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Comment by jmintz | Hacker News Reader

FWIW: My Kindle2 stopped working a few weeks after I bought it (something weird with the screen). Not sure why it broke, if it was defective or if I dropped it (it was in my backpack with a ton of textbooks so it pretty easily could have suffered shock). I called Amazon, spent less than 7 minutes on the phone with them (including hold time) and they overnighted a new Kindle2 to me. They didn't charge my credit card (and said they wouldn't unless they didn't receive the broken one back within 30 days).

This was one of the top3 customer service experiences of my life. I was and continue to be a huge fan of Amazon, primarily for their customer service.

Just thought I would share my experience... :)

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I, too, have had nearly nothing but good experiences. I bought my sister a present about a week ahead of when I needed it. It got lost in the UPS maw. I worked with UPS who were helpful, they went crazy trying to find it, but could not. So I called Amazon, they sent me a new item overnight without charging my credit card, and only charged me for the difference in what I had initially paid for shipping and the overnight cost (which seemed more than reasonable to me given that it was UPS' fault). So I got that package in time to give my sister her gift. A few days later, the UPS package showed up at my door, I sent it back to Amazon, and never got charged for that return shipping.

In fact, the only frustration I've ever had with Amazon has been about my Kindle: when I lost it, they wouldn't deactivate it for me. I'm still very bitter about this, and there was a thread on here a while back about that practice. I would think their flagship product would receive flagship support (especially since I'm now a "Prime" member), so who knows.

It appears that the quality of their customer service depends on the willingness of customers to stand up for themselves when they are wronged.

It's people like this gentleman who've led to your highly responsive experience.

I had a similar experience with Direct TV. They installed my dish without permission from my building management, I got a takedown notice, and didnt want to pay the 430 dollar termination fee. Turns out they could not install without permission and they did. This is beside the fact that they totally fucked up my order. And their service sucks ass.

I called multiple times and sent 5 emails, each getting closer and closer to a lawsuit. $400 from someone willing to fight is less pricey than a day or two in court. They just don't want to give this to anyone, if you are willing to fight you will usually get what you deserve.

In this case, the guy already had laws listed and probably just made it clear that there will be a day in court. Its cheaper to take the $400 hit.

Non Kindle experience - shipped a gadget as a gift to a friend. Got the address wrong, called them before the delivery but after it had shipped out. They tried to change the address, but couldn't, so they shipped out another one to the right address for no extra charge.

Amazon definitely rocks.

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