love hate relationship

so tragedy struck my life not too long ago. I was heartbroken, devastated, and yes...even shed a few tears. I killed it. I killed my Kindle. My connection to the English written word (at reasonable and sometimes discounted prices) was ripped away from me with an heart rending crack.

And that was the end.

Until I cried to Chi and he bought me a new one and had it shipped to Taiwan.

 

so then I email Amazon to see what can be done with broken Kindle.  They email back that I have to call them, because dealing with people internationally over the phone always solves problems. 

So because Taiwan isn't on their list of 'we'll call you' country's I have to call them. So I call them and talked to someone with an accent. Of course they could still have been in America, but I'm guessing not. So 'Sebastian' said they would replace the broken one for $65 and they could ship it here. Awesome! He had to fill out some forms and had me wait on hold for 10 mins.

So I re confirmed the shipping address, and billing address. But I guess it wasn't enough. I get an email from 'Maneh' that my Kindle had been shipped, and I would be charged $168. They said I'd get a $86 refund leaving me to pay $82. Not awesome. 

So there's no way to 'reply' to their email, there's only a 'did I answer your question yes or no' button. So I said ' no' and politely said I'm not paying a $53 'service fee' and whatever extra charges they feel I have incurred. I said I'd pay for shipping, but this was ridiculous.

I got another email back from 'Mehnaaz' that said they 'reviewed previous correspondence' and that I would only be charged $65. Mega Awesome! 

Only then did I notice the billing address was wrong, like way wrong. Like it was in Chi's name and the address in Taiwan. Ultra not awesome. 

Again, 'no, my question wasn't answered' and another polite message explaining that there was a 'misunderstanding' and what the correct billing address should be. 

I got an email from Mohhamet or whatever saying they were really sorry and that it was kinda already sent out, so there wasn't anything they could do, and that unless my bank actually checks it was all good. 

hmmm.

So in the end...Ultra Mega Awesome!

Until UPS Taiwan stepped in and I get all these 'non government customs hold' and 'waiting for clearance' and have fax three different documents because the first two times they sent the wrong forms for me to sign and they gave me like five different fax numbers.  Here are they things I had to fax over to three different numbers.

So I my bank and amazon are cool because they do what they say they're going to do and get back to me quickly. 

UPS sucks because they can't get their story straight whether it be in Chinese or English. And I will have two Kindles. When it finally arrives. If some clearing house lets it get through Taiwan's stringent electronic embargo or whatever the hell is going on in their heads.