Discussions with Amazon CS about PW Defects

[Chi Cygni]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Can you not buy from amazon.fr? I would under the impression that it was available to people in Belgium, too. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Unfortunately not. I added it to basket and even then it warned me to go to Amazon.com. I went further nonetheless only to see that it cannot be delivered from France to Belgium. The same for Amazon.de.

Oh well...

[Chi Cygni]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

I would probably wait, but like xendula said it might be worth trying just to see what you get. Maybe the color hues wouldn't bother you in person? I only hesitate because I know a return might be a pain for you.

The biggest issues going by the forums I have read, and my own personal experiences with so many of them, are the color hues and the glowing specks. All of the ones I've seen have had color hues to varying degrees and most of them had glowing specks. I believe only 2 of my PW's did not have glowing specks. Sometimes you don't see them right away, but after living with the device for awhile you may notice them. On my current PW, I know they are there, but I never see them due to their position.

Another problem that xendula mentioned is the smudges (they appear as white swirls) under the screen. I had this on one of my earlier PW's. I took a pic:

There's no denying the PW has suffered from a lot of quality control problems. I'm really pleased with my current PW though, I have to say. Most of the time I don't see the color hues. I notice them sometimes when I have the light up bright in a dark room, but that's about it. With some of my previous PW's, it was much more noticeable. Good luck if you decide to give one a try.

Thank you... well as I said I could probably live with technicolor but no glowing specks. I returned Odyssey which developed 4 of them within 24 hours of first usage and they were very very tiny. I just didn't want to wait until it would be full of them. And I treated the reader with a lot of care. The screen was good, no shadows, blobs, etc. the same for Kobo Glo I saw in a shop. I really wonder why they didn't get it right if other companies can. I will hesitate and hesitate and before I notice there will probably be a PW2. Just have to do with K3 and Opus for now. Hard to fight gadgetitis though.
Return may be a pain, what if I exchange for a worse one etc etc...

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

Thank you... well as I said I could probably live with technicolor but no glowing specks. I returned Odyssey which developed 4 of them within 24 hours of first usage and they were very very tiny. I just didn't want to wait until it would be full of them. And I treated the reader with a lot of care. The screen was good, no shadows, blobs, etc. the same for Kobo Glo I saw in a shop. I really wonder why they didn't get it right if other companies can. I will hesitate and hesitate and before I notice there will probably be a PW2. Just have to do with K3 and Opus for now. Hard to fight gadgetitis though.
Return may be a pain, what if I exchange for a worse one etc etc...

As you know, I suffer from gadgetitis too so I understand. The sensible part of myself says it's probably best for you to wait, but then the part of myself that really loves the PW thinks maybe you should give one a try, especially if you don't think the color hues would bother you. I'm probably enabling your gadgetitis now. I should leave.

[Chi Cygni]

oh yes you did... awww I should hold on tight

[david8866]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

The screen was good, no shadows, blobs, etc. the same for Kobo Glo I saw in a shop. I really wonder why they didn't get it right if other companies can. I will hesitate and hesitate and before I notice there will probably be a PW2. Just have to do with K3 and Opus for now. Hard to fight gadgetitis though.
Return may be a pain, what if I exchange for a worse one etc etc...

Because Kobo Glo's user base is small, we don't hear enough complaints. I have seen one hot light hole on my friend's Kobo Glo (small, at the corner, not a big deal). In Kobo forum, I think there is one thread about it. It is not as trouble free as it seems.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

Unfortunately not. I added it to basket and even then it warned me to go to Amazon.com. I went further nonetheless only to see that it cannot be delivered from France to Belgium. The same for Amazon.de.

Oh well...

How stupid! The French Kindle store is what Belgians are supposed to use, yet they won't deliver the Kindle to Belgium?!

How far are you from Germany? Amazon.de ships to pick-up locations and DHL packing stations within Germany. PM me if you need help with the language or with anything else. I'm a total enabler as well

I think someone from the NL on this thread also found another pick-up place in Germany, but at 45 pages, it's a bit difficult to find that post. It could also have been a different thread....

[babyd]

I've not been on here for ages but have been lurking as I wanted a paperwhite but was put off by the bad reports. Anyway, I finally took the plunge as it was a birthday present and now I'm in the same boat as all of you, looking for an acceptable paperwhite, not even perfect, just acceptable.
I got my first one on Monday a 603, it is lovely and bright, it looks like it may have very pale pink and green hues but not enough to worry me, but the screen is a little high set as it has a small white line running along the bottom when a black screen is present. Worse, it has quite a few of the pinholes you describe, most only viewable if I tilt it down so not really seen on reading. But it does have one in the middle that I only see on dark covers, not noticable when reading, but I know they are all there and it bugs me.
So I rang them and requested a new replacement as I had o ly just bought it, was assured brand new replacements are sent under 30 days and refurbished ones are o ly ever sent outside this......it arrived today and guess what, a refurbished 503. This too has a couple of pinholes and the whole screen was more yellow. Plus I felt it had more obvious colour hues so I called again, to request a return label for the replacement.
I told the CS rep that I wasn't really happy being sent a refurbished item and he agreed and said it should not have happened. I said I wanted to return the replacement one and while I wasn't really happy with either that I would keep the first one as it was the better of the two and I didn't really want to enter into the replacement raffle again. Anyway, he insisted I try a third one as assured me it would be a brand new one, so I'm waiting on that tomorrow. It's a real pain, I had hoped I would be lucky, but apparently not. My first is not really bad or anything and I will keep it unless the next is better, but if not I'm done and will make do with the first one and try to forget the lit pixels/pinholes (they annoy me the most), the white line at the bottom of the screen is not too bad as I don't notice when reading, only on covers but it has the most even lighting so am willing to try and forget that bit..........wish me luck

[Yolina]

Good luck

[Joy736]

Originally Posted by babyd

wish me luck

Three times is a charm! Good luck. I really hope you'll receive an acceptable one.

[babyd]

Here s a quick pic of the first two.

I think the better one, to my eyes is on the right.......daylit room at 16 so probably close to my reading conditions left 503 right 603




This is with lighting full in daylit room left 503 right 603

[babyd]

You know, now I'm looking at them in the afternoon light I can see a huge pink blob on the right one.........I really don't know what to do, I doubt the third one will be any different.

I prefer the whiteness of the right one and the fonts look crisper, but it has more pinholes though none can be seen while reading, only on dark covers. It also has bigger colour hues whereas the left one has gem but smaller, I'm so confused now lol

Here s a pic at full brightness in darkened room 503 refurb on left and 603 original one on right.......



The colors are not quite so obvious in person but this is at full brightness not what I'd be using it at..



Just checked the manage my kindle page ad the third one is from 604 batch so it's new at least, will pray this one is okay..........what do you guys think to the ones in the pic?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by babyd

what do you guys think to the ones in the pic?

What you should be asking is what it looks like in the conditions in which you're actually going to use it. It doesn't really matter what it looks like in the dark at maximum brightness unless you're going to be using it in those conditions. You say, I think, that it looks good, with visible pinholes, while you're reading? That's what actually matters, isn't it?

Don't you think that you're perhaps actively looking for problems that aren't really problems at all? If it looks good to you in the conditions in which you're going to use it, that - to my mind at least - is all that's important.

[babyd]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The pictures are pretty meaningless. You're not going to be reading in the dark with the screen at maximum brightness. What matters is what it looks like in the conditions in which you actually read and, as you say, no pinholes are visible while you're reading.

Don't you think that you're perhaps actively looking for problems that aren't really problems at all?

Maybe your right, this can become obsessive very easily Harry lol I guess as my daughter is buying it for my birthday, I felt I owed it to her to get a good one, feel bad if I know it's not perfect.

I will see what the new one is like then keep one of them, most likely the 603 as even though it has more pinholes I do prefer the whiteness and crispness of the font and that is what I see when I read. At brightness 16 it looks pretty even, I am aware of the pink patch but only in the afternoon light for some reason, at night I read at around 11 or 12 and that helps even more. The first photo is at the brightness i will read during the day and it looks okay in that one. So if the third one is not a charm then I'll settle for the 603 and send the others back and get on and enjoy the books I've got waiting lol

[BugA]

How much time usually passes between talking to the support and getting a replacement team e-mail? I thought it`s a matter of hours (and inquiry e-mail said "shortly"), but now, after more than two days passed and still no replacement team e-mail, I guess it`s a bit more into it...? Should I contact the support agent again?

edit: Never mind, I contacted support again, and there was an error after all.

[Chi Cygni]

Originally Posted by xendula

How stupid! The French Kindle store is what Belgians are supposed to use, yet they won't deliver the Kindle to Belgium?!

How far are you from Germany? Amazon.de ships to pick-up locations and DHL packing stations within Germany. PM me if you need help with the language or with anything else. I'm a total enabler as well

I think someone from the NL on this thread also found another pick-up place in Germany, but at 45 pages, it's a bit difficult to find that post. It could also have been a different thread....

Thank you indeed for the offer. I think anything else can be delivered BUT the Kindle which seems Amazon decision. I bought stuff from Amazon.de and uk with no problem. I CAN order it but from Amazon.com and, in case of returns would be fussy but less fussy than going through the hoops of delivery point, credit card etc. But I appreciate your offer! I just read babyd posts and frankly it put me off (again) but I know gadgetitis will strike back soon enough.