Help! Mysterious Broken Screen!!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ErwinOtten

And THIS is why Bookeen will go out of business, not because they have to replace 5 or 10 or 15 ereaders, but because the very bad publicity they get by not doing so.

Bookeen have been in the eBook Reader business far, far longer than either Sony or Amazon. I am quite confident that they are not in any danger of "going out of business".

[tompe]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

And if Netronix isn't willing to absorb the costs, neither will Bookeen. That's life.

Which leads to a customer choosing between shelling out more than $300 for a new unit from any of the manufacturers or shelling out $160 for a replacement display.

A seller sets the price to cover these costs. And we pay 300 euro here which is $470 so you could argue we already have payed for one screen replacement.

[AL1432]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Buy yourself one of these. http://cgi.ebay.com/Titanium-eCaddy-...QQcmdZViewItem

I'm not sure that it will fit with the softcover as the brown one is a bit thick, but other than that, it is a very good fit.

Derek

OK, I purchased the eCaddy, and here's my take on it. I've only had it for two days now, so anything I say is very tentative. I was initially disappointed, because the brown case would not fit length-wise into the case. Removing the unit and trying it alone proved too LOOSE a fit...the unit is not large enough, and wasn't held tightly. What I did to fix this was take the pinkish envelope that the Cybook ships in, tuck that into the deeper half of the eCaddy case, then put the bare unit into it. It fit very snuggly! My disappointment began to disappear. Now I realized that not only would I be able to carry the Cybook in this case, but since the fit was so snug, I could actually just leave it in there all the time, in place of the brown case. The only buttons that are really easily available are the main control buttons on the front of the unit, but that is not a big deal to me since that covers most functions I need. The unit has to be pried out to access the power on/off button, and I do this very gingerly, not wanting to stress any part of the Cybook and cause another screen break, but so far it's been easy enough, I don't apply pressure anywhere where there is glass, and the pressure I do apply to get the unit out of the case is very slight. Mostly, though, I just keep it in the case. I put the cover on for travel, and take it off and hold the open half with the Cybook in it and just read like that. It has plenty of protection with the metal case, and I am no longer afraid of touching anything because all I really touch (except to get to the power on/off button) is the metal case itself, and of course the navigation buttons. So...all in all so far I am pretty pleased with this. There is a bit more weight than using the brown case (which I've now simply put aside and don't use anymore), but not that much more, and yet a lot more protection. I'll keep my fingers crossed and post if there should be another screen break, which I surely hope there will not be

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rixte

I've already decided to go with a Kindle rather than having my screen replaced. This is in part because it took over a week for Bookeen to even respond to my email, which just doesn't make it worth the time involved. That plus between shipping and handling for both parts would push the replacement up to 200 dollars which just doesn't make it worth it.

If you own a Kindle and the warranty is up and it breaks (doesn't have to be the screen), can you send it back for repair or are you stuck buying a new one?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ErwinOtten

And THIS is why Bookeen will go out of business, not because they have to replace 5 or 10 or 15 Gen3s, but because the very bad publicity they get by not doing so.

The problem is their way of doing support. Just email is not a good idea. They need a support phone number for people to be able to call. We read of people not getting a response and having to send email more then once. HarryT suggest maybe the mail is getting lost or the mail server thinks it's spam. So if email is maybe getting loist, why not have a support form on they website where you can send Bookeen a message that won't get lost. If they have a phone number, people could call if they wanted. Bookeen needs to get back to customers in a timely manor.

The issue though is one of the customer getting charged for what the customer feels is a warranty repair. This is something that needs to be delt with. I know it's not easy to tell if the customer is telling the truth about the problem, but the customers who do have a screen break just like that will tell others about the issue more so then someone who gets it fixed under warranty.

[Krystian Galaj]

Why won't they buy and use one of the commercial support forums, like http://www.kayako.com/ , for example? It takes less than a day to set up such forum to send emails to appropriate people, and manage handling the tickets appropriately.

And then customers could make support tickets on the website, without the need to send emails, and in case the emailed answers don't get to them, they can periodically log in, check their tickets.

Email getting lost is nothing Bookeen couldn't improve on - if they wanted to.

[HarryT]

A simple auto-response to the e-mail would go a long way to make customers feel happier!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A simple auto-response to the e-mail would go a long way to make customers feel happier!

I 100% agree. it would be a way for the customers to know that the email was received.

[Hanselda]

We need some video to PROVE that the screen do break 'spontaneously'. So the suggestion to all users of Cybook, if you are reading at home or with a laptop aside, in case you have a webcam, point your webcam to your device while reading, and hopefully you can catch some breaking moment

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by Hanselda

We need some video to PROVE that the screen do break 'spontaneously'. So the suggestion to all users of Cybook, if you are reading at home or with a laptop aside, in case you have a webcam, point your webcam to your device while reading, and hopefully you can catch some breaking moment

Like... *SURE*! Of *course* I'll confine all my reading to areas where I can install webcams and thus monitor *EVERY SINGLE MINUTE* of my reading day. As *if* I could possibly afford the cost to wire my entire house! Or I'd want to have a webcam viewing me on the damned toilet! D'Oh!

Got any *other* brilliant ideas?

Derek

[Hanselda]

The other idea I can conceive is that somebody with a broken screen try to test the materials Young's module, yield/tensile strength, thermal expansion coefficient and especially the fracture toughness. Then one can measure the size of the screen. Then take a screen which is still working fine. One can use the optical/acoustical interferometer to measure what is the strain distribution within the whole screen, combine with the known shape of the screen and Young's module one can calculate what is the stress distribution within the whole material. The next step is to determine what is the maximun defects size in the material using ultrasound or X-ray scan. The material can break basically in two ways: either the stress in the material reaches the tensile strength or the combination of strain and defects exceed the fracture toughness. From the image here it looks very likely to be the latter case. Take a look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fracture_mechanics

And it would also be a very good idea to take a look at the fracture cross section under the electron microscope. Here one can identify clearly what defects causes the fracture.

Indeed this is not a joke. They are completely doable and those people design the device should test that. I think the most probable cause is that there is some intrinsic defects in the screen in perhaps a few µm range, and during the mounting of the screen too much stress is accumulated somewhere so that the KI value is very close to the fracture toughness. The material does not break at that time but a little increase in the stress, by either users touching or the temperature change, will cause catastrophic failure of the material.

[jinibiza]

Regular readers of this thread may remember that I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the problems I have had with Pixmania regarding a refund/replacment/repair for a Cybook with a broken screen. Well, here's an update:

Having heard nothing more for a week or so, I contacted Pixmania by phone. The customer service rep was sympatheic but could make no decisions. (He first told me that the product had already been returned to me, then that it was in their warehouse, and then that I had not returned the accessories. I informed him not only had I done so, but had informed them of this fact 2 weeks previously!) He said he would inform his supervisor. I called another 3 times - same thing. They eventually informed me that they had returned the Cybook to me unrepaired! I refused delivery and wrote a letter to the Manage of Customer service of Pixmania (Copy attached). Sent by recorded delivery, Express mail. After a week I have heard NOTHING. Not even an email acknowledgement!

At the same time, having entirely given up on Pixmania ever sorting this out for me, I wrote an email to Bookeen asking them if I could return the UN-OPENED leather case I had ordered from them (Cost £57 *approx $100). I also copied them the letter to Pixmania and asked if they could help. - After one week - NOTHING! No email acknowledgement, zippydeedooda!!!!

I lived for 6 years in France and this kind of customer service seems to be the norm in that country. Buyers beware!

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by jinibiza

Regular readers of this thread may remember that I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the problems I have had with Pixmania regarding a refund/replacment/repair for a Cybook with a broken screen. Well, here's an update:

Having heard nothing more for a week or so, I contacted Pixmania by phone. The customer service rep was sympatheic but could make no decisions. (He first told me that the product had already been returned to me, then that it was in their warehouse, and then that I had not returned the accessories. I informed him not only had I done so, but had informed them of this fact 2 weeks previously!) He said he would inform his supervisor. I called another 3 times - same thing. They eventually informed me that they had returned the Cybook to me unrepaired! I refused delivery and wrote a letter to the Manage of Customer service of Pixmania (Copy attached). Sent by recorded delivery, Express mail. After a week I have heard NOTHING. Not even an email acknowledgement!

At the same time, having entirely given up on Pixmania ever sorting this out for me, I wrote an email to Bookeen asking them if I could return the UN-OPENED leather case I had ordered from them (Cost £57 *approx $100). I also copied them the letter to Pixmania and asked if they could help. - After one week - NOTHING! No email acknowledgement, zippydeedooda!!!!

I lived for 6 years in France and this kind of customer service seems to be the norm in that country. Buyers beware!

IOW??? *MY* recent failure to get an RMA and contact from Bookeen is *NOT* new??? (Yeah... I thought they'd improved, but I guess they haven't.)

Derek

[jinibiza]

I am pleased to say that I heard from Pixmania today that they are refunding me for the Cybook. Well, it was a tough battle, but to be fair, it has somewhat restored my faith in the retailer. It does appear that the whole issue hinged on the accessories which they believed had not been returned.

I am also very happy to report that I received a very sympathetic email from Bookeen two days ago, apologising for the delay in responding to me, and saying they would do whatever they could to help. They said they could not intervene directly with Pixmania, but they might be able to talk to Pixmania France. I cannot be sure, but perhaps they were influential in resolving this. They are not willing to refund the case as it is outside of the seven day policy, so I am now wondering whether to buy another Cybook to go with the case.

I really want an ebook reader based on eink, but I am now quite confused about what to go for. I am encouraged that there have been no more recent cases of the mysterious broken screen, so perhaps I will be brave enough to go for another Cybook.


John

[HarryT]

Delighted to hear that you were finally able to resolve the matter, John.