Beware! No returns/refunds on Nook Books!!!!

[taustin]

Originally Posted by ApK

There is no question that there is abuse of the return policy because there is ALWAYS abuse of ANY return policy.

Based on my 30+ years of experience in retail, most of it at a corporate level, I disagree.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by xendula

I can only answer for myself: because I want to support authors. If they stop writing, it's my loss. I love to read too much for this to happen.

Then you are, by definition, not someone who will buy a book, read it, then return it for a refund, eh?

[jhempel24]

I ran into this no refund policy as well when trying to return an indie book by a MR member. VERY poor formatting. It took a couple days, but I got the refund and I believe B&N contacted the author (as well as me, who claimed that it was my problem not his). About 3 months later a new version with an "eBook formatting certification" symbol on the cover...I'd never seen or heard of that before, I figure people actually did start complaining when buying his books.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by taustin

Based on my 30+ years of experience in retail, most of it at a corporate level, I disagree.

Bah. A clear example of management's disconnect with the reality of operations. Should have spent more time behind the counter dealing with the returns.


http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=...live&sp_id=600
"The unethical practice of “wardrobing,” the return of non-defective, used merchandise—especially in the apparel and electronics categories—continues to be problematic for retailers. Nearly two-thirds of retailers (64.2%) have seen this type of merchandise returned in the past year – down from 66.1 percent last year, but up from 2006 levels (56.0%)."

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...10109/abstract
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=6...1#.ULYTFqxlF2I

[xendula]

Originally Posted by taustin

Then you are, by definition, not someone who will buy a book, read it, then return it for a refund, eh?

Of course not. I have accidentally purchased a book instead of sending a sample maybe twice, and hit the refund button within seconds. The only time that I returned any book (p or e, in my entire life) that I had started to read, was where the sample seemed to go in another direction. I bought the entire trilogy and was close to puking by the second or third chapter. That was the Fifty Shades trilogy. I did not realize there was so much sadism in it, and feel there should have been a clear warning in the book description.

I guess I am a customer rights advocate: why should I not have the same return policy for an e-book that I have for a p-book? I sure enough pay around the same price for an ebook.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by xendula

I guess I am a customer rights advocate: why should I not have the same return policy for an e-book that I have for a p-book? I sure enough pay around the same price for an ebook.

The answer is: you might not have the same rights because they are different things and different factors might go into the calculation of a policy.
Should you have the same rights of return as a meal? Can you eat it then return it?

Returning a book requires some effort on your part. That effort--driving to the store, packing a box, whatever--is some small deterrent of abuse. That is calculated in the policy. To return an eBook, you might need only click a button. The ease makes it more subject to abuse and policies may need to be adjusted accordingly.

[david8866]

Originally Posted by xendula

I can only answer for myself: because I want to support authors. If they stop writing, it's my loss. I love to read too much for this to happen.

Oh, what I tried to say was - People want to cheat, they can just download from where else. I doubt many want to cheat Amazon (buy and refund, use Amazon as a library), and risk to be banned by Amazon.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by ApK

The answer is: you might not have the same rights because they are different things and different factors might go into the calculation of a policy.
Should you have the same rights of return as a meal? Can you eat it then return it?

Returning a book requires some effort on your part. That effort--driving to the store, packing a box, whatever--is some small deterrent of abuse. That is calculated in the policy. To return an eBook, you might need only click a button. The ease makes it more subject to abuse and policies may need to be adjusted accordingly.

The meal analogy does no hold, for obvious reasons. And there is another perspective you can see it in: you could purchase, read and return paper books with cash, never leaving any trail of what you are doing, which, arguably, would make it easier for cash paper book purchasers to abuse the system than it is for someone whose name, address and credit card information is on file.

I guess the argument of treating ebooks differently than paper books in terms of returns/resale/pricing is as old as ebooks themselves, but I always enjoy a friendly debate.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by david8866

Oh, what I tried to say was - People want to cheat, they can just download from where else. I doubt many want to cheat Amazon (buy and refund, use Amazon as a library), and risk to be banned by Amazon.

Ooh, gotcha, and I agree!

[taustin]

Originally Posted by ApK

Bah. A clear example of management's disconnect with the reality of operations. Should have spent more time behind the counter dealing with the returns.

I spent plenty of years running stores. My current employer is one of the most profitable in the franchise, and is studies for developing corporate best practices.

I know what I'm talking about.

You appear not to. And you're resorting to namecalling to try to BS your way around it.

You can argue with reality till you're blue in the fact, and reality still won't care.

All retailers have to be careful, and certainly there are plenty of attempts to rip them off. But your claim that all return policies will always be abused is silly and childish.

[Sir-Read-Alot]

There is hope my friends! I just bought a popular book that sounded very intriguing. Once it downloaded I opened it up and the dang thing was a Novella! Only 215 Pages. But they charged full pop for it. That does not work for me. After researching online I was pretty discouraged by everyone saying "No Returns whatsoever" I called 800-843-2665, politely described the situation and got a FULL REFUND. I did mention that their PR is suffering online with so many disenfranchised customers. Here's the email confirmation they sent:


Dear MichaelXXXX,

A refund has been processed for the item below. Credit has been issued in the amount of $7.99 to the original form of payment that you provided. If your method of payment was a credit card, that amount will be reflected on a future credit card billing statement.

The following item was refunded:
Product Description Quantity
The Bleiberg Project 1

* Please note your refund amount may reflect a partial credit.


This amount $7.99 will be refunded to your Credit Card.

We appreciate your business and look forward to you visiting us again soon at Barnes & Noble

[geertm]

Unfortunately there are a lot of untrue stories out there about B&N.
The one about ebook returns is one of those.
B&N does ebook returns, but only if there is a good reason. Unlike Amazon you cannot return ebooks "just because".