Ordered Forma from Indigo, received Clara HD, experiences with support?

[craftyhack]

Hi all!
Long time listener, first time caller . I am an eReader junkie and probably average 4hrs a day with my eReader (don't sleep much :/). I currently have an Auro One, still have my H2O as backup, and have several others over the years (all of the Nook generations, several Sony PRSes). I have never had a Kindle though... is that weird? Anyway, posts in this forum over the years have been incredibly helpful, so thanks for being here!

So... I ordered my One and H2O from Kobo directly, no problems. This time I went with Indigo given the savings of like $50-$70 over Kobo direct; wow these things are getting expensive! I have paid less for "ok" laptops and tablets than this forma's MSRP. That said, I use the heck out of my eReaders, so it is worth it to me to get the best one I can afford. Had Walmart not been sold out with no ETA, I probably would have gotten it from them because of the lottery, but that didn't work out. For others curious about current potential shipping times from Indigo, I ordered on Nov 16th, it showed up to customs on Nov 22nd, and arrived at my house (KC, MO) today, Nov 29th. So 13 days for me.

Anyway, I received a Kobo Clara HD :/. I love my eReaders and have been pretty excited for the last 2 weeks so I am disappointed for sure, but stuff happens, right? I left it sealed for return so haven't tried it and I am sure it is a good eReader... but it isn't a Forma. Assuming that everything works out with Indigo I am probably not looking at getting my Forma until 2019 given shipping times #FirstWorldProblems.

I called Indigo immediately and FYI, hold times are pretty high (20 minutes for me). The representative was helpful and asked that I send pictures of what I received to service@indigo.ca which I did immediately as well. She said that they would take care of it but didn't seem to know what the process would be... but said that everything would be sorted out via email. I also had a tough time with her accent as this midwesterner isn't exposed to folks with a French accent very often, but I thought it was a neat experience anyway... a very cool accent .

I was worried about getting a "bad" Forma given international shipping and all of that, but I didn't consider being in this situation. I figure with 2018 inventory management capabilities that this is a difficult mistake to make for an experienced etailer, especially with expensive (for me) purchases. I am assuming/hoping that they keep track of their serial numbers so it is easy for them to confirm that they did indeed send me the wrong one, and I would even be happy to pay a deposit on this one so we can cross ship, but this is my first experience with Indigo so I have no idea what I am in for.

Does anyone else have any experiences with Indigo customer service generally when something goes wrong, or even more specifically has anyone else received the wrong thing from them (who lives in the US and has no access to the local stores) and have to go through this? What am I in for?

I always have the option of charge back (I think, I paid via Paypal and my Visa check card behind it) if things go wrong so I am not really panicking... but I admit I am a bit sad, the Forma looks awesome and I was looking forward to it... I have been checking tracking several times a day and watching/reading Forma reviews to tide me over.

Side note: I didn't order the sleep cover because holy smokes is it expensive. I did consider it to protect my investment, but from what I have read because of how it folds into a kickstand to hold up the reader on a table or whatever, it won't function the way I use mine. I keep my fingers between the folded back cover and the back of my reader to keep it steady while reading in bed. Basically the same one you can hold a paperback with one hand. The kickstand seems to me to be a weird feature for an ereader whose primary design patterns (size, weight, form factor) prioritize holding it vs. having it sit on a table while in use. Has anyone ever wanted a kickstand for their eReader and actually used one? Seems like a rarely used feature that would come from someone in marketing that thinks it sounds cool vs. real users. Too bad they don't offer a cheaper normal cover (yet?). I have yet to be able to find an alternative "normal" sleep cover for it either, anyone have any luck finding one?

Thanks in advance for any feedback .

Regards,
Mike C.