A GOOD Refurb Nook Tale

[Ravendas]

Because there seems to be so many people who are leary of refurbs and/or just downright hate the notion of having one, let me share the story of my refurbished (a.k.a Certified Pre-Owned) Nook.

After seeing someone post about refurbs being sold through Buy.com, I decided to try my luck at one. This was my first e-reader purchase, but I couldn't turn down the excellent price of $119 for a WiFi+3G model. I arrived in less than a week and, after having had the Week From Hell, due to car troubles and work-related stress, i was excited to see the UPS truck pull up last Friday afternoon. To add to my excitement, the decal and cover bundle I'd also ordered showed up the same day. Yay! So, I dive in with both feet, hooking up my Nook to charge and waiting a bit impatiently for it to charge enough for me to be able to fully enjoy my new e-reader experience.

After about an hour, I could wait no longer and, after "dressing" my new baby up in her spiffy skin and cover, I turned it on. It switched on with no problem then prompted me to register my Nook. Okay, type in my e-mail and password.....and I get an error telling me I can't register. Urgh...okay...so maybe I typed the password in wrong, the touchpad keyboard does take a bit of getting used to. Try again....nope...same message. Okay, head over to my B&N account on my computer and change passwords. One more time....no dice. At this point, I'm getting a bit distraught since this was the one bright spot in my horrible week. So I call customer service. The fellow on the phone was very helpful and polite...and helped me find my serial number...which was "0". Not good. He told me that they would try to register my Nook remotely, using the serial number that was on the box and to call back in an hour.

So....for an hour, I explored the other functions of the Nook, played some sudoku, then came over here to do a search for the serial number issue. Not good news...I saw that it meant a bad unit...and sure enough, when I called CS back after the hour was up, that's what they told me. I wasn't too happy about having my first Nook turn out to be bad right out of the box...but I did say this was going to be a good story, so bear with me....

They sent me the UPS label and RMA number to send it back after I opted for the Rapid Return option. So after sadly but carefully removing the cover and skin, I packed it up and headed to the UPS Store on Monday and dropped it off. Since the first one took about a week to get to me, i didn't have high hopes for the replacement getting to me before Thanksgiving....but yesterday, when I got home, there it was, sitting on my doorstep.

Anxiously, I unpacked it and switched it on. The first nice surprise was that the battery was at 3/4 so I didn't need to charge it up first. Before I even tried to register it, I headed straight to the Settings screen and....bingo!...a genuine serial number! So far, so good. I set up my WiFi and registered with no issues. The next hurdle to overcome was the new 1.5 update. having seen a few horror stories about it on here, i was a bit worried to see how it would turn out. But it went smooth as silk!

Now to get my books loaded...all of my B&N books showed up no problem and I spent a few minutes organizing them with the new shelving system...which I think I will like quite a bit, especially once I get more books. After consulting the helpful threads here, I also got my ADE books sideloaded as well. No problems there either.

I next reapplied the skin and tucked Nook #2 into the cover. The skin wasn't quite as sticky, but didn't give me any problems. Then, for the rest of the evening, I tucked in with a mug of hot cider and aquainted myself with some new books, thanks to my new/refurb Nook.

Count me as a very happy and satisfied refurb Nook owner.

[dragon7380]

Thank you for the tale. I got a PanDigital from QVC and like so many other things from QVC you might be lucky and get a good working item, or you might not be so lucky. I sent it back the very same day.

I found the part of B & N that sells the Refurbished Nooks thanks to a friend and I was surprised to find out that I did not have to use a WiFi to load to the Nook, that I could do side to side loading if I downloaded Nook for PC.

As a Disabled Vet I find it very hard to get out to a place that has WiFi and since this does side to side loading I do not have to spend the $40 to get a wireless router for my Road Runner.

I hope my story ends like your second attempt ended. I love the idea of being able to purchase and download books easier than waiting 2 months on a Library Waiting list, or taking 2 buses to the Mall, not to mention its much cheaper.

Thanks for the story.

[bebejasy8881]

Well my story may sound more like complaint about Barnes and noble. I bought my nook G/wife 5 months ago. I take it everywhere. I just love that I can be reading several books at the same time. I do it all the time. Anyway, about 2 wks ago it started acting up and it froze. I did some trouble shooting myself. That didn't work so I called for support. They were very nice. We did some trouble shooting again. His suggestion I needed a new battery. I waited about a week for it to arrive. Finally I got it. I charged it for about 5 hrs. Put it in and nothing. I called support again. We did all again and nothing. His suggestion replace the nook. I was fine with that until I hear him tell me that its a refurbished one. I paid 250.00 for my nook with extended warranty. I asked him why refurbished.His  Answer, thats what they do. When I bought it of course the guy said that having extended warranty was a good idea if I had a problem and needed to replace it. Never thought it was with a refurbished. It doesn't seem right. I pay full price, extended warranty and now I wait for 2 wks for a refurbished one. In the mean time thank goodness that I backed up files and pictures on my PC with all.the trouble shooting you lose that data. Has anyone else experienced this?

[Katie_798]

Haha yeah I did. I didn't have the extended warrenty but I did have a normal one and it wasn't up when some weird lines on the screen started showing up. I called and threw a fit when I found out it was going to be a refurb but caved eventually because I love my nook so much. It took about ten days to show up but its worked flawlessly, thank goodness!

[Ravendas]

I know I don't have any control over what people post here, but I would really, really appreciate it if this thread could stay focused on the GOOD experiences people have had with refurbs.

There are plenty of other threads to gripe and complain about them elsewhere and I'd like this one to stay positive.

Thanks!

[bebejasy8881]

hey sorry for the negative. where do i go to gripe? dont want to ruin your thread.

[bebejasy8881]

hey thanks for being a good sport about my comment.And also thanks for the reassuring that the refurbish will be just as good. I had surgery not too long ago and this nook has been incredible. I always have a new book or something to look at.

[nightowlin]

You know, Ravendas, I think your story demonstrates that it is all in YOUR attitude.  Someone else may have told this story to point out all they had to go through to get their Nook up and running.  Others may have pointed out how much annoyance or aggravation this caused them, but you put it in a positive light.  There are so many people on these boards to complain about anything and everything.  I mean people complain that FREE books are no good!  Personally, I don't always like the FREE book, but so what?  Don't read it then!  It is so crazy!  I am delighted to read that even though it was not an easy, breezy experience, you ended up with a Nook that your are enjoying!  You have set my day up with a bright note -- Thank you!

[chillywilly8298]

I've had my referbished nook since August and I too was a little weary about getting the referbished unit.  But I haven't had any issues at all and I love it :-D

[nikib5]

So far I have a good refurb tale too. I developed the dreaded crack about a month ago (bought my Nook last Feb.). I called Customer Service, got through very quickly and my replacement came in 2 days. I registered the new (certified pre-owned) Nook and loaded all of my content. It froze one time and rebooted itself, but I think that was just because it was finishing loading the update and my library. It hasn't done it since. I don't know how "new" the refurb is, but it seems new to me. I also noticed that the page forward buttons seem to respond a little differently than my old Nook (they don't seem to press down as far).I hope that is a good sign as to whether or not this one will crack (hopefully not).

So far I"m happy with it and I'll be returning my old Nook today.

Christine

[Ravendas]

Thanks nightowlin!

It seems like some people just aren't happy no matter what. I worked retail for 15 years and saw attitudes like this every day. I was reading one of the free books I'd DLed from B&N called "Great Parents, Lousy Lovers" and the author mentioned that the past few generations have been those of "Entitlement".....where their parents, having lived through harder times, decided "our kids aren't going to live like we did" and spoiled them outrageously, thereby fostering in them a sense of everyone owing to them whatever they want. And anyone who doesn't give them what they want *right now* on a silver platter is automatically treated with disrespect and scorn because, by golly, they *deserve* it (even if all they really deserve is a smack in the head and being told "The world doesn't revolve around you, get over it!". )

Just reading the threads around here is proof positive of that. I figured to show that there are some of us that are happy with what we have, even if it's not the newest, coolest, does-everything device out there.