Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Barnes and Noble: E-Buyer Beware!

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Ok, so last Friday I was on the Barnes and Nobel website looking for some free e-books to download to my Nook. I got one a couple of months back and I am still trying it out. I hadn’t bought a book until recently because I was nervous on how the whole thing worked. The transaction on the site worked nicely and I had planned to purchase another book that was coming out this month to my Nook from the site. Now my funds are budgeted so I can’t go buying a ton of books. I have to pick and choose what I order or buy. So the event that happened on Friday got me ticked off.

I am a “fan” of Nook on Facebook and they mentioned free classical book downloads. So I went to check them out and downloaded them. Then I went to look at the other classical book downloads and saw some of them where free. I saw Sleepy Hollow was free so I clicked on the link for it. The page came up and it said to click for the free download. I clicked it, downloaded it, and then it went to the next page where it said I’d bought the book. I was confused on this. It said it was free everywhere, so why was I charged?

From the email I got from Barnes and Noble, there is a Sleepy Hollow sketch book that is free to download and not the Sleepy Hollow novel. Well the webmasters must have accidentally listed Sleepy Hollow as free and then caught it and fixed it after I downloaded and made my complaint to B&N. They sent me an email basically saying I was wrong and had the wrong book. Umm, no, I had the right book. I just feel like I was being called a liar in this situation. Usually I try not to make a stink about things and just assume it was my stupidity, but here lately I am just tired of companies getting one over on me. I sent B&N and email backing telling them that I was not in the wrong and I was furious at being called a liar by them and that I won’t be using their website again. I will use my local store still for tangible books since I can talk to actual people, but I won’t use the website for buying e-books. I learned of another place that I can get e-books for cheaper so I will use them. I wanted to use B&N to support the company because I saw them as a quality company. But I’m one to like things simple and I like good customer service. Even if they had given me an online gift card for 10% off a future purchase instead of a refund, it would have been “something” to let me know they understood me and were sorry for the situation. I hate companies that put the blame on the customer when the company is to blame. In all fairness I know they have tons of people trying to rip them off in similar situations and they ruin it for everyone else, but it doesn’t make me feel better when they are in the wrong and basically called me a liar.

I’m just lucky the money wasn’t much, but when you are on a budget every little bit counts, even what is considered pocket change to big corporations. I hope the book is good and worth the money and irritation it put me through. So word of the wise, if you purchase from the B&N website, make sure the item you are downloading is the right price or you may be seriously paying for it in the end. I am really let down by them, and I had plans to get some Nook accessories from them for my Nook since it needs a cover and some other things, but I will go to Amazon for that and call it day. I don’t know, I guess I’m just sad that I wanted to support the company even though they cost more than most places and in the end it feels like they don’t care about those who do want to support them. Meh, I’m just being a hormonal so and so today. I’ve had all weekend to calm down about the money and it’s gone now so I will deal. Just think their customer service sucks old musty book pages. Maybe that’s why they are so bitter. Oh well. I just wanted to tell you guys about my situation and what happened and how it turned out. I expect it to turn out this way too, but at least my piece was heard…kind of.

On a good note, I had a problem with Amazon sending me a book with a deeply cut cover and they are in the process of fixing the situation. I had posted this on craft blog I had, since it was a craft book, but since I closed it I will post about it here. I need to go double check to make sure it still going as it should. But the funny thing is the money I saved on that book I ended up spending a book that was suppose to be free. Irony, eh? *sigh* Oh well. Ok, I’m off. I need to relax my elbow, I believe I banged it in my sleep and now it’s in pain. I do have another post to make about my novel Jumper…I wonder what it would be called if it was published? But yeah, I have decided something big on it. But I want to work on it a little more before I make my final choice. More to come later on that.

Writing away,
M.

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