Yesterday I ordered a Kindle. But this post isn’t about Kindles, or e-books or anything to do with books. This post is about the trials and tribulations of trying to order something over the Internet.
Kindles, in fact e-readers of all kinds, are becoming popular, right? Well, they are in the northern hemisphere. Here in Oz, the word ‘Kindle’ is still likely to produce a ‘huh?’ reaction more often than not. But as I wrote in a post about this time last year, P has one and really loves it. I’ve thought about it on and off, but only just came to a decision.
So onto Amazon I went, found the one I wanted, found the cover I liked, ticked all the right boxes, made sure my card was up to date and typed in the address. Sorry, said the red writing, we don’t ship to your country. Please go to the Non-US Kindle page. I should have known. I’ve never been able to order anything but books and CDs from Amazon (oh, and DVDs I can’t play, of course). They wouldn’t even let me order a tuning key for my harp.
Off I went to the Non-US Kindle page. Ticked the box saying ‘Australia’, did all the same as before and pressed go. Sorry, said the red writing, we don’t ship to your country. Please go to the Non-US Kindle page.
Just a tad frustrated now, I went back. Maybe I’d done something I shouldn’t, not done something I should? But no, the page definitely said it was the Non-US Kindle page, it definitely said I was in Australia, it definitely said they would ship to Australia. One more try. Same message. Three more tries. Same message.
By this time, I was a little more than a tad impatient – I was ready to throw my laptop through the window. Fortunately, P came in at that moment. “Try this,” he said. With two taps he deleted the “PO” in front of “Box” on my shipping address. Like magic, the order immediately went through.
Yes, folks, I live in PO, a strange little country to which Amazon does not ship Kindles. I’ll remember not to tell them that next time. I wonder if they'd send me that harp key if they didn't know I live in PO?
2 comments:
I fear that sounds all too familar, at least they didn't try and direct you to Austria. That has happened to me on more than one occassion. Though in our household while I am the computer expert my wife is the amazon guru.
ps just say your new posting on kindle boards and followed the link very nice art work. Good luck with the publishing, I'm about to launch on smashwords and kindle as well.
Austria - maybe that's where the two books I ordered pre-Kindle went to!
Thanks for your comments on my artwork. It's good to know someone actually followed my link! Good luck with your book. I'll be interested to see how it goes.
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