Kobo Discounts: Coupon Codes + Discussion

[Lynx-lynx]

I've just gotten an email response from Kobo re my complaint that no ebook format was displayed prior to my purchase of an O'Reilly book yesterday:

Spoiler:

My complaint:

Today I purchased an ebook without realising that it wasn't in epub format.

Apparently it's in kepub format - which I would not have purchased.

I only buy Kobo books in epub format.

It seems that Kobo may have breached Australian consumer laws because Kobo did not identify pertinent details, that is the ebook format, prior to the sale of the ebook.

I want a refund.

Kobo's response
Thank you for contacting Kobo Customer Care. We are sorry to hear that your purchased book "The Modern Web" is not compatible with your Kobo Glo eReader and you weren't able to verify the file format before purchase. We will be happy to assist you regarding this issue.

Please be advised that Kobo does not provide refunds unless there is something wrong with the eBook in question as all sales are final. However, we will be happy to with a Kobo store credit of $9.69 AUD within 48 hours.

My response back to them
Your response to my complaint comes across as wilful misrepresentation because you did not respond to the issues I clearly raised.

That is - the ebook did not display information as to the format prior to purchase. And nor does it display format information post purchase - one needs to 'guess' the format.

Nor do I know whether the ebook is DRM free or not DRM free because it also is not written on the site information regarding the ebook I bought. This is very important information.

I only buy Kobo ebooks for 2 reasons:
i) they are in EPUB format
ii) the price

The 'new' Kobo Australian website does not state in words the format of any of the ebooks that I've looked at. That is more than likely a breach of the Australian Consumer laws because the format of an ebook is highly pertinent to the purchase information decision making process.

It is also imperative to know the DRM status of an ebook prior to purchase.

I again ask you to address my areas of complaint.

So, this looks like it's going to be a longish chat until Kobo identifies with the area of complaint being the lack of format info.

Edit
For info,the book I purchased is:

The Modern Web
By Gasston, Peter

[Chapter One]

Good luck Lynx-lynx, and thank you for posting about this here as it is something that may effect us all.
I have had to do battle with Kobo before to get a refund and man, what hard work it was.
Kobo could learn a lot from Amazon when it comes to customer service.

[melmac]

OT I know but I would like to suggest that anyone that has an interest in Kobo specifically stating format in their webstore use social media to request it.
Be clear and concise on what the issue is, I find that social media usually gets acted upon quicker than traditional support and allows others to jump on the bandwagon so to speak
Facebook - www.facebook.com/kobo
Twitter - @kobo

[notes515]

I just purchased a book from an author that is new to me. The book is okay, but it only has 5 chapters. Really short and the book cost as much as others I have purchased that had 20 or more chapters. Is there a way at the Kobo site to determine the length of the book I am purchasing? No where was there a statement such as novella either.

[library addict]

There isn't a spot for it. Sometimes length/number of words is included in the description, but not often.

[laughingdragons]

Originally Posted by notes515

I just purchased a book from an author that is new to me. The book is okay, but it only has 5 chapters. Really short and the book cost as much as others I have purchased that had 20 or more chapters. Is there a way at the Kobo site to determine the length of the book I am purchasing? No where was there a statement such as novella either.

Look the book up at amazon in their kindle section they tell how many pages there are. Kind of a pain, but at least you will know.

[BetterRead]

Originally Posted by Gardenman

I am using the new Kobo web site.

Has anyone had trouble using the Sept50 code. I can not get it to work on any book I want to buy. I can use other codes but not that one.

Another thing I found.

When you get to checkout. If you use a debit card. Kobo will only let you use a Visa - debit card, not a Master Card - debit card.

Ditto.

Every time I try to use Sept50, I get an "Unable to apply code" message.

When I tried the other 50% code (B2S50) on one of the rejected titles, however, it worked fine.

I also had a similar problem with the credit card. If I used MasterCard, I got a message saying they were unable to process my card at this time. No problem whatsoever with VISA.

Edited to add:

Just switched browsers from Chrome to Firefox. Sept50 seems to be working with that.

[Gardenman]

Thanks for the info BetterRead

I was using Chrome too. I will try Firefox and see what I get

UPDATE

Used Firefox. Everything working fine now.

Thanks again BetterRead

[samhy]

Regarding the Sept50 code, it works just fine on The Casual Vacancy and The Cuckoo's Calling (oh, and I'm using Chromium without any issue).

[notes515]

Originally Posted by laughingdragons

Look the book up at amazon in their kindle section they tell how many pages there are. Kind of a pain, but at least you will know.

Thank you, I will try that

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

I've just gotten an email response from Kobo re my complaint that no ebook format was displayed prior to my purchase of an O'Reilly book yesterday:

Spoiler:

My complaint:

Today I purchased an ebook without realising that it wasn't in epub format.

Apparently it's in kepub format - which I would not have purchased.

I only buy Kobo books in epub format.

It seems that Kobo may have breached Australian consumer laws because Kobo did not identify pertinent details, that is the ebook format, prior to the sale of the ebook.

I want a refund.

Kobo's response
Thank you for contacting Kobo Customer Care. We are sorry to hear that your purchased book "The Modern Web" is not compatible with your Kobo Glo eReader and you weren't able to verify the file format before purchase. We will be happy to assist you regarding this issue.

Please be advised that Kobo does not provide refunds unless there is something wrong with the eBook in question as all sales are final. However, we will be happy to with a Kobo store credit of $9.69 AUD within 48 hours.

My response back to them
Your response to my complaint comes across as wilful misrepresentation because you did not respond to the issues I clearly raised.

That is - the ebook did not display information as to the format prior to purchase. And nor does it display format information post purchase - one needs to 'guess' the format.

Nor do I know whether the ebook is DRM free or not DRM free because it also is not written on the site information regarding the ebook I bought. This is very important information.

I only buy Kobo ebooks for 2 reasons:
i) they are in EPUB format
ii) the price

The 'new' Kobo Australian website does not state in words the format of any of the ebooks that I've looked at. That is more than likely a breach of the Australian Consumer laws because the format of an ebook is highly pertinent to the purchase information decision making process.

It is also imperative to know the DRM status of an ebook prior to purchase.

I again ask you to address my areas of complaint.

So, this looks like it's going to be a longish chat until Kobo identifies with the area of complaint being the lack of format info.

Edit
For info,the book I purchased is:

The Modern Web
By Gasston, Peter

------------------------------------------------

I got back the Kobo reply .... Kobo's entire response re not knowing the format pre pruchase is:

'Thank you for contacting Kobo Customer Care. We are sorry to hear that you were unable to sync your eBook "The Modern Web" onto your Kobo Glo eReader and it is our pleasure to assist you today.

Unfortunately, since we are still in the process of upgrading our website, there are a few glitches but we are working to resolve them as soon as possible.'

I do not know if they were talking about format info at all!!

Anyway, I've now asked them to provide me with the EPUB version of the book - because it's an O'Reilly published book.

See how I go, eh ...

[Bookpossum]

Good luck!

[hwlester]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

...
We are sorry to hear that you were unable to sync your eBook "The Modern Web" onto your Kobo Glo eReader and it is our pleasure to assist you today.
...

So, I noticed this common thread on both support chats. Do you actually HAVE a Kobo Glo, and are you trying to sync it, or are they just COMPLETELY missing the issue?

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by hwlester

So, I noticed this common thread on both support chats. Do you actually HAVE a Kobo Glo, and are you trying to sync it, or are they just COMPLETELY missing the issue?

Re the common threads, yep I started a thread in the Devices section of Kobo, Sony and Amazon - just to alert people to the 50% off Bargainmousse Kobo discount; and included info on the Sony and Amazon threads about being able to buy Kobo books and via Calibre being able to read them on their device of choice.

But - those threads were deemed subversive because they were outside of the Deals, Freebies etc Forum and so were eventually amalgamated into 1 thread and plopped into the Deals sub-forum.

Hang about - I've just come in and edited my chat with you because I realise now that you're not asking why I've started the other threads, lol

So yep I do own the 3 devices as listed, and use my Glo the most because I need to read with the built in light.

The problem with the Kobo Customer Care pro forma is that one has to enter a reason for contacting them - and the reasons they provide do not cover my situation - so I was stuck with ticking the syncing Glo box.

However, after my 2 clear emails to them, one would think that they would be clearly reading what my issue is .... but they're not

And to think that this was the first book I bought with the 50% off code and the first time that I've used the 'new look' website.

I'm only using IE9 now to view their website - yep it's still the 'old look' site.

[BelleZora]

This reminds me of the one encounter I had with Kobo customer service, both by phone and by email. They never did grasp the problem. I found the answer here on MR. They issued a refund even after I told them I didn't want one because the problem was now solved.