Last week I traded in a few pieces of camera equipment for the new Kindle to really see if I could just whip through books at lightning speed and to my surprise, after about 2 days of use, I managed to mess up the screen. I am in the middle of doing an in depth review of the Kindle 2 that I will post at a later date, but after having the Kindle 2 for about 2 days, I seems that the screen on the Kindle 2 was damaged beyond a simple fix. The reason for this post was really to show what the customer service representative at Amazon did to fix the problem.
For those who don’t know, I really missed my calling in life to be a product tester. No matter what the product, I can an uncanny way of being able to break the unbreakable and find problems or issues that manufactures somehow seem to miss. I was told that the Kindle 2 was tested for durability and could withstand a drop from a two story building, but 2 days in my backpack managed to screw up the top of the screen.
Once I went through the normal troubleshooting that I knew how to do, I called the customer service number for the Kindle. She walked me through a few other tests, had me “reboot” the system (you can hold the power slider over for 20 seconds and that will initiate a reboot on the Kindle 2). After that (all of which took about 2 minutes total) Amazon told me they would just ship me a new one overnight. No questions asked, they just shipped me a new one. They paid for the shipping to return the old one, and I transferred all my book from the old kindle to the new kindle. It was easy as it possibly could have been.
As for what I did to the Kindle, I have no idea. I did put it in my backpack (in its own case) and perhaps to much pressure what applied to the top of the screen somewhere. I am not sure about the 2 story drop, didn’t try that, but I will be a little more careful with it in the future regardless. I was totally and completely thrilled with Amazon’s customer service on the kindle.
That doesn’t really have anything to do with the practicalities of the Kindle, that will come later, but as far as their customer service goes, it was great. Having also sold on Amazon for years, I can say that all of Amazon’s customers service is geared towards their buying customers (as opposed to their sellers) and they will bend over backwards to provide the best service they can.
You can see the screen issue on the photos below. It covers about an inch from the top with a blank line of gray going across the screen with a slash in the upper left corner. The last two shots are what the screen shot from the damaged kindle looks like (so it is seeing everything correctly under the screen issue) and what the new one looked like when it arrived.
Update May 21, 2010
I thought I would update this post with a few comments since it is still one of the most read posts on my blog. As some have suggested, my Kindle was NOT dropped. I simply put it in my backpack, which also wasn’t dropped, and took it out an hour later and it showed up with the damaged screen.
I did get a free replacement from Amazon, but I returned the replacement within a week for a refund (see my review A Not-So-Normal Kindle 2 Review for my reasons), but one major reason was I knew the “free screen replacement” was only going to last a short time, and it was a one time shot. Amazon did replace the damaged screen, but they said they weren’t going to do it again. Looking back now, more than a year later, it was the best decision and I am not super happy with my iPad.
Update February 12, 2011
As this post still gets heavy traffic and questions, I will say after using and testing the Apple iPad since it came out, I have never had a better ebook reader than the iPad and I am looking forward to seeing the new iPad 2 some time around April. The Kindle App for the iPad is one of the ebook reader apps I use, and although not my favorite, I do use it frequently.
The problem I still have with the Kindle is you basically can’t do anything else with it other than read a book. I can type out notes and highlights in my Kindle app on the iPad and it works great. The one great thing Amazon has done for the Kindle is continue to lower it’s price, but if you have an iPad I’m not sure what use one would have for the Kindle.
48 responses to “Damaged or Defective Kindle 2 Screen Failure :: Photos”
I am waiting for my second replacement of my kindle 2 – supposed to be here tomorrow. Got my original in march ’11 screen issues should up in august rec’d replacement beginning of September. screen issues showed up on Saturday. While talking to the CSR at Amazon I stated that it seemed to me that there is something wrong with the kindles to have this happen twice, and he told me I would drive myself crazy trying to figure it out and that I would have my new kindle by Tuesday. I’m not sure I even want a kindle anymore if this is going to keep happening what happens when my warranty runs out. But this was a gift and it’s to late for my Mom to get her money back. My mom has had a first generation for years and never had a problem. It’s great the Amazon has such good customer service but it would be even better if I didn’t have to contact them.
I got my first Kindle as a gift last April. Within 2 months the screen was scrambled. Amazon customer service was great and I received a new Kindle. Here it is Oct and I was in the middle of a good book when my screen scrambles again. After working with customer service I’m waiting for my 3rd Kindle which is due in a few days. My problem is once the 1 year warranty is up what happens when the screen scrambles? Customer Service probably won’t be as nice and I will probably be responsible for the repair. This seems to be a defect with the Kindle that needs to be corrected.
I bought two kindles for Christmas for my 15 and 10 year girls. They love to read and I bought them both hard cases for the kindles. They have replaces multiple times. The reps at Amazon have been great until the original kindle was a year old. Then the warranty was out and they told me I would have to purchase a new one for the girls. The kindles were never dropped, that I know of. They are used daily and in purses and backpacks. But why should I have to buy a kindle, I would think that they should last a year. I am not going to buy a new Kindle, it will be a Nook.
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I’ve now had two Kindles with this same issue. Amazon replaced my first one that did this, but the second time I was out of warranty and I’ll have to buy my replacement. When I mentioned that this seemed to be a defect, the customer care rep I spoke with said, “It’s like buying a Mitsubishi, knowing they have transmission problems.” I told her if I’d bought two Mistubishis and both had had transmission problems, I would be buying a Honda next. (Switching to the iPad sounds pretty good right now.)
She also told me that the issue is in transporting the device– that the screen can’t handle the pressure of being in a bag with anything that could cause pressure, even (perhaps especially) if it has a case. That explains your bookbag problem. She told me I should only carry a Kindle in my hand. Seriously.
Anyway, thanks for your post. I’m currently waging a war against Amazon for the Kindle product, if anyone wants to join me! @amyvdixon