More on some problematical Amazon non-lighted Kindle covers, UK also. UPDATE2

Be sure to read the earlier blog article on for details on a problem affecting some non-lighted Amazon Leather Kindle3 Covers and the U.S. Amazon Kindle team statement concerning a resolution for those affected by problem batches of the non-lighted Amazon Kindle-3 cover.

  If anyone has one of the covers that cause reboots, Amazon has been giving refunds on that and have also often added credit toward buying the lighted version of that cover if the customer has reported problems earlier.  The Amazon post giving instructions and phone numbers to use, for U.S. Kindle owners, are in the earlier post.

  I just saw an article on what Amazon UK is doing.  The title of the article is "Amazon blames Kindle cover problem on plastic clips."  ExpertReviews' David Ludlow writes:

' Posted on 11 Jan 2011 at 11:48

Amazon customer services in the UK have told us that the Kindle leather cover problems, which cause the eReader to reboot and do other strange things, is caused by the plastic clips on the standard case.

The lighted leather case, which uses metal clips in order to conduct power from the Kindle to the light is immune to these problems...

As such, Amazon.co.uk will credit affected users with the £50.99 required to buy the Lighted Leather Cover (UK US) instead.

From our experience, the process is a painless one.  Just make sure that you phone the UK phone number, as the US site will attempt to refund in dollars instead of pounds. '

Since this problem is still being reported in the U.S. forums, this is a posting that includes U.S. Kindle owners as well.
  U.S. residents can find the U.S. Kindle phone numbers for this issue at the earlier blog article that goes into more detail.

The basic non-lighted Amazon cover is $35 U.S. and £30.99 UK, and an added external light that uses separate batteries would cost about $12 to $30 average.

  The lighted cover costs $25 additional, does not need separate batteries, and shuts off automatically when the Kindle goes into "sleep mode."
  It is a tad heavier because it has the light built in.  Bear in mind that the light does not go 'On' until you actually start up the device.  It's not an ultra-bright light but some find this better for spouses closeby at night or for airplane use.

Customer Kindle forum message threads discussing the lighted cover:
  K3's Lighted Cover Saves the Evening! and Lighted cover too bulky for me

  NOTE: If your web browser (especially Firefox) drops you onto the Amazon forum list of topics instead of bringing you to the forum thread, click on Refresh or Reload to get the message thread itself -- or click on the link again.  I don't know why a 'retry' is often needed, but it is.

Here's the CNet Review - Amazon's secret weapon: Kindle Lighted Leather Case.

UPDATE - 1/13/11, 8:13 PM (Original posting 1/13, 8:28 AM)
I'm adding below, a section taken from the first Kindleworld blog entry made about the non-lighted case problems, as it gives alternative links to more types of Kindle covers.


Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

[... CLICK HERE for MORE ... »]

Amazon's revised statement on problematical non-lighted Kindle covers

See yesterday's blog posting for details on a Kindle-cover problem and the Amazon Kindle team statement concerning a resolution for those affected by problem batches of the non-lighted Amazon Kindle-3 cover.

  At another forum thread, Marc pointed out that the Amazon-forum response had been edited later to change contact-info for the problem (two telephone numbers are now given) and to clarify that Amazon would be be pleased to replace a problem Amazon-manufactured Kindle cover with a different cover rather than just send a replacement cover:

'                                     Last edited by the author 14 hours ago

The Amazon Kindle team says:
(AMAZON OFFICIAL)

There have been some forum discussions regarding the non-lighted Kindle cover, and our engineering team is looking into this.  Regardless, if anyone is having any problem with an Amazon-manufactured Kindle cover, please call us at 877-453-4512 or 206-922-0844.  We will be pleased to replace it for free with a different cover or accept a return for a full refund, no matter when the cover was purchased. '

  Marc also posted the following from his forum reading:

' Other people have indicated that Amazon is offering the lighted cover in exchange, or refunding the original cost of the cover and giving an additional $25 credit to users so they can get the lighted cover, or any other cover of their choice. '

  Marc has provided sourcing on that now and adds the following:

' The two people I mentioned, posted on page 13 of the "This cover. . ." discussion.
You can see them here:

http://www.amazon.com/cover-causes-Kindle-freeze-reboot/forum/Fx12U61UWYSO3UY/Tx17O3815XVEMVM/13/ref=cm_cd_pg_pg13?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B003DZ163E&cdSort=oldest.

  Check out Robert M Dunlap's comment, fifth from the top, and Darren_C's comment, that is 11th from the bottom. '

Here is Robert M Dunlap's posting:

' Robert M Dunlap says:

I sent an e-mail to customer support as this issue was happening with my Kindle and un-Lighted case as well.  Sure enough, today they called me and they are sending a free lighted case and refunding the cost of my old case.  Talk about customer service, I upgraded and got my money back.  My orders through Amazon are only going to increase from their already high levels from now on. '

Here's Darren's posting, as one who had a service ticket on this situation for over two weeks:

' darren_c says:

Hi everyone,

I just followed up the Kindle CS team tonight and they have refunded my Kindle cover.  I had a service ticket with them for over 2 weeks with this initial problem, before I found out about the cover issue.  When I called tonight to follow up the CS Rep. reviewed the notes on my file and then asked me if I had the Kindle cover, which I said yes.  He began to ask me to try a few tests and then call him back, but I indicated that after finding this thread last week I had taken the Kindle out of the cover and the problems stopped.  But, when I put it back in the problem began shortly thereafter.  He confirmed that they are aware of a problem with the cover.  Here's what he did for me:

He offered to refund the cover and with all shipping fees as one solution.  He also offered to add a $20 credit to be used towards the lighted leather cover, so basically they would give me the more expensive one to replace the other with no extra cost.  I declined the lighted cover since I discovered that actually prefer holding the Kindle "naked" for reading.  I asked him to go ahead and process the refund the cover and I think I will purchase a sleeve or another type of case.

All of this was done in the most friendly way, so kudos to "Josh" (the Rep. I spoke to) for that!  So, in the end Amazon seems to be acknowledging the issue and offering an appropriate solution.

Hope you are all able to find a similar resolution to this, too.

Cheers! '

Scot and also Tony Reynolds were two of the lead customer-sleuths who gathered enough information for Amazon tech support to identify and confirm the cause of the problems.

In late September, I included information about the lighted, hinged cover including the word of mouth on that cover in two forum threads.  If interested in that, you can follow that link and that information is in the bottom half.

If affected by this, contact the Kindle team and see yesterday's blog for links to a less expensive cover if wanted and to a general list of Kindle covers available for those who have reported problems to Amazon and would like to choose a different cover.

As for Amazon's general Kindle customer support, I had reported on their forum "Thanks" to the Kindle community for "millions" of Kindles sold in the first 73 days of this holiday quarter.  The customer-replies to the announcement say quite a bit about the general level of support.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle for Android updated. Amazon re Kindle non-lighted cover. Revised

Android Community's Chris Davies reports that there is a large Kindle for Android update today and as a result, it's now called Kindle for Android, v2.0 and is, as usual, a free download.

  The updated version now "includes newspaper and magazine support together with 'Move to SD Card' functionality enabled ... allows access to Amazon’s 100+ periodical titles, and shifts the Amazon store into the app itself rather than kicking you into the web version when you want to buy a new ebook.

Meanwhile there’s also support for sharing your reading progress with social networks. The UI has been tweaked, with the option to use your Android smartphone’s volume keys to control page turns, and the chapter title now included in the reader status bar; there’s also zoom functionality for images and graphics."

SOME AMAZON KINDLE COVERS, NON-LIGHT VERSIONS HAVE CAUSED REBOOTS
There have been various threads at the Amazon Kindle Community forums about what has appeared to be a problem with some batches of the Kindle leather cover without a built-in light but with the hinges that in the Kindle lighted cover make contact with the Kindle to provide power for the built-in light (which goes 'off' when the Kindle is in sleep mode).  In other words, in the lighted-covers, there's no problem but with some of the non-lighted Amazon Kindle ones, the hinges are similar but no electrical contact was intended.

  It's speculated that if the latter's hinges are metal (some seem to be plastic and not causing problems), there is contact made that has caused reboots for some Kindle-3 owners for whom Amazon has replaced Kindles several times to no avail (while other others haven't had any trouble).  And some feel that the problems have shown up more with cold weather.

 In the forums, the customers have been discovering that if they remove the Kindle from their non-lighted Amazon Kindle cover, the reboots stop.

[Edited to clarify this paragraph]
This has been consistent, with what had originally been thought to be problems with certain Kindle-3s but weren't, and the reports about the cover problem for some have been increasing lately.

In a Kindle thread last night, Amazon Kindle Support responded (2nd note from the bottom there) to the increasing frustration due to some inconsistency of response from Customer Support reps at the first-response level:

'                     In reply to an earlier post on Dec. 16, 2010 10:10 PM PST

The Amazon Kindle team says:
(AMAZON OFFICIAL)

There have been some forum discussions regarding the non-lighted Kindle cover, and our engineering team is looking into this.  Regardless, if anyone is having any problem with an Amazon-manufactured Kindle cover, please contact us at kindle-response@amazon.com, and we will be pleased to replace it for free or accept a return for a full refund, no matter when the cover was purchased. '

Side note:  A couple of Kindle owners have solved the problem for themselves by putting electrical tape around the upper hinge's contact point.

  The non-problem lighted-cover costs $25 more, and while many are happy with it, as seen in various forum threads and a good added light will cost an average $15 or so, this will be too much for some even if they have liked the case quite a bit -- and there are less expensive non-lighted cases.  One example is the Acase, a platform type that costs about $11.  While the quality won't be as high (as pointed out in the few customer reviews from confirmed buyers), people still give it 4 stars out of 5 and, at the least, it will keep the Kindle safe while making a decision on a better one.  Others are planning to accept the refund and apply it to the lighted case.
[Edited the link for the Acase cover as I had the general covers link there instead.]

  But there are a plethora of Kindle-3 covers from which to choose.

  I should add that I use a Cole-Haan with hinges but it has caused no reboots and the Kindle is always in the cover; however, it's expensive and I got it when there was a large discount on it briefly.  So any hinge problems would be with certain batches of the official Amazon Kindle non-lighted cover.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!