Why my love and admiration for Kobo lasted less than an year.
Autor: Dannynha Mansani | Publicado: 2013-11-30T20:12:00-02:00


It's not a happy post nor an angry one, it's more like something I never knew coming and that truly made me rethink about e-books and all this new technology. Of course it's a great way to have tons of books without having to rent a house to keep them storage, besides you can always read them again and again anywhere without having to carry a full bag with them. But... right now I have to say I miss my hardcover books more than ever.



Being a massive reader like I am my mom gave me, last January, as a bday gift a Kobo, my first e-reader ever and I was thrilled. I traveled with it and used it almost everyday since them. I loved that I could simple search for a word and go straight to where I wanted it to be without having to spend hours looking for it. I loved that I could carry it in my purse for whenever I would go and could pick any of my 27 books to read without having to think it earlier, I could simply feel the need to read something and go for it.



Since the very first beginning I set a joint account with Kobo and Livraria Cultura, their partner here in Brazil, so I could by books on Kobo Store and Livraria Cultura and they would automatically be downloaded at my device. Since them I had used only one credit card information (the only credit card I own) to purchase my books and had never had any issue. It was so smooth and easy that sometimes I was amazed by it.



I had never regreat something so bad, also.



Last November 1st, 2013 I was going crazy about a book that had just entered in presale and I just had to purchase it, so I did what I always did: went to Kobo Bookstore and went to purchase it, but to my surprise this time instead of giving me my order # they gave me an error message, error 9999. I tried again and again and couldn't seem to get my book purchased, so I went to their Customer Care and opened an incident (131101-001157) reporting what was going on.



Veronica, the girl who was trying to help me there asked me to try to use another browser and so I did. Nothing happened. Than she asked me to erase all my purchase information and try to start all over. Once again, nothing happened. Not knowing what was that error 9999 she told me she would have my issue escalated with their accounts team and asked me for my contact number so they could get in touch, so I did. They never called me.



With that said, my battle began. Since them I've been fighting with Kobo.



At their first email to me they said it was an account error and that the only option I had was to create another account that later would be merged with my previous one. So I did. Nothing happened and I was still getting errors messages. Then they asked me to erase all my information, again, and try to purchase a book. Finally I could get a book, not the one I wanted at the beginning, but still I managed that. Right now you must be thinking: "Well, if she got her (new) account running again and finally purchased a book what is she complaining about?".



The thing is between this freaking error 9999 and create a new account somehow Kobo managed to erase and send all my 27 books to hell. When I got that book I just talked about I synchronized my device so it could get into my library. To my surprise it didn't. So I remember the customer care guy/girl asked me to log off and then log in again. So I did and instantly regretted that. When it went on and synchronized all, I said ALL, my books were gone. Gone! Bye bye books. Gonne to lalaland. The only book I had there was the recently purchased, the only one I had bought after all that mess had started.



When I reported that to customer care I felt like crying and screaming with their answer. They simply asked me to send them ALL my receipts of ALL books I had purchased since January. Eleven months purchasing books and they expected me to keep saving and storing all my purchase numbers and information! Hard to believe that they don't have this kind of information.



I still don't have my books back (just a bunch of emails with Kobo) and honestly I don't think I will since now they barely reply me and when they do they keep saying the same thing, that I must have my orders information if I want to have my books back. Right now I wish I had never changed my hardcover books for an e-reader. Right now I just want to forget that once I had a Kobo device. Right now I just want to slowly purchase all my books again. Right now I'm moving to Kindle.





Bye bye Kobo.

Welcome Kindle, hope you don't to the same shit with me.