Nook/ Barnes and Noble woeful support

unsure

I'm one of those who has been chasing a Nook e-reader on the £29 deal. It's a great offer and after a month of trying to get hold of one I succeeded. I picked it up yesterday and tried to connect and set it up. But I couldn't.

A quick google showed that lots of other people were in the same position. A livechat with Barnes and Noble support suggested I turn it off and try again in 72 hours. That was sat morning. Checked in again with Nook support Sunday afternoon, they think it's a problem with their servers and again suggest try again in 48 - 72 hours. Frankly it's not good enough. As soon as the problem was known they should have been on to it. There should have been some notification on their support page and we should have been given regular progress updates so we can see they're dealing with it. Because as it is, it looks like the weekend z team is on and nothing will happen till the grown ups arrive on Monday. That's not a great impression to give!

These guys want to take on Amazon - whose customer service and support is excellent! They need to get their act together fast. Upsetting the new customers you're trying to win and then leaving them in the lurch is woeful and stupid. Sort it out guys and then think about what you're going to do to make up for this sad situation...or expect to lose a lot of the customers you've worked hard to attract!

fluffnutter

Bad project management innit. When launching a new deal, anticipate huge demand and teething problems. To mitigate both, ensure enough staff are working to deal with issues.

Exile_geordie

There is an old saying

'You get what you pay for'

silverjay

I am very pleased with my Nook. Set up was quick and easy.

Azari

silverjay wrote: »

I am very pleased with my Nook. Set up was quick and easy.

Whoop de do!

But that's not much help to the OP, is it?

pmduk

There's not much that can be said to assist the OP. I've never regretted spending the extra for a kindle. Amazon's CS alone is worth the extra in IMO.

Azari

pmduk wrote: »

There's not much that can be said to assist the OP. I've never regretted spending the extra for a kindle. Amazon's CS alone is worth the extra in IMO.

I'm a big fan of Amazon. They decided to 'do' customer service correctly and are reaping the rewards. (Compare and contrast to fleabay who can be a nightmare.)

However, even Amazon can get it wrong sometimes.

For no logical reason, you can't download books to your Kindle until you have set up the function which must be done via Wi-Fi. (You used to be able to set up the function via the USB link but Amazon removed the feature.)

Because Wi-Fi is too slow for some of my requirements I use Gigabyte Ethernet instead. After faffing around trying to work out how to do it I discovered the the option had been removed.

Amazon then redeemed themselves in part when a very pleasant and efficient CS rep sorted it out for me over the phone in a minute. But why I had to waste all that time to do something that should have been so straight forward is a mystery.

So, even the best can get it wrong, sometimes.


ETA: Love the Kindle. (Much to my surprise as I though I would hate using a non-paper based medium for reading).

unsure

Geordie Exile,
The Nook has excellent reviews and is certainly comparable to kindle touch at less than half the price (I have a kindle myself and bought the nook as a present for daughter who is going travelling). I think it is the Barnes and Noble system and their subsequent lack of timely and effective response that is the problem here. A major pr blunder if they really want people to use them in preference to Amazon. Not much point developing decent hardware then dumping it on the market cheaply if you don't support it, and the customers who buy it (at whatever price!) properly.

Azari, when did you get your Nook. Was it before the last weekend as this problem has been ongoing since Saturday? Nooks registered before that would not be affected.

Azari

unsure wrote: »

Azari, when did you get your Nook. Was it before the last weekend as this problem has been ongoing since Saturday? Nooks registered before that would not be affected.

I have a Kindle.

I was just pointing out that, good though Amazon are, even they occasionally manage to do something pointless that wastes their customer's time. (It would have been much better if they had clearly stated that you need to phone CS to enable downloading if you don't use Wi-Fi.)

unsure

Hi Azari, sorry it was Silverjay's message I meant to respond to!

bcl999

Exile_geordie wrote: »

There is an old saying

'You get what you pay for'

Time & time again, I find that no longer applies e.g. Nook HD+ is currently £199 and I bought a perfect new sealed one off eBay for £112. So I could have paid 80% more to get the same thing.