I visited your site to day to buy three books. After several hours of chat sessions, I see why you are having trouble competing with Amazon:
Me: I have $50 worth of books sitting in my cart, stuck there for eternity, I guess, because your software says the address I’ve used at B&N for years is suddenly an APO address.
First Chat Agent: Cancel the order and re-enter it and everything will be fine.
Me: I did what the first agent suggested and everything isn’t fine.
Second Chat Agent: Clear your cache, delete cookies, and change browsers.
Me: I did everything the previous agents suggested, and things aren’t fine.
Third Chat Agent: Can I look at your cart?
Me: Sure.
Agent: Is this the shipping address you always use?
Me: Yes.
Agent: Things appear to be fucked up.
Me: (After Agent Three suddenly disappeared.) Hi agent four, can you fix this mess?
Agent Four: May I kindly take 3-5 minutes to look at your cart.
Me: Sure. It’s only taken 90 minutes so far, so have at it.
Agent Four: I apologize for the fact that some of the information on our website is inaccurate.
Me: Which information?
Agent Four: Is there anything else I can hel you with?
Me: Apparently not.
I signed off CHAT and found an e-mail message in my inbox. “Hi, Malcolm, the following items have shipped.” What a frustrating experience. Maybe I’ll go back to Amazon .
