by Dick Mac
Now they are the good guys because they are our local bookstores and they are being destroyed by the likes of Amazon.
I use the Nook from Barnes & Noble. When I got my Nook HD+ recently, I purchased the extended warranty.
My family has multiple Nooks, and the Nook app is on our non-Nook devices.
My newest Nook (the HD+) stopped working. It won't hold a charge. These things happen. But, to be sure, I spent a couple of days trying to charge it in different rooms, at home and at the office, with the original cable and with the extra cable I purchased for travel. No good. Sadly, my Nook must be serviced.
I call the 800 number and it's the usual scenario that we have all come to accept. The guy treats me like a child and has me touching buttons and inserting plugs and cables, as if I haven't already tried all of this. I understand. It's his job. He has to troubleshoot to determine if my Nook needs replacing. I cooperate and he determines that I need a replacement. It can be here in 3 - 5 business days.
In order to get a replacement I have to give him my credit card information.
WHAT?!?!?
I don't like this. I have already paid for this device, then I paid almost the same amount again for extended protection.
Now they want my credit card? In fact, they want me to read all the information over the phone to a stranger in a foreign country.
Wow! What a scam.
I pay for a Nook, then I purchase the extended warranty. My Nook stops working. I call and am told that in order to get a replacement, I have to give some guy my credit card information (again), "in case I don't return the device"!
How insulting is that?
They want me to trust some stranger in some foreign country with my credit card information, but don't trust me with the Nook I already paid for. They presume I am going to steal their shitty broken Nook, but I am supposed to trust them.
There is a work around. I can return the Nook and they will send a replacement. However, I can't bring the broken Nook downstairs to the BN I purchased it from, I have to ship it first and then they will send the replacement.
How will this work?
They will email me a label, then I affix it to a box broken device is in. I have to find the box. A padded envelope won't do, I have to use a box. My own box. When they get the broken Nook, they will get around to sending a replacement. This will take three weeks.
THREE WEEKS.
But, if I give them my credit card, I can have my replacement in 3-5 business days.
I selected Nook not because it is the best choice, but to support BN. The Nook isn't any better than any other reading device or tablet. In fact, in many ways it is lacking. But, I was a BN shopper and I wanted to support them.
That has proven to be a poor choice, a bad decision.
Barnes & Noble doesn't care about me a fraction as much as I care about them!
I will be switching booksellers and devices as soon as these Nooks are gone.
I consider some companies to be "good" companies and some companies to be "bad" companies.
BN used to be on my list of good companies.
While protecting their bottom line BN might want to examine exactly how insulting they are to long-time customers who have been loyal.
BN, go to hell!