nlbarber

TL;DR - frustrations with Audible and Amazon, only partly because I'm being stubborn.


The background:
I have an Audible account that predates Amazon's purchase of Audible. I'm trying to keep my accounts at the 2 A's separate, mostly to avoid that feeling that Amazon is swallowing the world…at least what Google isn't getting to first.

I bought the Audible version of John Scalzi's Lock In, which comes in 2 flavors, narrated by Wil Wheaton or Amber Benson. (I'll not say why as Scalzi is treating it as a spoiler for now.) Somewhere I read that the ebook would also come along with the audiobooks, and indeed, when I to to my library on Audible, there's an icon beside Lock In that says "Congrats. You own this title as both a Kindle book and an audiobook so you're ready to seamlessly switch between the two."

Probably because the accounts aren't linked, I can't see the ebook for Lock In in my Kindle app or account at Amazon. On to technical support, using the chat client at Audible.

I start with Shaneha from Audible.com. Shaneha reads my problem statement, entered before the chat started, tells me I have to talk to Amazon, and dumps me over there without waiting for a response.

Next up is Liv, though the chat says she's at Audible, not Amazon. Liv says because it's related to an ebook she has to transfer me to their Kindle Department. At least she asks if thats OK.

Now comes Ashwani, the stereotype of "customer support". Chat software still says Audible.com, but he does seem to be from Amazon. He asks for name, email, address to verify that I'm the account holder, sends a link to the Amazon page for Lock In to be sure we're talking about the right book, then starts pasting in text from the Whispersync help file. I hate that…..

Ashwani then tells me there is no Lock In Kindle ebook. Funny, I can see it all over the Amazon page. Then he says "this book is readily not available due to some correction purpose and once it will available on the website, you can purchase for only kindle ebook." I ask if I can chat with his supervisor as he isn't grasping my problem: he says his supervisor isn't available. Right.

I got a little testy, re-explained that I don't need to buy the ebook but to find out how to access the one Audible says I own. He says he'll transfer me to "our kindle specialized team".

Now comes Kathleen. Chat still says "from Audible.com"…let's just ignore that as non-informative. Kathleen asks more questions on the purchase, then asks for the order number from Audible, as she can't see that. But as soon as I give it to her, she says she has to transfer me to Audible.

Do you see it coming? I get connected to Shaneha. Again. She'll "be happy to help me with my issue". I ask to speak to her supervisor, but she asks to review the chat so far. She tells me Audible doesn't sell ebooks so I must have gotten it from Amazon, then also surprisingly says that my accounts are connected. I don't think that's true. Shaneha eventually punts to the "kindle support department".

Jessica says she's from Amazon Customer Service, says she's sorry I can't see the ebook in the app, and that this is not in her scope of support. Transfer to a Kindle Specialist.

Harpreet looks at the chat record and connects me to "our concerned team" without further interactions.

Now up: Shanieka at Audible. She can see I own the audiobook(s), but can't see anything that tells her if I own the ebook. She tries hard to see if I'm misreading the GUI--asks me repeatedly to describe the icon and the hover text, asks what's in the next column over, verifies what column the icon is in, asks if I see the hover text in the help icon at the top of the eBook Companion column. (Yes, and it's not the same as the text that says I own the ebook.) She repeats, as others said, that I need to buy the ebook at Amazon. She can't check anything at Amazon for me because my accounts aren't linked. (Sorry, Shaneha.) I need to merge my accounts to be able to sync the ebook and the audiobook, but I explain I don't want to do that. I just want access to the ebook…if I really own it. She repeats Shaneha's comment that Audible has nothing to do with ebooks so I must have purchased it (or need to purchase it) at Amazon.

If Shanieka is right that Audible has nothing to do with ebooks and never has promotions to get the ebook if you buy the audiobook, then I must not own the ebook. (I know I haven't purchased it. Bought the hardback, just got it signed yesterday.) But then why does Audible's library view tell me I own the ebook?

After Shanieka asked me to describe the icon for the second time, sister-in-law called to say dinner was ready. (She cooked tonight, I'm cooking tomorrow.) I asked Shanieka for a case number but they don't do that,--she said the chat would be attached to my account. Of course, then the chat session software said it would email me a transcript which never arrived. I saved my own copy.

After dinner I found Audible's 'send us email' form, wrote a short summary, and attached the chat. We'll see if I get more than "you have to merge your accounts to do anything, and we don't know if you own this ebook or not".

A big, slick magazine called "Livestrong Quarterly" arrived in my mailbox today. It's now in my recycle pile, after a brief flip through the pages to confirm that there's nothing of interest to me in it.

I would far rather the Lance Armstrong Foundation spend all possible resources on cancer research or support of cancer victims, and not on slick magazines that try to (I assume) convince me how great their programs are. I don't know if I'm relieved or even more aggravated by seeing that the mag is subsidized by Big Pharma...

There's no "unsubscription" information in the magazine or on the web site that I can find. My protests will have to be to keep recycling the magazines, and find another location for my donations to cancer research.

Appointment window: 8-12 Thursday 10/29. I arranged to work from home so I could be there. I called at 12:15, and the phone agent promised to text the technician and have him call me with an ETA. How long should I wait before calling back, I ask. She promised he'll call immediately. Hah!

12:45: technician called to say he's on his way. That was the first call, of course.
1:10: he arrived. The compressor appeared to be locked up at first, but did start running. He quickly found a leak in the newly installed inside condenser coils, and said he'll replace the compressor too, and will order both parts. Right.

The parts will take at least a week, then I have to get an appointment for the installation. I'll be at Disney World week after next, though I think I'll get sister-in-law to let me know when the parts arrive and I'll call for an appointment from there. It takes at least 4-5 days to get an appointment, and I don't want to wait until I'm back from Disney to start that process. Assuming the parts come in. It sure would be nice to have my freezer back before Thanksgiving--older brother is coming here with (probably) one of his two sons, as we decided not to have one last holiday gathering in Moultrie and his wife will be in Europe.

The Sears tech and I chatted about the sad state of Sears--he's frustrated, and says they are always this overbooked, and he gets confronted by irate customers all the time. He also recommended that I not put food in the freezer until it's been running 5 days after the next repair. I guess slow leaks are common.

Waitin' on the Sears repair tech....again.

( Full complaint behind the cut )

I must get this document, prepared by someone else in Word, onto our office Web site either tonight or first thing tomorrow. It's a short bit of text, then 2, count 'em, 2 graphics. Because I don't have the graphics in any other form and Word does not lightly let go of graphics which it has gotten into its hot little phosphors, I asked Word for a Web page of the document.

I got out the expected junk-filled .html file. A 'filelist.xml' and an oledata.mso. And 5 image files: 2 gifs, a pct, a png, and a jpg. The 2 gifs (image001 and image003) are identical--336x526 pixel copies of the first graphic. The pct is a 1400x2192 pixel version of the same. The png is the second graphic, at 1733x3141, and the jpg is the second graphic at 334x605. I'm sure this makes sense to some MS programmer out there....

Oh, and to no one's surprise, I'm sure, the Word html file is 12k, mine is 4k.

Two days, two more envelopes from Chase. (Don't think there haven't been others in the less-than-a-week since that rant...)

Yesterday's has Chase in the return address area, and is labeled "PLEASE DO NOT DISCARD". Contents: standard Platinum Visa offer.

Today's is anonymous--address with no name on back of envelope, front is labeled "Financial Documents FOR ADDRESSEE ONLY". Contents: offer for home equity line of credit--Chase holds my mortgage, too. Sigh...

Every year, every Federal employee has to take an "information systems security awareness" training class. DOI does this with online courses, which is great--take it when you want, self paced, pass the little 'mastery tests', and print the certificate when you're done as proof.

Except: they keep changing the system, and therefore things never go smoothly. Last year we had "DOI University" as the training system. This year, it's "DOI Learn", with a new login, new listings, new interface, etc.

I got a user ID and password, work through the course (I actually read it! I promise! Most people jump straight to the tests and do just fine), and pass all the tests with flying colors. About 45 minutes elapsed time, I think. But when I try to click on the "Quit" button to exit the class and get to the certificate part, it gives an error. Repeatedly.

Turns out that Javascript or VM must be running for this last step to work. Our PCs are configured by the computer section who apparently aren't consistent about Javascript, so some people can get this to work and others can't. I ended up moving to my Mac, going through the tests again, and getting my course credit.

The security awareness training material, of course, warns you not to run Javascript.