Prolixium dot com: News >> Blog >> The Kindle DX Saga

It's not all Amazon's fault, some of it is mine, too:

I preordered the new Kindle DX back on May 13th with (free) super saver shipping. I usually don't get overnight or expedited shipping because I'm patient, and there's a minimal risk of the world exploding if I don't get my stuff quickly. Amazon then sent me an eMail on the 2nd of June saying that my Kindle DX and case will arrive between June 22nd and June 26th. Cool, so far.

Here's where things started to get strange. On June 11th, one of my friends from work said he looked on Amazon's site the night before, and found that the Kindle DX was in stock, so he ordered one with overnight shipping. Yup, it did indeed come that day for him. From my perspective, it appeared that the customers who preordered the Kindle DX got shafted in favor of the folks who order with expedited shipping. I wrote to Amazon:

06/11/09 05:20:53
Your Name:Mark Kamichoff
Order Id: XXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX
Comments:Hi -

I pre-ordered a Kindle DX on May 14th of this year, and its expected ship date is June 15th according to your website. However, one of my coworkers ordered a Kindle DX last night (June 10th) with overnight shipping and it is already on track for delivery today (June 11th).

Is there any reason why the pre-ordering of items is not given priority?

Please let me know, otherwise I will refrain from pre-ordering items from Amazon in the future.

Thanks.

- Mark

And, they responded:

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:33:28 +0000 (UTC)
From: "Amazon.com Customer Service" <cust.service03@amazon.com>
To: "prox@prolixium.com" <prox@prolixium.com>
Subject: Your Amazon.com Order (#XXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX)

Hello,

Thank you for contacting us regarding the Kindle DX order.

I apologize for any misunderstanding you have about the shipment.

I see you selected our free Super Saver Shipping option for order #XXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX. It may take an extra 3-5 business days for a Super Saver Shipping order to ship from our fulfillment center(s). This extra time allows us to ship your order in the most cost-efficient way possible so we can pass the savings on to you in the form of free shipping.

Click here to see your order:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/css/summary/edit.html?orderID=XXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX

We hope to see you again soon.

Thank you for choosing Kindle DX.

While I'm still annoyed, I suppose their explanation is valid. However, one of my other friends (who had preordered the Kindle DX with super saver shipping as well) used different language when writing to Amazon, and got his order bumped up to 2-day shipping for free. I probably could have chosen my words differently - I'll remember that for next time.

The next day (June 12th), I received an eMail from Amazon saying that my order was shipped via USPS, and was set to arrive in Charlotte on June 18th. Great, I thought - it'll be held at the post office and I'll pick it up. I watched the progress of the shipment on Amazon's site over the next few days, because plugging the tracking number into USPS's site resulted in a "no such tracking number" error. I'm not sure why that was the case, unless Amazon is retaining exclusive rights to tracking information for their shipments. Seems evil.

Today, I checked out the shipment tracking status, and there was an update yesterday saying "incorrect address" for the destination. I looked at the destination address, and sure enough, I typo'ed on the ZIP code. I put the ZIP code of the office where I work instead of my home ZIP code. After some head smacking, I sent Amazon a note, asking what I should do:

06/17/09 10:31:46
Your Name:Mark Kamichoff
Order Id: XXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX
Comments:Hi -

I preordered a Kindle DX back in May, and by mistake put the wrong ZIP code for the destination address. The USPS tracking says "incorrect address."

What do I need to do to get the address corrected? The CORRECT ZIP code for this order should be 28277. Full address follows:

[ address listed ]

Thanks.

- Mark Kamichoff

I got a reply in the afternoon:

Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:55:59 +0000 (UTC)
From: "Amazon.com Customer Service" <cust.service03@amazon.com>
To: "prox@prolixium.com" <prox@prolixium.com>
Subject: Your Amazon.com Kindle Inquiry

Hello,

It looks like there's an address problem with order #XXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX, and it's being returned to us.

We'll issue a full refund to your card when it's processed by our Return Center, and we'll send you an e-mail when that happens.

If you still want to get Kindle, please place a new order. You may need to check or update the shipping address when you place the order or make changes to your Address Book in Your Account at www.amazon.com/your-account.

I hope this helps. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

I was a little disappointed, and planned on ordering it again when I was back home. However, I just checked my eMail and became quite confused:

Hello from Amazon.com.

We're writing about the order you placed on May 13 2009 (Order# XXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX).

USPS was unable to leave the package at your delivery address as per their delivery policies. The package will be available for pick up at your local post office. Please visit http://www.usps.com and click "Locate a Post Office" to find contact information for your local post office or call 1 800 ASK USPS. The items listed below are included in this shipment:

   "Kindle DX: Amazon's 9.7" Wireless Reading Device (Latest
        Generation)"
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015TCML0

   "Amazon Kindle DX Leather Cover"
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001T0HYCM

What the heck? So, I look at the tracking information on Amazon, and see the following:

Date           Time         Location              Event Details
June 18, 2009  10:19:00 AM  CHARLOTTE NC          Delivery attempted
June 18, 2009  10:19:00 AM  ---                   Available for pickup
June 18, 2009  08:58:00 AM  CHARLOTTE NC          Arrival Scan
June 18, 2009  08:58:00 AM  ---                   Delivered
June 17, 2009  07:59:00 AM  CHARLOTTE NC          Incorrect address
June 17, 2009  07:20:00 AM  ---                   Arrival Scan
June 15, 2009  09:27:00 AM  ---                   Arrival Scan
June 11, 2009  07:16:35 PM  Campbellsville KY US  Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit

(had to preformat it to keep the spacing)

Massive props to USPS if they did what I think they did. I suppose they actually bothered to look at my street address, and realized that there's only one street with the name in Charlotte, and it's in 28277, not 28217. They then probably moved it to the Ballantyne post office and tried to deliver it, left a sticky note on my door, then brought it back to the post office. Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up, soon!

In other news, I gave my old Kindle to my mom, and I think she likes it, so far.