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Kindle Repairs: Where do you go?
Posted by P. Rad in Thoughts on 12 3rd, 2008 | 3 responses>

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So I was one of the guys who bought two Kindles when the device came out. I wanted one to be for reading purposes and another one to give away as a present. Let’s say things didn’t work out the way I expected and I had to keep the second Kindle too. Boy that was the right decision. My first Kindle stopped functioning properly a couple of months ago, and like any buyer I assumed that Amazon would have a repair service for Kindle. To my surprise, the Amazon folks told me that there was no such service or repair facility.

I took it upon myself to repair my Kindle by myself. I used a repair guide to help me through the way. In the end, I ended up having to recycle my old Kindle (I broke the screen by accident). But here is the moral of the story. It would be unthinkable for a company such as Amazon to not repair their own product. I would even take a $100 discount to trade my old Kindle in for a new one (or for a few books). Can you imagine Apple not providing support for the iPhone? It’s unthinkable.

Your take: as good as Amazon is in taking care of their customers, is it logical to pay $350 fee for a device that won’t be supported once broken? What would you do if your Kindle stopped functioning properly?

3 Comments »

avatar December 3rd, 2008 Karen Says:

There is a one year warranty - and most people got any malfunction replaced for free the first year (they received a new or refurb unit), even people that dropped them or ran over them with cars. You could also purchase insurance (if bought within 30 days) specific to the Kindle or add it to your home policy.

The problem is that at $300, it often simply isn’t feasible to fix electronics anymore, other than swapping out a battery or another simple fix. It’s especially a problem on sealed boxes (the Kindle can at least be opened). And your experience with the screen shows one reason they don’t really try (having been charged to replace a laptop screen that was broken by the repair service, they often have you over a barrel once it’s broken, as they have your unit and essentially hold it for ransom). I suspect they don’t even repair broken ones returned under warranty, just test and either resell as a refurb or toss into a recycle bin.

avatar January 1st, 2009 michael hamson Says:

I live in Australia. My Amazon kindle screen broke in my suitcase and I wish ti have it repaired. What do I do please. It is six months old. Thank you.

avatar January 1st, 2009 P. Rad Says:

@Michael:

Sorry to hear that. You really have 2 option. One option is to find a broken Kindle and repair it yourself. But really, if your Kindle is only 6 months old, you are better off contacting the guys at Amazon and asking to take care of it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/kindle-help.html

Where did you buy your Kindle from?

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