# Kobo Aura H20 not compatible with Windows 10????



## DD

My new Kobo Aura H20 arrived today.  When I hooked it up to my laptop via the provided micro USB cable, it shows as a drive in File Explorer but I get a message that I have to insert a disk in the drive.  It is not recognized by Adobe Digital Editions or Calibre and I can't load books to the reader via my computer.  I called customer service and was informed that the reader is not compatible with Windows 10.  There was no mention of this on the Kobo store website where I purchased it.  I'm asking for a complete refund.

Has anyone else found this to be true?  Is the Customer Service rep correct, it's not compatible with Windows 10?  I find that hard to believe. I was willing to try a replacement thinking it was just a bad unit.  But he said no, its a compatibility issue.

BTW, Kobo Customer Service is NOT Amazon!  They're making me jump through hoops, sending pictures of the front, back, and usb connection and the receipt.  I still don't have a decision from up above about a refund.

Not a good experience!


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## Jill Nojack

DD said:


> My new Kobo Aura H20 arrived today. When I hooked it up to my laptop via the provided micro USB cable, it shows as a drive in File Explorer but I get a message that I have to insert a disk in the drive. It is not recognized by Adobe Digital Editions or Calibre and I can't load books to the reader via my computer. I called customer service and was informed that the reader is not compatible with Windows 10. There was no mention of this on the Kobo store website where I purchased it. I'm asking for a complete refund.
> 
> Has anyone else found this to be true? Is the Customer Service rep correct, it's not compatible with Windows 10? I find that hard to believe. I was willing to try a replacement thinking it was just a bad unit. But he said no, its a compatibility issue.
> 
> BTW, Kobo Customer Service is NOT Amazon! They're making me jump through hoops, sending pictures of the front, back, and usb connection and the receipt. I still don't have a decision from up above about a refund.
> 
> Not a good experience!


There's a big thread about it here, and it's possible that restarting windows 10 several times and/or waiting for an update makes it work. Plenty of the people in the thread have their kobo devices working with it,and it, so it is definitely compatible:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=263579


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## Ann in Arlington

I guess it's my ignorance of Kobo devices showing, but why do you need a computer at all? Can't you send things wirelessly as you would with a Kindle? If not, I consider that a pretty major "con".  And yeah, it's worse if it doesn't even connect WIRED to the most current OS for non-Mac machines!


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## DD

DD said:


> My new Kobo Aura H20 arrived today. When I hooked it up to my laptop via the provided micro USB cable, it shows as a drive in File Explorer but I get a message that I have to insert a disk in the drive. It is not recognized by Adobe Digital Editions or Calibre and I can't load books to the reader via my computer. I called customer service and was informed that the reader is not compatible with Windows 10. There was no mention of this on the Kobo store website where I purchased it. I'm asking for a complete refund.
> 
> Has anyone else found this to be true? Is the Customer Service rep correct, it's not compatible with Windows 10? I find that hard to believe. I was willing to try a replacement thinking it was just a bad unit. But he said no, its a compatibility issue.
> 
> BTW, Kobo Customer Service is NOT Amazon! They're making me jump through hoops, sending pictures of the front, back, and usb connection and the receipt. I still don't have a decision from up above about a refund.
> 
> Not a good experience!


Update: After a week of back and forth with Kobo customer service, they finally agreed to take back this unit and refund my money. They contacted me yesterday saying it was a known Windows 10 problem and that Microsoft released a patch on Tuesday that would make the reader useable with Windows 10. The problem is, the patch was for the Anniversary Update edition of Windows 10 and I was not running that edition, as I informed them many times. I refuse to 'upgrade' to that edition just to be able to use the Kobo reader on my laptop. The Anniversary update has known glitches and I just don't need to deal with that.

This whole experience makes me really appreciate Amazon Customer Service even more!


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## Jill Nojack

DD said:


> Update: After a week of back and forth with Kobo customer service, they finally agreed to take back this unit and refund my money. They contacted me yesterday saying it was a known Windows 10 problem and that Microsoft released a patch on Tuesday that would make the reader useable with Windows 10. The problem is, the patch was for the Anniversary Update edition of Windows 10 and I was not running that edition, as I informed them many times. I refuse to 'upgrade' to that edition just to be able to use the Kobo reader on my laptop. The Anniversary update has known glitches and I just don't need to deal with that.
> 
> This whole experience makes me really appreciate Amazon Customer Service even more!


As a tech, I can tell you that when Windows patches break things, the companies aren't notified in advance. I work for a Fortune 500 company where we've had patches take down critical applications and it has taken days to get it back up an running even though we have captive machines and control what is installed on them. When external users of our website start to report problems on the site and we see a trend, it can takes weeks to get enough information to discover what causes the problem? Was it a Windows update? Was it an antivirus or firewall update? Which antivirus or firewall? A spy blocker? A browser update?

Then we have to find out if the company responsible is going to fix it or if we have to recode the website (a long-term prospect with getting it coded, passing QA testing, and scheduling for escalation to all of the servers (hundreds of them).

For a company that is dealing with dozens of possible configurations of Windows for external customers, they won't even know that there is a problem until customers start reporting it. Then they have to try to rule out all possible sources of the problem (beginning with their own software, which in this case was not to blame).

If a Windows update broke Kindle syncing, they would tell you the same thing - Microsoft put out a patch to fix it.

It's not a Kobo problem, and I don't think Amazon would be able to deal with it any better.


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## DD

Jill Nojack said:


> As a tech, I can tell you that when Windows patches break things, the companies aren't notified in advance. I work for a Fortune 500 company where we've had patches take down critical applications and it has taken days to get it back up an running even though we have captive machines and control what is installed on them. When external users of our website start to report problems on the site and we see a trend, it can takes weeks to get enough information to discover what causes the problem? Was it a Windows update? Was it an antivirus or firewall update? Which antivirus or firewall? A spy blocker? A browser update?
> 
> Then we have to find out if the company responsible is going to fix it or if we have to recode the website (a long-term prospect with getting it coded, passing QA testing, and scheduling for escalation to all of the servers (hundreds of them).
> 
> For a company that is dealing with dozens of possible configurations of Windows for external customers, they won't even know that there is a problem until customers start reporting it. Then they have to try to rule out all possible sources of the problem (beginning with their own software, which in this case was not to blame).
> 
> If a Windows update broke Kindle syncing, they would tell you the same thing - Microsoft put out a patch to fix it.
> 
> It's not a Kobo problem, and I don't think Amazon would be able to deal with it any better.


I don't really know if it was a Windows problem with my Kobo. It could have been a faulty unit. I would have to have upgraded to the Anniversary edition of Windows 10 and then applied the patch to find out. I chose not to do that because I've read about glitches in the 1607 build.

This reader did not work with Windows 7 or Vista either. So, I suspect it was the particular reader that had a problem.

My point about CS is that Amazon would never have put a customer through a week of waiting before they issued a refund.


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## Ann in Arlington

Jill Nojack said:


> As a tech, I can tell you that when Windows patches break things, the companies aren't notified in advance. I work for a Fortune 500 company where we've had patches take down critical applications and it has taken days to get it back up an running even though we have captive machines and control what is installed on them. When external users of our website start to report problems on the site and we see a trend, it can takes weeks to get enough information to discover what causes the problem? Was it a Windows update? Was it an antivirus or firewall update? Which antivirus or firewall? A spy blocker? A browser update?
> 
> Then we have to find out if the company responsible is going to fix it or if we have to recode the website (a long-term prospect with getting it coded, passing QA testing, and scheduling for escalation to all of the servers (hundreds of them).
> 
> For a company that is dealing with dozens of possible configurations of Windows for external customers, they won't even know that there is a problem until customers start reporting it. Then they have to try to rule out all possible sources of the problem (beginning with their own software, which in this case was not to blame).
> 
> If a Windows update broke Kindle syncing, they would tell you the same thing - Microsoft put out a patch to fix it.
> 
> It's not a Kobo problem, and I don't think Amazon would be able to deal with it any better.


I agree to the extent that Amazon wouldn't be able to fix it any more than Kobo could . . . . but if I call and say "I just bought a Kindle and it doesn't work with my Windows 10 machine so I can't use it," they'd say, "I'm sorry about that, we'll send you an email with a return label and when we get it we'll refund your money." I'd have had the refund in the amount of time it takes me to get the thing to UPS and for UPS to get it to Amazon.

Yes, they'd probably have me try a few things first, and would very likely talk about whether I could use it without ever having to connect it to a computer but, bottom line: one call and if I don't want it because it doesn't work completely as advertised, I'd have a refund just that quick. I doubt they'd even charge return shipping if the reason is that it does NOT connect to my computer.

All that said . . . . there _is_ apparently a similar issue with some versions of Win 10 and some Kindles and an ongoing discussion here in Lets Talk Kindle. My position is still that it doesn't affect me because I basically never connect my kindle to a computer.


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## Jill Nojack

Ann in Arlington said:


> I agree to the extent that Amazon wouldn't be able to fix it any more than Kobo could . . . . but if I call and say "I just bought a Kindle and it doesn't work with my Windows 10 machine so I can't use it," they'd say, "I'm sorry about that, we'll send you an email with a return label and when we get it we'll refund your money." I'd have had the refund in the amount of time it takes me to get the thing to UPS and for UPS to get it to Amazon.
> 
> Yes, they'd probably have me try a few things first, and would very likely talk about whether I could use it without ever having to connect it to a computer but, bottom line: one call and if I don't want it because it doesn't work completely as advertised, I'd have a refund just that quick. I doubt they'd even charge return shipping if the reason is that it does NOT connect to my computer.


I had pretty much the same experience with Amazon with my Kindle Fire HD from Amazon when I tried to return it. It wasn't holding a charge as long as advertised and it took nearly twice as long to charge it through USB as I was able to use it. I expected to get what I paid for since that was part of my decision on what tablet to buy, so I called wanting to return it. I was going to get my money back and get my second choice tablet. They said they would send me a charger free of charge and then if it still didn't hold a charge as long as I expected it to, they would take it back. They refused to take it back until I had tried the charger.

It still doesn't hold a charge as long as advertised, but with the faster wall charger, I could at least charge it in less than 8 hours or read with it plugged in, so I decided to keep it.

They now just send the charger with the tablets instead of selling it for an additional $15. I expect a lot of people had the same experience I did or they wouldn't have given up on the upsell. But since they knew the fix for people's dissatisfaction, they wouldn't take it back when I asked them.

And that one was Amazon's problem because they wanted the extra $15 instead of just including a charger that could do the job in the price of the unit.

There are plenty of people who have experiences with Amazon customer service that aren't stellar. That's not my only example, although it was plenty annoying at the time.

There is very little talk about Kobo on these forums, and I think they're an excellent company. I have never had a problem with them. There are a lot of people who talk about how great Amazon is. I think Kobo should get its chance, too.

Barnes and Noble? Whole other deal. Heh.


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## DD

Jill Nojack said:


> I had pretty much the same experience with Amazon with my Kindle Fire HD from Amazon when I tried to return it. It wasn't holding a charge as long as advertised and it took nearly twice as long to charge it through USB as I was able to use it. I expected to get what I paid for since that was part of my decision on what tablet to buy, so I called wanting to return it. I was going to get my money back and get my second choice tablet. They said they would send me a charger free of charge and then if it still didn't hold a charge as long as I expected it to, they would take it back. They refused to take it back until I had tried the charger.
> 
> It still doesn't hold a charge as long as advertised, but with the faster wall charger, I could at least charge it in less than 8 hours or read with it plugged in, so I decided to keep it.
> 
> They now just send the charger with the tablets instead of selling it for an additional $15. I expect a lot of people had the same experience I did or they wouldn't have given up on the upsell. But since they knew the fix for people's dissatisfaction, they wouldn't take it back when I asked them.
> 
> And that one was Amazon's problem because they wanted the extra $15 instead of just including a charger that could do the job in the price of the unit.
> 
> There are plenty of people who have experiences with Amazon customer service that aren't stellar. That's not my only example, although it was plenty annoying at the time.
> 
> There is very little talk about Kobo on these forums, and I think they're an excellent company. I have never had a problem with them. There are a lot of people who talk about how great Amazon is. I think Kobo should get its chance, too.
> 
> Barnes and Noble? Whole other deal. Heh.


Yes, I'm sure there are good and bad instances with every company. My experiences with Amazon on all products, not just the Kindle, have been very positive.

I'm very interested in trying the new Kobo Aura One. It sounds very cool. I'm just very hesitant to buy from Kobo after this experience. I wish they were sold in brick and mortar stores in the U.S so that I could try one 'in person'.


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## Jill Nojack

DD said:


> Yes, I'm sure there are good and bad instances with every company. My experiences with Amazon on all products, not just the Kindle, have been very positive.
> 
> I'm very interested in trying the new Kobo Aura One. It sounds very cool. I'm just very hesitant to buy from Kobo after this experience. I wish they were sold in brick and mortar stores in the U.S so that I could try one 'in person'.


Oh yes! I want one of those. Yes. Please.

Kobo does actually sell units through independent bookstores and has a link where you can search to see if there is one near you. However, they might not have any in stock or may have stopped selling them, so I would call first and check before making the trip.

https://www.kobo.com/indie#store-locator-block?utm_source=linkshare_us&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=linkshare_us&siteID=TnL5HPStwNw-UlNg0zGYasYngOmk5kLGuA


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