Amazon to refund certain e-books purchased through Kindle

Amazon’s Kindle users across the world who have purchased e-books will be eligible for refunds. Not just, all future purchases will be discounted as well.

In an email sent to its customers, Amazon said refunds to the tune of 30 cents (Dh1.1) to $1.32 (Dh4.84) would be made for e-books purchased between April 2010 and May 2012.

However the refunds will only be made on e-books purchased from three publishers Hachette, Harper Collins, and Simon & Schuster.

Many users in the UAE said they were yet to receive any information from Amazon about the refunds.

Priyanka Mahendru, who has been using Kindle for the last two years, told Emirates24l7 that she has purchased many books and will be quite glad to get some refunds.

But do not expect any money back until February 2013 when the court is scheduled to approve the $69million settlement, which the three publishers agreed upon against dropping of charges that they were fixing prices of electronic books.

Amazon in its email message informed customers, “You do not need to do anything to receive this credit. We will contact you when the credit is applied to your Amazon.com account if the Court approves the settlements in February 2013.”

It also provided a link to customers with detailed answers about the E-book settlements:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=201046060
It was the US Department of Justice that decided to sue Apple and five different publishers accusing them of joining hands to inflate prices of electronic books in an effort to fight Amazon.

The Wall Street Journal has reported extensively on the issue:
https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304444604577337573054615152.html?ru=yahoo&mod=yahoo_hs

While the three above mentioned publishers have come forward and agreed to settle the case, two others Macmillan and Pearson have not done so.
Meanwhile many Kindle users in the UAE say they continue to use US credit cards to shop for e-books due to the initial hiccup with UAE credit cards.

“When I first purchased the device, I was not able to register it using my UAE credit card. Therefore I use my husband’s card that is issued by a bank in the United States,” said Jigna Suresh.

Mahendru also added that she uses her friend’s card and send her payments through paypal.

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