# Problem with Oberon bungee - UPDATE



## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

My K3 Oberon arrived today and it is beautiful, as usual. However, when I put my Kindle in the cover and tried to pull the upper right corner bungee over the corner of the Kindle, it was impossible. The bungee is so short and set so low on the inside black cover that I could hardly even grasp it with my fingers. I hooked a very strong paper clip over it and was barely able to pull it up over the corner. Once over the corner, it was so tight that I thought the bungee was going to snap.

My question is: has anyone else noticed this or do I have one with a manufacturing glitch? I've owned several other Oberons and have never had a bungee like this. I can't believe it's an intentional design feature.

I've emailed Oberon about it and I'm waiting to hear from them.

UPDATE: See my latest post in this thread:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,39882.msg731470.html#msg731470


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

DD, did you take the plastic insert out and put it back in? The bungee might be caught on it. I've had that happen when I take the plastic piece out to out my charm on it.


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

Luvmy4brats said:


> DD, did you take the plastic insert out and put it back in? The bungee might be caught on it. I've had that happen when I take the plastic piece out to out my charm on it.


Just checked it, luv. It's not caught up on the insert.


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## lovesangelrn (Dec 28, 2009)

This is just a though, but perhaps in assembly they put the wrong bungee on that part (the one in the upper right hand corner that holds the kindle is shorter).  You should have gotten extra bungees with the oberon, you could try taking out the current one and replacing it with the long extra one.  Be sure to contact Oberon CS if this isn't the problem, I'm sure they will work with you to fix/replace it.


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## KindleGirl (Nov 11, 2008)

DD said:


> My K3 Oberon arrived today and it is beautiful, as usual. However, when I put my Kindle in the cover and tried to pull the upper right corner bungee over the corner of the Kindle, it was impossible. The bungee is so short and set so low on the inside black cover that I could hardly even grasp it with my fingers. I hooked a very strong paper clip over it and was barely able to pull it up over the corner. Once over the corner, it was so tight that I thought the bungee was going to snap.
> 
> My question is: has anyone else noticed this or do I have one with a manufacturing glitch? I've owned several other Oberons and have never had a bungee like this. I can't believe it's an intentional design feature.
> 
> I've emailed Oberon about it and I'm waiting to hear from them.


Yes, mine was the same way! It wasn't quite as tight as yours, but it was very tight. I took my fingers and tried to stretch it a bit which seemed to help a little. For a while I didn't even use the bungee as I didn't want it to hurt the kindle. I agree, the bungee is attached to the back cover too far down the back....it makes the right corner bend in a really weird way. If you look at my cover from the side or ends it looks funky...the corners are pulled up tight because of the corner straps and then the right corner is bent down the other way. I love the cover but have to admit I wasn't real pleased with it. I'm assuming they already had the specific size bungees so they moved the holes down the back the right amount to make the bungees work. I also tried taking out the plastic inserts and it didn't do anything to help mine either.

I'll be interested in what they tell you. I didn't want to complain but I'm not entirely happy with it either.


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## cloudyvisions (May 21, 2009)

Yeah, mine was the same way too...very tough to get it around the upper corner. I FINALLY got it over the corner, but it's so tight that it causes the cover to bend out backwards since there is so much tightness on the bungee cord and possibly since the holes are much lower for this cover. I'm hoping it's something that will go away over time as the leather softens up and hopefully the upper back part of the cover will eventually be up against the Kindle. I will also add that I have the bungee at the VERY edge of the cover as I was afraid it would be too tight if I pulled it down anymore. 

Definitely let us know what they tell you, I'm interested now too.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

It sounds as if they used a shorter bungee on yours than they did on mine.


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

I measured the corner bungee against the extra one.  They are the same.  I going to try to find one of my extra K2 corner bungees to see if it's a better fit.

Thanks for all the responses.  I just wanted to know if It was a defect but it looks like it's a design flaw.  I haven't heard back from Oberon yet but I probably won't take a replacement if they offer one.  I don't want to risk getting one that might be worse.  Maybe they have a bungee that is just a bit longer that they can mail to me.


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## KindleGirl (Nov 11, 2008)

DD said:


> I measured the corner bungee against the extra one. They are the same. I going to try to find one of my extra K2 corner bungees to see if it's a better fit.
> 
> Thanks for all the responses. I just wanted to know if It was a defect but it looks like it's a design flaw. I haven't heard back from Oberon yet but I probably won't take a replacement if they offer one. I don't want to risk getting one that might be worse. Maybe they have a bungee that is just a bit longer that they can mail to me.


If you can't find a bigger bungee just keep gently stretching the short bungee and it will eventually losen up a bit. I pulled mine out last night and compared it to the extra one they sent and it was a little bit longer, so the stretching does help if you do it for a bit.


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

KindleGirl said:


> If you can't find a bigger bungee just keep gently stretching the short bungee and it will eventually losen up a bit. I pulled mine out last night and compared it to the extra one they sent and it was a little bit longer, so the stretching does help if you do it for a bit.


Thanks. I'll try that.


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## CAR (Aug 1, 2010)

My cover's corner bungee was like that also, it has loosened up some over time.


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## kimbertay (Sep 16, 2009)

CAR said:


> My cover's corner bungee was like that also, it has loosened up some over time.


Same here! I thought it looked like they anchored it lower than my K2 covers were because I never noticed it on those. It also makes the upper corner of mine look off because it doesn't quite lay right when my K3 is in it.


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## KindleGirl (Nov 11, 2008)

kimbertay said:


> Same here! I thought it looked like they anchored it lower than my K2 covers were because I never noticed it on those. It also makes the upper corner of mine look off because it doesn't quite lay right when my K3 is in it.


I wish they would fix this design flaw. Move the holes higher and use a different bungee. I don't know if I will buy another until they do fix it. I love the covers but it seems it would be easy for them to adjust and it would lay much better. I think the metal ends of the bungee so far underneath the kindle makes it tilt also.


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## Hippie2MARS (Sep 3, 2010)

Mine is tight too and it does cause bowing as well. Not what I expected, but the cover is just so lovely!


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I just noticed yesterday that the bungee on my K3 Oberon is placed rather low, yet it stretches well and holds it in place as it should be.  I think that if it were much higher that it would slip off more easily.


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## kimbertay (Sep 16, 2009)

mlewis78 said:


> I just noticed yesterday that the bungee on my K3 Oberon is placed rather low, yet it stretches well and holds it in place as it should be. I think that if it were much higher that it would slip off more easily.


I don't recall the bungee being so low on my Kindle 2 covers though and I never had any trouble with it slipping off either. It is very noticable and I worry about cracking my K3 screen with that much constant stress pulling at the corner. It has gotten slightly less tight over time but it is still too tight IMO.

Love the designs though and can't bring myself to use something else.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Have you thought to contact Oberon about this problem. They have great customer service and would probably send you a new cover, in addition to appreciating a heads up about the problem.


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

As I said in my OP, I emailed Oberon about this on Monday evening.  I haven't heard back from them yet.


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## BlueQuill (Jun 4, 2009)

I would suggest calling Oberon (they're in CA, on Pacific time) directly. Sometimes I've found them a little slow to respond to email because I think it all goes into the same mailbox, everything from product questions to order followups to complaints/problems. As someone else said, their customer service is the absolute best, and they're a pleasure to deal with. I'm sure you'll get a happy resolution.


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## ravenguy (Oct 24, 2010)

Hello everyone..just found this board..I have the same problem with mine. I did email them and here is the what they said.. First is my email to them.............HI, I just got my kindle cover. The kindle seems to have a very tight fight. It is making the leather buckle at bottom by being so tight. I was wondering if the strap on top right is in right place? It seems to be very low so when I put it around the corner of kindle it really pulls its down. I have a cover for my kindle 2 and it never looked like this just curious about this.. that was my email..here is their reply.........Hi Mark,

I talked this over with the production manager here. He says that, yes this is normal for the first week or so. It needs to find its spot and mold to the device. They have to be somewhat tight to keep it from shifting. The rounder corners that come up on the device are similar to the IPad. It is going to be a nice mold to the kindle when it relaxes.

Amy

Oberon Design

www.oberondesign.com

Hi Mark,

I talked this over with the production manager here. He says that, yes this is normal for the first week or so. It needs to find its spot and mold to the device. They have to be somewhat tight to keep it from shifting. The rounder corners that come up on the device are similar to the IPad. It is going to be a nice mold to the kindle when it relaxes.

Amy

Oberon Design

www.oberondesign.com
It does make nervous that there is too much pressure on kindle..not sure what to do..i am giving it some time..guess will just have to see. this photo is bottom of cover..i had concerns how the leather was buckling..seems like kindle is tight in it.


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## CAR (Aug 1, 2010)

ravenguy said:


> I talked this over with the production manager here. He says that, yes this is normal for the first week or so. It needs to find its spot and mold to the device. They have to be somewhat tight to *keep it from shifting*. The rounder corners that come up on the device are similar to the IPad. It is going to be a nice mold to the kindle when it relaxes.


I was just going to post that this was my theory why they did this. But I would disagree some-what with the last part " It is going to be a nice mold to the kindle when it relaxes". On mine anyways, it causes the corner of the case with the bungee to lift away from the Kindle.

Chuck


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## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

Mine was tight at first, but loosen up nicely. The bungees stretch quickly and mine is perfect now.


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## ravenguy (Oct 24, 2010)

here is pic of how far bungee is down at top of cover


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

Mine is the same, but it's perfect once the kindle is in.  The bungee corner is the last one that I put on the kindle.


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

The whole back of my Oberon Medici K3 cover looks warped, but oddly it doesn't seem the bungie is the worst part.


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## kimbertay (Sep 16, 2009)

I still think they put the corner down too low.  I took my Kindle out of the case the other day and it looks like the two holes in the upper right corner have stretched out a little almost appearing to rip some.  I think it's too much pressure and doesn't seem to be "relaxing".  I never had any issues like this with the Kindle 2 cover at all.


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

Update:  I got a replay to my email about the short bungee from Oberon last week.  They said it was supposed to be tight for the security of the device and asked me to check if the barbs were pulled all the way out.  I checked and replied that they were fully extended and that it was still way too short and extremely tight.

I tried the corner bungee for my Oberon iPad cover and it fit perfectly and is still tight enough to allow for device security.  I told Oberon that and they replied today telling me that I must have received a "stumpy" bungee, a fluke, and said they were sending me replacement corner bungees for my K3 and my iPad, since I had to use my extra on the K3.

Maybe it was a fluke.  My corner bungee was so short that it was unuseable, not just a little tight.


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## Cardinal (Feb 24, 2010)

Great to hear that Oberon is sending you replacements; I hope the new ones work out!


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## Bonbonlover (Oct 17, 2010)

"stumpy" bungee ...


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

Bonbonlover said:


> "stumpy" bungee ...


LOL! That's an exact quote, Bonbonlover! ha ha ha


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## ravenguy (Oct 24, 2010)

So this bungee thing was really bugging me. I stopped using the top right corner one. It was just too tight and not getting looser. I did contact them on facebook and they sent new bungee. The replacement was a little longer and now its not too tight.Feel ok with the fit now.


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## GinnyB (Dec 19, 2009)

Wow, I saw the photo of the bungee placement and boy, is that ever low! I'm looking at my K2 and it's placement is about 1/4" below the bottom of the leather strap on the left, and about 1/2" from the top edge of the Oberon. After a year, it still as a nice firm hold on the upper right. 

The Oberon folks are great and really stand behind their work. I hope all works out well!


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