kobobooks.com doesn't give format anymore?

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

My comment:



I don't know if they'll approve it

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Like your comment. I posted something similar, we'll see if it appears.

Did you both leave your comments In this blog post? I don't see any comments here at all.
http://cafe.kobo.com/blog/kobo-ebook...autiful-design

[AnemicOak]

Yes, I commented on the blog. The posts need to be "approved" by the blog admin so who knows if anything will actually show up.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I wanted to buy a book from kobobooks.com today, but the format was not given anywhere on the page, so I didn't want to risk buying it. I looked up a book I bought just a few days ago and see the format there but I can't find a format on anything I search for. I searched for Hugh Howey because I know he's non drm epub, but didn't see the format there either.

Could someone look for this book and let me know if you see a format? I tried both Firefox and IE 10. Book is Mira Grant Feed.

I remember seeing a similar thread a few weeks ago and I searched but couldn't find it. I could see the format at the time, but whoever posted couldn't see it. I hope this isn't their new web page format.

For info here's a copy of what I see:


Feed
By Mira Grant rating of short cover ( 10 customer ratings) Little, Brown Book Group, June 2010 ISBN: 9780748116867 Language: English
Download options: Adobe DRM EPUB
$AUD 11.99

I used the kobobooks.com address .. and I'm in Aus.

My browser if Firefox, whatever the latest software is.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Did you both leave your comments In this blog post? I don't see any comments here at all.
http://cafe.kobo.com/blog/kobo-ebook...autiful-design

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Yes, I commented on the blog. The posts need to be "approved" by the blog admin so who knows if anything will actually show up.

Same here.

[Mivo]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

By Mira Grant rating of short cover ( 10 customer ratings) Little, Brown Book Group, June 2010 ISBN: 9780748116867 Language: English
Download options: Adobe DRM EPUB
$AUD 11.99

I see the same as Lynx, using the same URL and Chrome, with only the price being different (I'm in Germany, though both the browser and the language options are set to English).

[paola]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

Same here.

I left mine a couple of days ago - I am begining to wonder whether we'll ever see the comments!

[FizzyWater]

If it's anything like the Overdrive blog, they'll delete anything critical and only keep the ones from the folks who have drunk the kool-aid.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

If it's anything like the Overdrive blog, they'll delete anything critical and only keep the ones from the folks who have drunk the kool-aid.

This looks like Overdrive in more ways than just that. Less functionality, doesn't work as well as the old, and they think it's great! Why wouldn't everyone love it? Did they spend too much money doing this and are now stuck with it?

Hopefully they will be like Overdrive and fix at least some of the problems.

It seems like there are a bunch of people that still get the old site. I went and bought the book I was looking at at work today where I still have IE 8 - thanks to everybody who checked it out for me.

[Purple Lady]

When I couldn't see the format on the Kobo site, I sent an email to help@kobobooks.com

I wanted to buy a book from kobobooks.com today, but the format was not given anywhere on the page, so I didn't want to risk buying it. The book is by Mira Grant and the title is Feed - why doesn't the web page tell me the specific format? I know people have bought the wrong format and Kobo refused to refund or credit the account. I hope this isn't the new web page format. I tried both Internet Explorer 10 and FireFox 22. Here is the link - http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/feed-1

I just got this response:

Thank you for contacting Kobo Customer Care. We're sorry to hear that you've been unable to locate the file format of the book "Feed" by Mira Grant on our new Kobo website. It would be a pleasure assisting you.

Unfortunately you will no longer see the file format of the eBooks on our new Kobo website. However, you will see the device which the book can be downloaded to. We do apologize for this inconvenience. Our Kobo Development Team is currently working on updating the Kobo site in order for it to be a bit more user friendly, hence why you would not seer this information at this time. You will be advised of the update at a later time.

So maybe they will fix some stuff. I just hope it will be quicker than Overdrive. Maybe everyone who is looking at a book on Kobo's site should send them an email. Although if you notice, they didn't tell me the format in their response. I guess I never really asked what it was, did I?

[Purple Lady]

Since it seems like no comments are appearing on the blog, I sent an email to feedback@kobo.com with the following comments:

Here is my feedback for the new Kobo website.

New site likes - can search for books that I can use coupons with and the site loads much faster. That's about it.

New site dislikes
• Lack of information in the book results - used to see format, genre, author, series info, publisher and publish date in the book results list. Now there is just a big thumbnail, title and price - to get any more information I have to go to the book details. Is it possible to make the results presentation a choice - either thumbnails only or more details?
• The author was presented in the book results as a link to click on and get all books by that author - now to get that I have to go to the book details.
• The series info was presented in the book results as a link to click on and get all books in the series - now I don't see series info anywhere.
• There is no information on format anywhere now - if I buy a book and the format is one I cannot use, am I just out of luck or will I get a refund?
• Book thumbnails are too big and are different sizes giving the results list a very uneven and difficult to follow look.
• The scrolling books at the top are very distracting - please make them stop!

[CommonReader]

Admittedly not quite on topic but the Kobo site just gave me some surprise. I accessed the German site to see if there were any changes and I couldn't see any. However, as I am currently in France and access the site via a French ISP Kobo has apparently decided that I am French and shows me French content only. The user interface is a wild mix of French and German. Who approves such a nonsensical website design? Why would they assume that someone who calls up their .de site is interested in French books just because his access is via a French ISP?

[Ripplinger]

You seem to get different responses depending on who responds to your email inquiry. When I sent in a question stating that ultimately there's no way I'd purchase a book without knowing beforehand what the format was, this was the response they sent me:

Thank you for contacting Kobo Customer Care. It is our pleasure to assist you.

We at Kobo appreciate your feedback and we’re always looking for ways to improve our service. Thank you for informing us of this feature missed in the eBook description and for your interest in Kobo. Your suggestion will be forwarded to the Kobo Development Team.

Again thank you for contacting Kobo Customer Care.

Sincerely,
The Kobo Team.

So for myself, I'll never purchase from Kobo again. I don't like their .kepub versions so would never risk getting that, or a .pdf. I can't begin to comprehend their thinking behind the idea that customers don't need to know the format they're purchasing.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

I can't begin to comprehend their thinking behind the idea that customers don't need to know the format they're purchasing.

I think they aren't/weren't thinking about folks who buy books from them for use on non-Kobo devices and figure download formats aren't important to most people who do use Kobo devices (in other words users who don't hang out at places like MR).

[library addict]

Did Kobo get rid of their chat with customer service feature? I just did a chat yesterday but for some reason had the old screen layout. Now the new layout is dislaying and I cannot find the option to do a chat.

I have found that I get much better (and quicker) results via chat than email.

[library addict]

ETA: Never mind. Maybe it only pops up when there are agents available to chat. I took the dog to the vet and when I came home to send an email the chat option was back.