May be leaving Sony

[jerryleejr]

I have been a die hard Sony customer since the prs 505 came out, I have endured being lumped in the kindle crowd everytime someone sees my reader. I have never been a Sony snob, I just offer my advice on why I chose them over other devices but the love of reading is all that matters. But my last round with customer service over a bookstore purchase I believe has finally did me in. Long story short I purchased a trilogy that ironically had 4 books in it. I downloaded and read it to find out I only received three, apparently there are three versions available via the book store. Realizing the error all I asked was for someway to get the correct version and pay the difference. I was told all sales were final and that I would just have to purchase the 4th book seperately. Btw the price of the 4th book is only 3 dollars less than the entire set. I kindly thanked the lady and offered that this is why the kindle is so popular I was able to return several kindle. Purchases my son inadvertently made at christmas on his fire no questions asked. So now I will be reader shopping and my have a couple Sony's for sale.

JJ

[sabredog]

Why ditch your Sony because of an ebook purchase bad experience?

[jerryleejr]

Principal I guess, they said the issue was I searched incorrectly is why that version downloaded. I searched "the circle trilogy" instead of "the complete circle trilogy" not that the latter was the actual title just that is how the store determined which version gets added to your cart. Silly me for thinking the title and author were correct.

JJ

[HarryT]

You could always buy your books from Amazon, strip the DRM, and convert to ePub for the Sony. Trivial to do.

[jerryleejr]

Harry I have thought about that but I should t have to do that, Sony has just had a history with no customer/product support and it's not like I wanted a refund or a free book just the correct version for the correct price. This was my first issue since opening my account over 5 years ago. And it really is about keeping my business not going so sorry but we don't care.

JJ

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by jerryleejr

Principal I guess, they said the issue was I searched incorrectly is why that version downloaded. I searched "the circle trilogy" instead of "the complete circle trilogy" not that the latter was the actual title just that is how the store determined which version gets added to your cart. Silly me for thinking the title and author were correct.

JJ

Sorry but I would have to agree with them. How is it their fault you bought the wrong thing? There are many version of books. Only you'll know which one is the one YOU want.

I was pleasantly surprised that Kindle offered refunds on purchases made in error but not all companies do. Not all companies have to. Not all retail stores have the same policies either. It's up to you to know what those policies are and to make the right purchase in the first place or just chose not to. I've left many stores after learning their refund policy. Exchange only no refunds. No thanks, bye.

And by the way, YOU added it to your cart not Sony. You entered a search term and they gave you items that met that term. You chose the one to put into your cart & then clicked purchase. I sympathize with your frustration at buying the wrong book but I hardly see how it was their error.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Shopaholic

Sorry but I would have to agree with them. How is it their fault you bought the wrong thing? There are many version of books. Only you'll know which one is the one YOU want.

It's not Sony's fault, certainly, but it's good customer service, and a way to get loyal customers who will come back to you, to go beyond the strict requirements of the law. If you look in the Kindle forum, you'll find innumerable stories of people getting superb customer service from Amazon - free replacements for Kindles which they openly admit they've stepped on and broken the screen.

Sure, Sony are perfectly within their rights to say "all purchases are final - you made the mistake; you live with it" - but it's not the way to get loyal customers. Compare that to Amazon's approach - to give you a refund for any (or no) reason on an eBook you've bought within the last 7 days. Which approach is going to get customers going back to the bookstore to buy again?

[JSWolf]

One thing you did wrong was you gave up. That's your fault. If you don't get satisfactory results, you never just take what was said as what is. You just hang up and call back to get someone different who may then solve your problem. This sort of thing also happens with Amazon.

So call again and see what happens with that mistaken purchase.

[Shopaholic]

[QUOTE=HarryT;1933100]Sure, Sony are perfectly within their rights to say "all purchases are final - you made the mistake; you live with it" - but it's not the way to get loyal customers. Compare that to Amazon's approach - to give you a refund for any (or no) reason on an eBook you've bought within the last 7 days. Which approach is going to get customers going back to the bookstore to buy again?[/QUOTE]


I agree completely with that. The answer is obvious. Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised to see you can get a refund of an ebook purchase from Amazon. But again, as I said, not all stores operate the same way nor do they have to. As far as I know, Kindle is the only one that refunds ebook purchases at all let alone within 7 days. Some people could read the book in that time & claim a refund. If Amazon wants to and is able to eat that, more power to them. Not all businesses have to do that.

Yes it's excellent customer service but refunding ebook purchases is not Sony or Kobo's business model. After having an ereader for 5 or 6 years surely the person should know how to search & buy the right book by now no? Especially with a book that has multiple versions or groups of series. It's your responsibility to buy the one you want when you know from the get-go that you can't get a refund.

Be mad at what some can consider poor customer service/bad policy but it's certainly not the company's fault you didn't buy the right item.

Originally Posted by jerryleejr

I have been a die hard Sony customer since the prs 505 came out, I have endured being lumped in the kindle crowd everytime someone sees my reader. I have never been a Sony snob, I just offer my advice on why I chose them over other devices but the love of reading is all that matters. But my last round with customer service over a bookstore purchase I believe has finally did me in. Long story short I purchased a trilogy that ironically had 4 books in it. I downloaded and read it to find out I only received three, apparently there are three versions available via the book store. Realizing the error all I asked was for someway to get the correct version and pay the difference. I was told all sales were final and that I would just have to purchase the 4th book seperately. Btw the price of the 4th book is only 3 dollars less than the entire set. I kindly thanked the lady and offered that this is why the kindle is so popular I was able to return several kindle. Purchases my son inadvertently made at christmas on his fire no questions asked. So now I will be reader shopping and my have a couple Sony's for sale.

JJ

I'm not surprised at all since Sony's CS rates pretty low with customers. Besides that Sony just posted the second big annual loss in a row. Sony is in deep pooh right now with low customer satisfaction and bleeding out money. I suspect if they survive as a hardware manufacturer they will have to cut whole divisions that don't earn much--like the eBook reader division which is a small niche market for them. Sony might just become a digital provider with their music, movies , and possibly books and get away from manufacturing, but who knows. One thing is for sure, Sony does NOT have a grasp on reality when it comes to all of its divisions as each one seems to do its own thing without regard to the good of the whole company. I think it is smart to shop elsewhere.

[jerryleejr]

Originally Posted by Shopaholic

Sorry but I would have to agree with them. How is it their fault you bought the wrong thing? There are many version of books. Only you'll know which one is the one YOU want.

And by the way, YOU added it to your cart not Sony. You entered a search term and they gave you items that met that term. You chose the one to put into your cart & then clicked purchase. I sympathize with your frustration at buying the wrong book but I hardly see how it was their error.

Which part of my post said that it was Sony's Fault? Never blamed them, and Yes I sure did add it to my Cart, and I sure did click on purchase. And I sure was expecting 4 books instead of three because it was the correct title and author even looked like the same artwork on my 950. Were I able to add it and purchase it as I was reading the description on the website there probably would not have been an issue, My mistake was writing down the title and author and purchasing directly thru my 950, As soon as I realized it I brought it to Sony's attention. Its not like I bought the spanish version but even if that were the case and the money was the same to do an even exchange there should be some latitude especially with the competition the way it is. However we can agree to disagree.

JJ

[JSWolf]

If you are unhappy with Sony's eBookstore, just purchase from a different eBookstore. You won't find a device to replace your 950.

[jerryleejr]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

One thing you did wrong was you gave up. That's your fault. If you don't get satisfactory results, you never just take what was said as what is. You just hang up and call back to get someone different who may then solve your problem. This sort of thing also happens with Amazon.

So call again and see what happens with that mistaken purchase.

I havent given up, I am just shocked that it is so cut and dry, Im sure they get alot of people trying to return books probably after being read, and I can understand not refunding my money, I just wanted to pay the difference in the two bundles to get the 4th book or get a coupon code that would allow me to purchase the 4th book at the price difference. I just am not in a position where I can just pick up a phone and call, and aparently I cant email them because of my ip address is overseas but I will see what I can do.

JJ

[jerryleejr]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you are unhappy with Sony's eBookstore, just purchase from a different eBookstore. You won't find a device to replace your 950.

With that I agree, and I do shop different places, Just for the moment I am limited to the Sony store for a couple weeks due to location and equipment and it figures the few times I actually use the 950 to make a purchase this has been the only issue.

JJ

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jerryleejr

I havent given up, I am just shocked that it is so cut and dry, Im sure they get alot of people trying to return books probably after being read, and I can understand not refunding my money, I just wanted to pay the difference in the two bundles to get the 4th book or get a coupon code that would allow me to purchase the 4th book at the price difference. I just am not in a position where I can just pick up a phone and call, and aparently I cant email them because of my ip address is overseas but I will see what I can do.

JJ

You see, this is where putting your location in your profile helps. You won't get information that's not correct for your location. So I suggest you fill in your location and not just put in something silly that's useless.