Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Adventures with my Kindle

Yesterday afternoon, I was working away at my computer.

*halo*

Suddenly, I see that little alert out of the corner of my eye signalling that I have a new message in my yahoo email. The subject reads "Your Recent Order with Amazon.com."

Well that can't be good. I haven't ordered anything from Amazon, even a Kindle book, since exactly a week ago when I ordered my iPod adapter (which came and works, by the way). I had a bit of a backlog of books to read on my Kindle and was trying to get through them before I ordered anything new. Feeling a bit anxious, I click on the message.

Amazon cheerily informed me that my download of 2 Kindle books was complete, and here was my receipt. I scan the message quickly and see two titles that I've never heard of before.

Uh oh. Somebody besides me bought 2 books on my Amazon credit card. That can't possibly be good...

Another message pops up: "Your Recent Order with Amazon.com." This one for yet another digital download of a mystery book. All told, we're now at nearly $20 in books. I do the reasonable thing.

I panic. Clearly, I am under attack by some kind of vicious hacker.

In seconds, I am on Amazon's web site and going to my Kindle account. I see the 3 downloads in question but am relieved that no new ones have appeared. I immediately call Amazon customer service.

"Hello, Kindle support, Opie speaking, how can I help you?"

Yes, his name was really Opie.

I explain the situation and Opie tells me that he is refunding me for the 3 downloads. Great, but I'm worried about a larger issue of how these got downloaded to begin with.

"It's usually just a mistake. It had to have happened either from the web site or from the device. It's probably fine."

Not exactly the vote of confidence I was looking for.

I explain that my Kindle is currently at my home, where my toddler daughter was also residing. Perhaps she got her hot little hands on my Kindle and somehow managed to download multiple books? That seemed unlikely, but it did amuse Opie. I kept my eye on my Kindle account for the rest of my work day and saw no new downloads. I changed my Amazon password and tried not to worry.

Later, I pull into our driveway and open my car door. Hank greets me.

"Mommy, Anne got your Kindle, and she was PUSHING and PUSHING buttons!!"

Mystery solved. When I turned my Kindle on, it was still open to the Kindle storefront.

She's a very resourceful little stinker.

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