Fed-Ex email anyone?

[greyparrot]

They seem to be answering some emails but not others, I wonder what criteria they use in deciding which to answer. I've emailed them 3 times asking about my order and they haven't answered any of them. I see they told 'peterbrian' he should receive order 739X on Friday or Monday, well my order is 71XX and I haven't received any information and now (1:25 EDT) it's after closing time in Paris so nothing will be happening until Monday. If they can't ship until next year then tell me, I'd be much happier then I am now, not knowing. I understand they are out of covers, and since I've missed Christmas it would be fine with me if they wait until they have the covers and ship complete, but tell me thats when it will ship. I am very unhappy with their support.

[Paulius]

They're a very stupid company. They should post this kind of stuff to blogs, or a mailing list. Can you imagine that we, the customers, have to rely on a third-party forum and read other people's posts to see what's up with our order. I've seen WAAAAY better service when buying some $10 electronic piece of crud, and we're talking here about an expensive product.

But hey, this is what happens when there's no competition. Cybook is the only "small-ish" eBook company out there.

I have an order number of 75xx and I really hope that they would ship it soon.

Let's hope that my reader won't fail or have any problems. I can't imagine what kind of disaster it would be dealing with such a company for warranty.

[Brad]

At this point I'm willing to cut them some slack. The holiday's makes delivery problematic for people who are away from home on Christmas and cannot sign for the package. I know I'll be home only part of the time and really cannot be stuck waiting for the FedEx truck. So maybe they are waiting so that delivery takes place right after Christmas? That might make some sense.

[peterbrian]

Originally Posted by greyparrot

They seem to be answering some emails but not others, I wonder what criteria they use in deciding which to answer. I've emailed them 3 times asking about my order and they haven't answered any of them. I see they told 'peterbrian' he should receive order 739X on Friday or Monday, well my order is 71XX and I haven't received any information and now (1:25 EDT) it's after closing time in Paris so nothing will be happening until Monday. If they can't ship until next year then tell me, I'd be much happier then I am now, not knowing. I understand they are out of covers, and since I've missed Christmas it would be fine with me if they wait until they have the covers and ship complete, but tell me thats when it will ship. I am very unhappy with their support.

Can you tell me how you heard about Bookeen being out of covers ? I have an extra cover on my order and hope this won't cause more delay. Incidentally, the time stamps on some of our emails from Bookeen suggest that they are working all night !

[Paulius]

Can you tell me how you heard about Bookeen being out of covers ? I have an extra cover on my order and hope this won't cause more delay.

If you have been following this (and other) thread(s), you'll see that as the orders progressed, people started receiving black covers from another manufacturer. According to an email sent to one of the posters, they're out of stock of their brown magnetic ones, and Bookeen thought that people wouldn't mind a black one because it's $10 more expensive. Then, on the last orders, instead of receiving covers, people started receiving notes instead of the covers saying that they're out of stock and will be back in January.

Incidentally, the time stamps on some of our emails from Bookeen suggest that they are working all night !

I think that it's a mere timezone issue. Bookeen is in France, and in the forums here we have people from all over the world.

[greyparrot]

I read, on a thread in this forum, that some people did not get a cover, but got a note with their Cybook that said the cover will be shipped in January. I don't remember if it was in 'Fed-Ex email anyone?' or another one, but it was on this forum during the past week.

[greyparrot]

Originally Posted by Paulius

They're a very stupid company. They should post this kind of stuff to blogs, or a mailing list. Can you imagine that we, the customers, have to rely on a third-party forum and read other people's posts to see what's up with our order. I've seen WAAAAY better service when buying some $10 electronic piece of crud, and we're talking here about an expensive product.

Other companies that either have their own forum, or a third-party forum exists, have one of their employees participate in the forum and answer questions and relay customer concerns back to the company.

[Paulius]

Other companies that either have their own forum, or a third-party forum exists, have one of their employees participate in the forum and answer questions and relay customer concerns back to the company.

The point that I was trying to make it how far we as customers have to go for getting information on our orders. If they would acknowledge a third-party forum as being an "official mean of support and/or information" I would absolutely root for it. (Although, that's almost never likely to happen. Companies want to have control over their own stuff).

[tompe]

They have their blog. It is strange that they do not use it to write one entry per day or so just telling that status of things.

[dcalder]

Originally Posted by peterbrian

Incidentally, the time stamps on some of our emails from Bookeen suggest that they are working all night !

Honestly? They should be working all night. And all weekend, for that matter. Yes, I understand that the late arrival of the latest shipment of Cybooks was undoubtedly beyond their control, but they originally made a commitment to ship them out between the 14th and 18th. They made an additional commitment to a number of buyers via email, stating that their orders would be shipping Thursday (the 20th), now that the stock has arrived. Therefore, they should be working 'round the clock to honour that commitment. That's just good business. Especially for a small business. Right now, I'm sure there's more folks than just me thinking that, if only they'd ordered a Sony PRS-505 from a store that had it in stock, they'd have had it by now... Small companies need to work harder to keep their customers happy because every customer counts to a much greater extent than in the case of a big company like Sony.

Also, holidays coming or not, they should be shipping them out. Having someone available to receive the shipment - or making arrangements to pick it up from Fedex's offices - is the responsibility of the buyer. Holding off on shipment so that it would arrive after Christmas should (and, hopefully, would) only happen at the request of a buyer; it should absolutely not happen by their own decision.

I have to say that I'm rather dissatisfied with my experience as a Bookeen customer at this point, and well on my way to being extremely dissatisfied. I'll probably be shopping for an ebook reader for my mother at some point between now and Mother's Day, and the Cybook is going to have to be pretty darn impressive to make me consider buying another Bookeen product. Even if I could, theoretically, avoid some of the headache by ordering through NAEB, the fact remains that Bookeen's disorganization and poor customer relations is inevitably going to directly and negatively impact NAEB's reliability as well.

[delphidb96]

DCalder,

Please, give us a look again... I'm not saying that all the gripes and problems will be 'solved' but I believe that by the time you're ready to order for Mother's Day (delivery by) the Cybook will have been 'rectified'.

Yes, I realize that I can't promise Bookeen will clear up every(any)thing, but I believe once they get past the 'hump' of getting these first big orders out during this season, support and tech will improve.

Derek

[peterbrian]

Still no reply from Bookeen on when my order (739X) is going to ship, now that they've missed their promised date of last Thursday. Have sent emails to all 4 Bookeen email adresses I now know about: shop, contact, support and orders@bookeen.com, with no luck.

Has anyone else had an email since Thursday, or has the Grinch kidnapped their whole company ? I feel like I'm beating a deadhorse. I'd like to hear that someone who's Cybook was in the planeload that arrived Wednesday night has had some positive news.

I wonder if Bookeen are working this weekend ? And how long a Christmas break they might be taking ?

[Brad]

Delivered!

FedEx knocked on my door this morning and delivered my new Cybook. I never did get an email notification but this is so much better. The lesson is that Bookeen is indeed shipping units!

It is charging right now and I cannot wait to try it.

I ordered the deluxe package and my order included the brown leather cover. The only part missing was the extra battery which Bookeen says they will ship ASAP when they become available.

My order # was 70XX. Be on the lookout for the FedEx truck.

Thank you to Bookeen.

[peterbrian]

Originally Posted by Brad

Delivered!

FedEx knocked on my door this morning and delivered my new Cybook. I never did get an email notification but this is so much better. The lesson is that Bookeen is indeed shipping units!

What great news. What part of the world do you live in ? I'm on an island on the west coast of Canada, so mine might take a little longer ! But it's great to hear they're shipping. Enjoy your Cybook.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by peterbrian

What great news. What part of the world do you live in ? I'm on an island on the west coast of Canada, so mine might take a little longer ! But it's great to hear they're shipping. Enjoy your Cybook.

It is helpful to everyone if people add their location to the description of them.

Dale