TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

I’ve been wondering the same thing. I’ve ordered many books from them over the years — glacially slow, but always reliable. I ordered something from them on July 9th and got a confirmation email. Their Google cache is as recent as July 23rd.

My sympathies, Roderick and Rolf. I’d encourage both of you to return to this comment here–this exact spot–and keep us posted on your efforts. Publishers and readers used the TeleBlog as a watering hole to discuss the mess at eBookAd, and I invite them to do the same to discuss the current ones. Best of luck. David

Please note that Elibron’s site is back on line as of this posting.

Well, I have personally bad experiences with Elibron. They sent me a score with pages missing. And, as always, I got no answers to my emails.
Still, silly of me, I made another order few months ago. I have got no confirmation email though the order is visible in my “account” page. And, of course, the goods I ordered have not arrived.
I suggest everybody avoid Elibron. It’s no good.

It seems I am one more victim of Elibron. Having paid for a book over three months ago, quickly got a message from them telling me they would dispatch it within a few days and never heard from them any more. They ignore messages, do not refund the cash I have paid and do not deliver the book. So, fellows, the second best* thing to do is to help other people staying away from them. Best luck next time with a reliable seller.

* The first best thing is having them responsible for cheating people. Should anyone learn how to accomplish this, please tell us.

There is a sliver of hope that all is not lost. After waiting for full 6 months and not getting any response from the company, I filed a complaint with Better Business Bureau. Books arrived quickly thereafter. I don’t know if it’s serendipity. BBB has not heard back from them either. I wish Elibron would survire despite such a poor reputation, because of simply what they can offer. But the act needs to be cleaned up!

So……. here’s the Address for the BBB in MA.

http://WWW.bosbbb.org
email: info@bosbbb.org
Phone; 508-652-4800
235 W central st, Ste1
Natick MA 01760-3767

13th December - noticed last night the Elibron site was live, this morning my book arrived!!!!

On October 30 order status changed to “shipped” via USPS Economy M-Bag, but the tracking number was not informed. Three months past, no book. Customer service continues non existent. I tried USPS: they were very kind but told me that, in the absence of the tracking number, nothing could be done. A few days later, I tried BBB, following GD’s advice. Again, I was treated very kindly … and the case was immediately closed! I asked for an explanation, and that was promptly given: BBB let me know that Elibron (which is their database) refuses to take any message from them. Next step ? Any suggestion ? I believe that the least we all can do about this is to spread these news so as to help other potential victims to fall into this trap.

Do not ever deal with Elibron - if not actually dishonest they must be totally incompetent. I ordered about $300 of 8 facsimile books in August 2006 - paying a premium for priority mail delivery because they were for a research project. Received promise that they would be sent within 29 business days.

In November started sending emails. No replies until early December, when they charged my credit card account, stating that the books had been sent. This was a great example of Sod’s law because, in frustration, I had ordered the books from Amazon about three days beforehand. The Amazon books arrived before Xmas 2006. The Elibron books did not arrive until late January (turned out they were not posted when Elbron said they were) - AND ONLY 6 OF THE 8 BOOKS ORDERED WERE IN THE PARCEL! Repeated emails elicited no response. The matter is now in the hands of my credit card company.

DO NOT EVER DEAL WITH ELIBRON - THEY ARE DREADFUL

I placed an order yesterday and tried to phone to confirm the order as it is quite urgent. The phoneline is disconnected. I now see the Adamant address, 50 Cutler Lane is on sale for $2,000,000. Its not looking good.

I served as website editor and music consultant at Elibron’s American offices from 2000-2002.

Elibron (a.k.a. “Adamant Media”) was the brainchild of Russian entrepreneur Andrei Volgin. He envisioned a series of kiosks (in malls, coffee shops, etc.) where one could order a book printed on demand as one might order a chai latte. It sounded, and sounds, like a delightful idea.

Of course, very little came of the notion. The digitization project in Moscow proceeded smoothly if a bit indiscriminately (as I saw during a trip there in 2000). During my brief tenure, I doubt if we sold even a hundred books. Never once did I see the site advertised. A planned pilot kiosk in Boston came to naught.

Funding problems led to the termination of my employment in mid-2002, at which point Volgin told me he believed the company would probably be sold. I have no idea what happened after that.

is the elibron thread still active? i really, really, really want some books elibron publishes. 3 to be exact. i don’t give my c.card details via the internet. i telephone the seller direct..i’d rather pay my dime to talk, than risk a stolen number via a hacker.

anyhow..IS elibron still in business? has anyone ever found out how to access them? i submitted a query to them via their contact/feedback form about 3 days ago. should i stop holding my breath? will they ever reply? they do carrry some very unique titles..i really hope they have not gone out of business.

if anyone knows anything, anyway to contact elibron pls let me know.
put elibron in the subject line..i get loads of spam..i’m fast on the delete button.

roslyn
quest_of_rachel@hotmail.com

Okay, so elibron is obviously not a reliable source. But many of us still need what they offer. Is there another supplier we can use?

What a relief to see so many people saying the same things about elibron.com—I too ordered a score from them in July, gave my credit card number etc. and got a confirmation. I really wanted this score, and their price was more than reasonable. But no book, no explanation, no answers. You can see this is a year after the last post on this thread. I went to find the score elsewhere—a rental I will have to photocopy: I guess this means my elibron order will arrive any moment now.

OK, my turn! Four scores and twenty-eight days I ordered some music from Elibron, now asking whether that company or any other company will ever endure and deliver those scores! Is they is or is they ain’t is business?

O come now, Chris! Surely you know that my comments are really a play on words and not to be taken literally! While you may think it in bad taste, I was using the opening of the Gettysburg address as a basis for expressing my complaint about Elibron. I have ordered four piano quintets, that is “four scores,” (not four “score” as in the Lincoln address} and Elibron said that they would deliver them in “28 days.” I am aware that a “score” is twenty. I was using “score” in the musical sense, not the numerical sense.
My first sentence is derived from the opening sentence of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. Check it out!
The second sentence is based on lyrics from an old “pop” tune. Check that out, too.

As of December, 2008, the ELIBRON website is down and the ADAMANT MEDIA telephone number has been disconnected. No further information is available as to when these sites will be operational. Anybody who has an order through the system is advised to contact heir bank and reverse the charge.