Amazon’s lofty repair policy was recently humbled. It appears that Amazon will now drop the $200 charge to repair a Kindle 2 or Kindle DX that was cracked due to their “protective” cover.

The leather cover sold by Amazon has the potential to cause a crack in the Kindle if it is opened from the wrong side. In the words of one particular reviewer:

The leather cover locks onto the Kindle with two metal posts. The cover is only intended to be opened from the front. If you inadvertently open the cover from the back, the metal post of the cover will crack the case of the Kindle. Very poor design when a protective device actually causes damage.

It’s nice to see a large company do the right thing, but a bit unfortunate that it took a class action suit to get their attention. Matthew Geise, who is seeking class action status with the lawsuit stated:

Because of the relatively small size of the typical damages, and the modest resources of most consumers, it is unlikely that most Class Members could afford to seek recovery against Amazon on their own. A class action is therefore the only viable, economical and rational means for members of the Class to recover from Amazon for the damages it has caused.

If you’re one of the unfortunate people who have cracked their Kindles by the use of this leather cover, you should contact Amazon. After that, I’d love to hear about your experience by reading your comments.

If you’re looking for an alternative, a couple of really nice covers for the Kindle 2 I’ve seen recently are the M-Edge Prodigy and the OCTO Leather Slip Cover. We’ve also posted more information about protective your Kindle.