A while ago, I was bought a Sony Reader. I love it dearly, and have not regretted asking for the gift. I knew when I bought it that unless I downloaded books illegally, I would be tied to Waterstone’s as the eBook vendor. I was fine with that, having always had a good experience in Waterstone’s shops, where I’ve been lucky to receive some excellent service. If only this extended to their online home.
Firstly, the website. Navigation is tricky on book websites at the best of times, because sometimes you just want to browse. The default search options are fine for print versions but a little annoying for eBooks because you have to do an advanced search to make sure that you’re just searching within that format. Only, it doesn’t matter because if that book isn’t available in an electronic version, you’ll get the print ones listed anyway so you have a moment of hope that is swiftly dashed.
The “Online Assistant” is little more than the FAQs in pop-up form. Just handy to confuse your pop-up blocker and slow you down further.
Anyway, you’ve finally managed to make an order and get through the cumbersome registration system. That’s when the fun really starts. I tried to order three eBooks to set me up for a nine hour flight. Here’s what happened:
- Order Attempt One: Failed because of an inability “to access the eBook fulfillment service”.
- Order Attempt Two: Failed due to a credit card error (this might or might not have been my fault, but in the interest of fairness I’ll take responsibility).
- Order Attempt Three: “Something went wrong. Please refresh.”
I had tried to use my Waterstone’s Reward Card points to pay for part of the purchase. These have now been deducted from my card – but I still have no access to the eBooks.
Having sent Waterstone’s an email, I was slightly horrified to receive an autoreply saying they’d aim to get back in 72 hours. For a big company in 2009 this is a disappointingly long time. 24 hours later, they haven’t replied, but I did receive an order confirmation email. Thinking I might at least be able to get hold of the books, I logged in to my account.
There is no trace of the order, which is still sitting in a shopping cart, in my history. No trace of an outstanding order. No trace of the eBooks themselves, or the points they’ve deducted from my card.
So, from one of the best physical bookshops in the world, comes some of the worst, slowest, most old fashioned online customer service and a cluttered, slightly annoying website. This is seriously disappointing, especially as I now face a long flight without new literary entertainment (or at least with a much heavier handbag).