MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Be Careful buying Gift Cards on Sony Reader Store

KevinH · 11-16-2010, 02:37 PM

Hi,

Warning, be careful with buying Gift Cards on the Sony Reader site. My wife wanted to give me ebooks for Xmas and since I have a Sony PRS-600 I chose the Sony Reader Bookstore (my big mistake) to get a Gift Card from.

First off, you have to have the Reader Software installed to buy a gift card for someone. My wife only likes real paper books, and so thought it was silly to have to install the software just to buy me a gift card. So we used my machine which already has the Sony Reader software.

I added in all of the billing info, and a nice message of Merry Xmas from my wife and checked out with only one $50 gift card in my basket. I am thinking that was easy and painless. I few minutes later I got confirmation e-mails and everything looked great. Then another minute later I received another set of confirmation e-mails. So I thought e-mail glitch, but when I looked there were two different order numbers and two different gift card numbers! It seems my $50 purchase had somehow become a $100 purchase without my consent.

So I call up Sony to get one of the gift cards cancelled and a refund. How hard could that be?

Here is what I experienced:

Called the first time and was disconnected or hung up on after only a few minutes? The connection is simply not good. So I called again. Entered my phone number into the automated system again, and waited for a human to pick up.

I explain I only checked out once with one $50 gift card in my basket but seem to have been charged for two. Talked to Henry. Had a hard time understanding him because the phone line connection is again not good (and yes I am on a land line and yes I never have connection or noise problems with it) and he speaks with an accent. He immediately asks me for my phone number which I just gave to the automated machine. I explain I just gave it to the automated system who said they "looked my file up". He explains he still needs the phone number so I gave it again.

He tells me I am not part of their system. I explain once again that I just bought a gift card on the Sony Reader Store via my Reader software, so I do have an account. He goes an looks on another store IT system and finally finds me!

I again asked them to cancel one of those gift cards since I only checked out with one. I was put on hold a very very long time while they tried to figure out how to do that.

Henry comes back to me and explains that they are trying but they may have to cancel/hold both until a credit for one of them can appear on my account.

I said "no" that is not acceptable.

Again, another long wait on hold.

Henry comes back and now they are telling me I must redeem one of the gift cards immediately!!!

I can't believe it!

I told them in no uncertain terms that I am not going to redeem one of those gift cards immediately.

I explain that this whole problem is their fault and that this is very very poor customer service to try to force me to redeem an entire gift card just after it was bought just to cancel the second card I NEVER ordered.

I tell them to just cancel one of the damn gift cards and give me a credit on my credit card in a very loud and clear voice and I add that I simply can not believe that this is something that hard to do!

Again a delay while they figure out things on their end.

They refuse to cancel one and say I must pick one to cancel. I said I don't care which one, just cancel one. They refused and said again I must choose one.

What the hell.. so I picked the one gift card to cancel.

Then Henry says they could not cancel it. I ask why?

And they explain the order number is not sufficient and that they need the gift card number.

Why they did not ask for the gift card number in advance if they needed it was completely beyond me!

So I gave them the Gift Card number quite loudly I might add because the phone line is fading in and out and I can barely hear him most of the time and because my frustration level with what should be a simple task for them is mounting!

At this point I get admonished by Henry for using a loud voice when half the time I can barely hear him and the other half I am trying to figure out exactly what he is saying.

I wait yet again and finally get a Refund confirmation number (but no e-mail has come to confirm anything). So I am keeping my fingers crossed but I am certainly not holding my breath.

All I wanted to do was buy a gift card for myself since my wife could not easily do it. Total elapsed time to buy a single gift card and fight with their customer service - over 1 hour of my day gone.

Why on earth this was such a hard thing to do is beyond me? Why on earth they hire people that are hard to understand for "Customer Service" is again beyond me? Why they would require installing the Sony Reader Software just to buy a gift card is again beyond me?

If you are brave enough to try the same thing I hope your experience is better than mine.

11-16-2010, 02:37 PM	#1
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,807 Karma: 6000000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	Be Careful buying Gift Cards on Sony Reader Store Hi, Warning, be careful with buying Gift Cards on the Sony Reader site. My wife wanted to give me ebooks for Xmas and since I have a Sony PRS-600 I chose the Sony Reader Bookstore (my big mistake) to get a Gift Card from. First off, you have to have the Reader Software installed to buy a gift card for someone. My wife only likes real paper books, and so thought it was silly to have to install the software just to buy me a gift card. So we used my machine which already has the Sony Reader software. I added in all of the billing info, and a nice message of Merry Xmas from my wife and checked out with only one $50 gift card in my basket. I am thinking that was easy and painless. I few minutes later I got confirmation e-mails and everything looked great. Then another minute later I received another set of confirmation e-mails. So I thought e-mail glitch, but when I looked there were two different order numbers and two different gift card numbers! It seems my $50 purchase had somehow become a $100 purchase without my consent. So I call up Sony to get one of the gift cards cancelled and a refund. How hard could that be? Here is what I experienced: Called the first time and was disconnected or hung up on after only a few minutes? The connection is simply not good. So I called again. Entered my phone number into the automated system again, and waited for a human to pick up. I explain I only checked out once with one $50 gift card in my basket but seem to have been charged for two. Talked to Henry. Had a hard time understanding him because the phone line connection is again not good (and yes I am on a land line and yes I never have connection or noise problems with it) and he speaks with an accent. He immediately asks me for my phone number which I just gave to the automated machine. I explain I just gave it to the automated system who said they "looked my file up". He explains he still needs the phone number so I gave it again. He tells me I am not part of their system. I explain once again that I just bought a gift card on the Sony Reader Store via my Reader software, so I do have an account. He goes an looks on another store IT system and finally finds me! I again asked them to cancel one of those gift cards since I only checked out with one. I was put on hold a very very long time while they tried to figure out how to do that. Henry comes back to me and explains that they are trying but they may have to cancel/hold both until a credit for one of them can appear on my account. I said "no" that is not acceptable. Again, another long wait on hold. Henry comes back and now they are telling me I must redeem one of the gift cards immediately!!! I can't believe it! I told them in no uncertain terms that I am not going to redeem one of those gift cards immediately. I explain that this whole problem is their fault and that this is very very poor customer service to try to force me to redeem an entire gift card just after it was bought just to cancel the second card I NEVER ordered. I tell them to just cancel one of the damn gift cards and give me a credit on my credit card in a very loud and clear voice and I add that I simply can not believe that this is something that hard to do! Again a delay while they figure out things on their end. They refuse to cancel one and say I must pick one to cancel. I said I don't care which one, just cancel one. They refused and said again I must choose one. What the hell.. so I picked the one gift card to cancel. Then Henry says they could not cancel it. I ask why? And they explain the order number is not sufficient and that they need the gift card number. Why they did not ask for the gift card number in advance if they needed it was completely beyond me! So I gave them the Gift Card number quite loudly I might add because the phone line is fading in and out and I can barely hear him most of the time and because my frustration level with what should be a simple task for them is mounting! At this point I get admonished by Henry for using a loud voice when half the time I can barely hear him and the other half I am trying to figure out exactly what he is saying. I wait yet again and finally get a Refund confirmation number (but no e-mail has come to confirm anything). So I am keeping my fingers crossed but I am certainly not holding my breath. All I wanted to do was buy a gift card for myself since my wife could not easily do it. Total elapsed time to buy a single gift card and fight with their customer service - over 1 hour of my day gone. Why on earth this was such a hard thing to do is beyond me? Why on earth they hire people that are hard to understand for "Customer Service" is again beyond me? Why they would require installing the Sony Reader Software just to buy a gift card is again beyond me? If you are brave enough to try the same thing I hope your experience is better than mine.