New Kobo User becomes burned EX-Kobo user aka KOBO is horrible

[John F]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I recently bought a Kobo Aura HD from a seller on Amazon. It was new in sealed box. It has been working just fine. I don't think I would have the right to contact Kobo about warranty issues, though, since I didn't buy it from Kobo. Am I wrong? ...

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, you're not wrong. Your contract is with the seller, not the manufacturer.

HarryT's blanket statement surprises me? Is he talking about the UK only (I noticed booklover is from the US and HarryT is from the UK)?

Wouldn't it depend on what the warranty (and the country's consumer laws) say? If there is no clause in the warranty saying internet purchases void the warranty, isn't it possible/likely that an authorized Kobo seller is selling stuff on the internet (either thru Amazon, or EBay, or ...)?

FWIW, I've bought non-amazon electronics from Amazon (HT receivers, monitors, ...), if something happened within the warranty period (and after Amazon's no-questions-asked return period), I wouldn't go to Amazon, I'd go directly to the manufacturer to get the warranty work done.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by John F

HarryT's blanket statement surprises me? Is he talking about the UK only (I noticed booklover is from the US and HarryT is from the UK)?

Apologies, I didn't realise that the laws in this respect differed between the UK and the US. Under UK consumer law, what I posted was correct: when you buy a product, your contract is with the seller, not with the manufacturer. Does it differ in the US?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by John F

HarryT's blanket statement surprises me? Is he talking about the UK only (I noticed booklover is from the US and HarryT is from the UK)?

Wouldn't it depend on what the warranty (and the country's consumer laws) say? If there is no clause in the warranty saying internet purchases void the warranty, isn't it possible/likely that an authorized Kobo seller is selling stuff on the internet (either thru Amazon, or EBay, or ...)?

FWIW, I've bought non-amazon electronics from Amazon (HT receivers, monitors, ...), if something happened within the warranty period (and after Amazon's no-questions-asked return period), I wouldn't go to Amazon, I'd go directly to the manufacturer to get the warranty work done.

John,
On new stuff, read the fine print. Or actually not so fine. Everything I have ever gotten says after 30 days, contact the manufacturer. Before the 30 days use the store's return policy.
This would exclude my bread machine because I did buy it direct from Sunbeam. They offered me a lower price than Amazon.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by dickloraine

I don't understand why you not simply use the return warranty the ebay reseller gave you. That is the proper way to do it. Without the original proof of purchase (which a reseller could send to you, many private ebay resellers do this as proof) you are lost. This is a second market product, no spinning of you will change that.

My guess is that he did reach out to the eBay seller who told him to take a hike because he didn't report the issue within 24-hours of receipt, as stated in the listing, and so he turned to Kobo as a last resort and tried to con them into a warranty repair, which appears to have worked about as well as you'd expect.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

John,
On new stuff, read the fine print. Or actually not so fine. Everything I have ever gotten says after 30 days, contact the manufacturer. Before the 30 days use the store's return policy.

Stores in the UK often try to play that game, too . Consumer law here, though, says that they have a legal obligation to arrange the warranty repair for you.

I bought a rather expensive Nikon Digital SLR camera from Amazon UK a couple of years ago. After about 8 months it developed a fault. I reported it to Amazon, who told me to take it as a warranty repair to Nikon. I quoted the "Sale of Goods Act" to them (the relevant UK consumer law). They sent me a new replacement camera .

[koboy]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

My guess is that he did reach out to the eBay seller who told him to take a hike because he didn't report the issue within 24-hours of receipt, as stated in the listing, and so he turned to Kobo as a last resort and tried to con them into a warranty repair, which appears to have worked about as well as you'd expect.

it states Warranty (contact for full details) 90 Days, of course he could have had it longer than 90 Days.


best wishes koboy

[tvuongpham]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Apologies, I didn't realise that the laws in this respect differed between the UK and the US. Under UK consumer law, what I posted was correct: when you buy a product, your contract is with the seller, not with the manufacturer. Does it differ in the US?

Yes it does DIFFER in the US.
Manufacture warranties are different than seller warranties.

[tvuongpham]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

My guess is that he did reach out to the eBay seller who told him to take a hike because he didn't report the issue within 24-hours of receipt, as stated in the listing, and so he turned to Kobo as a last resort and tried to con them into a warranty repair, which appears to have worked about as well as you'd expect.

No the seller graciously is processing a warranty returned. A warranty as per their terms of selling the device. I am dealing with manufacture warranty and customer service. aka Kobo the manufacture.

No "taking a hike"

[tvuongpham]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

EBay is in no way a retailer.
Someone else purchased it at an authorized retailer, then put it on eBay. You bought a secondhand device.
I mean if I was to buy a bread machine from say Goodwill, I get it home and discover the mixing blade is missing, I cannot call the manufacturer and yell and scream I want a new bread machine.


Or if I was to sell my bread machine to eschwartz, that automatically voids the warranty.
That is clearly stated in the manual.

And why didn't you just contact the seller.

On that point.. that would be a point of contention. eBay is a marketplace akin to a open store front in lieu of brick and mortar you have IP address and web page space. In a world of JIT (Just In Time Inventory) not much different than a local ma an paw store offering goods via a brochure..

Again, gray lines of e-commerce.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by koboy

it states Warranty (contact for full details) 90 Days, of course he could have had it longer than 90 Days.


best wishes koboy

That means the seller is offering a warranty not the manufacturer.
They are not the same.
Heck, I could buy an extended warranty from we sell warranties, but that means I have to go through them not the manufacturer to get it fixed.
So Kobo is in no way responsible.

If one chooses to buy secondhand, then it is buyer beware.

That would be like me telling Amazon they need to give me a new kindle because the physical home button quit working on one I bought secondhand.
Pretty sure the warranty had expired.

Or should I ask Sharper Image to replace their ereader that refuses to hold a charge. I know it had been sitting in a counter for at least 2 years when I bought it.

Now I am going to call west bend to see if they still make the particular Slow Cooker I got super cheap. Note I don't want them to just give it to me.

[tvuongpham]

Originally Posted by darryl

Let's say that I buy a Kobo e-reader. I use it for 12 months, then decide I would rather a Kindle. But Kindle's are quite expensive. So I reset it to factory defaults, update the firmware, wrap it up to look like its new, put in on ebay and advertise it for sale as new but open box. You buy it. I send you a receipt. What should Kobo do when it fails and you claim warranty?

Vary the scenario slightly. My employer is getting out of selling Kobo's and sells me his last 10 at 50% retail. I keep them in the garage for 12 months, then put them on ebay describing them as new, still in original packaging, never opened. You buy it. I give you a receipt for your payment. What should Kobo do if you now claim warranty?

I am not a Kobo dealer, so how can Kobo distinguish between the two situations?

As I have mention previously that would be a Kobo ecosystem control issue. Inventory control of serial numbers and or MAC addresses to the device wifi antenna. Kindle/Amazon does this.

Kobo does NOT. They put the onus of providing a receipt from Kobo to you. When clearly the retail purchase was not from Kobo but from a Ebay reseller.

Consumer contract laws differ from state to state and as well as from country to country.

You bring up valid points in your use case scenarios.. Those are the ramifactions of a blurred distribution chain from manufacture to customer. Brick and Mortar is very "old school" traditional and dated lots of middle men and markups.

In perspective it is almost a disposable end consumer device.. <$100.00 use in today world is very disposable. I can only image product engineering and product management discussing the "lifecycle" of a particular e-reader. 6-9 months then they should be shifting gears into producing a new device with *new* features to entice a new buying cycle.

Kobo's warranty does not exclude eBay sellers nor other sellers as there is not official distributor chain of authorized resellers listed. "Where you can " buy does not imply explicitly "official manufacture/ vendor approved" resellers

[tvuongpham]

Originally Posted by peterwardgd

Cmon tvuongpham, people have taken time out of their day to try and help you and this is what happens. Reading between the lines you seem to have some other issues going on as well as this, i hope you can resolve them soon buddy. Good luck out there.

Also i've remedied this.

Again, in another post I did thank anyone who tried to self-lessly help me out to try and troubleshoot the Kobo device.

1. soft reset (button with paperclip it can reset a frozen Kobo)
2. soft factory restore (also called internal factory reset via menus, assuming Kobo isn't frozen)
3. External Factory restore (hold light button and power switch let go of switch when it flashes and starts to restore)

Mine did option 3 but failed to continue. Perhaps the circuits to the battery have failed or the battery has failed. There is no certainty the battery is a long life Lithium battery. Dead cells? unchargable?? who knows.

Thanks again. lively interesting discussion.

e-readers are not luddites

[tvuongpham]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

That means the seller is offering a warranty not the manufacturer.
They are not the same.
Heck, I could buy an extended warranty from we sell warranties, but that means I have to go through them not the manufacturer to get it fixed.
So Kobo is in no way responsible.

If one chooses to buy secondhand, then it is buyer beware.

That would be like me telling Amazon they need to give me a new kindle because the physical home button quit working on one I bought secondhand.
Pretty sure the warranty had expired.

Or should I ask Sharper Image to replace their ereader that refuses to hold a charge. I know it had been sitting in a counter for at least 2 years when I bought it.

Now I am going to call west bend to see if they still make the particular Slow Cooker I got super cheap. Note I don't want them to just give it to me.

Note: I have offered used items with a seller warranty that supersedes a manufacture warranty. Not a problem. I know manufactures that "no questions asked" honor manufacture lifetime warranty. I guess it is about me level setting my expectations with Kobo.

I still would love to be a productive reading Kobo user. I find the Aura a fantastic form factor, as an e-reader. Not the fastest. Not the sharpest. But very open and flexible. Stable...well not yet so far.

[koboy]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

That means the seller is offering a warranty not the manufacturer.
They are not the same.
Heck, I could buy an extended warranty from we sell warranties, but that means I have to go through them not the manufacturer to get it fixed.
So Kobo is in no way responsible.

If one chooses to buy secondhand, then it is buyer beware.

That would be like me telling Amazon they need to give me a new kindle because the physical home button quit working on one I bought secondhand.
Pretty sure the warranty had expired.

Or should I ask Sharper Image to replace their ereader that refuses to hold a charge. I know it had been sitting in a counter for at least 2 years when I bought it.

Now I am going to call west bend to see if they still make the particular Slow Cooker I got super cheap. Note I don't want them to just give it to me.

the manufacturer's warranty should be for 12 months.


best wishes koboy

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by koboy

it states Warranty (contact for full details) 90 Days, of course he could have had it longer than 90 Days.


best wishes koboy

You gotta read the "fine print". Lower down in the listing, right near the bottom, it says that all problems must be reported within 24-hours of receiving the item, after which I guess you have 90-days to actually return it. It looks like the OP may have gotten a bit of snake oil with his Kobo. Like I said, hopefully he learned his lesson and will buy from more reputable sellers in the future.