MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Sony? Great machines -- rotten reader service

neilmarr · 10-12-2009, 05:33 AM

I love my Sony PRS-505 ... just wish the Sony Store and Sony Library and Sony 'help' was 1% as good as the reader itself.

My library has lost the left panel (many here report a similar fault), so I can't drop downloaded books into my reader.

That aside, I thought I'd risk the software flaw when I found that Sony Connect was offering the ebook version of Margaret Atwood's *Year of the Flood* at $9.99 -- a good 60% less than elsewhere where the ebook costs three times as much as the hardback.

Problem one: No longer do I get 'add to basket' when I hit on the chosen book in the store, I get 'do you want this book?' Of course I do. Click that. Then I'm told I need e-Library software, which I already have as a returning customer. I click it anyway, update the software, which takes forever (vital left pannel still absent) and try again ... only to be told -- you guessed it -- 'do you want this book?' ''Download e-Library software'.

So I go to Sony's live-chat help service. After some minutes, an adviser called Lindsay asks me to wait while my question is 'escalated' to another adviser. Ten minutes later: He calls himself Douglas and he tells me 'I am sorry the software isn't working properly. How can I advise you?'

I'd really like to tell my new friend Douglas all about it. Unfortunately, though, the Sony chat-help software isn't working either, so I can't respond.

But why bother anyway? I'd lay odds on the fact that, even if I can fix the problems, Sony will tell me that this particular ebook is not available outside the USA.

I am now about to remove the Sony e-book library from my three computers and never attempt to buy books from Sony ever again. I've just wasted about four hours (which at my hourly rate for work means the time I've just thrown away could pay for this book many, many times over).

My PRS-505 is still the tops for me -- probably the best reader on the market -- but Sony's store, its library software and its shoddy support system outside the USA can do what Kurt Vonnegut suggested about taking a flying f*** at a rolling doughnut, go take a flying f*** at the mooooon ...

Neil

10-12-2009, 05:33 AM	#1
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,216 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	Sony? Great machines -- rotten reader service I love my Sony PRS-505 ... just wish the Sony Store and Sony Library and Sony 'help' was 1% as good as the reader itself. My library has lost the left panel (many here report a similar fault), so I can't drop downloaded books into my reader. That aside, I thought I'd risk the software flaw when I found that Sony Connect was offering the ebook version of Margaret Atwood's Year of the Flood at $9.99 -- a good 60% less than elsewhere where the ebook costs three times as much as the hardback. Problem one: No longer do I get 'add to basket' when I hit on the chosen book in the store, I get 'do you want this book?' Of course I do. Click that. Then I'm told I need e-Library software, which I already have as a returning customer. I click it anyway, update the software, which takes forever (vital left pannel still absent) and try again ... only to be told -- you guessed it -- 'do you want this book?' ''Download e-Library software'. So I go to Sony's live-chat help service. After some minutes, an adviser called Lindsay asks me to wait while my question is 'escalated' to another adviser. Ten minutes later: He calls himself Douglas and he tells me 'I am sorry the software isn't working properly. How can I advise you?' I'd really like to tell my new friend Douglas all about it. Unfortunately, though, the Sony chat-help software isn't working either, so I can't respond. But why bother anyway? I'd lay odds on the fact that, even if I can fix the problems, Sony will tell me that this particular ebook is not available outside the USA. I am now about to remove the Sony e-book library from my three computers and never attempt to buy books from Sony ever again. I've just wasted about four hours (which at my hourly rate for work means the time I've just thrown away could pay for this book many, many times over). My PRS-505 is still the tops for me -- probably the best reader on the market -- but Sony's store, its library software and its shoddy support system outside the USA can do what Kurt Vonnegut suggested about taking a flying f* at a rolling doughnut, go take a flying f* at the mooooon ... Neil