Kindle Replacement

I’ve waffed on before about having bought a Kindle e-book – nearly two and a half years ago – and also about when the one-before-this-one broke, which is when I had to buy a replacement.

Much as I like using the Kindle in general, the display in particular seems to be pretty fragile. I suspect it’s because it’s a glorified LCD display, and they’ve always been a bit flaky on that score.  I don’t know why they’re so breakable, but they are. I’m not at all heavy-handed with mine, but I’m on my fourth. (with, as below, a fifth soon to arrive)  And that’s with having a decent protective case as well. I suspect there must be some kind of twist/flex that just does for them.

Anyway, over the weekend, the latest one – bought in June – broke. I don’t know what had happened to it, I took it out of my bag/backpack, opened the case, and the screen crystal was cracked. (i.e. the screen itself isn’t cracked, but the [whatever] film inside it is, so when I turn it on, half works, and half doesn’t)

Fortunately, Amazon’s customer services are excellent when it comes to the Kindle. (I can’t comment on any other eventualities, I’ve only ever used Amazon customer service when it comes to the bloody Kindle)  I filled in the ‘Contact us’ form on the site, clicked “Call me now”, and they did. Straight through, spoke to someone, explained the problem. No quibbles, no hassles, they’re sending out a new one (due to arrive today) and I can then use the packaging from that to return my existing device – postage paid!

Of course, re-downloading all the content is still likely to be a pain in the tits (if the last time is anything to go by) but I can at least get on with doing that when I’ve some spare time.

In the meantime, I’m back to the printed word instead of the displayed. I’ve got to be honest, it feels a little bit odd.