Matthew Geise filed suit against Amazon in a Seattle US District Court yesterday seeking class action status for Kindle 2 and SuperKindle owners with devices “installed in a Kindle Cover designed by Amazon.”
The suit alleges that “Internet complaint board and product review sites contain scores, if not hundreds, of complaints from Kindle owners whose Kindles have been damaged by the Kindle Covers.” Users report that the cover cause cracks or “bulges” on the side of the Kindle “at or near where the Kindle Cover attaches to the Kindle,” and indicate that the cracks eventually get big enough that the device stops working. More than one poster says Amazon reps told them this is “a known problem,” though others say the company has proposed charging a $200 service fee to send a replacement unit.
In the suit, Geise alleges that an Amazon rep told his wife “the cracking of the cover only occurs through misuse by opening the cover backwards and the only way to repair the cracking was to send in $200. She advised the representative that she has never opened the Kindle backwards and that she wished to dispute the warranty claim denial. She asked the representative to put Amazon’s position in writing. The representative refused, saying that he was concerned that he might be creating ‘admissible evidence.'”
They say “a supervisor from Amazon called Ms. Brodkowitz…. She told Ms. Brodkowitz that cracking of the Kindle was a ‘common problem.’ Due to the number of people who complained about cracks in the Kindle at the cover attachment points, Amazon had sent the Kindle to the cover manufacturer”–but concluded the only way to crack the Kindle was through misuse.
Download a pdf of the filing