Amazon Kindle Fire HDX: Bezos dives into tech-support MONEY PIT The latest Kindle Fire HDX tablets come with a free 24/7 support hotline via video chat. Putting a human face within easy reach may just push Amazon into the never-ending money-suck that is tech support. Here's how the video-chat help desk is supposed to work; your mileage may vary: Youtube Video The HDX is an evolution of …
I've owned and pwned a couple of Kindles over the years. I had one fail on me which they replaced next day and I broke the other two through my own sheer stupidity.
I knelt on one which I had left on my bed, heard a nasty crack and when I tried to refresh the screen it all went etch a sketch on me. It was 23:30 on a Saturday night. I looked on Amazon to see if perhaps I could get it fixed, found a relevant page and it had a call me button so I clicked it and entered my number.
Within 30 seconds my phone rang, I was connected to someone immediately and told them what I had done. It was a Kindle Keyboard 3G which at the time were £149. They said they couldn't repair mine but could replace it for £49 as a goodwill gesture to an existing owner. I gratefully accepted and on Monday morning my new one arrived. Two years later when I broke it again I had a similar experience.
You can bemoan their DRM, their tax "efficiency" or whatever but you can't fault the Kindle support. It's the best I've ever had from a big company by a long way.
@miknik - "You can bemoan their DRM, their tax "efficiency" or whatever but you can't fault the Kindle support. It's the best I've ever had from a big company by a long way."
I agree - Amazon's support is incredible. I've never had to wait for more than an hour for approval to return a broken or unwanted item - and that's doing support via email. And you are right - replacements are shipped and in my hands within two days usually.
My Kindle Fire HD is one of my favorite tech products of all time. I love the fact that they left side-loading of Android apps wide open. I've got all kinds of apps running on it without rooting it that aren't available in the Amazon App store (Chrome, Flash, etc). The fact that you don't have to root it to do this, and you still have access to the full Kindle e-reader experience (lending library, online access to all your notes and highlights, Whispernet, Whispersync) is awesome. Can't wait to try one of these HDX's in the store - the one thing the Fire HD could use is a bit more speed. The new processor should make a huge difference. I'll probably give my Fire HD to one of my kids and get myself the HDX.
I remember when scoot was free... many a drunken night was spent phoning them up to make sure they wernt bored...
video support though, now that's even better! keep dialing through till you get a hottie!!! it wont do anything for the helpdesk stats, but it could be good for a laugh........ or a possible harassment case..........
I've done callcentre work in the past, and face to face customer service for yeeears.
I'd never - ever - do video chat support. 'Anonymous' enough to encourage bad behaviour from clients, but not physical enough to allow you to use full body language (and force) to stop them from doing something unpleasant.
An awful halfway house that helps no-one.
So shouldn't the expectation that you will need customer service so frequently as to justify built-in vid support a bad omen?! It is the equivalent of BLMC including the phone number of the local service centre in the glove compartment...BAD OMEN.
Run away, run away!!
the expectation that you will need customer service so frequently as to justify built-in vid support
A premium feature like built-in video support with a live representative is only justifiable if it will be rarely used, and that's the expectation most intelligent customers will infer from it. In effect it's a warranty, just like the roadside-assistance plans that are offered with many new cars, for example. The merchant is indemnifying the customer for some of the costs of product failure, which is an implicit promise to attempt to minimize those costs (as they reduce the merchant's profits) by reducing the failure rate.
Really, I can't see how in the world you drew the opposite conclusion.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
