Borders.com Problems

[frquixote]

About one hour ago I ordered an ePub book from Borders.com. As of this moment the book still hasn't hit my library for download, despite the fact the book is listed as "available for immediate download" and the fact that my order shows the book as having "Shipped". The extremely poor delivery service, along with the fact that you must order only one book at a time and have multiple charges to your credit card if you are ordering multiple books makes this service extremely unattractive ... and that is very disappointing.

It is beginning to look like there are few good options for current bestsellers if one doesn't want to be locked into the Amazon or B&N proprietary environments.

[clintbradford]

When you CALLED Borders customer service on the phone today (they were available eight hours on Sunday - more hours during weekdays), what did they say?

[trevgriff]

Originally Posted by frquixote

About one hour ago I ordered an ePub book from Borders.com. As of this moment the book still hasn't hit my library for download, despite the fact the book is listed as "available for immediate download" and the fact that my order shows the book as having "Shipped". The extremely poor delivery service, along with the fact that you must order only one book at a time and have multiple charges to your credit card if you are ordering multiple books makes this service extremely unattractive ... and that is very disappointing.

It is beginning to look like there are few good options for current bestsellers if one doesn't want to be locked into the Amazon or B&N proprietary environments.

This happened to me last week, finally after a few hours the book became available for download. Very far from being available to read within a minute

Has anyone else experienced how slow the file transfer from Borders is? Wow

[J. Strnad]

Hey, give 'em a break! Their Commodore 64 computer is working as hard as it can to keep up with orders!

[frquixote]

Originally Posted by clintbradford

When you CALLED Borders customer service on the phone today (they were available eight hours on Sunday - more hours during weekdays), what did they say?

clintbradford, there is no reason for you to be on the attack with the tone of your post. I was reporting an experience I had with Borders' new service in an effort to stimulate some discussion about others' experiences. Your post adds nothing to such a discussion.

I wish I had the option to call on Sunday, but Borders Customer Service closed at 1300 Hawaii time. I made the mistake of trying to order the book after 1400 HST ... a leisurely Sunday afternoon activity after first fulfilling more important obligations on Sunday morning. The book finally arrived in my online library at 1930 HST, a mere 5.5 hours later. Kinda scratched the idea of relaxing in the hammock on the lanai to enjoy the cool breezes off the ocean with a good ebook.

As for calling today, since the book did finally arrive, I did not feel the need to call them on my employer's time or dime this morning. I can wait for their e-mail explaining the delay since the basic problem has been resolved.

I understand Borders is working with Kobo to make this electronic delivery a success, but my points were:

1) They're going to have to deliver much more quickly than this if they are going to survive in the battle with Amazon and B&N. I have been buying ebooks online from various vendors since the days of the Peanut Press and don't recall ever having a book take more than fifteen minutes to become available after I paid for it.

2) Borders had already marked the book as "Shipped" and charged my credit card, but had not made the book available. It is not good business practice to lie to your customers or to charge their credit cards before you have delivered the goods or services. Such behaviour only builds customer distrust.

3) Their current ordering process is much too cumbersome if you are looking to order more than one book. Oh, by the way, the requirement to pay for each book separately also causes flags with many credit card companies because multiple small transactions through a single online vendor within the space of a few minutes is one way identity thieves validate a stolen credit card number and CVV. I might note here that even the much smaller Smashwords allows you to pay for several books with a single credit card transaction.

From other responses this thread has received it would seem that at least some people are having similar problems. Would be interested in hearing how often these problems are occurring.

[SameOldStory]

Originally Posted by clintbradford

When you CALLED Borders customer service on the phone today (they were available eight hours on Sunday - more hours during weekdays), what did they say?

When I read his post I thought the same thing. But frquixote does have a very reasonable answer.

Of course you were rude to put called in upper case. That would tick off anybody!

Sorry frquixote. just having fun.

I don't normally buy ebooks from the "big" ebook sellers like B&N or Borders. I think that this is just part of the industries growing pains. Mistakes will happen, customers will yell, things will be fixed.


"From other responses this thread has received it would seem that at least some people are having similar problems. Would be interested in hearing how often these problems are occurring."

Others here on MR have reported much worse problems from many different companies. Some of which were fixed. And some were not.

For what it's worth I opened a paper book in a store to see if I would want to buy it. It was missing the first 6 or 7 pages. Problems can occur anywhere, and at any time.

Life’s not perfect.

[basschick]

so did you get a chance to call today (monday), and if so, was the problem dealt with?

[bjones6416]

Originally Posted by frquixote

About one hour ago I ordered an ePub book from Borders.com. As of this moment the book still hasn't hit my library for download, despite the fact the book is listed as "available for immediate download" and the fact that my order shows the book as having "Shipped". The extremely poor delivery service, along with the fact that you must order only one book at a time and have multiple charges to your credit card if you are ordering multiple books makes this service extremely unattractive ... and that is very disappointing.

It is beginning to look like there are few good options for current bestsellers if one doesn't want to be locked into the Amazon or B&N proprietary environments.

I agree with you. I was spoiled early on when I used to buy all of my e-books from Fictionwise. Do the paypal payment, go immediately to your Bookshelf, and download the book. I thought that was how it was always supposed to work.

Now I buy from Amazon, and it works immediately too.

I've bought a few from B&N, and those don't show up QUITE as fast for me. I've had a few minutes delay a couple of times, and a friend of mine told me the other day that she had ordered a book from them that still hadn't landed in her library an hour later. I know that no system is perfect, but often when I order an e-book it's because I have the time and opportunity to read it right then. That's not to say I won't enjoy it later, but for me instant gratification is one of the perks of reading e-books.

[frquixote]

basschick,

Originally Posted by frquixote

As for calling today, since the book did finally arrive, I did not feel the need to call them on my employer's time or dime this morning. I can wait for their e-mail explaining the delay since the basic problem has been resolved.

Will check for their e-mail as soon as I get home (its only 1600 HST or 2200 EDT).

[frquixote]

bjones6416,

Exactly the point. I'd like to see Borders make a serious go of it in order to preserve both competition and our freedom of choice, but people will stay away from providers who cannot compete on service, especially in the agency pricing world where there will be little (if any) difference in price.

[Bekster]

I ordered a couple from Borders the other day and was able to download immediately. Downloaded 1 to Adobe Reader and then tried the Borders desktop - both were immediately available.
Was able to upload really easily to my nook from Borders desktop app too.

Becky

[afa]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

Hey, give 'em a break! Their Commodore 64 computer is working as hard as it can to keep up with orders!

Good one...

Originally Posted by frquixote

From other responses this thread has received it would seem that at least some people are having similar problems. Would be interested in hearing how often these problems are occurring.

I, at least, haven't had any issues. I've bought three books from them so far, on different days, with the most recent purchase being just yesterday, and each time the ebook was available for download immediately after I clicked on the order confirmation.

Perhaps you just had the misfortune of attempting to download at a time that their servers were overloaded, or had some technical glitch or the other. It doesn't seem like the norm.

Regarding the CC billing - I haven't bought more than one ebook at a time so I can't confirm, but if what you said is the norm, then I agree it's pretty stupid. One should be able to buy mutliple titles in a single transaction, and get a single charge for the total. They better fix that.

[bjones6416]

Originally Posted by afa

Regarding the CC billing - I haven't bought more than one ebook at a time so I can't confirm, but if what you said is the norm, then I agree it's pretty stupid. One should be able to buy mutliple titles in a single transaction, and get a single charge for the total. They better fix that.

As much as I dislike that myself, that's how Amazon works with the Kindle, too, at least in my experience. One click equals one purchase equals one charge. Is that how it has worked for everybody else?

[ATimson]

Originally Posted by afa

Regarding the CC billing - I haven't bought more than one ebook at a time so I can't confirm, but if what you said is the norm, then I agree it's pretty stupid. One should be able to buy mutliple titles in a single transaction, and get a single charge for the total. They better fix that.

Since Kobo (whom Borders has running their ebooks) has been more than happy to march along with one-transaction-per-book, I don't see this changing any time soon.

[Ajax]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

As much as I dislike that myself, that's how Amazon works with the Kindle, too, at least in my experience. One click equals one purchase equals one charge. Is that how it has worked for everybody else?

Yes, that's how it works with Amazon.

A lot of people fix this by buying an Amazon gift card so they only have 1 credit card charge for the GC. Amazon will automatically charge the gift card rather than the credit card as long as there is a balance available.