As most of us know, Borders is in trouble. For one thing, Borders has “delayed” payments to publishers and other suppliers. I leave it to you to imagine what that is going to do to the company’s ability to resupply.
Borders’ problems are publishers and authors’ problems. If Borders closes up shop, there will be hundreds of fewer bookstores to help get our books into the hands of readers (buyers!). I knew an old printer once who told me, “Once a business starts to go south, it continues going south.” I think the following e-mail may be an example of this.
This is a for-real Borders e-mail. I assume all or much of it is boilerplate. I had e-mailed asking what my Borders account info was.
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for contacting Borders regarding your account inquiry,
As we processed your request using your email account, It shows that you already registered on Borders rewards member.
However, kindly give us the following information for we to processed your request.
Card # 89066xxxxx
User name:
First name:
Last name:
Zip code:
Address:
I hope that this can be helpful to you. For further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-800-770-7811, or email us at
www.Borders.com
Sincerely,
Borders Customer Care
www.Borders.com
The only thing I changed is the account number. Maybe this isn’t boilerplate. Maybe Borders outsourced their customer service to the underbidder in war-torn Somalia. Either way, it isn’t reassuring.
Perhaps we can look for independent bookstores to make a come back?
Just a write thought.