at the store, so being able to email and get answers, even outside the US, is priceless.

I own a Nook, and one of the reasons why I purchased it was because of its connection to a brick & mortar. It sounds like your email experience was reprehensible, no question about that.

However, I have never had a problem with their live customer service. A few weeks ago, I bought several ebooks from B&N through my Nook, and had trouble opening them. At, 2am on a Saturday night, I was able to reach a live person who stayed on the phone with me for more than an hour until the problem was solved. This even included allowing me to re-download the books through the website, in case it was the software of the Nook that was causing the problem.

I have to say that I have had exceptional service in the stores also. I think it comes down to people that like the whole experience that some people like to conduct business solely digitally. Amazon is boss at that, surely. But, B&N offers a live experience. I’m sure they could work on the email customer service, and digital support. But, what has always been missing for me with Amazon, is being able to show someone a problem, and have them help me solve it.

I myst be exceptionally lucky - I have only had a problem with an ebook I bought once in 10 years of electronic reading.
It was one I bought at Fictionwise three or four years ago - issue was a corrupt file. I tried to redownload - still corrupt. So I emailed about the issue.
I never heard back from Customer Service, but when I redownloaded the file a couple of weeks later, the problem was fixed. I still think they should have alerted me when the good file was available, though.
That happened before Barnes and Noble bought Fictionwise - so I wonder what Customer Service is like there these days…

I realize people have issues with Amazon (Bezos can be a bully), but I’ve been buying books from them from the day they opened, back when they’d send really nice travel coffee mugs to their customers every year as a thank you gift.  When I was writing category (which had a shelf life between milk and yogurt), I was also hugely grateful that they kept my backlist available to readers at a time when Borders and B&N wouldn’t even carry category romance. 

I’ve kept coming back because their service has always been gold.  We’ve even bought a set of expensive pots and pans and a boat trailer from them, through other venders, but they carry the Amazon guarantee of service. 

I love my original version kindle.  I did have one problem last month where, for some reason, I could download a book onto my husband’s but not mine. I went to their customer service link, clicked on the “I want someone to call now” button, and seconds later I received a phone call from a woman who fixed the problem right away.  Their customer service ranks up there with Nordstrom and Zappos, the other two places I mostly shop.

I like my Nook as a device a lot, and I like its easy ability to interact with my Mac.

But yeah, B&N’s customer service needs a whole lot of improvement. When they deployed a recent shift over to all epub format, a great number of the epub downloads for Mac computer users completely broke the reader. You could still read the books directly on your Nook or in the B&N app on Apple devices, but if you wanted to read it on your actual computer in the available client, you were hosed.

Forum users bitched about this for weeks. Including me. I finally asked one of the forum admins to please make the powers that be re-deploy PDB format for Mac users if the client wasn’t going to properly support epub files. AND that they really needed to update the download page for the Mac client, which was claiming that it was supposed to be able to read epub files.

Similar issue with trying to get them to post a book I wanted to buy: Book 2 of Caitlin Kittredge’s ongoing Nocturne City series. They had every other book of hers but not THAT one, and nobody could tell me why it was missing. It took several days to get it to get posted so I could actually buy the thing, and then that was only after I’d given up and bought it in print.

I purchased “Ruthless” 2 days ago from BN and got the correct file.  Got lucky I guess.

I’ve NEVER had a problem with B&N customer service via phone.  They’ve always rocked it.  I accidentally purchased a book via the Nook and called them and they removed it and credited my account.  I will agree that getting a hold of them via email does take a few days for a response.  I’d rather call and get it fixed right away.  I’ve had a few tech issues they solved over the phone immediately.  I’ve been happy so far.

I have had a lot of problems with Diesel with corrupted books and books that disappeared from my bookshelf, and they have just blown me off over the issues.  Haven’t bought from them since and won’t in the future.  I had a lot of corrupted files from Fictionwise (before BN bought them), but left a sour taste in my mouth and won’t buy FW anymore since they wouldn’t even address the problems.

Have had great service with Books on Board.  All ebooks have worked fine, and customer service is good.  Borders is good too.

Amazon’s customer service is just as good as BN for me, via phone.  Email support takes about 3 days just like BN. 

I would still own a Nook over a Kindle for now.  At least I have other stores I can buy from and not get locked in to Amazon.  Hopefully Amazon will do epub support one of these days so I can get a Kindle.

I have never had a bad CS experience with Amazon - some frustration when publishers were not releasing Kindle books to them, but no bad CS.  Most recent experience of needing to talk to them was when the latest Kim Harrison came out and my preorder was canceled because of publisher catfight and price change.  Amazon proactively credited me the difference between the preorder price and the publisher set price. 

And like JoAnn, I was one of those early customers - I have mugs and even a fridge magnet puzzle from when they started carrying toys - and I’ve never regretted it.

B&N - mail order has always been appalling, even when catalog was a chunk of their business, and where I live, even the stores have wretched customer service.  The booksellers not only aren’t readers, but they don’t seem to know how the store is organized, and it’s not unusual for there to be only one person on the floor.  B&N was never about the handselling, true, but it does seem like the simple math of customer money buys things and therefore indirectly pays staff salaries would’ve penetrated.  but, well, no. 

after living in a number of towns with no independent bookstores and shopping at B&N and Borders, it’s not hard to see how and why Amazon has gotten so much market share - they earned it, yes, but B&N and Borders CS behave as though customers are an imposition.

Not long after buying my Sony, I had a similar problem buying a Victoria Dahl book from Books on Board one night. Opened it up & it was another book with a similar title. I emailed BoB at something like 9pm. The next morning, I had an email with a link to the correct download AND they let me keep the other book.

They’ve gotten 95% of my book buying money since then.

Well, at least this makes my choice in ereaders that much easier.

Also, Barnes and Nobel officially put themselves up for sale today. I’m not sure how this will affect the nook and customer service in general.

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/a-look-at-who-may-bid-for-barnes-and-noble/

So you can talk to a live person at Amazon also.  That’s good to know, because slowly but surely I’m getting deeper into the ebook experience until finally I bit the bullet and pre-ordered a Kindle 3.  I’m glad to know about the good CS, because what know about technology could be written on the head of a pin. :-)

Sarah -

We corrected the cover on our site about an hour ago. The metadata and bookfiles are correct. I just downloaded the book (now I know what I’ll be reading on my flight how from Boston). I let you know that I was going to notify Ingram Digital that the incorrect cover was coming through on their feed. I wanted to let you know they responded within 30 minutes that they were going to escalate the issue and correct the image link. Retailers are on a variety of schedules when it comes to updating, so some may show corrections faster than others. Not sure if that ‘s the B&N source.

Carolyn ~ Yes, you can even put a time of day you’d like them to call you.  I clicked on “Right Now.”  Which it turned out to be.

Just popping in right fast (again) to second what SB Sarah said. Larissa Ione totally rocks, and if she wasn’t already a favorite author and auto-buy, this would definitely put her on the list. :)

Back to the subject matter, I’ll restate that this only serves to make me feel better about my choice when it comes to a new reader. It’s also more ammunition when it comes to convincing my husband he wants to buy me a new one. :) Don’t get me wrong, I love my Sony 505, but that new K3 is just made of awesome. I was going to move away from Sony anyhow with a new reader, because I don’t like the current models they have available. Nook was originally a contender, until I played with one in store. I just wasn’t that impressed with it, and poor CS only adds to the strikes against it.

Sorry, I just had to post another comment when I saw that Larissa Ione personally posted a response.

Oh.My.God! How cool is that?! Woman, you are the bomb-diggity!

That’s all I wanted to say. *grin*

I am surprised on the daily basis at businesses that do not understand that will live or die by customer service.  I am totally locked into Amazon because they have never, ever disappointed me (and they have tons of books!).  I love my Kindle, and certainly part of that love is because of the wonderful stress-free service from Amazon over the years.  Apple is much the same way.  They work very hard to delight the customer (“we’ll upgrade you to overnight shipping just because you called with a question.”  Woot!)

This past week, me and the kidlets went to both Universal Islands of Adventure (aka Harry Potter world) and Disney.  Hats off to Universal for a great place, but at every steaming moment in line, I was comparing the Universal experience to the Disney experience.  Sorry Universal.  Disney’s got me for life.

A long time ago I was reading a biz book (I think it was on Disney, but not sure who was the company in question), but something stuck with me for a long time.  One of the execs asks his employees who their competitors were, and they replied with the usual suspects.  He told them that no.  Our competitors are whoever that customer talked to on the phone, or whatever store they shopped at earlier.  The idea was that if you get a surly service rep, you will be compared to the great lady at the Post Office, or “Cindy” at the apple store, or the manager at the grocery who honored an expired coupon.  And if your service levels don’t match up, you lose. 

People remember who gives great service and they are loyal. 

As an aside, both of my kids will be getting K3’s for Christmas this year.  It’s a no-brainer for me.

Amazon won’t sell me ebooks (I live in the UK), which I find pretty irritating, since Amazon.com will let me buy deadtree books and have them shipped to the UK. I tend to shop at Fictionwise (which only very very rarely seems to throw up a geographical block to my purchasing an ebook).

I’ve not been overwhelmed by Fictionwise’s customer service over the years, but vary rarely have problems in the first place. Their website is crying out for some serious structural/cosmetic changes, and they don’t sell Ellora’s Cave books (I assume that’s EC’s fault). But, despite all that, we’re still pals. Over the years I have, *checks*, bought over 400 books from them. ZOMG!

I’ve been reading your blog for a while and I thought I’d comment on this really interesting topic.

Since I don’t live in the US I’ve been relying on Amazon for my book orders and they’ve never disappointed me. All the books I’ve ordered so far have arrived on time and in great condition. I’m so pleased with their service which is why I’m going to save money to buy the Kindle 3. Hopefully they’ll have a Christmas sale or something.

I was really impressed with how much information they had about it on their website for customers who don’t live in the US. I looked into the Nook and Sony and they didn’t have that (or at least I haven’t found it). I still don’t know if I can order a Sony e-reader or a Nook where I’m from. So Amazon is awesome.

Sarah, I’ll second what you said about ARE.  I’ve contacted their customer service a few times now, for what turned out to be mostly things that were my own fault/misunderstanding.  I’ve always gotten a prompt, courteous response, and they’ve never made me feel bad about my own dumb mistakes.

Hey Gemma, just fyi, Amazon are launching a UK Kindle store - sans agency pricing.  That and Kindle3 may prove to be the tipping point for me to buy an ereader - currently I use my net book.  I do have Kindle for PC on my home desktop and I have to say I’ve been pleased with the CS for that.  Given that I can use Calibre to sideload, I’m seriously considering it now, when even 6 months ago I was advising people in the UK not to bother.

Barnes & Noble is not impressing me with their ebook service.  A friend of mine wanted to buy Eternal Kiss of Darkness in ebook form.  Come release day, my paper copy was shipped, but her ebook copy had a release date of a week later.  She emailed CS to let them know that the ebook had the wrong release date on it and could they please fix that so she could buy a copy.  Their response said the release date was fixed by the publisher and could not be changed by the retailer. *facepalm* So not only did they screw up, they didn’t even read her email fully before shooting off a half-assed response implying she had gotten the dates mixed up.  She ended up buying the ebook from another website that same day.  I told her she should email her receipt to B&N but I don’t know if she took my advice. *devil*

@ Gemma, you can buy ebooks from Amazon if you are in the UK, but you need to buy them from the .com website (it uses the same account details as the .co.uk site) and they are priced in $ but i’ve bought loads for my iphone.

The only thing that is a problem is that they only have the licence to sell some books in the US, and since for DTB the place of sale is considered the place the company you are buying them from resides for ebook the place of sale is considered to be the place the book is ultimately downloaded.  So if you buy a paperback from amazon they can treat the place of sale as the US even though its being shipped to the UK but if you are downloading an ebook the place of sale is the UK since thats where the computer / reader is.

Not sure i’ve explained it very well but when it helped me stop getting so annoyed when the books i wanted were available on kindle but only the US buyers.

I’ve been using my iphone to read books for the last few months and am definitly thinking about getting an ereader, been trying to decide between Sony & Kindle and now i’m leaning more and more towards kindle.

I pre-orderd the new Kindle - it’s black! it’s smaller! it’s lighter! - even though my Kindle 3 is working properly.  Some day it might die.  I’m glad I did because it sold out immediately.  I lurve my Kindle.  It goes everywhere with me, even into the bath (with a ziplock baggie to protect it).  I have 600+ books on and love walking around with a library in my hand. 

Does anyone know what to do with an old, still functioning even though slightly battered, Kindle?

Aaargh!  My darling editor Adam says the problem is fixed now.  Fingers crossed.

Amazon is the bomb. A month ago, during my vacation, my kindle started to freak the fuck out. None of the buttons worked, so I rebooted it. Still nothing. I call up their support line and after a minimal wait, I nice Irish lad answers my call. He was helpful as well as having the most dreamy accent. I literally kept saying ‘excuse me?’ just so he could repeat himself. *sigh*

He walked me through a number of fixes, then when that didn’t work, went into my kindle remotely, through the wireless connection. Unfortunately the kindle was toast. Since it was still under warranty, he sent me a new kindle, next day, to my vacation spot. Loaded with all my books, ready to go, giving me 30 days to send the old kindle back at my leisure. That is customer service!

The only bad part of my experience, was when I had to admit to him that one of my folders was labeled, “sweet baby jesus, fucking awesome books”. There was an awkward silence after that.

I concur that Amazon’s customer service is great.  The gals at All Romance were very kind when I downloaded the wrong format. Love them too.

But I really want to know why people keep saying you can only buy books for the Kindle from Amazon.  That’s silly.  I get books from All Romance, Smashwords, Fictionwise, Baen, Suvudu, A Cheeky Changeling, Free e-books.net and FanFict to name a few.  I may not be able to download books from my library, but I have more books than they do anyway.  Plus at last count, Amazon gave me 11 free books so far this month. Rah! Amazon and their Kindle.  When my well used Kindle 1 finally wears out, I will give it a well deserved Jazz funeral and get Amazon’s newest and best.

It’s not a localised problem at B& N. Unless they did something the last week or so, half the EC listings there are borked, one of mine included. My title, someone elses cover and blurb. I have no idea about the actual file itself. I let EC know but no change as of yet.

It’s not a localised problem at B& N. Unless they did something the last week or so, half the EC listings there are borked, one of mine included. My title, someone elses cover and blurb. I have no idea about the actual file itself. I let EC know but no change as of yet.

All this talk of excellent CS at Amazon is making me feel even better about preordering the new Kindle. The low price and new color (I hate white personal tech gadgets) made up for not actually owning the books.

planning54: I’m not planning on buying 54 books the first week I have my Kindke, but it will probably happen anyway. *sigh*

I love my nook, I’ve never had any problems or issues…and I’ve never used B&N’s customer service via email or the phone.

BUT I do know that their in store nook center is AWESOME. Or at least my local B&N.  They helped my techincally challanged husband with the suprise purchase of my nook, and even impressed him with their service, and he’s the most cynical person I know.   
I can go up to them and ask them anything and they’ve always been able to help me out, and show me a few new things about my nook.

I have to say that I’ve had completely wonderful customer service from Fictionwise. I’ve bought more books that I care to admit from them over the last few years, and when I’ve had the occasional problem, they’ve always responded very quickly and made it right, whether it was my fault or not. It’s something that kept me as a loyal buyer…that and the great discounts and sales. Back when they actually had books I wanted to buy, that is. (I still buy Random House and Harlequin titles from them, though.)

Now I’m sad, thinking about the good ‘ol days pre-Agency-pricing model…

I have to chime in with my own deep and very personal feelings for Amazon.  I’ve been a customer for 12 years and order something at least once a month. In all that time, I’ve never had one problem at all.  None.  And I love my amazon prime membership.  Am I weird for wanting to marry an online retailer?

Ugh! B&N online makes me crazy. I love, love, love my nook, but I hardly ever buy ebooks from them. I do agree with what everyone’s been saying about the brick and mortar stores though. Everyone I’ve ever spoken to in person about my nook has been friendly and knowledgeable.

sweet baby jesus, fucking awesome books

You’re cracking me up, GirlyNerd. I would love to know what those books are.

The only bad part of my experience, was when I had to admit to him that one of my folders was labeled, “sweet baby jesus, fucking awesome books”. There was an awkward silence after that.

It’s too bad there was awkward silence because that would have sounded hot as hell repeated back in a dreamy Irish accent.

I used to like Barnes and Nobles, then they brought in their “discount card” and made you pay for discounts that they used to give for free and not only that but made you pay for the priviledge of letting them track your purchases.  Barnes and Nobles isn’t a bookstore.  Its a business first and foremost, the fact that they happen to sell books is an after thought.

I hope B&N fix it soon (if it’s not fixed already) Ruthless is an EXCELLENT book and Rohan is totally swoonworthy.

I had trouble downloading a book from Liquid Silver Press a while back and I emailed their customer service.  I was most pleasantly surprised when I got an email back same day from an actual person who say - sorry you had trouble.  Here is the book - if you like it come back and pay next time you order.  I did and I did.  That’s customer service for you!

Shoot. I just keep hoping they fix it.  Downloaded this to my Nook late last night right after I poured a glass of wine and then…it was the wrong book. I emailed their CS but haven’t heard back yet. I don’t want to wait on hold for CS but I suppose I’ll have to. Not fair for the author either…people are giving bad ratings for the book on the BN site because of the BN mixup and poor response time. Do have to say this is the first prob I’ve had w/ the Nook/BN and I have really enjoyed using it so far.

Hi Anne Stuart!  And no, the problem at B&N isn’t fixed yet.  They’ve pulled the e-book from the web site and aren’t selling the wrong thing any more, however.  That’s not good news for you (author) or me (reader) but perhaps it does signal some (slow) progress—at least in the realm of integrity.

(I’m going to buy Ruthless tonight from Another Online Retailer. . .got to read that book, and soon.)

Thank you SB Sarah, and all of you wonderful bitchy folk out there who cared enough about this today to post my email and write a comment.  Y’all bitches truly rock and rule.

Melinda

I’ve owned my Nook for two weeks and have loved it.  This post is very timely.  On 8/2, I downloaded a free eBook and was immediately given a message that the book was ready for download and $2.99 would be charged to my account .  I started to get all crazed, but then I got a screen shot of that confirmation page and opened the free eBook page in another browser, found the book to confirm I was right, and got a screen shot of that as well.  Rather than emailing anyone, I called the CS #, got a live person in under a minute and a half, told him what was going on.  He went to the page right then, saw that I was correct and apologized like crazy.  He assured me my refund would be credit to my card in the next few days and apologized again.

Sure enough, the refund was made to my account on 8/3.  That’s pretty good customer service if you ask me.  I get that email is easier in many respects, but talking with someone has always worked for me.

I know I am new to the nook, but I have to say that I love it.  I love that I can read my favorite blogs on it and view web pages as well.  So far, I haven’t had any problems that haven’t been fixed immediately.

Arg.  I never mentioned that the whole transaction was through Barnes and Noble.  Sorry about that.

I got the dreamy Irish guy too! When my first Kindle 2 cacked itself after one month and flatly refused to recharge. He talked me through half an hour of troubleshooting (and swooning, on my part) before finally saying something like “Waal, BeJaysus, Ah think it’s Fooked” and sending me not only a brand new Kindle 2 but ALSO crediting me back $120 (Aussie dollars, that is) for TNT charging me a damn fortune to send it back when stupid Australia Post refused to handle it for a quarter of that cost just because it has a lithium battery in it. Yes, I know I should have just lied to them but hey! Lovely Irishman was paying!

Spamword: car23 - yes, if Amazon sold cars I’d want to buy cars from them too. But they don’t. At least not in this country. Yet.

Interesting the Bufo Calvin would have a blog today titled “The version you received contained an error and has been corrected…”  regarding an ebook he purchased for his Kindle.  I have also rec’d notices from Amazon telling me there was a problem with an ebook (that I had not even opened yet).  Gotta love Amazon’s CS.

“Amazon Customer Service.  My name is Linda. How may I help you?”

“Ummm ... hi.”

“Hello. How can I help you?”

“You’re a woman.”

“Yes.  What is the nature of your problem?”

“Is there an Irish guy there?”

“What?”

“The, uh, Irish guy.  I read about him on the website.  Maybe Sean?  Seamus?  Something ... Irish?”

“Ma’am, what is the problem with your account?”

“I don’t have an account.  Yet.  But I was thinking the Irish fellow—”

“No.”

“He could call me back.  I’ll open up two accounts! Just have him leave a message on voicemail.”

“No. You people have to stop.”

“Tell him, tell him my name is ‘Sweetbabyjesus Fuckingawesomebooks,’ and my number is—”

Okay, y’all are seriously making me want to call Amazon CS just to hear this guy talk. I am such a sucker for a man with an accent, says the gal who married a damn yankee.

try35: I probably tried 35 times or more to download that book, but it never worked. Oh well.

You girls are hilarious.
The Irish guy’s name was Thomas C., and he can be directly reached at the Amazon Tech Lab. I have a sneaking suspicion that they all might be Irish. If anyone is wondering, the phone number for KINDLE support (not amazon) is 1-877-453-4512.
Also, get him to say wireless if you can. You won’t be disappointed.

I don’t have a Kindle - do you think he’d notice that if I called?

@ Sarah - do you think you could call Kindle support and speak to Thomas C and post the call here so we can all swoon?  Pretty please?  Oh, and get him to say wireless cause GirlyNerd says its worth it.  C’mon Sarah! Do it for the Bitchery!!

(I had a thought - Amazon could market the Kindle using Thomas C like Old Spice utilised Isaiah Mustafa - imagine the opportunity!!)

B&N has had some serious e-book customer service problems for a while now.

For instance, a while back they went from selling eReader to EPUB format e-books—without ever telling anyone. A lot of people who bought e-books to read on their old Palm Pilots that they still use with Fictionwise’s eReader were unpleasantly surprised.

http://www.teleread.com/2009/12/13/barnes-noble-quietly-changes-e-book-format-neglects-to-tell-consumers/

I’m thinking this Irish fellow could be the next Old Spice guy…

XD

Quick, someone get him on video!

The only bad part of my experience, was when I had to admit to him that one of my folders was labeled, “sweet baby jesus, fucking awesome books”

*snigger* It always helps to have an orderly system when you are looking for that book you read a few months ago and are desperate to reread NOW

Hi,

On behalf of Harlequin (Anne Stuart’s publisher), we have been made aware of a problem with the file. We are working with all vendors to get an updated copy of the file available and ready for download. We apologize for the error but hope it will be fixed shortly.

Thanks for your patience,
Emma Cunningham
Production Coordinator, Digital & Internet
Harlequin Enterprises

I love this blog. The bitchery just made me want my not-yet-delivered Kindle crap out so I can call and ask for Thomas C, both the author and publisher of the problematic book have posted saying they are trying hard to address the issue thereby proving that the for all it’s faults, the industry has very good people, Larissa Ione just scored a new reader (I put a bunch of her books on my wishlist for when I get my Kindle) with her author-behaving-awesomely moment, and I may have to steal NerdyGirl’s folder title of “sweet baby jesus, fucking awesome books.”

Sweet. :D

Actually my darling editor Adam isn’t Irish but American but he’s damned cute.  Maybe we could get him to call in.  Or Lani Diane Rich has a Scottish boyfriend…

Morning93 At least it isn’t 93 degrees in the morning the way it was at Disney World (still wish I was there)

As a big fan of the Canadian band Great Big Sea, I can attest that Newfoundland accents are a close cousin of Irish and Scottish, and sound awfully damned good too. So if there are any Newfoundlanders at the Harlequin offices… ;>

Anna the Piper, devoted to the Bitchery Cause

@glitrbug

But I really want to know why people keep saying you can only buy books for the Kindle from Amazon.  That’s silly.  I get books from All Romance, Smashwords, Fictionwise, Baen, Suvudu, A Cheeky Changeling, Free e-books.net and FanFict to name a few.  I may not be able to download books from my library, but I have more books than they do anyway.

I didn’t see anyone answer so I thought I’d chime in. The books you’re getting for your Kindle from other places are those from small pubs/independent pubs/self-pub authors that don’t have DRM on them (and are in either pdf or prc format, compatible w/Kindle). All of the large publishers use DRM so Kindle users can’t buy a DRM-pdf or DRM-prc and put it on their Kindle, because the only DRM format that’s Kindle compatible is AZW aka the format Amazon sells direct (and doesn’t allow anyone else to sell). So when you see people say they can only get books for the Kindle from Amazon, they’re referencing the trad pub’d books from large publishers such as Harlequin, Penguin, MacMillan, etc.

My mistake.  My copy of “Ruthless” wasn’t the right one from B&N.  I called them and they said an email would be sent to notify me when it gets corrected.  I told them to cancel the order and give me a refund.  No problem.  I’ll get it from BoB, which is where I buy most of my books.  I was going to start it today.

I agree about ARE customer service.  They and BoB are the only ones that reply promptly by email.  Amazon and BN do reply by email, but it takes a few days. 

I also was irritated with BN when they switched from the pdb (Palm) format to the epub without notification.  Luckily I had backup copies for my Palm.

Someone mentioned BoB selling “Saving Grace” by Julie Garwood in ebook and getting the wrong book.  I’m not surprised there.  Garwood hasn’t released any of her historicals in ebook yet.  BoB does has a nice selection of them in audio.  If someone knows when Ms. Garwood is releasing historicals in ebook, let me know please. 

I really want to get the Kindle3, but can’t justify maintaining a 2 ereader book habit right now.  I’m pretty invested in the nook and don’t want to give up my epub’s.  that would mean a bigger purse and dragging around 2 ereaders.  How about an ereader that will read all popular formats??

Barnes and Noble is great on a face to face situation and that’s probably because they are a “brick and mortar” store.
I think that since they entered the “digital” market that they have been scrambling to keep up and failing.  Yes their customer service sucks online and I know this first hand because I have had issues with digital books that I’ve purchased.  I blame the entire thing on their corporate office and on their board- if you want to get into the digital business you need to treat the business with respect and be willing to spend the amount of money that will be required.
Clearly they need to hire more customer service representatives and have them properly trained.  By the way, I don’t know if you know this or not but Barnes and Noble is now for sale and the two most interested parties appear to be Amazon and Microsoft :)

Hey Emma:

Is anyone at Harlequin Irish? Can you call me and have them read me the statement above? I haven’t been able to satisfy my readers and get Thomas C. from Amazon on the phone. Not that Canadian accents aren’t sexy.

In the meantime, thank you for the update!

Haha, not that I know of…maybe at the UK offices!

I had this issue with Kobo not long ago. I bought Shiloh Walker’s Broken, but received another book entirely.

It took a few days for Kobo’s CS to get back to me, too. But once they did, they offered a no-hassle refund right away. Apparently they’d been having this problem for that particular book for a while, and it wasn’t fixed (not sure if it is at this point or not!). I ended up buying a paper copy of Broken so that I’d know I was getting the right book, finally.

I have to say, it was really jarring to open up what I thought was one book and see another. At first I thought I must have done something wrong… so I went through the whole downloading/transferring process a second time. But, no, still the wrong book.

Did I really just read 78 responses on B&N/Kindle customer support?  Wow.

Amazon has my tech support vote because ...
1) My Kindle screen faded to gray lines.  I called and, no questions asked, I got a replacement Kindle two days later.
2) I was looking at the B&N display and two people came over to me to tell me that buying a Nook was a mistake I should not make.  Yeah, I am curious so I asked the salesperson what I could expect compared to the Kindle.  He politely said nothing positive.  Three other eavesdropping helpful people said “don’t buy it.” 

Well now.

I purchased a Kindle over all of them - Nook/iPad/Sony - an I wouldn’t change a thing.  Amazo is awesome, from Whispernet to CS, I’ve been pleased.  I was going to buy my daughter, who will be attending FAMU in a few short weeks the Nook becuase she said she liked it, but now, I don’t think so.  I don’t want my freshman daughter to order a book related to her courses, should the text be available in an electronic format, to have to deal with something like that. Especially since I have never encountered such treatment.
Shame, shame NOOK!

I’ve always had good support from Amazon for my Kindle, mostly for issues with book formatting. My mom has had one die on her and got a replacement quickly, no questions asked.

Another vote for All Romance Ebooks - I had a couple of problems that were very quickly and politely resolved.

Hopefully the problems with B&N are due to “growing pains” and they will improve as time goes on, although the impending sale isn’t such a good sign.

Twice I’ve returned ebooks to Amazon by simply emailing them. One was a sample I ordered accidentally when I was organizing my collections and one was a cookbook that was just a huge disappointment. Both times my money was returned to my account in less than 24 hours from when I emailed them (one of the instances was on a weekend).

I also love that there is a link in the blue section right on the bottom of the ebook page on Amazon where you can quickly report any formatting problems you notice. 

Kilian, you can go to Kindleboards http://www.kindleboards.com and sell your old Kindle. There is a vigorous resale section there.

@ Sandir

Thanks, I’ll check it out.  May just give it to a friend.

Kilian, you can go to Kindleboards http://www.kindleboards.com and sell your old Kindle. There is a vigorous resale section there.

The correct ebook for “Ruthless” by Anne Stuart is available at barnesandnoble.com. If you previously purchased this ebook and were having issues with it, please follow these steps to access:

On the NOOK,
1.Tap on “My Library” from the Home screen (all of these steps are done in your “Library” on your NOOK)
2. Highlight the eBook (that you were unable to access) and tap “View Item Details & Options”.
3. Then tap “Archive” and follow the on-screen prompts
4. Then tap “Check for New B&N Content” and wait for it to complete.

Once this update is completed, then you want to Unarchive the eBook in order to re-download the content

1. Ensure that you are still in My B&N Library section of My Library
2. Navigate to and Highlight the eBook you want to download (it should be grayed out).
3. Tap “View Item Details & Options”.
4. Tap “Unarchive.” and then tap “ok”
5. Then tap “Check for New B&N Content” and wait for it to complete.

You should now have access to that eBook.