Kobo.com order processing time

[John F]

Originally Posted by taming

LOL, yes, Kobo announced this months in advance and people were just salivating to get their hands on it. Waing two whole weeks was torturous. ...

Months in advance? Looking at the MR main page it was announced April 15? Was it announced sooner?

[PeterT]

Sorry.. Taming forgot to use the [sarcasm] [/sarcasm] markup

[sarcasm]LOL, yes, Kobo announced this months in advance and people were just salivating to get their hands on it. [/sarcasm]Waing two whole weeks was torturous. Very few things in life are black or white or pass/fail. I know you are capable of more nuance than that. Frankly, I think Kobo should go back to not shipping directly to the US and using their independent bookstore partners to do this. Perhaps if the Aura becomes a standard offering, they will.

You will do what you will do and think what you will think. You are free to write whatever you want, and believe whatever you want, with no obligation whatsoever to look at or consider anyone else's point of view. Blog away, blog away!

Better now?

[jackie_w]

I think the problems must be country-specific because WHSmith in the UK didn't fail me. I selected free shipping (quoted as 3-5 working days from desp to deliv) for an Aura and a Sleepcover.

The Aura arrived on the 3rd working day and the cover, even faster, on the 2nd working day. I could have paid extra for faster delivery. I was able to see order progress on the website until despatch and I got timely despatch emails for both items. Order tracking would have been nice, but maybe that was only available for those who paid the extra for the 1st class delivery.

[taming]

i am originally from the US, and the changes in shipping between the two countries knocked me over when I first moved here a decade or so ago. I guess I have gotten used to it. I know that when I order from Amazon US and have it shipped to me in Western Canada, the package usually first shows up 24 hours after my shipping notice (which coincides with billing) as being in Illinois. It then goes to Indiana, where is sits for up to a week, before getting on its way. Sometimes it is as little as 3 days.

And I have paid for this shipping, btw. I have paid a shipping charge, Canadian taxes, and any applicable duties.

Recently I bought something for my son and the exact same thing for me from Amazon US. He is in Michigan. His package came to him in two days, mine arrived at my house 10 days after he received his--12 days in all.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by guitarizt

I made a spreadsheet of order times. I'm hoping I get mine tomorrow. Last update was yesterday am when the package departed IL.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...0cVgybVE#gid=0

Here's another datapoint for you:

• Ordered Aura HD (Onyx color; no cover) on May 3rd. Order confirmation email showed up in about 5 minutes.
• Credit card was charged on May 3rd.
• ...crickets...

In case my location doesn't show up, it's headed to Pittsburgh, PA.

Xenophon

[stoney77]

Just got my shipping email from Kobo with a tracking number from Canada Post. It's been exactly one week since I placed my order. The tracking info has no approximate delivery date.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by guitarizt

I made a spreadsheet of order times. I'm hoping I get mine tomorrow. Last update was yesterday am when the package departed IL.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...0cVgybVE#gid=0

My location's Los Angeles, color Espresso, no cover and shipped from Canada just for completeness' sake.

[John F]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Sorry.. Taming forgot to use the [sarcasm] [/sarcasm] markup



Better now?

Sure, although in my own defense, I would expect a new paragraph when sarcasm changes from on to off (if there are no sarcasm tags present).

[taming]

I try so hard not to resort to sarcasm and reactive anger. It's mean-spirited and I really do know better. Please accept my apology. I could have made the same point in a less inflammatory way.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I disagree. Kobo often took a week or more to ship the orders. That is abysmally slow by the standards of 2013.

Amazon will get a Kindle to me within a couple days. But then again Amazon is all around better at CS so that should come as no surprise.

Perhaps you should try placing an order with Amazon from Canada for delivery to Canada before boasting about Amazon's customer service. As I mentioned in a previous message, a package of origami paper took 3 weeks to arrive. Yes, I know it went from Amazon to the US post office to Canada Customs and then to Canada Post but so much easier to blame it all on the shipper.

As a Canadian, you also get a lot of "we don't ship to your area" responses when trying to order an item from Amazon.com.

Regards,
David

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by taming

LOL, yes, Kobo announced this months in advance and people were just salivating to get their hands on it. Waing two whole weeks was torturous. Very few things in life are black or white or pass/fail. I know you are capable of more nuance than that. Frankly, I think Kobo should go back to not shipping directly to the US and using their independent bookstore partners to do this. Perhaps if the Aura becomes a standard offering, they will.

You will do what you will do and think what you will think. You are free to write whatever you want, and believe whatever you want, with no obligation whatsoever to look at or consider anyone else's point of view. Blog away, blog away!

I didn't say the wait was torturous; I implied that it was a failure. Please don't put words in my mouth.

TBH once Kobo lost the order I gave up on it, and I was pleasantly surprised when I got the shipping notice.

And while this issue might have shades of gray, problems like temporarily misplaced orders, an inability to manage orders from the Kobo website, and the randomized delay in shipping are pretty clearly failures.

There's no gray in there; those are failures on the part of Kobo. To say otherwise is to deny the facts in front of us.

[taming]

Nate, we just are not going to agree about this. I can live with it and I am done.

[Sharkus]

I'll admit that Kobo could probably do somewhat better with the tracking system. I'm fairly sure that we don't ship out the devices ourselves, have a feeling Ingram is used to do the distribution, and it's possible that there may need to be some tightening up between our system and theirs to display things properly, get confirmation emails and such. It's not my area of expertise so I cannot really comment on it.

I think it's a little unfair to compare shipping something from Kobo with Amazon. I'd take a guess that Kobo's distribution is a little bit smaller than that of Amazon. It's possible this is because we only ship devices and accessories, whereas Amazon ships pretty much everything, up-to and including the kitchen sink, and therefore they have a very large existing infrastructure to deal with things, I believe they have many distribution facilities in the US and no doubt other countries too. I'm not sure on the size of our distribution setup, but it will probably be far smaller than Amazon.

There is also the fact of there being two countries involved here. If you're ordering from Amazon.com, then it is probable the item is shipping from within the US, so there isn't a border to cross, and everything that entails.

Oh, and how long has Kobo been shipping physical product vs Amazon, which could explain why things may be slightly in their infancy. It takes time to get up to speed and I'm sure Kobo is getting there, and learning from the experience. I wonder if you look back to the start of Amazon how many upset people there were.

Perhaps the real question is what part of the experience is the problem, is it the order process and notification of progress that is frustrating people, or is it the time taken between placing the order and it being delivered?

I've ordered various things, ranging from battery chargers, USB memory sticks, 11' umbrella covers, from Amazon, Dell, Costco, and others. I have had full processing and ordering information, tracking numbers from some, and for others, I've had the order accepted email, and then nothing, the product shows up at my door and two days later I get the full order history, tracking number et al.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Sharkus

I'll admit that Kobo could probably do somewhat better with the tracking system. I'm fairly sure that we don't ship out the devices ourselves, have a feeling Ingram is used to do the distribution, and it's possible that there may need to be some tightening up between our system and theirs to display things properly, get confirmation emails and such. It's not my area of expertise so I cannot really comment on it.

I think it's a little unfair to compare shipping something from Kobo with Amazon. I'd take a guess that Kobo's distribution is a little bit smaller than that of Amazon. It's possible this is because we only ship devices and accessories, whereas Amazon ships pretty much everything, up-to and including the kitchen sink, and therefore they have a very large existing infrastructure to deal with things, I believe they have many distribution facilities in the US and no doubt other countries too. I'm not sure on the size of our distribution setup, but it will probably be far smaller than Amazon.

Perhaps the real question is what part of the experience is the problem, is it the order process and notification of progress that is frustrating people, or is it the time taken between placing the order and it being delivered?

Quoting my post from the Kobo bad customer service thread:

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Just received my Aura HD (Los Angeles, CA). No wonder Kobo's customer service reps had no idea about order status. Packing slip on mine said it shipped directly from Ingram Micro which is an electronics wholesale/distributor. That said, pretty sure Ingram Micro provides Kobo with order info so Kobo should still develop a way for customers to easily track orders online.

I think it's really just the order notification and tracking system that needs to be set-up. I personally don't mind if an item doesn't ship quickly as long as there's an easy way for me to check the order status.

[david_e]

To fill in the blanks...

Mine arrived on Monday, April 29
Espresso, no cover, shipped from Kobo in Mississauga, sent to Las Vegas, NV