Free Kobo eBook

[taming]

I have no idea if they only went back a certain amount of time or if the email is rolling out slowly etc. The note, which seems to indicate that they are sending this to people who had recent problematic indcidents, is as follows:

We know that you've had difficulty over the last few weeks getting answers from Kobo in a timely manner and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.

At Kobo, we've seen incredible growth in the last year. To support this growth we have transitioned to a new platform to provide customer service across many countries and languages.

In the future this upgrade will provide enhanced customer care, however the initial implementation led to operational challenges which resulted in longer response times for some of our customers - not at all what we intended.

We want to thank you for your patience over the last several weeks and offer a token of our appreciation to you.

Please use the discount code above to download a FREE eBook on us.

We hope that you'll enjoy it and continue to discover the world of eReading with Kobo.

[robko]

Originally Posted by Lordvic

too bad i dont actually have a kobo device anymore to take advantage of this.

If you get a code you could always download the e-pub file, so not having a Kobo anymore doesn't automatically disqualify you from getting a benefit from this.

[anonymoose]

I picked the Martha Wells book because I already own Dime Store Magic and Kitchen Confidential (both great, btw).

[jb1]

I got this email as well, I assume, due to my recent troubles with kobo. I was pretty excited about it at first and thought it was a great way to "apologize" for their bad customer service. Well, what I can tell you is that your code is probably not invalid and I don't think anyone used your free ebook. If you read your email carefully, the offer is limited to a select number of books (24 to be exact). There is a link to click on to see what books they are offering. You can't just pick any book you actually want to read. That would make more sense, of course. So it really isn't much of an offer. Which is really too bad and definitely not a step in the right direction.

[robko]

While the intent was good, the implementation could have been better. I read the e-mail and was excited and carried on browsing for a while and fortunately saw it mention that it was only on certain books before I went to use it. I had totally missed that "fine print". Had I not see somebody mention it, I would have tried the code on some books I wanted and been frustrated when it came up as invalid. All it would have taken would have been a mention that it was on select books in the body of the e-mail to avoid confusion. Fortunately "Matterhorn" looks interesting so all wasn't lost.

[Suzanna]

Originally Posted by robko

While the intent was good, the implementation could have been better. I read the e-mail and was excited and carried on browsing for a while and fortunately saw it mention that it was only on certain books before I went to use it. I had totally missed that "fine print". Had I not see somebody mention it, I would have tried the code on some books I wanted and been frustrated when it came up as invalid. All it would have taken would have been a mention that it was on select books in the body of the e-mail to avoid confusion. Fortunately "Matterhorn" looks interesting so all wasn't lost.

I thought Kobo was very clear. Right under the code and expiry date, the link to the Kobo site says, "Get your free eBook from this exclusive list." It's at the top right of the page, right under the picture. That hardly qualifies as "fine print". If you look at the code and expiry date, I'm not sure how you could miss it.

[robko]

That's why I put "fine print" in quotes. Yes, it was obvious -- if you happened to look in the right spot. I hadn't bothered reading that side of the page because I figured it was just an advertising link. Not a big deal, but if you're going to do this, why not just add a couple of words in body so you can't miss it.

[moolyn]

Originally Posted by robko

While the intent was good, the implementation could have been better. I read the e-mail and was excited and carried on browsing for a while and fortunately saw it mention that it was only on certain books before I went to use it. I had totally missed that "fine print". Had I not see somebody mention it, I would have tried the code on some books I wanted and been frustrated when it came up as invalid. All it would have taken would have been a mention that it was on select books in the body of the e-mail to avoid confusion. Fortunately "Matterhorn" looks interesting so all wasn't lost.

I tried to use my code with one of the available books, Matterhorn in fact, and got the response that it had already been redeemed. This was perfectly fair because I posted it to share before it occurred to me that it might have been intended for my use only. The email certainly did not specify this and I expected that other Kobo owners would soon receive the same email.

I agree that it would have been preferable to be able to choose any book and I wouldn't have needed to ask for recommendations had this been the case.

Thanks to yhamm, I did get a free recommended ebook today anyway, just not from Kobo!

[Suzanna]

But it's right beside the code you have to use. I think most people are more likely to read the title, check out the code and expiry date (and therefore see the link to the list of books) than they are to read the entire email. I know I only read the first few lines, realized what it was, and followed the link to the site.

[taming]

I am finding some of the posting about this offer really odd. Everyone knows Kobo had huge deficiencies in Customer Care. Mark Stevens, the VP for this area, posted in a very public way on the Kobo blog apologizing for the problems and promising improvements, which, from what I can tell (and I am not alone in this) have already been substantive. Then the company identifies people who have recently had these problems, sends an email in which Kobo once more apologizes, and then offers a free book from a specific list of books.

Now, because some of the people who were given a code to redeem the free book didn't bother to actually read the entire email or didn't like how the email was constructed, or where the details of the offer were placed within the email, they are complaining about this, too? Really?