The Pursuit of Happiness

I have a Kindle. I love my Kindle. I buy and read books on it all the time. It's completely changing the way I even think about reading, which is big, especially coming from me, a full-time writer and English Lit major.

That said, I'm very unhappy with my Kindle at this exact moment.
I just bought a book on Amazon. But, since I'm in Argentina, there's a $1.99 surcharge for international delivery...unless you download the book to your computer and transfer directly to the Kindle via USB cable, which is precisely what I did. Or what I attempted to do, anyway. Every time I tried, Amazon prompted me to log in, even though I was already logged in. I complied anyway, but when I entered my login and password, I was taken right back to the same login screen again.

I thought, "Oh, I must have entered my password in wrong." I tried again. Same result. A third time, typing v-e-r-y m-e-t-i-c-u-l-o-u-s-l-y. Same result. I hit the Back button on my browser and started over. Same result. I had them send me my login and password, which were correct all along, and I tried again. Same result.

40 minutes had now passed. The book had yet to make it onto my Kindle. I checked my email again, only to discover Amazon had charged me the $1.99 fee anyway! (Plus the cost of the book, which I expected.) I wrote them an email asking the charge to be reversed, and for help with the login and download process.

At this point, I was very unhappy, and now I'd wasted nearly an hour of a beautiful South American summer Saturday afternoon. I checked my email one last time before giving up and waiting for a response to my email to Amazon. A shiny new message from Amazon awaited. I thought, "Wow, that was fast customer service." Alas, not so. This new email was actually my receipt for $1.99 being charged to my account a SECOND TIME! Arrrg!

I wrote a second email to Amazon, asking for a refund of $3.98 this time, and for help preventing this problem in the future. I was very courteous and polite--my momma taught me well--but inside I was seething. It's not that much money, but it's the principle of the matter. I also don't want to pay an extra $2-4 and log an extra hour of computer time for every book I buy, both of which could add up quickly, so I want this resolved before making future purchases.

So what's the moral of the story, and why is it blog-worthy? The book I purchased:

Happiness by Thich Nhat Hanh


If only I could read this book, perhaps I could learn how to not let situations like this bother me. Oh the irony.

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Update: It's a few hours later. Amazon refunded the $3.98, and I eventually got the book (Thank you Amazon!), which I've started and is wonderful. At long last, I'm finally happy.