Nearly two years ago I got an Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9″ – It really was an incredible device, so slim, easy to use, and nippy. The Parental Controls are BRILLIANT and let you lock down and limit ‘screen time’ for the kids, which is something missing from most ‘normal’ tablets. It was honestly one of the best bits of hardware I’ve owned, it got a lot of use, and love from me and the kids.
Then it went wrong.
One day, it just wouldn’t boot – nothing – just dead, no amount of charging or button pressing would bring the beast to life. I was a very sad Panda. I thought it would speak to Amazon and see if they could help, after being on their text chat service for five minutes they offered a replacement and it arrived the next day. Once again, Amazon flexed their fabulous customer service muscles and I was so pleased our family favourite would be working again.
Roll forwards two months to two weeks ago, I pulled the Kindle out to find the screen was going NUTS – it was as if was being pressed by an army of invisible technology hungry toddlers, it was very peculiar. Once again, I spoke to the Tech Support and they apologised and dispatched a new one – which arrived two days later.
Kindle number three was fine, I set it up again, restored my apps, and the kids profiles and then decided I wan’t to watch a little bit of Prime Instant Video. I hit the play button, and I got an ‘UNKNOWN_ERROR’ and then a ‘LICENSE_ERROR’ – Bugger. But, I remembered Kindle has a FANTASTIC service – the Mayday Button, hit this and you get a real life Amazon Staff member on your screen who can help you with technical faults. I ended up with an Irish Chap who took me through a few steps to try and resolve the issue, nothing worked – still the same error. The final thing I had to try was a full wipe of the Kindle – he advised me that it’d end our session, but hopefully that would fix my problem.
It didn’t.
Calling back Mayday again I got connected to a rather grumpy American woman who couldn’t seem less interested if she tried, she ACTUALLY rolled her eyes at me when I told her that I’d just done all the troubleshooting she was trying to get me to re-do. Thankfully she couldn’t help me and I was escalated elsewhere, to cut an already long story short, I spoke to another THREE people and it was decided I needed another (fourth) Kindle.
Kindle No. 4 arrived yesterday, just as I was on my way out, I managed to fire it up to find that it had the exact same error as Kindle three – Amazon Instant Video still didn’t work, same error – it just doesn’t want to play. So now, this morning I’ve spent a princely hour and thirty minutes on Live Chat and the phone being told to perform the troubleshooting steps I’ve already done and handed from pillar to post trying to get it sorted. I’ve been told the ‘Technical Team’ will look at my issue and respond in 24 hours. I’m not even sure that’s a thing, the last chap I spoke to seemed desperate to get me off the phone.
So.. will they respond in 24 hours? Will I get Kindle No. 5?
Who knows…
How unbelievably frustrating. It’s good that they’ve been replacing the faulty ones, but at the same time, 4 faulty Kindles doesn’t look great, huh?!