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The Kindle is once again making the news.  Only this time, not for a rave review and gushing praise.  This time the coverage is because of a $5 million class action suit being thrown at Amazon due to a number of Kindle 2 users finding the build quality of the reader lacking.

When purchasing the Kindle 2, consumers have the option of also purchasing the $30 protective case which fastens onto the plastic body of the Kindle with metal clips.  So, some of those Amazon customers, thinking they were being diligent about wanting to take care of their precious new baby did just that, they bought that optional protective case.  Their mistake, as it didn’t do much protecting.  Instead, so far it seems it caused more damage than it did good in lots of cases.

Mr. Matthew Geise, an executive director of a Seattle property management firm, first filed the suit.  He did this after he bought a Kindle for his wife for $359 plus the protective case.  About three months later, the Kindle started to crack around and underneath the place where the clips squeeze onto the body of the reader.  A couple of months after the cracks first began appearing, they had grown noticeably with the stress transferred to the internals of the device as evidenced by screen freeze, screen corruption, leading to the device to stop functioning on July 6th.

Mr. Geise’s cracked Kindle

Looking through the Kindle review section of Amazon.com does show that a number of other Kindle 2 owners have had this (or similar) problems.  Some of the comments and complaints make it clear that Amazon has been less than helpful in resolving the situation.  One reviewer wrote on July 13th, “Amazon has been horrible about helping with this issue. I am sorry, but if an accessory is purchased to PROTECT the product, the company should certainly be liable if it is the cause of the damage.”

When Geise contacted Amazon about trying to make a warranty claim on July 7th, he was told by a customer service representative that the company would cover the screen, but not the cracks.  They contended that they were caused by opening the cover backwards, so it wasn’t covered by the warranty.  Geist was told instead of a replacement, he would have to pay $200 for repairs. 

Alisa Brodkowitz, Geise’s wife, maintains that she did not open the cover incorrectly.  She was even told by an Amazon supervisor that these cracks are a “common problem,” but still was told they would have to pay $200 to get it fixed or replaced.  According to the lawsuit, the supervisor told the couple that the broken one could end up either being repaired or offered as refurbished.

Geise’s attorney, Beth Terrell, says it seems though Amazon changed their policy of automatically replacing the cracked Kindles to charging $200 to do so.  Not a very consumer-friendly move when you have a product that keeps breaking.  On top of that, even if the cracks are being caused by people “opening” their Kindles from the back side, Terrel states that “there’s no warning that’s going to crack the Kindle.”

In his case, he seeks refunds, as well as triple damages and legal costs.  This amount is expected to be over $5 million for the hundreds of people suspected to be dealing with the same problem.

Seems to me that Amazon is going about this one the wrong way.  Replacing some broken Kindles is gonna cost a lot less than a class-action suit if they lose.  Not to mention it really isn’t going to look good for them or the Kindle.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle today, July 15, 2009, and includes buyers of both the Kindle 2 as well as the Kindle DX models “installed in a Kindle Cover designed by Amazon.”

Read: [fastcompany]