First some background:
I've had a bad time with my Kobos. My hubby sat on my aura, I had a chapter of a book I bought show up as white ink on white background, and I was suckered by a scam book. Kobo handled all these issues wonderfully and fixed or explained all my issues.
I have been in what feels like constant contact with Kobo this week as a new issue seems to be attacking my poor account every day. Several people seem to be having some of my issues and all these threads have a date close to 9/28/13. So I am going to list my saga in the hopes that maybe we can figure out a solution, or at least see if others can state if they are having any problems like me.
Kobo asked me several questions, so I answered in the same Q and A format:
Thank you for contacting Kobo Customer Care. We are glad to help you.
We are sorry to hear that you are having this issue.
We have checked our records and we have found that you have contacted us several time because you were unable to purchase in our website. Also, we have found that you were having issues with your Kobo Touch. However, in order to better assist you please provide us with additional information about the issue you are experiencing so we can assist you in the best possible way:
- What kind of issue do you have with you Kobo touch?
1- The touch will not sync via wifi. When I ask it to, it will say in process for 4+ hours until it finally runs the battery out and asks me to recharge the reader.
2- The ebook Cat Scratch Fever, Jodi Redford, was accessible by the desktop app, but had the 'locked content' error message when attempting to open the book on the touch.
3- Today while the ereader was turned off and NOT connected to a wifi, the book I was reading when I turned the reader off was not in the library AT ALL when I turned the ereader on several hours later.
- Are you having the same issue with your Kobo Aura Hd?
It turns out my Husband had sat on the Aura- not the same issue.
- Do you want to purchase an ebook? What is the ebook's name?
We are talking about several books- at least 5.
This is the one I tried to buy tonight.
The Asylum Interviews: Bronx: An Asylum Tales Short Story
By Jocelynn Drake
- Is there an error message? If so, please copy and paste the error message into your response to this email.
1- This is the error message when I attempt to buy a book via ereader, desktop app, or my internet account.
Sorry, but something went wrong with your purchase. If this problem persists, please contact Kobo Customer Care and provide them with error code [9999].
2- This is the error I get when I try to open my library via my internet account.
Oops!
Something happened and we weren't able to get the requested content. Sorry, please try again. If you continue to receive this notification, please contact our Customer Care department for assistance:
Call 1-855-732-3662 (8am-12am EST)
Email:
help@kobo.com (24 hours)
- Please tell us what led up to the issue. For instance, what was on the screen when the problem happened? How did you get to that point?
Ok. Here is the saga...
The desktop app and the ereader both began having 'syncing' issues. The ereader, as noted, would spin its wheels until the battery was dead. While the desktop app would sync for about 2 - 3 minutes and then say 'sync cancelled' without anyone touching anything.
Soon thereafter, the ebook purchasing issue began. First Cat Scratch Fever, Jodi Redford, was able to be opened on the desktop app, but its contents were 'locked' on the ereader.
Followed by the fact that when I bought a book, I'd receive the first error message. And though my credit card was charged, the books would not appear in either the desktop app or the ereader. If I tried to rebuy the ebook, the 'buy now' button was missing.
This set up the call on 9/30. The Kobo customer care person asked if I could access my library via the internet, tried it and the answer was 'no', this is the second error message. The Kobo person could see all the books with the error message in my library from her side, but they never appeared as mine on my side. She then escalated the buying/syncing issue to Tier 2. The Tier 2 response was to say that they were going to 'remove' the sales from my credit card and remove my account information from my kobo account. They wanted me to enter the information again and then gave me instructions on HOW to buy a book. Tier 2 then closed the ticket. They never addressed the syncing or the library issue.
This brought about the call 10/1 to reopen the ticket. The customer care person, had me try to access my library by firefox rather than internet explorer- same error message. I was then asked to uninstall and reinstall my desktop app- same syncing issue. I was asked to do a basic reinstall using a paperclip for the ereader- same syncing issue. Same buying issue- after entering all my account information again. Also my credit card was still charged and the 'buy now' button was missing when I tried to rebuy the books Tier 2 was going to remove. I was then told that the issue was that even though I have removed or archived almost 400 books, that my library was too large. No answer was given when I asked why Micro SD cards could expand the memory to hold MANY more books than I had. Although I was NOT having this issue while I had 1200 books active in my library. She then told me that the 'locked content' issue would only be solved by me accessing the book through Adobe digital editions- even though the book was purchased directly from kobo. She then said that she was going to close the ticket- even though I was no where near satisfied.
This brings us to 10/2. I was reading an ebook before work on my ereader. Closed and powered the ereader off. Several hours later turned on the ereader, the book had disappeared from my ereader library. Again the ereader was powered off AND was not connected to wifi. Now I tried a factory reinstall for the ereader and another uninstall/reinstall for the desktop app Neither system would install the library- it says that an error has occurred, please try again. This frustrated me to the point of a third phone call. I asked to speak to someone at the Tier 2, Tier 1, Tier A, just someone above the basic level. I was told that they had closed for the night, and was asked if I had answered this email. Here is the answers, please advise.
Having done some checks, we found that you have a large library which consist of free books, previews and your purchased books. based on what we are seeing on your account, we would like you to confirm whether you had requested to have your account merged and also provide us with the email addresses for the accounts.
Another possible cause for your problem may be the existence of one corrupt book in your library. We would like for you to please authorize us to delete all the preview and free books you currently have in your library, in the hopes that this will delete the problem book. If you are able to view your library and download your books after doing so well will re-add your free books in batches and have you check your library as we do so to see whether any of those books are corrupt.
Please let us know whether or not you authorize us to delete the previews and free books from your library
And I have NOT merged any kobo accounts. If you can give me a list of my previews and free books, you may remove them, but ONLY if I can be told which books are being removed or archived.
Thank you