Recently I posted that my two year old DX had a problem and that Amazon replaced it free even though it was over a year out of warrantee. TOday I recieved a refund from them for the customs being less. THey paid by using Gift certificates they gave me. The refund means I have a gift Certificate of $40 in my account. Looks as if I will have to spend it now:)

Amazon's support of the Kindle is nothing short of amazing and, if the device itself wasn't the best there is, would be reason alone to buy one.

My year old Kindle Touch broke (my fault, really but I do think that it is probably more delicate than it should be for a portable device) and they sent me a new one which arrived today. They asked for the old one back and said they would process a refund for the shipping and when mine arrived I had to pay 1200 baht for the duty, handling and VAT. I 'd like to get that refunded too, but to be honest it feels a bit cheeky asking for more on top of the excellent service they've given me already.

I have a theory that they got to a stage where making them more robust meant they couldn't meet the price points and they decided at least for a while to adopt this very generous support programme while they keep improving the product. As long as too many people don't break them they not only stay at the leading edge of value at retail but everyone who breaks one turns into an Amazon Ambassador with spin off sales in other categories too.

And in the meantime they keep selling the e-books.

Smart marketing.