Kobo Customer Service

[Josieb1]

I've just been impressed by Kobo Customer Service.

I'm in the UK and couldn't open a book I'd bought. Tapping in the cover page just produced a pop up telling me it linked to an external web page and I couldn't get past that.

I duly went onto the kobo website, filled in the contact form and selected phone.
I got a 0808 phone number (which is free for my phone company). I rang the number and got an English speaking young lady, she quickly identified me, recognised the problem, loaded the book onto a ereader she had and told me how to get past the pop up message. I needed to swipe slowly on the bottom right of the cover image, not tap.

I'm actually very impressed. I've made a note of the phone number for future reference.

We used to have a chat feature, which I'd used in the past. That's gone now so I wonder if the phone number is new?

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I've just been impressed by Kobo Customer Service.

I'm in the UK and couldn't open a book I'd bought. Tapping in the cover page just produced a pop up telling me it linked to an external web page and I couldn't get past that.

I duly went onto the kobo website, filled in the contact form and selected phone.
I got a 0808 phone number (which is free for my phone company). I rang the number and got an English speaking young lady, she quickly identified me, recognised the problem, loaded the book onto a ereader she had and told me how to get past the pop up message. I needed to swipe slowly on the bottom right of the cover image, not tap.

I'm actually very impressed. I've made a note of the phone number for future reference.

We used to have a chat feature, which I'd used in the past. That's gone now so I wonder if the phone number is new?

Hell ya!, sometimes by mistake a Company hires a kick ass rep, too bad they don't do that on purpose more often!

regards

Jack

[hleo12]

Coming from someone who has worked for multiple companies as technical support before, your customer service experience will really depend on the person who'll pick up the phone... Some agents really do know next to nothing about the products and services they offer... My suggestion is to just keep calling until you get the result you want...

[murg]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I've just been impressed by Kobo Customer Service.

My first thought was to check the calendar...

[slate]

It's cool to hear the you had some great customer service, this certainly has not been my case over the years.

The real issue is that you cannot actually initiate support directly over the phone anymore, you must fill in a webform and wait for them to call you. This is a HUGE step backwards along with their online chat that never seems to work anymore.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by slate

It's cool to hear the you had some great customer service, this certainly has not been my case over the years.

The real issue is that you cannot actually initiate support directly over the phone anymore, you must fill in a webform and wait for them to call you. This is a HUGE step backwards along with their online chat that never seems to work anymore.

I didn't have to wait for a call. I filled in the web form, selected phone, was then directed at a page with the phone number to call. It also listed my ref number which I had to key into the phone when prompted.

[hleo12]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I didn't have to wait for a call. I filled in the web form, selected phone, was then directed at a page with the phone number to call. It also listed my ref number which I had to key into the phone when prompted.

I guess they have different support policies in different countries... In my country, we could only communicate via email.

[Anak]

Originally Posted by hleo12

I guess they have different support policies in different countries... In my country, we could only communicate via email.

Yes, true. Anglo-Saxon countries receive better support then other countries.
I've had some encounters with CS in The Netherlands.
None of my questions or problems were solved immediately.
The first Kobo response in The Netherlands is
a) Standard reply (often not releated to the question/issue). Or update to the latest available firmware (even when you write cleary in your mesage that you already done that.)
b) Deny. "We are not aware of this problem." (On the internet there is lots of confirmation that a problem exist. Not always, also stating that Kobo is aware of it.

CS in Germany is IMO better where problems are taken more seriously. They actually try to solve your issue. I guess the German CS employees actually think and/or look in to it before they respond.

[slate]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I didn't have to wait for a call. I filled in the web form, selected phone, was then directed at a page with the phone number to call. It also listed my ref number which I had to key into the phone when prompted.

The mere fact that you had to fill in a web form for phone support is the problem. A direct phone number to support like they used to have but discontinued is the glaring issue here.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by slate

The mere fact that you had to fill in a web form for phone support is the problem. A direct phone number to support like they used to have but discontinued is the glaring issue here.

I've owned my kobo since November. As far as my experience goes we never even had a phone number before, just email and chat, so for me filling in a form then phoning up is fine. Also now I have the phone number I can dial it without filling the form in first. But if I get a better result by filling in the form then that's worth a few minutes of my time.

[slate]

As previously stated, long time customers have always had a single phone number which has since been discontinued. I'm glad to hear that you accept this fact as an improvement.