Barnes & Noble apologizes for ‘serious network issue’ after days-long Nook disruptions

By Steven Melendez

After users reported issues with Nook e-reader book access for days, with Barnes & Noble saying Monday that a “system failure” was interrupting access to content for some users, the bookstore chain said Wednesday that access to the system should be restored “shortly.”

Some of the chain’s brick-and-mortar stores also reportedly had issues processing customer orders due to the issue, the website Good E-Reader reported Monday. And some customers also had trouble accessing their accounts on the Barnes & Noble website, PublishersLunch reported.

“We have a serious network issue and are in the process of restoring our server backups,” the company said in a statement shared with Fast Company Wednesday. “Our systems are back online in our stores and on BN.com, and we are investigating the cause. Please be assured that there is no compromise of customer payment details, which are encrypted and tokenized.”

The company also apologized for delays in restoring Nook services in a Facebook post Wednesday.

The outage came at perhaps a particularly awkward time for the bookstore chain, as archrival Amazon offered discounts on Kindle e-readers and other products during its annual Prime Day sale.

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