Returning a Kindle

[bunn]

I was given a lovely wifi Kindle for my birthday, but being an awkward type, I decided that I would really like to have the 3G version, just for those odd occasions when it would be nice to have internet on it when out  and about without fiddling about looking for wifi hotspots and changing settings.

First, being a naturally messy person and slightly ashamed of this, I worried that because I'd peeled the protective sticky film off the front before realising, they might not accept it as a return. I emailled them to ask, and got a generic reply that quoted the standard terms and conditions saying item must be returned 'with packaging'.  OK, I had the packaging, but the sticker was not pristine as, as any sticky item in this house quickly does, it had acquired a few  cat hairs on the exposed sticky side.  Would this be a problem, or could they put a new film on?   I crossly hit the 'you didn't answer my question!' button on the reply - and was impressed when instead of giving me a  generic  'thanks for your feedback' message, it sent me to a 'we will call you back' form which immediately got the phone ringing with a call from a customer service rep who was an actual human and told me that returning it without the film would be fine

So, I looked at Amazon's return info, which told me that I could 'return a gift'.   But, you need the order number for that, which I did not have.  So I contacted them again, and explained the situation.

This time I was told that as the item hadn't been bought through Amazon's own gift system and posted direct to me, I couldn't  'return a gift'.  But they could give me the order number and return the item and have the credit sent to the original purchaser.  Hmm.  Not ideal, but if there's no option....  So, I spoke to my generous benefactor and explained (with some embarrassment) that I wanted to exchange the Kindle.

Then I went back to the Amazon site, armed with the order number, to organise the refund.  But, no!  Although I had the order number, the site next asked me to log in as the original purchaser of the item.  Which, of course, I could not do, for the purchaser was not me. 

So I contacted Amazon again, this time by email, and explained that all I wanted to do was return the thing and be able to use the credit to buy a 3G Kindle. And this time the rules seemed to have mysteriously changed.   They sent me a custom link to the returns system with the important details all encoded,  so I didn't need to log in as anyone else or give an order number,  AND they said that I didnt' even have to have the cost of the item refunded to anyone else - they would send me a gift certificate instead.

Even better, once I'd hit the magic button to say 'yes, make this happen' the site then took me direct to a courier website, where I was able to arrange for them to collect the thing and take it away free of charge!

So, all was well until I discovered that I'd * failed to put the Kindle manual back in the box before packaging it up for the courier*.  Drattitude! I thought.

But it looks like 'manual' is not part of 'packaging' as I did indeed get my gift certificate by email this morning. Phew.

Comments

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

"OK, I had the packaging, but the sticker was not pristine as, as any sticky item in this house quickly does, it had acquired a few cat hairs on the exposed sticky side."

The first use of the word "sticky" in that sentence wasn't really necessary was it?

[purple-witch.livejournal.com]

sounds more straight forward than amazon often manages....and an excellent choice on the 3G option, I am very much in love with mine!