Nook Review

As I mentioned last month, I bought myself a Nook as a Birthday/Christmas gift and my parents got me the lovely hot pink Kate Spade Nook cover to go with it.

I was super excited when I ordered it and couldn't wait to get it.  I wanted to write a glowing review.  I wanted to love it to death.

That didn't happen.

Here's the scoop:

First - the good:

The Nook is pretty cool.  It's light, it's pretty and so far it's glitch free.   The books download quickly and easily.  I was able to go to my Barnes & Noble account and register gift cards so that my Nook purchases can be charged against them.  The Nook itself is easy to navigate and I actually like reading with it.  It's easier to hold than a real book, the pages flip easily and it looks like you are reading a real book.  And I love my Kate Spade Nook holder.  LOVE.  IT.

Now - the bad:

Book selection is still limited and if you're looking for something that it not mass marketed or on the best seller list you're kinda SOL.  This is only a minor gripe because I feel that books will become increasingly available via download and I don't think that it's anything that Barnes & Noble has control over.  The screen is only black and white so I don't think reading magazines would be much fun with it. 

Finally - the ugly:

Getting this thing was a bitch and Barnes & Noble was horrible.  I pre-ordered mine on November 16 and was told at that time that it would ship on December 18 and be at my house by the 22nd.  I took this into account because I knew that I was leaving to go spend Christmas with my parents.

The 18th (a Friday) came and went.  The Nook didn't ship and Barnes & Noble did not communicate with me about it.  On Saturday morning, the 19th, I got up to an email from the "President" of Barnes & Noble telling me that there had been a "little" delay but that I shouldn't worry because they were going to upgrade me FREE to overnight shipping and I'd have it by the 24th.

GREAT!  Except no one would be at my house on the 24th. 

I called customer service immediately, but since their coward of a President sent his email on Saturday I couldn't get through because they are CLOSED on Saturday.  And this pretty much sums up most of the problem here.  Throughout this mess, the communication from Barnes & Noble was either nonexistent, late or insufficient.  They have computers and email addresses, it shouldn't be that hard.

When I called them Monday morning, I got transferred around several times to whoever was dealing with "the Nook".

Now I'm going to stop here for a minute and say that I feel sorry for the poor schmucks stuck working in Barnes & Noble's customer service department.  Their company hung them out to dry.  I talked to several people and they were all very polite and helpful to the extent that they could be but the bottom line is that they were not given any thing to tell me or any way to make me happy.  I apologized for yelling at them and if they would have given me the telephone number of the smug son of a bitch who ran the company, believe me, I would have called him.  He was the one I wanted to speak to. 

But I was stuck talking to Customer Service and the standard line from everyone I talked to was that due to "unforeseen demand" they were having delays.  Unforeseen demand?  They marketed the hell out of this thing and people ordered it and that is their excuse for not being able to timely deliver it? It's our fault for buying something that they sold? 

They told me that they were pretty sure they could have it here by the 24th but they couldn't guaranty anything.  

They did finally get it here on the 24th but by the time it was delivered, I was on my way to West Virginia.  I had to have a friend come by and pick the damn thing up and put it in the house so it wouldn't get stolen.  If I had purchased it as a Christmas gift for someone else, I wouldn't have had a gift for them, something that Barnes & Noble didn't really seem to care about. 

The communication did not improve and they have not followed up since the thing was delivered.  Not one mass market email.  Not one 15% off coupon. 

In a word, their customer service on this product sucked.  

Sucked donkeys, sucked lemons, sucked rhinos.  Sucked from the top down. 

It sucked.

I would like to say that the Nook is SO COOL that it outweighs my feelings about the company that sold it to me.

Well, it isn't and it doesn't.

The only reason I didn't cancel the whole thing is because I wanted the Kate Spade cover and I thought that once I got the Nook  I'd forget about all the crap.  Well, I haven't.   I am certain that I will switch from the Nook at my first opportunity.  If Apple rolls out it's fabled Tablet at the end of the month, I think it's safe to say that my business with Barnes & Noble will cease pretty quickly.   One thing I've learned with Apple is that they take care of their customers. 

If you buy from Barnes & Noble, please don't expect much.