Kindle Fire: Amazon boasts 9-second response time for Chrismas Day ‘Mayday’ callers

By Trevor Mogg December 27, 2013

mayday amazon discontinued kindle fire hdx — Image used with permission by copyright holder

[DT’s Kindle Fire HDX review]

When Amazon launched its new Kindle Fire HDX tablets a couple of months back, many were interested to see the company had included an on-device ‘Mayday’ customer support button.

With the e-commerce giant all too aware of how frustrating such services can be – with endless button pressing and long waits – it wanted to get its Mayday offering right, promising a caller would be connected with a tech advisor within seconds of tapping the button.

On Christmas Day, a time when many were switching on a Kindle Fire for the very first time and therefore possibly experiencing a few issues with its operation, Amazon said it took an average of just nine seconds to respond to Mayday calls, easily beating its usual target time.

“We set a goal for ourselves to have a response time of 15 seconds or less when a customer tapped the Mayday button – we’re proud to say that on Christmas Day we met this goal, with an average response time of just 9 seconds,” Amazon’s Dave Limp said in a release, adding, “We’re excited that millions of customers opened a Kindle Fire tablet this holiday season, and we’re glad so many customers tried out the Mayday button.”

Although it’s likely many members of Amazon’s tech support team would rather have been doing something more festive on Christmas Day, no doubt new Kindle Fire HDX owners were delighted to have had their queries dealt with in such a speedy fashion.

The free Mayday service is available to HDX users 24/7 and involves a video chat with an Amazon tech advisor. Whether you have an issue with the tablet’s functions, or want to learn more about its features, the advisor can help. If things get tricky, they can draw on your screen to help with their explanation, or even take control of the device if you give them permission.

According to Amazon, not all of the Christmas Day callers required tech support. A group of carolers contacted Amazon’s advisors to sing thanks for their work, while one young girl simply screamed when an advisor popped up on the screen, having apparently hit the Mayday button by accident.

[DT tips on ways to improve your Kindle Fire HDX]

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Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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