Ask HN: Pre-ordered an ebook. No updates for 2 years and author is ignoring me

#1

Post by fjahr » Tue, Oct 11, 2016, 12:49 PM UTC

I pre-ordered an ebook on a (rather niche) software development topic about 3 years ago and it was not cheap. I was eager to receive the first version of the book but never did. The last update mail I received from the author is 2 years old now and he claimed that "the book is going nicely" and he would "send some updates soon". Over the past 3 months I have tried to reach the author multiple times by e-mail and through Twitter. Yesterday I also tried LinkedIn but it seems like the author is ignoring me. Through his social profiles I can clearly see he is very much alive.

What would you do in my situation? Obviously the lack of communication and ignoring my messages is what is bothering me the most.

Re: Ask HN: Pre-ordered an ebook. No updates for 2 years and author is ignoring me

#2

Post by bogomipz » Tue, Oct 11, 2016, 1:00 PM UTC

If you went through a market place like Gumroad or Leanpub they have policies and you should be able to get your money back. You could always name and shame them if they are really refusing to speak to you and refusing to fulfill their obligation in the business arrangement. Obviously this option should be considered only if there is no other recourse.

You might be doing others a favor in avoiding purchasing books from this individual in the future.

Also I would say get your credit card company, PayPal or however you purchased the book as this is fraudulent behavior.

Re: Ask HN: Pre-ordered an ebook. No updates for 2 years and author is ignoring me

#3

Post by fjahr » Tue, Oct 11, 2016, 3:28 PM UTC

bogomipz wrote: post #2

If you went through a market place like Gumroad or Leanpub they have policies and you should be able to get your money back. You could always name and shame them if they are really refusing to speak to you and refusing to fulfill their obligation in the business arrangement. Obviously this option should be considered only if there is no other recourse. You might be doing others a favor in avoiding purchasing books fr…

Unfortunately I did not purchase through a marketplace, back then I think they were less of a standard.

Thanks for your opinion! I will consider "shaming" him if he keeps ignoring me for another 2 weeks and report him to paypal.