Anne Marie keeps getting notifications in her e-mail inbox about the content she just downloaded to her Nook. Which is weird, because she doesn’t have a Nook. Or a Barnes & Noble account. Stranger still, there’s no clear link between Anne Marie and the device’s owner.

One of the privileges (or burdens) of being an early adopter of a new e-mail service is that you get everyone else’s mail, with no way to pass it on. (There’s a really excellent blog on this subject.) Usually that’s what happens to readers who are stuck with someone else’s mail. That isn’t what happened here. Anne Marie’s e-mail address is based on her name, and the Nook owner’s name doesn’t resemble hers at all.

I thought I’d share something odd and frustrating that just happened to me. I started getting emails of receipts for Nook downloads even though I don’t have one. At first I ignored it but they kept on coming so I tried logging in to Barnes and Noble’s website. My email and password didn’t work and the reset button required the last four digits of your credit card. When I entered them, I was told they didn’t match.

I called the help line and they said that they would block the account from downloading anything more and put a note in the system asking the Nook’s owner to call them but in the meantime, I would not be able to have a B&N account online under my email address. They suggested that maybe she had accidentally used my email when registering (her name is Casey and my username is a version of Anne Marie…).

A few days later, the downloads started again so I called back. This person had managed to change [the] account [associated with my e-mail address] to the point that I can’t get into it and is using it to download stuff onto her Nook. When I asked why she or I was never asked to confirm who owned the email address to register the Nook, I was told that you don’t have to
confirm you own the email you give to them because “Why would anyone do this?”

I’m stuck now because I can’t prove anything other than that it’s my email because she changed the account details and they can’t reach her unless she calls in.

Usually the best companies can offer in this situation is to tell you to set up e-mail filters that delete everything they send you. Maybe someday the mysterious Casey will figure out that her or his e-mail receipts were supposed to show up and never did. Maybe.

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