Why You Can Trust CNET Amazon promises to replace problem Kindle covers, look into issue
After some customers have complained that Amazon's official non-lighted Kindle Leather cover is causing their devices to lock up and reboot, the company vows to replace any problem covers and have its engineers examine the issue.
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If you have a new Kindle and have poked around for a cover for your device, you may have noticed some diverging user reviews on Amazon.com of the non-lighted Kindle Leather cover. While the cover has many five-star reviews, there are more than 100 one-star reviews claiming the cover has problems that cause the device to freeze or reboot itself.
In a recent review, for example, customer Gunjan Srivastava writes:
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I bought a Kindle 3 (Wi-Fi only) about three months back and was using it without any trouble. Then, I bought this leather cover and suddenly my Kindle ran into all sorts of problems. The screen froze frequently, the Kindle rebooted itself more than four to five times daily. I don't think it's a good idea to buy this product before Amazon gets its act together. They have certainly not done a good job with this cover. I am going to replace this cover as soon as possible. My two cents--DON'T buy this cover.
Apparently, the more expensive lighted cover ($59.99), which we really like, isn't causing any problems and some people have speculated that the metal hooks on the non-lighted cover are the culprit. Those hooks conduct electricity and power the lighted case but obviously don't need to power anything on the non-lighted version. We don't know whether Amazon uses the same hooks on both cases or whether there might have been some sort of mix-up in the production process. But either way, according to a PCMag.com article, Amazon said it's looking into the problem, but will honor return or exchange requests.
"There have been some forum discussions regarding the non-lighted Kindle cover, and our engineering team is looking into this," the company said in an e-mail statement that was also posted to its customer forum where users were complaining. "Regardless, if anyone is having any problem with an Amazon-manufactured Kindle cover, please contact us at kindle-response@amazon.com, and we will be pleased to replace it for free or accept a return for a full refund, no matter when the cover was purchased."
It's worth noting that Amazon had an issue last year with its Kindle cover for the second-generation Kindle. Some customers complained that the metal hooks that held the Kindle in place were causing the Kindle to crack where the hooks attached to the device. Amazon resolved that problem after a customer filed a $5 million class action lawsuit.