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Kindle 2 love affair, is it over due to an e-book problem?
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We purchase and read many books on the Amazon Kindle 2 on a regular basis. It has always been a seamless process that is quick and easy, as with most Kindle users, we’ve come to take it all for granted. That is until a nasty little glitch raised its ugly head. Here is our story:
We purchased a book on the Kindle 2, the title is unimportant to the story, but it was an Amazon Kindle book purchased from Amazon. It downloaded in less than a minute as normal and we were able to read it as soon as the download was complete. We were able to also download the same book to the iPhone and read it there as well. WhisperSync worked well and we were able to continue reading from the last page read on either device. Then trouble hit.
A few days later upon trying to open the book from the home screen of the Kindle 2 we couldn’t open the book and we received an error message. The book opened fine on the iPhone. The error message stated something to the effect that there has been an error and to correct the error we need to go to the “Managing Your Kindle” section of Amazon.com. We resent the book to the Kindle 2. Same problem; the book wouldn’t open and we got the same error message. We tried rebooting the Kindle. Same problem. We tried deleting the book, rebooting then downloading the book again to no avail.
After several days of trying everything we could think of it was time to call Amazon technical support. We took advantage of Amazon’s service where they actually call you on your phone after a brief online chat. The support person was polite and had us try most of the things we had already done, with the same result: unable to open and read the book. The support person said we would be escalated to a higher level of support.
The level 2 support person had us try the same things again with no success. She then said she would issue a credit for the book and we could repurchase it and have it re-sent to the Kindle. The credit was issued and right before our eyes the book vanished from our Kindle 2 (a little disconcerting). We repurchased the book and had it download to the Kindle 2. We attempted to open the book. Guess what? Couldn’t open the book and the same error message yet again. The support person told us that they would have to talk to the engineers and we would be called as soon as they had a solution.
Several days went by and finally a call from Amazon support. We were told to remove all bookmarks for the book on the iPhone. We were told to then erase the book from the iPhone and the Kindle 2. Finally we were to download the book to the Kindle 2. We followed the Amazon support directions to the letter. Guess what? We still couldn’t open the book, and we still received the same error message. We were told we could have a refund of the book. We want this book and declined that offer. We also wanted to figure out what the actual problem is. We were told that Amazon support would get back to us soon, after they had a chance to study the problem. That was on or about September 21. As I write this on the evening of October 13, we have still not heard back from Amazon Customer Support.
This is a surprising and disconcerting situation on several different levels. Amazon Customer support, the few times we’ve ever needed it, has always been very helpful and prompt at correcting problems. This current situation has dragged on way too long. What’s even more disconcerting is that Amazon can’t figure out what the problem is. We are left hanging. No one has called with any additional suggestions, no one has called to touch base and tell us they are still working on the problem. Quite frankly we are assuming they have forgotten us since we haven’t been inclined to make a whole lot of noise about this. We shouldn’t have to make noise; Amazon should follow through on what they promised, a timely solution to this problem.
We still love our Kindle 2 and use it everyday. We still love reading Kindle books on the iPhone as well. Has this soured us on Amazon or the Kindle? No. We are extremely disappointed in the situation and how it has been handled so far and we really hope Amazon gets back to us with a solution very soon.
We will update this article as necessary to report the progress of the situation.
Have you had a similar experience with your Kindle? Do you have a Kindle support story, either good or bad, that you’d like to share with our readers? Please feel free to share in the comments section.
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