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Old 05-25-2012, 04:53 AM   #1
mgmueller
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Location: Augsburg (near Munich), Germany
Device: 26 Readers, 44 Tablets
Thumbs down No refund for book with crippled cover

I've bought a collection of eBooks (3 titles bundled into a single eBook) from Umberto Eco for € 38 via Kobo.
The cover is crippled. You only see about half of the author's name, the rest is missing entirely. I've added a snapshot.

It may not be a biggy to many of you. But personally, I buy my eBooks (instead of illegally downloading them for free) mainly to avoid such in-aesthetics/flaws. And I'm really annoyed, if the quality of legally bought titles (and € 38 for 3 eBooks isn't a bargain price) is that low.
I've asked Kobo to fix it or give me a refund, directly after downloading the book for the very first time.
Their response (after 9 days when sending a reminder):
"...You are correct...
...the publisher has provided us with a file that does not show the entire cover...
When you purchased the book...it also shows that the cover was not complete...
Unfortunately, Kobo cannot provide a refund unless there is something wrong with the eBook...
So while it may not be aesthetically pleasing to look at the content is fine..."

Honestly, I find this ridiculous and certainly won't purchase from Kobo anymore (so far, I've bought about 180 eBooks in 10 months from them).

In my opinion, a crippled cover definitely means "there is something wrong with the eBook".
And in my opinion, it should be up to me (the buyer, not the vendor) to decide, whether quality is acceptable or not.

It's true: When buying the book, the description page did show the very same crippled cover.
But I simply didn't expect to get the same in the eBook. I've thought it a download error in the website.
And I find the argument "...yeah, it's bad but you should have seen it coming..." not very clever and valid or comforting.

I have to say: The more I shop from various vendors, the more I love Amazon. I only returned an eBook once with them (lots of formatting errors). But then it simply was "money back, no questions asked". In addition, Amazon has been speedy in their response (it took Kobo 9 days to come back to me only after a second reminder mail) and friendly ("we're very sorry about OUR mistake")...

EDIT:
2 customer care people from Kobo joined the discussion. They fixed the cover, it's fine now.
And of course I'll keep buying from Kobo.
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Last edited by mgmueller; 05-25-2012 at 10:07 PM.
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