Disappointed in Customer Service

[CindySNJ]

Hi:

      I have really been disappointed in customer service with BN.  My USB cord broke into 3 pieces on Friday, July 29.  Saturday AM decided to take a chance and went to local BN store to see if they could replace it for me.  No real surprise, they said they did not have the cords and I would need to order thru customer service.  Now here is where things went down hill.  The in store rep offered to place the order for me.  For about 10 minutes, she stood pressing buttons on the phone, with no results.  She called over another associate and said "I don;t know how to use this phone to call customer support".  The associate told her "Dial 1 first" and then placed the call for her.  She immediately turned to me, handed me the phone and told me to talk to the rep.  After going over the problem, the rep said they would replace the cord.  I asked how long it would take.  The rep said since I was in NJ, and the cord ships from NJ, I would have it by Tuesday. Aug 2.  Well, Tuesday came, then Wednesday, and still no cord.  Thursday, I decided to call and see what was going on.  I spoke with one rep, who then transferred me to another.  The second rep said They were still processing the order.  I got upset, asked for a supervisor.  Explained to the supervisor that I was told I would have the cord by last Tuesday, he said the person that took the order was wrong - it takes 3- 5 business days to process the order, and then it is shipped UPS so that takes another 3 -5 days.  I was told that I would not recieve the replacement until Tues Aug 9 at the earliest.  I was really upset, asked what I could do with my 250.00 nook  that was dead because it could not be charged without a cord.  His answer - wait for UPS, if I don't receive the cord by 8/9. call back, and he hung up.  To me, there is no excuse for this type of customer service.  The cord is a known problem and should be available at any store that sells the nook.  Actually, BN needs to replace it with a good cord that doesn't fall apart ever few months.

Sorry for the rant, but had to get this off my mind.   I miss my nook, even the cookbook.

Ed

[geertm]

You can charge the NC with any regular USB charger or USB port, using a regular USB cable.

It will take 8 hours instead of 3 to fully charge, and you will not be able to use the NC while charging. But a problem with the charger cable does not mean you cannot charge at all.

[jaleesa_88]

Thats crazy!  I had issues with mine heating up and I called BN Customer Service and they overnighted me one...it didn't end up here the next day cuz they sent it out after 5pm but I received it the next day.

[Melissa19]

Sorry to hear of your troubles Ed. That BN store should have given you a replacement if they had one. Any other stores nearby to try? I have read of people getting replacements from stores. Guess it depends on their stock at the time. I bought a car charger just in case I need a back up. It works inside too, has standard usb and micro ends. Hope you get reading again soon.

[AneMailname]

I sure hope you get your cord, I've been told twice that mine was on the way and have gotten nothing.

[robert93]

As much as I've heard of these chargers and or cords failing, this is a PERFECT place for pre-emptive customer service.  Each store should have no less than 5 (five) "charge kits" (cord and charger)  for sale, and also a supply of "replaced under warranty" claim forms available at all times.  I say for sale as there are many occasions where a second power supply really comes in handy.... one for home, one for office, one for the  other place at home where you always lay your nook......

Generic USB charge cables and adaptors can be used, BUT, The NC adaptor is rated for 5Volts, 1.9 Amps, thats a lot more juice than many computers or light duty USB chargers are capable of.  You paid good money for your NC, dont "go cheap" on replacement power.

      The other side of that is, B&N shouldnt "go cheap" on replacement parts.  the NC is a great device, but if it cant be powered, because a cord broke, or charger overheated,,,,,, that CANT be happening, its gotta be fixed, FAST.

[dphenry157]

Sad to say, but welcome to the club Ed!  Offshore B&N customer support may be cheaper, but there is certainly no quality service.  The CSR's that I have spoken with don't even know to adjust their headset so that they are speaking into the transmitter device.  Very disappointing!

[avid_reader1590]

Amen! I had to call last night as my Nook kept asking for my wifi password but I could see my home network on the screen and it stated "remembered" for status. When I tried to enter the password it kept saying incorrect when I know it was the right one. I knew I could unregister and reregister but I really wanted to bypass that if possible.  The B&N tech I had was in the Phillipines and sounded like she was  reading off a paper, ignoring what I was telling her the problem was.She put me on hold seven times.  She finally told me to call my internet provider even after I told her that I was on my Mac and the problem was not with my internet but connecting to my Nook. When I asked to speak to someone else she came back (once again) and told me that her supervisor had gone home and to call back later. I finally was so angry that I hung up, call back and the second tech got me straight. I hate to have to deal with a language breakdown after you pay for extended service on a product. 

[Doreenpv]

I have read other post about bad cords....why in the world can't  the stores offer to replace them.

[deemure]

If you call CS and get someone in the Phillippines (hint: ask), and get no help, ask to speak to CS or tech support in the US. Standard chargers will work, but take longer, and shouldn't be used while using the NC. Stores should keep a supply of such things on hand, but the pre-emptive attitude is best. I have a car charger that uses the same cord, and an extra charger. But, that's me.

[avid_reader1590]

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deemure wrote:
If you call CS and get someone in the Phillippines (hint: ask), and get no help, ask to speak to CS or tech support in the US. Standard chargers will work, but take longer, and shouldn't be used while using the NC. Stores should keep a supply of such things on hand, but the pre-emptive attitude is best. I have a car charger that uses the same cord, and an extra charger. But, that's me.

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After about the 4th hold time I asked where the customer rep was located and she would not tell me unitl I asked three times and finally said the Phillipines and that is when I did ask to speak to someone in the U.S. and was put on hold once again. When she came back  she told me her supervisior had gone home and to call back tomorrow. When I told her that I wanted, once again, someone who could help me she put me on hold again and after awhile I got mad and hung up. I did ask where she was located  and did not get transferred to a U.S. customer service rep. 

[doneworkin42]

Sorry to hear about your problems.  My problem was that the cable would sometimes work and sometimes would not.  I went to the local B&N to talk with customer service.  At first the woman hinted that I was doing it wrong, then finally gave me a used cord that didn't work at all.  I then called the 800 number, explained my problem and had a new cable in 3 days.  The phone rep even apologized for the in-store rep.

[flyingtoastr Scribe]

Because people still aren't listening...

We do not have replacement cords in the store. If you cord is defective you have to call 1-800-THE-BOOK.

[sydylo2]

My cord went bad after a few weeks. I guess I am lucky and our local B&N store gave me one at the store.

[Schwa]

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flyingtoastr wrote:

Because people still aren't listening...

We do not have replacement cords in the store. If you cord is defective you have to call 1-800-THE-BOOK.

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Quoting again to help out FT.  And from what I have read in the past, the stores can't replace cables from sale stock, but sometimes they offer cables if they have exchange/returns on hand at the moment.  The stores aren't being rude if they don't offer a replacement cable.  Sometimes they just can't. 

[deemure]

I do think there is a lack of understanding that stores don't generally have the cords. But, some people have gotten replacements at stores. People also are told to go to a store to see if the cord is the problem. What I and others are saying is it would be best if the stores did have some cords in stock. Since there does seem to be some issue of failure and going to a store is the best and fastest way to assess whether it is device or cord failure, it would also reduce the amount of NCs returned when only the cord is bad. I personally had my cord fail and if I had not had another one to test with, would certainly have thought my NC was bad. It would be frustrating to go to a store to check only to find out they can't replace a bad one.

[deemure]

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avid_reader1590 wrote:

After about the 4th hold time I asked where the customer rep was located and she would not tell me unitl I asked three times and finally said the Phillipines and that is when I did ask to speak to someone in the U.S. and was put on hold once again. When she came back  she told me her supervisior had gone home and to call back tomorrow. When I told her that I wanted, once again, someone who could help me she put me on hold again and after awhile I got mad and hung up. I did ask where she was located  and did not get transferred to a U.S. customer service rep. 

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You only said you asked to speak to someone else and was told the supervisor went home. After asking for someone in the US and being put on hold and being told the supervisor had gone home, I would most likely hang up, call back, again firmly ask for US tech support, get the rep's name, advise you would be lodging a complaint, or what have you. I would not wait through 7 instances of being put on hold when the rep is not honoring my request. I truthfully have had no issue with CS myself and when I did get the Phillippines and asked for the US, I was promptly transferred there. I understand others are having problems, but I would not sit on the phone with someone that most likely is acting as a glorified answering service for probably many companies, and who is not helping at all.

[flyingtoastr Scribe]

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deemure wrote:
I do think there is a lack of understanding that stores don't generally have the cords. But, some people have gotten replacements at stores. People also are told to go to a store to see if the cord is the problem. What I and others are saying is it would be best if the stores did have some cords in stock. Since there does seem to be some issue of failure and going to a store is the best and fastest way to assess whether it is device or cord failure, it would also reduce the amount of NCs returned when only the cord is bad. I personally had my cord fail and if I had not had another one to test with, would certainly have thought my NC was bad. It would be frustrating to go to a store to check only to find out they can't replace a bad one.

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It isn't a matter of what would be best, but one of simple logistics. There are currently just over 700 BN retail stores in the United States. Let's assume that every store only needs 5 cords a week to replace defective cables. You're looking at BN needing to stock over 3000 cables a week that they're making no profit on. But what if some stores use all 5 cables each weekend some only go through 1 or 2? Now you have a whole ton of dead stock that may or may not be needed that the company has still paid for.

Then you have the issue that not all stores will need the same number of cables. The store I work at sells 5 or 6 times more NOOK's than another of the local stores. That means we would need that many more cables than the other store. But what happens if a store runs out of cables? For instance, if my store got a glut of claims one week and ran out of cords, we could send customers to one of the three other stores within 30 miles. If the Burlington, VT store runs out, customers are SOL - it's the only store in the state. How do you think people will take it if they're "guaranteed" to be able to replace them in the store and - by no fault of it's own - the store doesn't have the stock on hand at that moment?

So BN management has made the decision that for right now it is in the company's best fiscal interest to just have people call the support line and to send cords to customers as needed. The cord problems are a known issue, they will be replaced under the manufacturer's warranty, all you need to do is call. The company is working to make stores more available for this kind of thing - we can do full warranty replacements on NOOKcolor units in stores now, for example - but it is something that takes time to roll out.

[deemure]

I do understand the logistics of it, FT, but stores do often stock product they do not move and others they run out of. Since this is a known issue then associates should be stocked with some product. Yes, some may run out, some may not. BN could offset this by stocking some they sell for those that wish to have one in case. They do sell the cord itself online. It is far better to at least serve some, rather than have most disgruntled. I have worked in retail. I understand the nature of this, but it is ridiculous to have a customer come in to see if a cord is bad and not be able to get one. Or to send back their device to replace it because stores can't help. If I buy a defective sd card at a store and take it back, they replace it. In my area there are 2 B&Ns that are not very close by. If I went to one to check my cord, I would at least like to be able to buy one until a replacement came. And given the problems some people are having with CS over this, replacement could be a couple of days or maybe not for weeks. B&N needs to be more proactive (I hate that word) in this area for a known issue.

The point is either this is a very large issue and a really big problem with many NCs having cord failure and CS should be on top of it so that replacements are on the way right away, or the problem is more sporadic and having some store solution would be fairly easy to accomplish. Stores deal with recalls, too and the logistics. It can be done.

[flyingtoastr Scribe]

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deemure wrote:
And given the problems some people are having with CS over this, replacement could be a couple of days or maybe not for weeks.

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And for every person this happens to hundreds are getting them without problems. Don't let the telescope effect of web forums confuse this issue any further.