# Prime Membership Difficulty



## Zorrosuncle (Nov 11, 2008)

Greetings -- I signed up for the Prime Membership trial about an hour back. I have a Kindle 1st Generation.  I see nothing added to the menu on my Kindle device and when I go online to Manage Your Prime Membership I get the following message:

"Important Message 
Thank you for signing up for Amazon Prime. Your membership should be active in a few minutes. If you continue to receive this message, please contact Customer Service."


So I contacted customer service and they told me that Kindle 1st Generation devices will not show a menu change and I have to go online.  So I go online and want to borrow a book and it wants to charge me the regular amount as for a Kindle download.  There does not seem to be any difference in my online or Kindle device experience.

The Customer serrvice rep referred me to the online help which brings me full circle.  No help in this.

ZU


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

They just referred you to on-line help?  That sounds strange.  Try another customer service rep!

If I understand correctly, you are trying to borrow a book, right?  I think there are 2 questions: does anyone know if K1 can borrow books (probably?).  And are you sure the book you are trying to borrow is available to be lent?


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## Jesslyn (Oct 29, 2008)

Well, the online help says that the Lending Library works with all generations of Kindles so perhaps the book you want is not available.  Which book is it?


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## Raffeer (Nov 19, 2008)

Was the book available for lending?


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

From the computer, send the sample of the book you want to borrow to your Kindle (make sure it has a Prime logo and says you can borrow it... Only about 5,000 books are eligible)

On your Kindle, open the sample and then go to product description.. Then you can borrow the book. You can't borrow from the computer, only the Kindle and the K1 doesn't have the menu option, so this is a workaround for it.


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## Zorrosuncle (Nov 11, 2008)

Luvmy4brats said:


> From the computer, send the sample of the book you want to borrow to your Kindle (make sure it has a Prime logo and says you can borrow it... Only about 5,000 books are eligible)
> 
> On your Kindle, open the sample and then go to product description.. Then you can borrow the book. You can't borrow from the computer, only the Kindle and the K1 doesn't have the menu option, so this is a workaround for it.


When I go online and look at the books, I see absolutely no logos of any kind. It is as if I signed for something, but no activation ever took place. I see absolutely no differnce in my Kindle membershipo status.

ZU


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## KimberlyinMN (Dec 30, 2009)

When you log into Amazon, do you see the Prime logo at the top left of the page?  Also, what book are you trying to borrow? If you post the link, any of us with Prime can verify that it is available to borrow.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

KimberlyinMN said:


> When you log into Amazon, do you see the Prime logo at the top left of the page? Also, what book are you trying to borrow? If you post the link, any of us with Prime can verify that it is available to borrow.


Right. And there are lots of us here with Prime and we'd like to help you, ZU. What book are you looking at?

L


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## Zorrosuncle (Nov 11, 2008)

Hello-- I called a different customer rep.  She said the problem was at their end -- they are having some kind of systems problem.  She said I will definitely see a menu change on my Kindle 1 and also told me I can only borrow books from the device and not from online.  The book I was thinking of was The Litigator by Grisham.

ZU


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Zorrosuncle said:


> When I go online and look at the books, I see absolutely no logos of any kind. It is as if I signed for something, but no activation ever took place. I see absolutely no differnce in my Kindle membershipo status.
> 
> ZU


Relatively few of the books in Amazon's online library (5000 out of the entire catalog) are eligible for the Prime lending, so if you are trying to find them by browsing, it may be difficult. There's a link, I'll find it.

While you can read books borrowed through Prime on your K1, you will not get the convenient menu link (K1 owner here, too). The easiest way, as LuvMy4Brats says, is to find the book online, send a sample to your K1, and then open the sample to "buy" on the K1. You should then see the option to borrow.

Betsy


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## Jesslyn (Oct 29, 2008)

Also, unless you see something like Hello, and you name and the top of the page, you won't be signed in. Prime members will see their name and the Prime logo _after _login to the Amazon website.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=&x=14&y=18&tag=vglnk-c1533-20#/ref=sr_nr_p_85_0?rh=n:283155,p_n_feature_browse-bin:618073011,p_85:2470955011&bbn=283155&ie=UTF8&qid=1320353276&rnid=2470954011

Make sure you're logged in, as has been said, and then browse.

Betsy


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Here's what you will see if the book you want is available for borrowing for Prime members.










You should see that whether you're logged in or not.


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## Zorrosuncle (Nov 11, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Relatively few of the books in Amazon's online library (5000 out of the entire catalog) are eligible for the Prime lending, so if you are trying to find them by browsing, it may be difficult. There's a link, I'll find it.
> 
> While you can read books borrowed through Prime on your K1, you will not get the convenient menu link (K1 owner here, too). The easiest way, as LuvMy4Brats says, is to find the book online, send a sample to your K1, and then open the sample to "buy" on the K1. You should then see the option to borrow.
> 
> Betsy


I downloaded the sample, opened it to buy, and I ended up buying the book. I had no "borrow" option. Likewise, I have no prime logo in the uppoer left hand corner of my webpage when I log into Amazon/. Elsewher they acknowledge my membership but state that the membership is not yet activated. The customer rep said iut ius pending and could tAKE 24 hours.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Zorrosuncle said:


> I downloaded the sample, opened it to buy, and I ended up buying the book. I had no "borrow" option. Likewise, I have no prime logo in the uppoer left hand corner of my webpage when I log into Amazon/. Elsewher they acknowledge my membership but state that the membership is not yet activated. The customer rep said iut ius pending and could tAKE 24 hours.


You can contact Customer Service and return the book (or you should have gotten the option on the Kindle to say you had bought it by accident.

The book was one of the "Prime" lending books, correct?

I've been a Prime member for years, so I can't address the lag in getting the membership to take effect.

Betsy


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Zorrosuncle said:


> I downloaded the sample, opened it to buy, and I ended up buying the book. I had no "borrow" option. Likewise, I have no prime logo in the uppoer left hand corner of my webpage when I log into Amazon/. Elsewher they acknowledge my membership but state that the membership is not yet activated. The customer rep said iut ius pending and could tAKE 24 hours.


What book was it? There are VERY few books that are part of this.

Look at my picture, see the text box towards the bottom that says For Kindle Device Owners? If the book is part of the program, you will see that on the Amazon page.


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## Tam (Jan 7, 2010)

Grisham's The Litigators doesn't show up with an option to borrow. I wasn't sure if it might be because I already borrowed a book, so I tried Water for Elephants and it shows up as able to be borrowed with Prime membership. So it looks like the book you want is not able to be borrowed.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Um, I think the freebies only work with a PAID account.. I thought someone said they had the free student account and it didn't work for them either.
I have a student paid account so I get everything.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The lending should work even if you're in the trial period. . . I think the problem is that the book he wants to borrow is not available in the program.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk


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## Vicki G. (Feb 18, 2010)

The Litigators isn't available for borrowing.  This is a very new book, released in October and I'm not positive but I don't believe there was anything in the lending list this new.  There are many references to "Prime" on the book's page but that is just informing that a DTB is eligible for Prime shipping rates.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Zorrosuncle said:


> Hello-- I called a different customer rep. She said the problem was at their end -- they are having some kind of systems problem. She said I will definitely see a menu change on my Kindle 1 and also told me I can only borrow books from the device and not from online. The book I was thinking of was The Litigator by Grisham.
> 
> ZU


Zorrosuncle--

If the Litigator was the book, that book is not available. You must try a book from the link I posted earlier; those are the only ones eligible for the free borrowing. But by all means, contact CS to return the book if you did not want to purchase it.

Betsy


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

Also be sure that you are looking at the Kindle Edition. The DTB version might be Prime, but not the e-book.


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## Tam (Jan 7, 2010)

Customer sevice is very good about helping with mistaken purchases. I got an email a couple of months ago from Amazon urging me to pre-order the soon to be published new Flavia de Luce novel by Alan Bradley. Since I had purchased all the others on Kindle, I just assumed this one would be kindle too. I as quite surprised when the hhardcover book arrived at my door. I called C.S. and they were happy to issue me a link to print a return label without deducting shipping charges to return it. I admitted I had misunderstood the email, and they said it was fine and that they could understand my confusion.  Great customer service!

I do like that series and it was hard for me not to just keep that hardcover, since it isn't yet available on kindle... But I can wait for it.


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## chocochibi (Jan 2, 2009)

Tam said:


> I do like that series and it was hard for mme not tto just keep that hardcover, sinve iit isn't yet available on kindle... But I can wait for it.


But it _is_ available on kindle, I got it on the day it was released.


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## Tam (Jan 7, 2010)

chocochibi said:


> But it _is_ available on kindle, I got it on the day it was released.


Well, that's so strange. When I got the hardcover book, I looked online and couldn't find it on Kindle. Then the C.S. person also said it wasn't available yet. Yet, there it is...

Well, I just bought it. I don't usually pay so much for a book (last high priced kindle book was The Help) but that series is wonderful and I need to see what Flavia is into next. Thanks for the tip!

And - it's the first book I had delivered to my new Fire!!!


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