Amazon support drops the ball - again
If you make a product which isn’t very durable, in my opinion as a company you should stand behind it and replace it when it breaks. We have read a lot of stories here about how Amazon did replace a bunch of broken kindles, but it turns out they don’t always. Adding to my original story (which spawned this blog), I share with you this reader story:
Sorry to bring you the sad news: My Kindle 3G died – RIP. It was delivered on the 10th Nov 2010 and it died on the 15th Dec 2011. During its short life of 13 months it was well looked after, never being put squeezed in bags, pockets, never dropped on the floor, never smacked or punched. Even in its death its look is perfect – no scratches, the whole screen picture is clear, no messed – up lines, no grey or white coloured danger zones. This is the reason I did not send you a photo of my Kindle – its exterior is like new. For 150 British pounds I paid 13 months ago it looks pretty impressive. I am glad that I can use it as picture on my wall to serve me as a reminder – never to buy something that would cost me over 50 pounds and to last for a bit over a year. As Bob said in his story “it is not worth it”.
The reason the Kindle in question is just a picture perfect now is that the power on/off switch does not work. Actually it does move to the right, it slides back to the left, there is a solid green or a flashing green light coming out (beautiful colour green I must admit) but it does stay switched on for 5 seconds only and back to the left to its death. I trudged the net for days, followed all the advice (15, 50, 60 seconds rule and so on) there to reset / reboot it but to no avail. The Amazon customer service (mostly highly praised on the net) asked me to pay another 50 pounds to get a replacement. I refused to pay on the grounds that as a new Kindle lasts for 13 months, I could not decide on the durability of a reconditioned replacement. The Amazon people seem quite brazen in their attitude if a technical fault occurs outside the 1 year warranty. They seem to think that it is reasonable to expect a Kindle to last for a year.
In my circle of friends four of them had some Kindle problems. However, when you read the Kindle links on the net they mostly smell of roses and violets. So I was glad when I came across your blog. The more people know about the Kindle problems the better they will be informed to make the right choice.
Thank you, guys, for being here to share my grievances with you.
XXXXX
It’s like deja vu for me. It is a shame that even now in 2011, with the zillions of data points about past Kindles breaking in this fashion, Amazon still tries to nickel and dime their customers.
At least with this blog we have a way to share these stories with a broader audience. As always, if you have an amazon horror story, just send it to brokenkindle@gmail.com. Also, if an Amazon employee is reading this, if you email me I’ll forward the complaint of the above customer so you can make it right and replace her Kindle.
