Comments on: Does the Kindle 2 have a design flaw? Lawsuit says yes

A consumer has dropped a million class action suit on Amazon after his wife's Kindle 2 developed cracks. Amazon had refused to replace the maimed Kindle free of charge.

[danskpeber]

What a schmuck! Stop it with the lawsuits people! I would have been equally frustrated with Amazon but a $5 million dollar class action suit, come on, stop wasting resources!!!

[Lerianis3]

The fact is that this was the ONLY way to get Amazon to fix a DESIGN-DEFECT with this thing.

You HAVE to be an Amazon stockholder or an Amazon shill....


[CNET editors' note: Personal attack deleted.]

[Vegaman_Dan]

I don't think the amount is in line with the damages, but if this is the only way to get Amazon to pay attention to what is appearing to be a general design flaw of either the unit or the case, then... well, sometimes you have to use a bigger hammer to get attention.

[Shaun822]

The $5 million represents all the damages across the country by anyone who has had this problem. When you file a class action you aggregate the claims of all the people. So it's likely a slightly inflated $500 or $1,000 per person multiplied by 10,000 or 5,000 incidents. Or, an even lower number multiplied by an even higher incident rate.

[paulimusmaximus]

Yeah, now amazon is gonna have to raise the price back up again to deal with the lawsuits. As a business owner I can see amazons point of view though. You can't trust anyone at all in the public, because there are too many cheats out there. If I was amazon, I'd assume the idiot dropped it, and was trying to rip me off. And no, I'm not an amazon shareholder. It's just like Verizon, if my phone is cracked, they won't give me a replacement, but my phone recently kept shutting off all the time, so they did replace that for free. Because it's a malfunction, not something I did like dropping it and cracking it.

[make_or_break]

...or they could just own up to the fact that they chose to use a cheap inferior plastic case that cracks even without any signs of abusive usage habits. If this problem is as widespread as the article seems to indicate, then Amazon needs to rectify this design defect in a responsible manner.

If they'd done it to begin with, there wouldn't have been a need for the lawsuit IN THE FIRST PLACE. A likely result of an online seller becoming a clueless hardware manufacturer.

[ptsenter]

If they admitted that as a common problem they should have recalled the product.

[tech_crazy]

Amazon knew of the problem, didn't fix it, the user contacted Amazon about it, Amazon didn't repair the item for free, it is not an isolated incident and despite all these you expect a lawsuit to not happen. Either you are smoking something or an Amazon executive/stockholder.

[Vegaman_Dan]

This isn't an isolated issue in the industry. Apple does it with their iPods/iPhone/Touch when you have to pay for warranty support. Lenovo does it when they advertise that their keyboards are spill proof, but will reject any warranty claim for a keyboard if there has been liquid spillage. Toshiba knew of problems with the graphic chipsets in a particular model but instead of doing a recall, they just replaced systems until the warranties expired without ever admitting a problem publically.

Heck, this happens in the auto industry as well. Sometimes you just need a big noisy lawsuit to get it out into the public where it can be seen and addressed.

[dmlieber]

Try buying the Sony Reader. I slammed my trunck hatch on my sony ebook months after I got it. It left a dent in the casing, but over a year later the thing still works like a charm. It has no whispernet, keyboard, or search, but the sony prs is an otherwise excellent, and durable, alternative to the Kindle.

[srminton]

sounds great, if only it worked with Macs

[DerBlitzkrieger]

Or x64 based operating systems.

I still use my PRS-505 for technical manuals in PDF format, but for day to day reading, its the Kindle 2 all the way.
I also cracked the screen on my first sony reader when I put my palm on it to move myself off a bench seat in a minivan.

[nophototoday]

Thin and light are nice but lack of durability should not be the price you have to pay. Amazon needs to stand behind the product fully.

[kejaco1]

My wife has a Kindle 2 and the screen has going blank and looked just like the picture above (without the cracked case). We have only had it for about 6 months now. Each time we were able to get a replacement with no problems. We asked Amazon customer service if it were a common occurrence and they told us no.

[paulej]

"Each time"? And it's not common?

[tdhelder]

Take a look at the Nokia 770. It's old tech, but it is small, light, cheap, and built like a brick. I have dropped the thing on tile floors, had the thing fall out of my pocket while riding down the road on my motorcycle, and done things to it that no machine should ever have done. And it still works great. The size is perfect for my pocket, and works great as an "full color" e-reader, and a s*** load of other functions I give it. New is not always best. And as for that over priced, black and white door stop they call a kindle........ Not so much.

[cnet30127]

This is a prime example of "elitists" who file lawsuits over farts, and a prime reason why legal costs in this country are out of the roof, and we're filled with sleazy ambulance chasing style lawyers - to accommodate people like this couple.

THAT being said, they almost deserve it for paying so much for one of these things, anyway! I mean, come on. Nearly $500 for a cheap plastic thing that has a black and white screen and just reads books and magazines? If you're duh enough to pay that much for a cheap toy, then hey, sorry, you got what you deserve. Move on and sue something worthwhile - like your common sense.

[cyclonica1980]

a 200.00 repair charge while a product is still under warranty isnt exactly a far to me cnet30127. If they would not honor their warranty for faulty casing I would be pissed off to.

[3tire]

Sounds to me like you're the one practicing elitism. Feeling a little smug because you're the "common man" who doesn't go for these toys?

[Xdrno]

Hey, here's an original solution.....BUY A BOOK.. In my lifetime I have probably dropped, thrown, kicked, walked on, walked over 1000 books. I have also opened books forward, backward, sideways, upside down, also. Out of all those apparant "Kindle Killing" acts, not once did I crack, break, destroy or make said book "Unuseable".

I love the "Gotta' Have It Now" crowd. Your paying some company $300.00 to purchase and read books which you can get for $7.99 in paperback.

Now your overpriced, overhyped, Most Uesless tech gadget of the last 50 years, has Issues so your solution is to SUE people.

These are the same people who complained and almost sued when Apple came out with a newer, cheaper Iphone, because they were stupid enough to stand in line for 12 hours and pay an UNGODLY, OBSCENE amount for a PDA/Phone. Then when AT&T wouldn't let them break their contract and change phones for free, they whined and cried about it. Certain technophiles believe, because they spend "Stupid" money on tech, that certain rules and policies, that everyone else in the world has to abide by, dont apply to them.

You bought a 100% USELESS, TECH "TOY". It offers no "Actual or Perceived" advantage over true books. Once you buy the thing, you still need to buy the "Kindle" Editions of any book you wanted in the first place. If anyone can explain how the Kindle makes it easier for the normal run of the mill "reader", I would love to know.

[ZetaZeta_]

Try switching books while sitting on your ass all day... Or going out and getting a book on a whim from the libary, but don't actually get off your couch. Or put 4 books in your purse or briefcase for a long road or business trip.
:X :X :X

It's a different animal. That's like saying "Put down the the controller and go play catch!" It just doesn't work when you're riding on a bus or stuck inside on a rainy day. You could say that about anything.

The solution is not the jump back a leap in technology, the solution is to buy a product of today's technology that will actually work, or trust that Amazon will at least attempt to deliver a product that you will be satisfied with reading their catalog of electronic books on.

[Lerianis3]

ZING!! ZetaZeta_ comes back with the best posting in Cnet history!

[depot84]

Rant much?

[chasan2]

I just got scared with Amazon lately.I got charged left and right on my amazon card.
They charged me for protection plan and I did not even know about it.
When I called, they said I was told.
What do you do with these people. Operator from Indea did not even care.
I wouldn't buy anything that will lock me into a long relationship with Amazon.

[hk26]

First, you don't even know how to spell India, second Amazon prides itself on having call centers in US!

[therealbean]

I disagree. Amazon Prime ($79 a year to cover all shipping costs from Amazon) is one of the best bargains available today. It covers books, music, clothes, computer equipment...anything that is sold by Amazon (but not by Amazon Stores). Amazon renews it automatically and sends me a note telling me I have 30 days to cancel it if I didn't want to renew. I have no problem with that.

[gsigas]

Seems simple, pay the $5 million and put some disclaimer on all future products and then raise the prices of the e-books to make the $5 million back.

[Lerianis3]

They have already made MORE than enough that 5 million is a drop in the bucket for them. And a disclaimer WOULD NOT WORK in this case, because it is a DESIGN FLAW! That's like Honda putting a disclaimer on one of their cars before you buy it that it has brake problems, and then refusing to fix the brakes when the problem they warn you of comes up when it is still under warranty.

[magicmaster]

If it's a defect, they should recall it, not merely putting a disclaimer on it. Besides, why should consumers put up with this dlsclaimer at all? Do consumers pay for those defects? I think not.

[gsigas]

@Lerianis3 the disclaimer WOULD WORK if they offered all current owners (prior to a disclaimer) a refund, because the disclaimer is notifying the consumer that the thing cracks easily. Your analogy with brakes on a car is no good because the functional flaw (the screen freeze) is covered under the warranty as stated in the article. The cosmetic flaw is not.

@magicmaster not all defects demand a recall, only ones that affect function or are safety concerns. The cosmetic cracks do not fit into this (recall that the screen freeze is covered). Amazon should offer the refund to current owners, if they no longer want the device due to the cracks, because they were not notified, but if future owners are notified that this cosmetic flaw occurs then it is up to them to accept it or not. In the end the market would decide (meaning if people stop buying it because of the cosmetic flaw) it would change. I am not saying consumers should put up with a disclaimer (I certainly wouldn't buy a product like that), what I am saying is that the disclaimer would be sufficient for the future (not the past) because the flaw is not functional, it is cosmetic.

[drearydan]

I own the Kindle2 and this cover, if this lawsuit makes a fault in their design repairable to me at no cost then I'm all for it and thank these folks for taking their time to file a legitimate suit to cover this device flaw for the rest of us.

Now what is with the E-Book bashing comments? As an experienced "paper book" reader (who isn't?) I will vouch for the value of ebooks. With this device (as with other E-books) I carry hundreds of books with me wherever I go, all of them automatically bookmarked so when I feel like jumping between books I pick up right where I left off, I also mention I downloaded half of them free and legal from gutenberg.org. That I can carry the majority of my library in my pocket and read on the eye-freindly E-Ink at a whim is reason enough to buy this product. The savings in book costs (don't forget paper costs for printing out my own gutenberg.org titles if I wanted to read them on paper) alone have made up for the cost of the device. Even if that wasn't the case the increased reading I've been doing since I bought the device, and the easy to use (and thorough) "scroll and define" dictionary have enough intellectual benefit to be worth a motorcycle payment. This was an investment in my self education and it has paid off enormously.

[kaneroxs]

if its 5 million dollers for all kindle owners who gets the mpney are they gonna send out $50 cheques to everyone with a kindle

[Vegaman_Dan]

Typcially they would give you a discount coupon on your next purchase instead. That's the traditional method of compensation. That way they still keep the money regardless and may actually make MORE money from you.

[dwimmer38]

A class action lawsuit is ridiculous. Society has come to the point where you can be sued for looking at someone wrong. I bet the judge throws this one out. We need new laws where the people who bring such lawsuits should pay a big fee if their suit is determined to be frivolous.

[istill316]

Books don't get cracked by their cases... It takes a lot of use to mess up a book! Go paper! The technology of the 21st century!

... I wish I could afford a Kindle.

[johlee991]

Where's the common sense? As with any expensive electronic device, expect something bad to happen if you drop it, bend it, sit on it, etc. Sheesh! People are always looking for ways to get something free for something they broke on their own. Sad... sad. (shakes head).

[esbates]

It's a shame that Amazon's customer service rep was either poorly trained, having a bad day or somehow missing the concept of "customer service". A simple matter to have apologized and offered a replacement would have solved this problem, but instead, the rep mishandled the issue and then offered a poorly conceived comment. There must be more to this I suspect. As for the class action suit, the only one who will profit from this is the attorney. Oh, customers may get a $50 Amazon voucher or perhaps have their Kindle's replaced, but with a $5 million suit, the attorney will net about $2-3 million. What a great country!

[One-Eared Gundark]

Exactly! And Amazon won't hurt too bad, either. They'll make up the cost by raising prices on other goods to cover the loss. The only losers in this case are the consumers.

[puterhead]

If the couple doesn't have an recording that they can prove is actually with a Customer Service Representative of Amazon then it never really happened. Not saying it didn't go down just as they say, just saying it is their word against Amazons and I doubt it would be taken as evidence at all.

To me I wouldn't be the least bit skeptical that the device is fragile, maybe too much so, but I also know that people tend to treat electronic gadgets in a manner that they should never be treated and in no way should any device be designed to withstand any amount of punishment that the end user might end up inflicting on it.

I love my cell phone, but i don't thing Samsung should make it so that if i drop it while walking and kick it across the street through traffic and a bus runs it over that it should keep working and have no cosmetic damage.

Before i got my current cellphone i used to have one of those flat panel DVD players with the 8" screens for use when i was at hotels on business trips. I shattered the screen on it packing my suitcase with it tucked in the middle of my clothes. At first i was angry because it broke when i had it completely protected and was trying hard not to let it get damaged. Then I remembered all the times i fell asleep watching it and it slid off on the floor from the hotel bed, times i dropped it pulling my clothes out of the suitcase with it wrapped up inside.etc.

Often we think we are really taking care of things when in fact we are flipping it onto the couch when the doorbell rings or dropping it on the counter because dinner is burning. Not saying the Kindle does not have a problem, just saying it might be more in the handling of the device rougher than intended.

[enlighten86]

I have a Kindle 1 & 2, and have had them both for months and months now... I have yet to have problems with either one of them. I do know what they're saying about opening the cover backwards, I've started to do it a number of times but have always caught myself. I really don't see those cracks appearing if you're careful with the device. And a class action lawsuit is ridiculous. Just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should. Amazon is a good company with a good product, and yeah crappy things happen sometimes but that's the nature of consumerism.

[biffhenerson]

No lawsuit. Simply do not buy the product. If you already bought the product, you got what you paid for. Defects and all. "As Is" Stop your whining. Anyone who cares about their Kindle would not be forcing something to the point that it cracks the case. So your out a few bucks. Big deal. Stimulate the economy and buy something else. I will send you one of my HD-DVD players if it will make you feel better.

[therealbean]

There is no "as is" for new products in the US. All states require warranties of merchantability and fitness for use for products.

[gsigas]

@therealbean makes a good point, part of the primary function of a protective cover is to prevent cosmetic damage. So if the protective cover is actually causing damage the consumer is entitled to warranty protection.

[hankthedwarf]

Your reasoning (or lack thereof) is ridiculous, biff. You're trolling, right?

[acousticb1-2009]

Amazon is just as rough as that on its marketplace sellers. Ebay allows illegal sales and paypal expects you to returned the junk back despite the fact that the guy ripped people off and probably will do it again