Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATE 8/21/09: Though the commenter's advice to contact Mr. Cuomo was tempting, I instead decided to write a very polite letter to Amazon. They came to their senses and promptly sent me a replacement unit. I would like to thank Jennifer B. from Amazon for resolving this issue. My original review remains below although I regret the bit about the Amazon reps getting zero stars. I suppose on average they deserve 2.5. A few days after I received my Kindle DX, I placed it in a protective case (purchased from Amazon), in a bag, in the trunk of my car. When I took it out, the display was not working. There were strange patterns of lines on the display, although the screen showed no signs of physical damage. Naturally, I called Amazon to arrange for a replacement or repair. As soon as I began talking to the rep, I immediately got the feeling that they were trying to blame me for the issue. I assured her that I treated my kindle with care, even going to the trouble of using a protective case. I sent a photo of the display and they informed me that the photo 'confirmed' that I had damaged the kindle. While I told them it was possible that the screen could have been physically damaged at some point, as I do not monitor it 24/7, it was highly unlikely to have happened in the trunk of my car. For all I know, the damage happened during shipping/before I received it, and it only manifested itself after a short period of time. I told them very nicely, but firmly, that I had done nothing to damage the kindle in the trunk of my car. They basically told me that it was my fault and there was nothing they could do. It clearly was not my fault; even if 'damage' happened while it was in my possession, it would only be because the kindle is so fragile that even in a highly protected environment it was damageable. And again, I highly doubt that this occurred in the first place. However, since I value my time and dislike arguments, I was willing to settle for less than a full refund/replacement. I told them that since a large portion of the purchase price goes to cover the wireless service, I simply requested a refund for a couple hundred dollars since I would obviously not be using the wireless service. This request was denied. Instead, they offered me a $20 credit toward new books (which by the way has not shown up on my account yet). I have to say that, as a long time Amazon customer, I am extremely disappointed. I have purchased hundreds (maybe thousands) of items from Amazon and I do not recall having ever returned anything that was opened or removed from the box. I brought this to the supervisor's attention and pointed out that, based on my history, I am unlikely to be a customer who damages his items and then tries to transfer the loss to the seller. I also pointed out that I have done extremely good marketing for them by speaking highly of Amazon at every opportunity, and would appreciate it if they would be willing to make an exception to their strict policy, which in my view clearly punishes some innocent parties to protect amazon from a few unscrupulous customers. I thought it would be clearly in their interest to work out some kind of reasonable repair/refund arrangement, but there was no sympathy of any kind from them. The lessons should be clear. (1) If your kindle stops working, whether it is your fault or not, be prepared for Amazon to blame you. (2) If you ever plan to take the kindle more than 3 feet from your desk/bed, take your advice from the Amazon rep's own words: the covers you purchase on Amazon.com don't protect the screen from damage. (3) Like many of you, I had never had a real conversation with Amazon customer service (until this incident). I was very surprised with how unsympathetic they were to someone with such a long customer history. I can't even imagine how they treat their newer/smaller customers! I recommend against the purchase of the Kindle DX unless a loss of $500 would be trivial to you. I give the Kindle DX one star and I give the Amazon reps zero.