Consumerist – April 3, 2010:
If you buy a nook from Barnes & Noble and think there might be any possibility whatsoever that you could drop it, be sure to buy a protection plan for it. That’s because if the nook breaks and you didn’t buy an extended warranty, no one at Barnes and Noble can fix it. Not even if you offer to pay for the repairs.
My wife loves to read and pre-ordered the Nook in October of last year when Barnes & Noble first announced it. She finally received it sometime after the first of this year and despite the delay was genuinely excited about having one. She has purchased more books then ever before and uses it all of the time.
Yesterday she dropped it for the first time and the e-ink screen cracked. The device is now totally useless.
We’ve contacted Barnes & Noble through their 800-number and were told that there is nothing that can be done since we didn’t purchase the two-year protection plan when we bought the device.
I’m not asking for a hand out here. I know we didn’t purchase the insurance – we don’t on all consumer electronics we purchase. However, I don’t think that means we should now be stuck with a $270 (+ the cost of books purchased) paperweight.
What I need is a way to repair the device we already have. Ideally I would like to send it back to Barnes & Noble and have them fix it. Naturally we would pay any cost involved. Barnes & Noble refuses.
There’s probably an exception but in general B&N appears to be guilty of a classic “tying” arrangement===making the purchase of one good or service contingent upon another that is not inherently a part of the first good or service.
Course==consumer protection is anti-capitalist. The Libertarian Goons will claim that if you don’t like this tying arrangement then the remedy is to not shop at B&N.
Yes, they are just that stupid which is why consumer protection in the USA is non-existent.
I bought the Nook, it is a pOS. Every time I open my documents, I need to go shave again. The internal memory management is terrible, they told me a month ago that they would have a patch out in a week. I should have saved the money and bought the iPad.
So, how is this any different than any other disposable electronics out there. Ever try to get an ink jet printer repaired or replace a battery in your iPod?
Seems like a simple matter of cost of repair exceeds the cost of replacement in our crazy world of Chinese produced junk.
I don’t understand the need to have so much technology, so many gizmos.
I want 1 smart phone, 1 laptop, and maybe someday one Desktop computer. But that third device seems excessive.
I do have an Xbox 360, PS3, and PS2, and two Ham radios, 3 shortwave receivers/scanners so maybe I’m calling the kettle black.
Nevermind.
Wah! Wah!
Customers never change. My wife works at a shoe store and you would be amazed at the attempts some customers make to return their used 6-month old shoes.
Not to minimize the authors story but he would get exactly one refurbished replacement Kindle from Amazon. And there’s no guarantee about the quality of the replacement unit.
A co-worker had to send hers in after the ‘recommended’ case cover cracked the plastic faceplate. The replacement arrived after 3 weeks and the lower left screen corner was scuffed so badly she couldn’t read anything there. Amazon wouldn’t fix or replace it! She has it hanging in here cubicle with a not that says “Ask me about my Kindle”.
My wife’s Kindle 2 had it’s battery die after 4 months. She had a local artist ‘personalize’ it with custom artwork right after she bought it so she really wanted to keep it. I contacted Amazon about getting the unit repaired, not replaced. They have no way of getting her unit repaired, only replaced and only once!
We did get lucky, I have an external USB battery I used with my 160Gb iPod awhile back and it powers the Kindle just fine. Looks bad but it works! The interesting part is she has had lots of people comment about her Kindle and are surprised when they see the USB battery and she tells them that Amazon won’t repair it!
Oh, when we talked with Amazon we even told them we take a RMA number and that we would pay the full repair cost!
We haven’t bought any books, DVD’s or anything else from Amazon since.
Home contents insurance normally covers accidental damage to your property. Call your insurer or insurance agent.
I don’t think I’ll be buying any EBooks until there’s a standard EBook format that works with all book readers, and that breaking a reader doesn’t mean that you have to buy your books again.
Borrowing a book and returning it to an EBook supplier could optionally be set up like a library with an initial book fee, and a due date. Returning the book before the due date, and you get part of your book fee back. This would be great for people addicted to trashy novels (like my sister in law) that don’t want to keep the books.
Umm,
I cant see the Specs I want.
so, it has a USB port?
If the unit turns on, why not just scan and copy the files you need/want to keep.
Buy another unit and transfer them back..
unless they are DRM’d or encrypted to the UNIT there shouldnt be a problem. You would need to change the DRM or the UNIT ID, some how.
http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-readers/barnes-noble-nook/4507-3508_7-33786175.html
Also there seems to be a Standard 1 year warranty…
Article about its being hacked.
get an ipad!
#12. Standard warranty’s are for manufacturing defects. Unless they are no-fault.
Yep, the way most electronicsare made these days, especially items like the Nook, Kindle, etc. there is no easy way to repair them, and the manufacturer will void the warranty if you crack the case open.
You have to make a choice when you buy high-dollar products these days, do you buy the no-questions asked replacement guarantee or do you take the risk?
If you’re buying it for your kid or you have smaller children, then maybe you should.
Alternatively, if you keep a debit/credit card or two that offers a buyer protection plan, then you may already have the same kind of protection without buying the extended warranty.
Otherwise, you’re crying about your own failure to weigh the risks, insure against potential loss, and clumsiness.
At least in the past there was a ECC requirement to make parts available for 10 years beyond the date a product was manufactured. That was reduced to 7 years I think. Even if they won’t fix it, they might be required to sell you the parts. Sure that a ridiculous hassle. Still, there is a lot to be said for sticking it hard and sideways to a vendor that just doesn’t want to be bothered with reasonable customer needs.
#8 Yes. Homeowner’s insurance covers such things but most people have at least a $1000 deductible.
What a bunch of crybabies.
If you want extra support then BUY THE APPROPRIATE WARRANTY!
If you’re too stupid or too tight to do that then on your own head be it.
I’m very happy with my kindle 2, and have read far more good reports of their replacement service than negative ones.
Why isn’t anyone complaining about the oy!pad being completely replaced when its battery dies. With that, unless YOU backup all your stuff you’ve lost it.
At least with the kindle and nook (I think) all your purchased items get automatically synced to the replacement unit.
I want to point out one of my Ham radios operates under water and is protected from shock (Yaesu VX-8r), and my Casio Boulder is similarly protected.
But typical consumer products “can’t” perform like this, can’t I say.
Maybe you can re download your ebooks to some sort of computer?
I have a lot of books on this computer. Hundreds.
Kindle has limited format support which made it totally limp for me.
I dropped a book the other day.
It still works.
I bought nooks for myself and my wife and we both love them. My wife dropped hers about a month after getting it and the screen quit working correctly so we are in pretty much the same boat. I do think it sucks that there is no repair option, but the fact that my wife dropped it is not B&N’s fault, just the way things go. And as many others have pointed out, similar results would come from dropping many other devices.
In our case, we bought ours with a platinum Mastercard which has purchase protection on it, so we are pursuing a claim with them, but no word yet on if they will pay it or not.
#22 Kindle can read:
AZW, TXT, MOBI, PRC, PDFs, Word, HTML, TXT, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP.
Doesn’t seem all that limited to me.
What docs do you have that AREN’T in one of those formats?
#25 Zybch : your point is a very good one. I’m sure #22 doesn’t realize that most of the e-readers can read many formats. The problem I have is the individual DRM of the vendors. If I buy a book from Amazon to read on a Kindle but next year someone spits out the greatest device ever and I want to switch, I can’t (legally) take my books with me. Enforced loyalty is no fun at all.
“# 23 Skeptic of the AOBCCS said, on April 3rd, 2010 at 6:56 pm
I dropped a book the other day.
It still works”
And never needs to be recharged !
Re.#3 McCullough, re: “Seems like a simple matter of cost of repair exceeds the cost of replacement in our crazy world of Chinese produced junk.”
Why are do you hate the fact that China (Asia) is making all our electronics? You seem so angry in your posts lately. Do you realize what the alternative is? The internet would never have happened as you know it today, it would have been prohibitively expensive to set up, and practically no one would have a $25,000 made in USA computer, $7000 LCD, and a $600 modem.
Anyway, it’s the American middlemen that are screwing you. Those Nooks were probably purchased for $25 each… and that’s no exaggeration. They are making them for the American pigs who are too greedy to pay an additional $3 for a removable cover and battery. So before you go bashing those poor sweat shop workers, you might want to think about at how the world works these days.
I have dropped many, many paperbacks, and none of them ever broke.
Regarding getting the books off the device, when you buy something with DRM, the only thing you really get is screwed.
I can fix it for you. A repair of the screen is $300 plus postage.
Modern consumer products are designed for cheap manufacture, not cheap repair – because few consumers will pay for or even recognize the difference. I’ve been selling this stuff for years and EVERYBODY thinks they’re smarter than me when they buy. This story is the inevitable result. Reliability, durability, and repairability cost more. You won’t spend more, you don’t get more. WalMart et al win, you lose.