Well, as expected Waterstones quoted the t&cs, which as other readers have pointed out are clear. However, I want to know why the t&cs were as they were, so I asked
Quote:
Dear [xxx],
Many thanks for you your response.
Could I please ask why eBooks are excluded from such promotions? eBooks remain consistently overpriced at waterstones.com relative to their paperback counterparts, I am starting to think that Waterstones are pushing the Sony eReader inappropriately hard given the poor offering following a hardware sale.
All the books I have purchased since buying my reader have been expensive compared to the same paperbacks in the Waterstones outlet in [xxx], and on each occasion I have had to contact customer services to get my points attributed to my card.
I look forward to your response, which I will share on mobileread.com. A growing number of UK consumers are starting to feel very short changed by your attitude to the eBook market, You seem very happy to sell the high margin readers, but very reluctant to price content sensibly.
Best regards
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And of course, I got the familiar, scripted, cut and paste response...
Quote:
Dear [xxx],
Thank you for your email.
I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the price difference between
ebooks and other formats online.
There are a number of reasons why the prices are different online but as
this is an exclusive product prices may vary, I would like to inform you
that in the future there will be reductions and promotions as the item
becomes more popular.
I do apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards
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Given they send it out so often, it would be nice if they made the third paragraph logical (why should prices vary as a consequence of exclusivity) or even grammatically correct (prices <> the item).
And I know all about using Fictionwise (and I've used it), but my reader is a British reader, bought in a British shop, and I am going to continue to harass the British distributor to start pricing eBooks fairly. Feel free to join in