Kobo eReader Touch

Bought my wife one of these things for Christmas in 2012. Ever since there have been a number of problems with pages turning and keeps rebooting itself. My wife suffered all this because she liked the idea of the unit in general, and when it worked, it worked well.

However, 6 months in and it has given up the ghost completely. It will not turn on, it will not charge, it's completely dead. Unfortunately this was only the beginning of the problems...

Kobo Customer Service is probably the worst I have ever to deal with. Initially you call them, they send you an e-mail asking you to detail the issues you are having. Then they are meant to get back to you to let you know what the next step will be.

The problem is, they NEVER get back to you. I sent my e-mail and 24 hours later, nothing. So I sent an e-mail asking when it would be resolved. 24 hours later, nothing. So I sent another, with stronger wording. 24 hours later, still nothing. So I called them and was told someone would get back to me. Nothing. So I called again, same conversation, still nothing.

So here we are 10 days later, and despite more calls and more e-mails, they still haven't bothered to get back to me. The fact that their unit has lasted only 6 months is bad enough, but for them to completely ignore their customers is even worse. Unfortunately since having this trouble, I've looked online for ways to push Kobo into doing something, but it appears lots and lots of people have experienced the same issues with them.

Now, I am lucky because I bought my unit online from WHSmith who are a pretty decent company. I sent them and e-mail with details of my e-mails to Kobo, telephone calls etc and they have promised to send me out a new Kobo as soon as they receive the broken one. This is not standard practice, so respect to them for sorting it out.

If it wasn't for the fact that my wife already has a number of books on her Kobo account, I would probably have just bitten the bullet and bought her a Kindle. I wish I had done this from the beginning.

Bought my wife one of these things for Christmas in 2012. Ever since there have been a number of problems with pages turning and keeps rebooting itself. My wife suffered all this because she liked the idea of the unit in general, and when it worked, it worked well.

However, 6 months in and it has given up the ghost completely. It will not turn on, it will not charge, it's completely dead. Unfortunately this was only the beginning of the problems...

Kobo Customer Service is probably the worst I have ever to deal with. Initially you call them, they send you an e-mail asking you to detail the issues you are having. Then they are meant to get back to you to let you know what the next step will be.

The problem is, they NEVER get back to you. I sent my e-mail and 24 hours later, nothing. So I sent an e-mail asking when it would be resolved. 24 hours later, nothing. So I sent another, with stronger wording. 24 hours later, still nothing. So I called them and was told someone would get back to me. Nothing. So I called again, same conversation, still nothing.

So here we are 10 days later, and despite more calls and more e-mails, they still haven't bothered to get back to me. The fact that their unit has lasted only 6 months is bad enough, but for them to completely ignore their customers is even worse. Unfortunately since having this trouble, I've looked online for ways to push Kobo into doing something, but it appears lots and lots of people have experienced the same issues with them.

Now, I am lucky because I bought my unit online from WHSmith who are a pretty decent company. I sent them and e-mail with details of my e-mails to Kobo, telephone calls etc and they have promised to send me out a new Kobo as soon as they receive the broken one. This is not standard practice, so respect to them for sorting it out.

If it wasn't for the fact that my wife already has a number of books on her Kobo account, I would probably have just bitten the bullet and bought her a Kindle. I wish I had done this from the beginning.

I can't really say anything nice about this product. It broke down within a month of buying it and I had to deal with their customer service which is a pain to say the least. They finally sent us a replacement Kobo which turned out to be a refurbished unit. This unit also did not work. We are frustrated and will never buy another Kobo product.

I love reading novels and I was running out of room on my bookshelf and floor as I had too many books. My mate suggested I get a Kindle but I was not keen on spending over a £100 for it. Whilst in WHS Smith looking for another novel, I came across a Kobo eReader Touch, I had never heard of it. It was like a cheaper version on the Kindle, it was touch screen, with WiFi. I could also choose from different colours and it was only £69.99. I bought it as I thought I would give it a try. It was so easy to set up and I started downloading my books. Some of the books were free which was good. I found it easy to use and very light. I carry it everywhere I go. I would recommend every reader to get one. They are brilliant! Love it, Love it, Love it!!

I've been waiting ages for the kindle touch, I can't stand the buttons on a normal kindle as the interface was so clumsy to me.

Well the amazon kindle touch finally arrived at £129 in currys, yes I was a little impressed but not a lot it felt too big, cheap, the touch screen lags and the general interface to me isn't well designed and I found the £129 expensive.

Same day I walked into staples in glasgow, spotted a "kobo touch", I'd never heard of Kobo let alone seen the Kobo touch. £79, yes £79 so I asked if I could try it, manager did his best to plug it in but didn't have a suitable adaptor.

So I asked them if I bought it if I could return it after trying it, as in open it, play with it and take it back if I'm not happy, and to my amazement the manager in staples said yes. (curry's and PC world would tell me to get on my bike)

Well I bought it there and then, and all I can say is it's a fantastic piece of kit, well designed, brilliant touch screen compared to the kindle. It's smaller and feels much nicer than the kindle.

I'm a picky gadget freak so if I'm impressed by it, chances are so will you. The screen is brilliant to read from, much easier than my andriod tablets.

Kobos online store is pretty good good, but personally I download the free books they have and I also load up normal PDF books and other docs as it displays them all.

The wee kobo even has a web browser, e-books aren't designed for browsing but what an ace little addition anyway as it works well given the display style

I've started reading again thanks to this.

A decent product. In size an appearance similar to Kindle. I chose Kobe because I read that the format of the books is an industry standard so not tied to Kobo as Kindle is tied to Amazon. Not yet found if I can load non Kobo eBooks. Beware in the UK eBooks carry 20% VAT, whereas paper books are zero rated. There are on-line petitions against this

I had an occasion to ring the Kobo support freephone number and got switched through to a US call centre. This service was very good.

BUT be careful where you buy. I stupidly bought at a WH Smith shop in Heathrow. £109.99 whereas at any other store, including ordinary WH Smith price is around £79., A 37% mark-up.