Comments on: Kindle Owners Experiencing Broken Screen Issues

By: CJ

CJ — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:18:07 +0000

@kf - I have seen at least one story of someone who had Kindle issues (black splotches on the screen) after putting their Kindle through the machine at airport security, but I can’t seem to find the link right now.

Has anyone had any personal experience with this? Perhaps there is something in the e-ink reacting to the x-ray machine?

By: kf

kf — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:12:37 +0000

I am now awaiting overnight delivery of my FOURTH Kindle in less than 6 months. All three predecessors have had screen blowups of such a severe degree as to render them entirely useless. Nothing traumatic has happened to any of them prior to the failures — e.g., no dropping or submersion in water. The only thing unusual about my life is that I fly a lot (>= 2 flights per week). I am curious if others who’ve had screen problems are also frequent fliers. I find it hard to believe my high failure rate is just bad luck.

By: ATX84

ATX84 — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:27:15 +0000

The bottom half of my Kindle screen went ‘dark’ with a strange thumbprint-like black spot in the lower left corner. I thought to myself “Oh snap! I just lost $400!” After the initial panic I logged into my Amazon account, went to the Kindle section and hit the “Contact Us” button. I requested a call-back and less than 15 seconds later I was talking to an Amazon Digital Services representative.

I explained what was happening with my Kindle and the representative initiated a replacement order for my Kindle. I just received the label to send the faulty Kindle back via email and the representative said I should expect my replacement Kindle to arrive tomorrow! I will post a follow-up with how everything shapes up.

By: Suzi

Suzi — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:35:10 +0000

About a week ago my Kindle (which i’ve had since January) started having weird streaky lines going across the top and left side. It didn’t really bug me at first, but then more started showing up each day. I called Amazon 2 days ago and explained my problem and they said they would send me a new one. All I have to do is put all my old stuff in the box the new one comes in, apply the pre-paid postage label they are giving me and send it back. Then of course I have to register the new one to my account and have it download all my books.

I’m very grateful that they were willing to send me a new one, and even more so that I made that call already:

Today I had to turn it off for a few hours and when I turned it back on the streaks had turned into smudges; The one on the top is about the width of a thumbprint, going across the whole screen. If I up the font size I can keep reading, so that’s what I’m going to do, and also not turn it off.

Hopefully my new one will get here soon.

By: Ethan Stanislawski

Ethan Stanislawski — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:39:48 +0000

The next day I received an email saying that I had been given false information about the gift giving process. So they’re doing it through my account now. It was right as Kindle customer service was closing, so the guy I spoke to may just have wanted to get me off the phone.

By: CJ

CJ — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:29:25 +0000

That’s a real shame that you have to alert the gift-giver of problems in order to get your Kindle replaced. Did they say why they are unable to assist you without the gift-giver? I would think if your Amazon account is linked to the Kindle that they should be able to work with you.

By: Ethan Stanislawski

Ethan Stanislawski — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:24:41 +0000

This happened to me, but I received the Kindle as a gift. Now they’re making me go through the gift giver to get it replaced. Not the most helpful customer service.