Senior Citizen vs. ‘The Nook’
By Judith Hunter, Lakewood
Black Friday 2012, I score 30% off The Nook just in time for an upcoming trip. Two days later, I open the box and read the directions. It says to charge my Nook! Ok…I can do that.
After an overnight charge, it asks me to connect to a Wi-Fi network. I ask my friends what a Wi-Fi is and nobody knows. One person thinks it may have to do with a wireless connection. Ok.
My wireless connection hasn’t worked since last February when the negative wire to my house broke damaging $6,000 of equipment, however I did get a new box from Comcast but it required a smaller receptacle and would not hook up to my Link system. At that time I had decided to do without!
I drove to Comcast on 6th Ave which took about 20 minutes. There I waited in line for an hour and a half with my Link system cord in hand to get one that would fit the new box. I was smug as I finally walked up to the customer service rep keeping my temper in check. I told her my dilemma and she said they didn’t make any other cord and to go home and try it again.
I returned home twenty minutes later and it still did not fit even when I tried to jam it several times into the receptacle.
The next day I unhooked the black box and took it with the cord back down to Comcast, another 20 minute drive. There, I only waited an hour and 15 minutes! Joy, oh joy! I was given a new box with Wi-Fi already in it. I came home, plugged everything in and it still didn’t work! I called Comcast and after a long wait they manage to hook everything up…except the phone! I decide to do without the phone and deal with it the next day!
The next morning I pick up the phone and it is still not working. I decide to go for my morning walk and deal with it when I get back. The phone works upon my return. I am good to go!!!
I plug in the Nook…it asks for a wireless password! After trying everything I can possibly think of…I call Comcast. After waiting on the phone for 40 minutes, I am disconnected! I decide to wait for another day.
The following morning, I call Comcast again. I then wait on hold for an hour, sighing and refusing to give up and let the system beat me! I would rather be flogged!
Comcast answers and yes, they can help me with a password …Yippee!
Hook up the Nook…it asks for a Barnes and Nobel account number. I don’t think I have one so I go to the closest store and the Nook rep plugs in the information only to find I DO have an account. Did I remember my password? I could barely remember my own name at that point but I tried a couple of old passwords and none of them worked. He told me I would have to change my password from my home computer as they couldn’t do it from the store. I go home again!
I start up the computer and connect to BN.com. It asks me, “Have you forgotten your password? “Yes…click this link.” I click the link to change my password and it tells me there is no one associated with that account. I try it again and am notified that I already have an account and I can’t have two accounts! After trying a third time with no results, I call Barnes and Noble. After a wait of 15 minutes I get a person on the other end. “I can help you” she said….”I will send you a link to change your password”! I said I had already done that and she told me to try it again and she would stay on the phone with me until I was successful. This time, success!
Good to go again!
I get as far as the second page in the “Quick Guide.” I can’t go any farther as it keeps taking me back to the first page again. I quit for the time being! Maybe I need to get the micro SD memory card it asks for in the booklet. I go to the nearest store, Walgreens, and pick up a universal memory card…it doesn’t fit! I take it back!
I return to Barnes and Noble. I am told I don’t need a memory chip as I can download over 2000 books without it. I ask for the shield to protect it and they tell me I don’t need it if I get a case to store it in. I pick out a case…$39.00. She tells me I am registered with Barnes and Noble and shows me how to work the Nook….I am good to go! I will try it another day to see if I have any luck!
The next day I buy 3 new books at Costco…much easier than failing with The Nook!”
Downloaded my first book….Score.
Wow, you are one patient person!
Good early morning laugh! I have frequented some of those same places and talked to some of the same people on the phone and online. It must be a multiplying breed. So that’s what they mean by a virus!
Wow, you’re certainly a patient person! I’d have been pulling out my hair… or someone else’s. I hope your Nook troubles are behind you; as an avid e-reader I can attest to the great convenience of using a Nook or Kindle device. They’re great! I love the scalable fonts because my eyes aren’t what they used to be. And don’t forget, your local Pierce County Library offers FREE downloads, just like checking out a real book. Enjoy!
Thanks all! Glad you enjoyed my story!
I’ve had a similar problem trying to set up wi fi with an Apple tablet. It was so frustrating that in the end I returned the tablet, the router the other stuff I was talked into getting to make it work. After that experience it dawned on me that if they sold TVs back in the 1950s the way they sell these devices, they would have given us a picture tube, a chassis, some wires and an aerial, and told to have at it. If consumers insisted now that they won’t pay for these devices until the company that sells them has them up and running, we could end this nonsense.
You are a patient person! I’ve been in the Comcast lines before and know how frustrating passwords and internet connections can be. No more “good old days” in a high tech world.
Great story, Judy. I don’t think there is a soul alive without such a “wire-less” story. Whoever said that our new faster-than-light technology makes our workload easier and life better???