Returning a Nook Bought With Paypal, Return Address

[lavieenrose]

I posted this on another forum, but got no response... this forum seems more active, so hopefully someone has had experience with returning a Barnes and Noble Nook bought with paypal -or- returning a Nook via mail....

So, I bought someone a Nook Simple Touch for Christmas. A woman who loves to read, I figured it'd be a thoughtful gift... but I quickly found out how expensive ebooks are, and for all her favorite books it was 3-4x the price to buy the ebook version than to purchase the actual books. And she's on a tight budget, so she can't afford to purchase the ebooks at $10-$25 a pop. Just buying 10 books is the amount of a utility bill! (Between amazon and ebay alone it's simple to find hardback books for the cheap.) Nevertheless, I called BN to return it.

It was purchased with Paypal, so after carefully reading their policy (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/help/cds2.asp?pid=8121). I saw that I needed a special authorization code to return it, but if I bought it with a credit card I could return in the store, but if bought through paypal I had to ship it back.

I called the number:"1-800-THE-BOOK (843-2665) for a return authorization" for the authorization code and information to return it. The customer service representative guy (which is outsourced to India btw) insisted that I could return it to the store for the authorization code, so that they could check it in person (to make sure it's undamaged) and so that I could save on shipping, and that it could be processed in-store and would be in the system so that Barnes and Noble could refund me via paypal. I asked him 3 times to clarify since the website says the opposite, but he insisted.

I went into a Barnes and Noble store, and after talking to two managers they told me that that was not possible (they also had subpar attitudes). I could only get a barnes and noble giftcard if I returned it in the store. They told me that the person I spoke to was 100% wrong and that there is no process in their POS to do such a thing. I asked them to call someone at higher level to verify, but of course they refused (bad customer service)

So today, I called BN customer service back and I got a woman (outsourced in India of course) and she processed it, I got the email with the code and an address. But then the woman proceeds to give me a different address from the address sent by Barnes and Noble in the email. I told her about the difference, but she said b/c of my reason of return (she described it as "buyers remorse") I had to return it to the address she was telling me on the phone. I told her that I was uncomfortable with that b/c of the difference, but that I would ship it to the address she was telling me IF she could send me an email with the address. I told her that I need some type of official confirmation otherwise I would be unable to. She said she couldn't send emails. I asked for her name or employee ID, she said she coud not give either because she was not allowed to, but finally said her name was Deeh.

My question is, has anyone returned a Nook and what address did you send it to?


Here's the address the woman from India told me to send it to:
JABIL CIRCUIT OF TEXAS
911 N.Industrial Park Avenue
Nogales, AZ 85621

Here's the address sent by Barnes and Noble in the email:
Barnes & Noble Global Hub - Reno
12660 Old Virginia Rd.
Reno, NV 89511

Personally, it seems fishy... I googled the address she told me and I can't find any relations to Barnes and Noble. Plus the name "jabil" seems indian and arizona isn't the most moral/legal-activity state (no offense) so it seems foolish to send it there since it has scam written all over it, ESPECIALLY since she refused to send me an email with that address. Amazon also has partially outsources their customer service to India, but the people I interact with/speak to can always send me an email of some sort confirming the information they just told me. From my experience Amazon's "chat" people are indian and their "hardline" people are American (which I much prefer).

So, I'm going to go ahead and send it to the Barnes and Noble Global Hub address with tracking confirmation.

Any comments, advice, or experience with returns to Barnes and Noble would be appreciated.


UPDATE: So, I just called them back to reconfirm, and they told me to ship the address listed in the email and confirmed it for me, this time I spoke to a girl named Emerald, she was much nicer. The first girl, asked for the serial number and everything... she was trying to scam me and have me send it to some random warehouse.

Barnes and Noble needs to just list the correct Nook Return address on their website so this type of illegal activity isn't happening. I have returned it w/ fingers crossed. I still would like to know other people's experience with returning a Nook.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by lavieenrose

Any comments, advice, or experience with returns to Barnes and Noble would be appreciated.

I think you were quite right to be cautious about shipping to an address for which you had no written confirmation.

[BN_AlexG]

Hi Lavieenrose,

I'm the community mgr of our B&N forums and was alerted to your post here.
I'm sorry for the confusion regarding your return. Hopefully, I can shed some light on the process for you.

Both addresses actually are valid, but the originally provided address was not correct for your NOOK Simple Touch. My sincerest apologies for that snafu.
Thankfully, you questioned the address and were given the correct location avoiding any delays with your return.

Jabil is used for our 1st generation NOOK 3G & NOOK Wi-Fi returns, where as all other devices are received by our Reno hub.

B&N is definitely not scamming you or any other customer, though I apologize for the misinformation given.

Hopefully this helps you and any other user questioning the same.

- Alex

[Jim Lester]

FWIW - I Vouch for Alex...

[pdurrant]

Thanks for the clarification, Alex & Jim. (I can vouch for Jim.)

[lavieenrose]

Thanks for the comments and clarification..... and I see someone has made the first address I was given (911 N.Industrial Park Avenue) Barnes and Noble related when its being googled (bbb).

I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on my return (how long it takes, etc). It's actually quite scary making a return for something like this without it being able to be tracked on their the website, I definitely would like to know that they received it and my return is being processed.

That's why being able to return it in a Barnes and Noble would be better. For example I purchased clothing from ZARA online, they took the return instore processed everything but then they said that I would get an email from ZARA confirming the return and crediting it back to my account. And a few minutes after leaving the store I got the confirmation email, and a few hours later I got another email stating that I had been refunded the amount. It was quite efficient.

And so to me it only makes sense to be able to return a Nook bought through paypal to an actual Barnes and Noble store -OR- there should be some type of prepaid tracking return label that I can print from Barnes and Nobles website or that I'm sent, and depending on the return reason the label should be free -or- no more than $3 should be deducted from our return amount (since items like Nooks can be mailed for $3 if sent snail mail or $4.25 if sent priority mail) if sending it back just b/c. Or they could be like the retailers known for great customer service and have all mailed back returns free (like Nordstrom, Zappos, etc shoot even Walmart).