Dear B&N,
I've been a customer with BN for a very, very long time - even before they have had an internet presence. From traditional paperbacks to digital readers, as the times have changed, so have I... and both myself and all other family members in my household have made use of and purchased all the neat and useful technologies that BN has had to offer. Overall I've generally been a very pleased and happy customer and that's why I have always been faithful. But until today, I've never been as outraged as I am right now!
Most recently, given the outrageous expenses of textbooks and my displeasure with the outrageous costs involved with my colleges textbook supplier (even for their own digital textbooks); I decided that I wanted to use the "Nook Study App" so I could purchase my digital textbooks through BN as they were far more reasonable. So I downloaded the app, attempted to logon and could not do so, despite the fact that I had no issue logging on to BN directly through a webbrowser and/or my physical Nook Reader. After wasting 2 hours uninstalling, rebooting and trying several kinds of basic troubleshooting on my own, I caved in and contacted BN support Option #3 and then 1, eventually reaching a specialist that could help me. Sparing the gross details, my situation was resolved, but I had to engage in an activity that is TOTALLY not okay with me...
Essentially what I found out it that there is a KNOWN issue with the Nook Study App that often will not allow an individual with a BN account who has a password that contains any special characters to logon without an error. Mind you that when the password entry box in the app shows its "error" it specifically indicates that you must enter a password which "contains 6-12 letters, numbers and/or special characters and is case sensitive".... yet if YOU HAVE a password that meets this requirement, Nook Study won't allow you to logon and you'll have to change your password to only include letters (capitals are ok) and numbers... nothing else. This translates into a customer being required to "dumb down" their password and security level, which affects all other points of access requiring email/password authentication for Nook Study and/or any other service of BN that requires a user-mail & password to provide access. This simply is not justifiable whatsoever! A customer must burden a decrease in their level of security just to use The Nook Study App. I am furious, and I'm sure others would be as well if they knew about this huge inconvienience and glitch.
This is very, very disturbing and disconcerting that I have to decrease the strength and security of my password JUST so that I am able to use Nook Study and purchase digital textbooks with BN. Neither I nor any other customer should have to trade the security and integrity of their personal information because of a glitch that BN is aware of (hence is why the CSR had a workaround) but HAS DONE NOTHING to address and/or fix.
In today's environment and age where digital privacy is of a tantamount importance, you simply cannot have glitches in programming authentication which allow for an erosion of one's privacy by increasing the potential and opportunity for hacking and/or compromising of a customer's account to occur. Now please understand, I realize that no system is perfect... but if as a customer I due my due dilligence in making an effort to have a stronger password by using special characters, I shouldn't then have to then decrease security by removing them just so I can utilize one of your services. At this point, I'm not sure that Nook Study will be for me, because although your eTextbooks are cheaper, I don't believe I am willing to sacrifice the security of my account information because you have not programmed the app to properly handle a customers existing password which meets the technical requirements of the very box its inputted in, only to later have to change it to either access and/or use the service.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, VERY QUICKLY - do something immediately to change this glitch, as it is not fair to any customer, nor in compliance with your own standards of security! Otherwise, I personally will simply have to take my educational textbook needs elsewhere, as the extra cost will be worth it to know my account is safer. Thank You!
