Buy from Kobo in the US?

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Look I don’t know how many ways I need to spell this out to you.

You whining and demanding kobo ship things to you in a certain way isn’t going to get anything done. The “I’ll look into it” is not an agreement to do anything you’ve asked it’s how CS get irate customers off the phone without being rude. You can basically consider it “Nothing is going to change, but you’re being too childish to understand that”.

I don't know why you're fixated on this because it was not a demand I made until after Kobo had repeatedly screwed up: the first RMA, the second RMA shipping labels, receiving the second RMA unit, requests for information about receiving the second RMA unit. And even then I cut them a day's slack when they screwed up again and didn't ship 11 Sep.

Regardless, of course he was blowing me off when he said that. I knew nothing was going to change. But by that point I was fully expecting to need to go to my credit card company to get them to issue a chargeback. That would have required me to exhaust my options with the merchant first. So I did.

Barring shipping times your whole ordeal took a rather short amount, I’m subtracting two weeks for shipping the original to kobo them shipping the wrong one and so on which doesn’t account for the fact that ground shipping doesn’t do squat on weekends, my Forma literally sat in the same UPS facility from some time on Friday until Monday for example. So if anything 2 weeks is being generous to you. The reason I’m not counting the shipping times is because there’s nothing Kobo can do while the devices are in transit.

Those shipping times should never have been a thing at all. A competent company wouldn't have screwed up at nearly every turn like Kobo did. And like I wrote previously, competence has nothing to do with head count.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by ratinox

I don't know why you're fixated on this because it was not a demand I made until after Kobo had repeatedly screwed up: the first RMA, the second RMA shipping labels, receiving the second RMA unit, requests for information about receiving the second RMA unit. And even then I cut them a day's slack when they screwed up again and didn't ship 11 Sep.

Because it’s one of the issues you want to harp on with claims that CS managers can bend systems to suit customers outbursts. You’ll notice I haven’t said Kobo didn’t screw up.

Those shipping times should never have been a thing at all. A competent company wouldn't have screwed up at nearly every turn like Kobo did. And like I wrote previously, competence has nothing to do with head count.

Yes because no company ever makes mistakes even with competent staff. To err is human except when you’re on the clock I guess?

The actual delay between things within Kobos control, which is part of the point of addressing the amount of time consumed by shipping, is fairly small. I’d be willing to bet most if not all of it would have happened in the same time frame even if you hadn’t been so persistent in calling and emailing. Note I said most not all and again I’m not saying Kobo didn’t mess up but you clearly still have a chip on your shoulder over the issue to the point you initially held a customs delay against Kobo and whined about the three day free shipping.

I’d also point out your case is obviously an exception not a rule save for the weird disconnects of communication within kobo. Most returns take a lot less time.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Because it’s one of the issues you want to harp on with claims that CS managers can bend systems to suit customers outbursts. You’ll notice I haven’t said Kobo didn’t screw up.

And you'll note that I never realistically expected them to do so.

The actual delay between things within Kobos control, which is part of the point of addressing the amount of time consumed by shipping, is fairly small.

You'll note that I never complained about the shipping times per se and in fact compliemented UPS for being better than median.

I’d be willing to bet most if not all of it would have happened in the same time frame even if you hadn’t been so persistent in calling and emailing.

You'll note that the emails and telephone calls did not start until after the first "system error" in processing the second shipment which Kobo acknowledged as a problem on their end. And then apparently never fixed beause it repeated every time new shipping labels were supposed to be created.

Note I said most not all and again I’m not saying Kobo didn’t mess up but you clearly still have a chip on your shoulder over the issue to the point you initially held a customs delay against Kobo and whined about the three day free shipping.

You'll note I never held the customs delays against Kobo or UPS. I noted them because they exist (vis-a-vis Walmart not needing to do that) but I never complained about it.

The chip is about this whole thing taking over a month to be resolved due to incompetence, negligence and poor communications across multiple levels and across multiple departments at Kobo customer "care". This was not the result of one person's mistake. One person's mistake would have been resolved within the first week of September. No, this is the result of systemic failues across the entire organization.

It shouldn't have taken that long. You're right. The fact that it did means there are still serious problems at Kobo, problems that prospective customers should be aware of before they click the "buy" button.

[MGlitch]

You sure seemed to expect them to for several of your posts, somewhat foolish to demand a thing you claim you know they can't deliver.

Yes the phone calls and emails you gave them less than 24hrs to respond to, and seem to have expected a reply between business hours, and then went on to act to them as childish in making a demand you now claim you knew they couldn't deliver on. Followed up virtually every day by emails and calls by you which no doubt only made more of a mess. Here's a tip, when talking with a company use the same method of contact, yes every company says you can use whatever mix that's because "ease of contact" became a big thing with the internet exploding. Better yet stick with the one you find the most effective, in this case calling seems to be it. In my experience calling is generally the way to go. Though on occasion internet chat has worked as effectively.

You were complaining about Kobo specifically and mentioned the customs thing. And you only "praise" UPS's speed in the sense that you live near two major distribution hubs. Rather odd or bold to call this praise, I rather doubt UPS had you in mind when they picked those locations, nor do I suspect you had them in mind when choosing where to live, whichever came first.

Actually only one of all your issues can be definitively traced to a human error, you getting the 8gb not the 32gb. All the other delays are likely in how they process device intakes, as mentioned since you had effectively multiple returns (not blaming you) each one needs to get processed. As there are forces outside of Kobo's control that affect this, when UPS drops it off to them, the number of things getting dropped off, etc. it's not fully fair to lay it all at their feet.

For example if it gets delivered on Friday at 5pm, chances are no one is touching it until Monday.

I'd also like to re-emphasize that your case seems to be an exception, yes return issues pop up here but nothing on the scale of yours. Which would seem to indicate its not quite as serious an issue as you want to make it out to be.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

What a shock a larger company within the US got an item to one of its stores faster than a smaller company in another country got an item to your door.

It’s almost as if Walmart had some sort of massive infrastructure for facilitating shipments to their stores.

I ordered on the 21, 7 days later using ground shipping I had my Forma. Two of those days being the weekend which I hardly hold against Kobo since it’s UPSs call on how they handle weekends.

Please explain though how your defense of Kobo, valid or not, makes them a better partner than Walmart when it comes to someone in the US ordering a Kobo device?

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Please explain though how your defense of Kobo, valid or not, makes them a better partner than Walmart when it comes to someone in the US ordering a Kobo device?

It was more that ratinox wanted to present the idea that their experience was the only possible one. They’d shared their experience already I presented mine without quoting or directly challenging theirs. They then quoted me and challenged my experience superimposing their own.

For what it’s worth I ordered from Kobo and got it in a week from the date of order. Is there quicker sure. But the question from Calenorn excluded Walmart as an option.

I presume they are intelligent and have their reasons. Which to me means suggesting Walmart would require a rather significant reason why they are better. A day or two more shipping hardly qualifies. And as to defective units despite this forum they’re most likely a statistical minority. Meaning returns are a smaller concern.

I don’t question why someone doesn’t like a mega corporation like Walmart there are plenty of reasons why someone wouldn’t want to give them money.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Which to me means suggesting Walmart would require a rather significant reason why they are better. A day or two more shipping hardly qualifies. And as to defective units despite this forum they’re most likely a statistical minority. Meaning returns are a smaller concern.

I agree, but otoh, if all else is equal, why not get that marginal additional benefit? But I also agree, that since all else isn't equal, because:

I don’t question why someone doesn’t like a mega corporation like Walmart there are plenty of reasons why someone wouldn’t want to give them money.

there's still no case to be made for ordering from Kobo. Chapters is cheaper on a device coming from Canada.

Anecdote time: The three Kobos listed under my devices all came from Chapters in five or six days (depending on the weekend) after I placed the order. At that time, there were significant lags on Kobo shipping and I'm glad to hear that's been addressed. But bottom line, Chapters is cheaper!

[petercreasey]

A compelling factor in favor of Walmart is their policy of starting the due diligence time (30 days) on 12/26.

[4691mls]

Bumping this to note that in the Deals forum there is discussion of Kobos for sale at Amazon. This may be another option for some potential buyers.