My family and I are all voracious bibliophiles.
Voracious.
Personally, I don't care either way if the book is the old-school paper kind or a good e-book. I love to read. Full stop.
I have been loving the free Kindle for iPad app because I can store dozens of books on my iPad and make notes and add highlights and do all the things I like to do when I'm reading a wonderfully informational or entertaining volume.
But sadly, my iPad with its digital screen is all but impossible to read in full sunshine.
I spend a lot of time in full sunshine. And I'm just spoiled enough now that I resent carrying big, heavy books to the beach, but that's not important right now.
So, Eric got me an Amazon Kindle (with built in Wi-Fi, thankyouverymuch).
It has an honest-to-goodness-reads-like-real-paper display. And it has been my best and most reliable Beach Buddy all summer.
But somehow, this past week when we were cruising, I must have dropped it or something, because suddenly my beautiful I-swear-it's-just-like-real-pages-in-a-real-book Kindle began looking more like an Etch-a-Sketch.
*insert really sad face here*
So I called Amazon.com customer service and told them about my new Etch-a-Sketchy Kindle and the great sadness it has caused me and inquired as to how would I go about replacing it.
"We'll send out a new one today and you just mail back the damaged one."
What? They actually said this. *hand on heart*
This conversation took place on Tuesday morning.
My new Kindle arrived on Wednesday morning. Shut. UP.
That's what I call customer service!
So, I'm giving an unsolicited shout out to Amazon.com as a big, fat, Cuban GRACIAS.
I'm taking extra good care of my new Kindle with its I-swear-it's-exactly-like-real-paper-no-glare screen.
Because now it looks like they're starting to keep score. 😉
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Amazon. You so seriously ROCK!
Do you have a Kindle? Do you love it as much as I love mine? Tell me.
I HEART Amazon too!!!! That is great to hear!! Congrats!! Btw, how’s the wifi? Can you go on web sites like blogs?
Lisa,I totally can! The display is obviously black and white, and the navigation takes some getting used to, but it’s pretty awesome.
Besos,
Marta
Jim gave me a Kindle for Christmas and I LOVE IT!! I am a decades long student of Mark Twain, his works and life, and have all my faves are on my Kindle….here’s the beauty part….THEY’RE FREE!!! Yup, any stuff in the public domain (code for ancient, classic literature which is older than the life of the author +70 years) is gratis on Amazon. This is precisely the reason I did NOT want a Nook, as this is not the case with Barnes & Noble. Plus, I’m cheap! :o) My e-bookie is crammed with Shakespeare, Austen, Melville, Bronte, Dickens and Hugo, and I haven’t spent a dime.There are color Kindles, but I have the basic b/w species, which is fine with me. I take it everywhere, and most especially to UCLA Children’s Hospital where I volunteer as a “play lady” in the NICU/PICU wards every Tuesday. I love the read-in-bright-sunlight feature, and always completely amazed when a book I’ve ordered appears, like magic, on my Kindle in no more than 30 seconds. Just seems like absolute wizardry. It’s my electronic BF, part library and part classroom.
FROM THE “MY AWESOME KINDLE CUSTOMER CARE STORY” DEPT:
Last week, just before leaving home for a 5 day away trip, my beloved Kindle started to refuse to wake up when I slid the power toggle at the bottom. WHAAT??!! How could this be? I just charged it, and I have not dropped it in the toilet (yes, I have been known to read in can, but that’s probably TMI). So, though trepidacious about actually getting any kind of resolution to my problem, I Google Kindle Customer Care and actually get to speak to a real person, a nice rep name Crystal. I ‘splain (small homage to Desi Arnaz here) my predicament. The first question Kindle Crystal asks me is, “Do you have an Amazon cover on your Kindle?” “Why, yes” says I. “Does it have a reading light on it?” she queries. “Why, no”,(now I’m starting to wonder where she’s going with this). “Take that cover off and DON’T use it again. That is the problem. I am sending you another one today which is newly designed, reading light included. In the meantime, unhook the device now and plug it in.” I followed her instructions and guess what, kids? My Kindle woke up immediately! WHO KNEW! WHO BELIEVES IT?! (as kindly SBHS teacher, Fr. Boronat used to like to say). I thanked Kindle Crystal 50 times, and my new cover arrived the next day. Cost to me: $0.
The answer to the mystery? Turns out the little metal hookie thingies which hold the e-book securely to my book cover eventually cause static interference (or something…my electrical engineer hubby ‘splained it to me, but my eyes glazed over after the first few sentences.)
MORAL OF THE STORY: Kindle instead of Nook. And Amazon is an awesome company to do business with.
Uh-oh! Cautionary tale on the cover! Thanks for that.I’m still so impressed by their amazing response I’m telling everyone I know.
PS. Thanks for the nod to Desi, my love. *sigh* =D
I had the same experience! In May I got the Kindle as an early birthday present (My birthday isn’t for another week and a half), since I was temporarily disabled after a shoulder operation and was tearing through the books I had, reading was one of the very few things I could do. I love it so much! I read and read and when I started training at the physical therapist my Kindle comes along because I can prop it up on the exercise bike and the crosstrainer which just makes time fly while working out. Last Wednesday afternoon I proudly showed my Kindle to a friend. Late that night I got home, got ready for bed and turned my Kindle on to continue reading and I was horrified to find half the screen was messed up. I freaked, I panicked. Then at 1:15am (European time) I picked up the phone and called Kindle CS. A nice guy named Josh answered within moments and I explained the problem, and almost right away “What you’re describing can’t be repaired so we are going to replace it”. Within hours a new order appeared in my account, and a few more hours later I had instructions on how to return the broken kindle and get the return shipping refunded as well! From the Netherlands! I am in total AWE of Amazon’s CS, I have never experienced anything even close to that.I am totally gonna get or make me some “I heart Amazon” stuff and sing their praise forever 🙂