Double-Triple Charged for Whispernet Delivery

weatherman · 05-20-2009, 04:32 PM

Just ranting here. I recently sent myself a document via Whispernet and not only was I charged the "new" per-megabyte rate of $0.30 but I was also double charged for the transaction, and the document was sent twice!

I went back and looked through all my email from Amazon, and I realized I have never been officially notified of the price increase. Sure I read about it here and other places, but nobody said when it would start.

I'm peeved about the charges being increased, and doubly peeved that I was charged twice because the service doesn't work properly. So I decided that every time there's a problem with the Whispernet, I'm going to call support and take up at least 5 minutes of their time. I figure that will offset any profits they'll make from the new prices for Whispernet delivery, and they'll have to rethink the policy.

Slow_hand · 05-20-2009, 04:41 PM

Wasn't it on the Kindle daily blog? Not that I would consider that notice. I have sent myself a Word doc since the new policy but I haven't seen a charge. Yet.

daffy4u · 05-20-2009, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slow_hand

Wasn't it on the Kindle daily blog? Not that I would consider that notice. I have sent myself a Word doc since the new policy but I haven't seen a charge. Yet.

The policy changed on May 4. I sent a doc to myself yesterday and was charged 15 cents immediately. No waiting for an accumulated total before being charged. I won't be doing that again unless it's dire emergency.

sirbruce · 05-21-2009, 01:33 AM

If you were charged $0.30, then I suspect it was over 1 MB in size.

If you were charged twice, then that is indeed something they need to correct.

HarryT · 05-21-2009, 04:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daffy4u

The policy changed on May 4. I sent a doc to myself yesterday and was charged 15 cents immediately. No waiting for an accumulated total before being charged. I won't be doing that again unless it's dire emergency.

At the end of the day, you're paying for a service. It would probably be worth 15c to me if it saved me 5 minutes in copying the file manually, but obviously there are people to whom the time saving isn't worth paying 15c for. It's down to personal choice.

daffy4u · 05-21-2009, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

At the end of the day, you're paying for a service. It would probably be worth 15c to me if it saved me 5 minutes in copying the file manually, but obviously there are people to whom the time saving isn't worth paying 15c for. It's down to personal choice.

I could have easily connected my USB cable to do the transfer but I was too lazy and it would have been about the same amount of time as emailing it to my Kindle. If they were waiting until I had a total of $3 (or whatever like they used to), I would still use it. I don't like my credit card getting hit with a bunch of tiny charges. I remember some folks had problems with multiple 1 cent book charges tripping fraud alerts on their credit cards and I don't want to run into the same issues.

weatherman · 05-21-2009, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirbruce

If you were charged $0.30, then I suspect it was over 1 MB in size.

Yes, it was 1.23 megs. But that's not the point; they increased the fees and what was $0.10 when I bought the K2 just a few months ago is now 300% more expensive, and then they double charged me.

Is $0.60 or even $0.30 going to break me? Certainly not. And I would probably only do it twice a month, so even over the course of a year it's still going to be less than $10. It is going to make me use the Whispernet less though, and that's going to make the reason for having a Kindle in the first place a lot less appealing, and that's going to mean that I recommend other ebook readers to my friends if they're not going to be getting a subscription to a newspaper.

I suspect that one reason for this increased charge is Calibre. That program is an incredibly useful one for delivering periodical content to the Kindle - so much so that Kovid probably broke Amazon's business model. I'm not blaming Kovid - his work is fantastic. But I'm sure the folks at Amazon don't appreciate it as much as I do.

mjh215 · 05-21-2009, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weatherman

I suspect that one reason for this increased charge is Calibre. That program is an incredibly useful one for delivering periodical content to the Kindle - so much so that Kovid probably broke Amazon's business model. I'm not blaming Kovid - his work is fantastic. But I'm sure the folks at Amazon don't appreciate it as much as I do.

I doubt calibre is even a blip on Amazon's radar. On average people do not do that much research. I doubt more then 2% of Kindle users have ever heard of MobileRead. I would say this is no more then typical business, increasing rates as they see fit. Either that their costs with partners have increased, or they misjudged the return they'd see on that aspect, or they are just being greedy and know they can get away with it.

-MJ

HarryT · 05-22-2009, 02:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weatherman

Yes, it was 1.23 megs. But that's not the point; they increased the fees and what was $0.10 when I bought the K2 just a few months ago is now 300% more expensive, and then they double charged me.

If it used to cost 10c, and it now costs 30c, it's actually only 200% more expensive, not 300%

.

daffy4u · 05-22-2009, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

If it used to cost 10c, and it now costs 30c, it's actually only 200% more expensive, not 300%

.

It never actually cost 10 cents. Amazon, as far as I've been able to tell, never charged anyone at the 10 cent rate. So it was free before. Now they are charging.

daffy4u · 05-22-2009, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjh215

I doubt calibre is even a blip on Amazon's radar. On average people do not do that much research. I doubt more then 2% of Kindle users have ever heard of MobileRead. I would say this is no more then typical business, increasing rates as they see fit. Either that their costs with partners have increased, or they misjudged the return they'd see on that aspect, or they are just being greedy and know they can get away with it.

-MJ

KindleFIX and KindlePID were also a blip on Amazon's radar until *someone* made it a big deal.

Maybe that same or another *someone* has made Amazon aware of how Calibre allows Kindle owners to bypass their subscription model and Amazon is trying to get at least *some* money from its use on their Whispernet network.

weatherman · 05-22-2009, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

If it used to cost 10c, and it now costs 30c, it's actually only 200% more expensive, not 300%

.

Good point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daffy4u

It never actually cost 10 cents. Amazon, as far as I've been able to tell, never charged anyone at the 10 cent rate. So it was free before. Now they are charging.

Also a good point.

I guess I should have said that they advertised that they charged $0.10 when I bought it, then raised the price to 300% of the original price.

HarryT · 05-23-2009, 03:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daffy4u

It never actually cost 10 cents. Amazon, as far as I've been able to tell, never charged anyone at the 10 cent rate. So it was free before. Now they are charging.

I thought that they charged you when the total reached a certain amount. $3, was it?

daffy4u · 05-23-2009, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I thought that they charged you when the total reached a certain amount. $3, was it?

They were supposed to but they never did.

elmoglick · 05-23-2009, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weatherman

I guess I should have said that they advertised that they charged $0.10 when I bought it, then raised the price to 300% of the original price.

Citing an arbitrary percentage increase is not particularly valid nor helpful, since it will vary dramatically, depending on the amount of data you are sending.

For example, a 1MB file will now cost 15 cents instead of 10. That's just a 50% increase in cost.

An 8MB file will now cost $1.20 instead of 10 cents. That's a 1200% increase in cost. WOW.

Yet, in both of these examples, the actual cost of the data transfer is exactly the same -- 15 cents/MB. Hmmmm. So, it looks like the more data we send, the more it will cost. That makes sense to me.

The bottom line is that this is a completely optional service that is not necessary to ever use. They shipped our Kindles with a handy USB cable. I use it regularly. Never pay a dime (or 15 cents) to Amazon for getting content to it.

And if we choose to use their service, 15 cents/MB is not an unreasonable charge by any stretch of the imagination.

Furthermore, Amazon will still convert your PDF and DOC files to AZW for free.

There must be more serious Kindle issues to get riled up about, aren't there?

El

05-20-2009, 04:32 PM	#1
weatherman Addict Posts: 385 Karma: 1010052 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: (previous: Kindle 2, Kindle Fire) Kindle 4 WiFi, K3K, KPW	Double-Triple Charged for Whispernet Delivery Just ranting here. I recently sent myself a document via Whispernet and not only was I charged the "new" per-megabyte rate of $0.30 but I was also double charged for the transaction, and the document was sent twice! I went back and looked through all my email from Amazon, and I realized I have never been officially notified of the price increase. Sure I read about it here and other places, but nobody said when it would start. I'm peeved about the charges being increased, and doubly peeved that I was charged twice because the service doesn't work properly. So I decided that every time there's a problem with the Whispernet, I'm going to call support and take up at least 5 minutes of their time. I figure that will offset any profits they'll make from the new prices for Whispernet delivery, and they'll have to rethink the policy.

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05-20-2009, 04:41 PM	#2
Slow_hand Groupie Posts: 190 Karma: 326 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Baltimore Device: Amazon Kindle 2	Wasn't it on the Kindle daily blog? Not that I would consider that notice. I have sent myself a Word doc since the new policy but I haven't seen a charge. Yet.

05-21-2009, 01:33 AM	#4
sirbruce Provocateur Posts: 1,859 Karma: 505847 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Columbus, OH Device: Kindle Touch, Kindle 2, Kindle DX, iPhone 3GS	If you were charged $0.30, then I suspect it was over 1 MB in size. If you were charged twice, then that is indeed something they need to correct.