Discussions with Amazon CS about PW Defects

[heatherlynn]

i can see the white speck starting from level 9 and then going up. having the light any lower than level nine and i might as well not have a light at all. that's obviously not the purpose of this device. i think i'm allowed to be disappointed that this keeps happening and i don't think it should be happening

[xendula]

^ Sure, after all, you paid money for it! You are not alone.

One can love the software, user interface and hardware but be dissatisfied with the built quality of a device. In that case, you just have to weigh these things against each other and figure out if you can live with the defects, which some of us do, and some of us don't.

I love my PW, but the color blotches still make me mad.

[soulfuldog]

What I don't understand is why people have paid out money for something, aren't happy with it, but keep it anyway. Why not return it to Amazon, get your money back and tell them you won't buy a Kindle unless they fix it?

Fair enough that people try a few replacements to see if they can get one they are happy with. I'd probably do the same but if I still wasn't happy with it, I'd send it back and get a refund. I do understand the desire to have a lighted reader, but I'd rather enjoy reading on my old Kindle than know I've spent a fair chunk of money on an e-reader that I'm not happy with, just because it has a light.

[heatherlynn]

Originally Posted by xendula

^ Sure, after all, you paid money for it! You are not alone.

One can love the software, user interface and hardware but be dissatisfied with the built quality of a device. In that case, you just have to weigh these things against each other and figure out if you can live with the defects, which some of us do, and some of us don't.

I love my PW, but the color blotches still make me mad.

thank you, someone that actually understands. the paperwhite is a great product, amazon just has some kinks to work out with it and i am sure they will. for now, it is good enough.

and i am overall happy with the paperwhite l_macd, it is far better reading in the conditions that i do than it was with my kindle touch. if it weren't for the white specks, i would be elated with the paperwhite. it's just a defect that i don't think should be occurring as much as it does but it's not going to warrant me another replacement.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by l_macd

What I don't understand is why people have paid out money for something, aren't happy with it, but keep it anyway. Why not return it to Amazon, get your money back and tell them you won't buy a Kindle unless they fix it.

This is a good question and I wish I had not fallen in love with the PW, or I would have done just that.

In my case, I fell in love with the user interface and hardware; it wasn't even the light that attracted me to it originally. I got replacement after replacement, each coming with its own host of issues, so I had to make a decision: keep the better ones of the 9 I received, or forget about it. I had already promised one as a Chistmas present and could not back out of it wthout disappointing, and I did not have the heart to wait for the PW2 for myself, so I sucked it up and kept the better ones. I love my PW, but I hate its built quality.

If those of us who received various defective units would write a review per unit, the rating would be much lower than 4 stars. I can say that 100% of my 9 units all had some defect, some even had an array of different defects, some "just" the color bruising.
Therefore, I do not think that it is a small number of devices that are affected, like Harry mentioned further above, or we would all be satisfied with the first replacements we receive, and this thread would not be 48 pages long.

How we rate the quality of the PW may have more to do with vision, color vision, and willingness to excuse defects on a brandnew device that you paid full price for.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by heatherlynn

i can see the white speck starting from level 9 and then going up. having the light any lower than level nine and i might as well not have a light at all. that's obviously not the purpose of this device. i think i'm allowed to be disappointed that this keeps happening and i don't think it should be happening

I leave mine at 8 at all times. Its plenty bright enough for me.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by l_macd

What I don't understand is why people have paid out money for something, aren't happy with it, but keep it anyway. Why not return it to Amazon, get your money back and tell them you won't buy a Kindle unless they fix it?

Fair enough that people try a few replacements to see if they can get one they are happy with. I'd probably do the same but if I still wasn't happy with it, I'd send it back and get a refund. I do understand the desire to have a lighted reader, but I'd rather enjoy reading on my old Kindle than know I've spent a fair chunk of money on an e-reader that I'm not happy with, just because it has a light.

I'm sorry but once you're use to the PW and its higher resolution no other ereader will do. I could never go back to my old Kindles. The text now to me looks horrible and the background dirty.

The PW is more than just a ereader with a light. There just isn't another ereader out there like it!

I am very happy with mine. I could give my other Kindles away and never look back.

[heatherlynn]

8 would not be bright enough for me unless i was in pitch black darkness like i was reading last night. any other lighting condition that i use it in would not work on 8 but i have seen paperwhites that have different brightness settings than others. like my paperwhite on 8 might not be the same brightness as yours on 8. like i said i had four in my possession and if i had one on 12 and another on 12, they were not the same consistently.

[BeccaPrice]

In addition to build quality being variable, so apparently is the light brightness. At 8, I can barely see the light. I need to keep mine around 16 or 18.

[manou]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It seems to be the light, though, that you're unhappy with. Wouldn't the Touch be better? With its recent firmware update, the Touch is now just like a PW, but without the frustrating light.

The Touch, even though it is still listed on Amazon, has been 'currently unavailable' with a 'We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.' note for several months already.
Once in a while a refurbished unit is listed, thus it doesn't make much sense to recommend it to PW owners as an alternative.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

In addition to build quality being variable, so apparently is the light brightness. At 8, I can barely see the light. I need to keep mine around 16 or 18.

On mine your eyeballs would burn on that setting. 8 on mine is bright as putting my KF on 2%. The good thing for me is the setting works in any lighting. 10 is too bright for me.

[JLeighs]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I didn't think my had any either till I was reading one day and saw a glowing green dot. It's really tiny though and it goes away if I move my neck so it's doesn't bother me but my point is those looking for a perfect PW I don't think they are out there. Mine has no color hues or splotches or any other flaw that I have found but it's not perfect with two pinholes.

Well, I hunted around and still haven't found one, so either they're so small that they're not noticeable, or I don't have any (thank goodness because I don't need another reason to get irritated at my PW ).

[JLeighs]

Originally Posted by l_macd

What I don't understand is why people have paid out money for something, aren't happy with it, but keep it anyway. Why not return it to Amazon, get your money back and tell them you won't buy a Kindle unless they fix it?

Fair enough that people try a few replacements to see if they can get one they are happy with. I'd probably do the same but if I still wasn't happy with it, I'd send it back and get a refund. I do understand the desire to have a lighted reader, but I'd rather enjoy reading on my old Kindle than know I've spent a fair chunk of money on an e-reader that I'm not happy with, just because it has a light.

For me, the light was why I wanted the PW because I do a fair amount of reading in bed at night. Once I got it, I realized there is so much more to love about it than the light. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't enjoy going back to reading on my K3 because the PW is miles better, even with its flaws. I also believe that the PW is the best front-lit ereader out there at the moment, so there isn't really an acceptable (to me) alternative right now. Of course, I'm very happy with the one I have, but it took 5 tries to get it right.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by manou

The Touch, even though it is still listed on Amazon, has been 'currently unavailable' with a 'We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.' note for several months already.
Once in a while a refurbished unit is listed, thus it doesn't make much sense to recommend it to PW owners as an alternative.

I'm not. I'm recommending it to someone who already own it .

[Yolina]

Originally Posted by l_macd

What I don't understand is why people have paid out money for something, aren't happy with it, but keep it anyway. Why not return it to Amazon, get your money back and tell them you won't buy a Kindle unless they fix it?

Fair enough that people try a few replacements to see if they can get one they are happy with. I'd probably do the same but if I still wasn't happy with it, I'd send it back and get a refund. I do understand the desire to have a lighted reader, but I'd rather enjoy reading on my old Kindle than know I've spent a fair chunk of money on an e-reader that I'm not happy with, just because it has a light.

My first one was bad, so I gave Amazon one chance... As it turns out, I'm happy with the replacement (much brighter, some faint green only visible at no-used-in-real-life light settings, no pink, still a small area of light bleed on the left but not enough on this one to be distracting when reading) If that replacement hadn't been good enough, I would have gone for a refund.

For what it's worth, I did send Amazon some feedback mentioning amongst a few other things the poor QC, how disappointed I was with the first unit and that although I was sticking with a Kindle *this time* given that the replacement was ok, I had considered alternative readers and my next one (whenever that may be!) may not be one of theirs I guess if more people do that, they might just take notice.