Kindle help - desperate!

trishasaffron

So I've just arrived on my hols in France with my kindle primed with books as usual, only this time I haven't brought any back up hard books. But a problem developed with the kindle on the plane. It got stuck on a single page at the end of the book I was reading and when I tried to close it the page went funny - half the page is normal and half is a fuzzy copy of the sticky page. I've rebooted it a dozen times and no change. Looked up kindle help and it just says to hold the off button for 20 seconds - which is what I've done a dozen times.

I'll go crazy if I can't get this sorted for my holiday reading!!

Ballyman

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it sounds like the screen is cracked on it and as such it's no more good. Same thing happened mine. On the plus side Amazon will replace it for you without any problems but it will take a few days.

trishasaffron

Argghhhh

Thanks Ballyman. Can the screen just spontaneously crack? It was just on my lap when this happened!!

hallelujajordan

trishasaffron wrote: »

So I've just arrived on my hols in France with my kindle primed with books as usual, only this time I haven't brought any back up hard books. But a problem developed with the kindle on the plane. It got stuck on a single page at the end of the book I was reading and when I tried to close it the page went funny - half the page is normal and half is a fuzzy copy of the sticky page. I've rebooted it a dozen times and no change. Looked up kindle help and it just says to hold the off button for 20 seconds - which is what I've done a dozen times.

I'll go crazy if I can't get this sorted for my holiday reading!!

Same thing happened to mine . . I rang Amazon and they told me that if it doesn't reboot it is pretty much dead !

Good news is that if it is still in warranty Amazon replacement service is excellent.

Ballyman

hallelujajordan wrote: »

Good news is that if it is still in warranty Amazon replacement service is excellent.

Even better news, mine was past warranty and Amazon still replaced it FOC!!

trishasaffron

thanks lads. So far Amazon won't replace - they say its out of warranty - I am furious as I have been their greatest booster in Ireland - dozens of friends and family have been converted as I convinced them kindle was the greatest thing since sliced pan (no - even better). Since regular online customer service are proving useless and I'm accessing through internet cafes not at home - do you have any advice on how to get up the line to make my point? Looks to me like this is a fundamental flaw in the device.

mcpaddington

trishasaffron wrote: »

thanks lads. So far Amazon won't replace - they say its out of warranty - I am furious as I have been their greatest booster in Ireland - dozens of friends and family have been converted as I convinced them kindle was the greatest thing since sliced pan (no - even better). Since regular online customer service are proving useless and I'm accessing through internet cafes not at home - do you have any advice on how to get up the line to make my point? Looks to me like this is a fundamental flaw in the device.

Tell them you believe the flaw developed when the kindle was passed through a metal detector.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-29/health/30450788_1_electronic-ink-gadgets-airport-scanner

DeSelby83

I came on here to post because I have the exact same problem as the OP, I used my kindle last week, fully charged it and turned it on tonight and the screen is partly blank and part stuck on the picture of agatha christie. I'm just past my warranty too so I'm hoping I'll get lucky and get a replacement otherwise I suppose it's fork out more money to amazon.

Edit: was talking to amazon and my warranty is out by 6 weeks and the will offer me a replacement at a saving of $15 from the price of a new one. so with the price of sending this one back and waiting on a new one there wont be much change left from the $15

trishasaffron

DeSelby83 wrote: »

I came on here to post because I have the exact same problem as the OP, I used my kindle last week, fully charged it and turned it on tonight and the screen is partly blank and part stuck on the picture of agatha christie. I'm just past my warranty too so I'm hoping I'll get lucky and get a replacement otherwise I suppose it's fork out more money to amazon.

Edit: was talking to amazon and my warranty is out by 6 weeks and the will offer me a replacement at a saving of $15 from the price of a new one. so with the price of sending this one back and waiting on a new one there wont be much change left from the $15

Sympathies! I hate that picture of Agatha Christie! Seriously I wonder if they are finding that their previous generous replacement policy is causing them problems - maybe there is some built in obsolescence in the device? I'd be interested in hearing anyone else's views?

I have raised it again with customer service and each time someone says I must have dropped it, squashed it, placed something on it..........Not at all! I was quietly reading on it - it got stuck and when I tried to restart it the fault happened - all the time it was resting on my lap.

ZENER

Might be an idea to ask over on the Biz/Consumer Issues forums. If the device failed without any force being inflicted there may be a case to seek replacement with your Consumer Rights or SOGASOS Act.

Basically it might be worth your while going back to the retailer and get them to replace it. Manufacturers provide a 1 year warranty but you Statutory Rights exceed this depending on the cost of the item, basically it goes on the lifetime you would reasonably expect from the product.

As I said post on the Consumer Issues forum for clarification.

Ken

trishasaffron

ZENER wrote: »

Might be an idea to ask over on the Biz/Consumer Issues forums. If the device failed without any force being inflicted there may be a case to seek replacement with your Consumer Rights or SOGASOS Act.

Basically it might be worth your while going back to the retailer and get them to replace it. Manufacturers provide a 1 year warranty but you Statutory Rights exceed this depending on the cost of the item, basically it goes on the lifetime you would reasonably expect from the product.

As I said post on the Consumer Issues forum for clarification.

Ken

HI

Just coming back on to update. Ken, the reason I didn't want to go the retailer route is that as far as I can see this is a fundamental fault in the kindle. Everyone I have spoken to in the last few weeks who owns a kindle has had this problem about the page splitting and for most of them it was nothing that they had done. Now because the product is relatively new to Ireland most of these people were in warranty and so got a free replacement. So in a way I was unlucky that my device broke after 18 months - if it had broken after 11 I'd have got a free replacement which might still be working.

I don't see how kindle can continue to keep this problem under wraps - I would think differently about paying c. €200 for a product that only had a life of about 12 months than if it was the long term product as I previously assumed.

I had multiple engagements with customer service by email and chat. Phone never seemed to work. Interesting they didn't want to explain the problem or respond to the evidence I had gathered that this was a very common event. In addition they were not prepared to make any concession or discount by email - only by chat or phone - I assume this was because it is more difficult to pass this on.

I did buy a replacement at a slightly discounted price but I feel this is a time bomb waiting to explode for kindle unless they have fixed this bug. Just to clarify again.................. I was just reading a page, it got stuck and when I tried to refresh the screen split - so no negligence on my part whatsoever.

juke

trishasaffron wrote: »

I don't see how kindle can continue to keep this problem under wraps - I would think differently about paying c. €200 for a product that only had a life of about 12 months than if it was the long term product as I previously assumed.

I find this interesting - because I haven't heard about this problem at all.

My kindle screen cracked - but I may have been at fault. My dads split - but that coincided with him disembarking from a plane and collecting luggage, and he thought he may have unintentionally squashed it. No-one else I know has had the problem with theirs.

I am not in any way suggesting it's not a known problem.

When talking to them on the phone, do they admit it's an issue? Do you think, is it defect with all kindles, or specific models only?

trishasaffron

juke wrote: »

When talking to them on the phone, do they admit it's an issue? Do you think, is it defect with all kindles, or specific models only?

I never got to talk on the phone - I tried but we seemed to have a problem hearing each other. In the end it was the only by the "chat" facility that I could communicate.

No they didn't admit there was a recognised problem and I don't think they will.................... which is what I was saying in my post - from the way the customer service staff interacted it was clear to me that they were instructed to avoid any recognition that it was a recognised problem.

Apart from all the personal anecdotes that surfaced when I was talking to friends about my problem there are many threads that show up on google for cracked screens.

I'd be interested to know if there are people using kindles for more than 2 years without running into a problem. Mine was 18 months old. Not aware of difference by model.