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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To use a Kindle I found?

42 replies

oohlalabonbons · 27/04/2011 11:50

So...Mumsnet jury, I found a Kindle on the beach on holiday last weekend, some poor sod had left it behind. We were on the beach for the rest of the day and no-one returned to collect it. So I looked online, and a Kindle forum said to contact Amazon, as they will be able to match the serial number to the owner, so it could be returned.

So, we got home yesterday and so I contacted Amazon this morning. They said that it was unregistered to an Amazon account, it hadn't been reported missing, and if it wasto be reported, it would be blocked.

Guy on the phone: "There's no need to return it, but if it's reported missing then it will be blocked and you won't be able to use it anymore."

Me: "So there's nothing else I can do?"

Guy on the phone: "No, if it's reported missing then it will be blocked and you won't be able to use it. Thanks for bringing it to our attention."

DH thinks I'm bonkers for trying to find the owner, but I think that if I haven't tried, every time I turn it on, it'll say to me "I'm not yours, I'm not yours...."

So, my question is, AIBU to use it with a clear conscience, or not?

OP posts:
BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 27/04/2011 11:51

YANBU - what more can you do -you have done the honest thing so should have a clear conscience!!

Enjoy it until, or indeed if, you get blocked xx

katz · 27/04/2011 11:52

my kindle has an email address - if you look under settings it should tell you - email the owner.

shesparkles · 27/04/2011 11:53

Hand it into the police-it's found property and if you keep it, it becomes stolen property. Theft by finding is a crime

HRHUrsulaBuffay · 27/04/2011 11:53

The owner probably didn't get it legitimately either in that case. You don't have a charger or connecty wotsit though & won't be able to download anything from Amazon to it so it's limited in what it'll do.

Babieseverywhere · 27/04/2011 11:54

Hand it in to the local police station, you will get a receipt.

If the owner does not claim in a certain time it will be given to you to keep knowing you have done the right thing.

Keeping it because you found it would make you a thief.

Do the right thing and hand it to the police.

VinegarTits · 27/04/2011 11:54

Why didnt you hand it into the nearest police station?

Mumwithadragontattoo · 27/04/2011 11:57

I agree with those saying hand it in to the police. YABU to just keep it. You might get it back if the owner doesn't claim it.

HRHUrsulaBuffay · 27/04/2011 11:58

Oh yeah there's a bit in settings where you can write your details in case it's found.

SoupDragon · 27/04/2011 12:00

Someone found, used and kept DS2s iPod touch. They are a wanker are you?

eugenefitzherbert · 27/04/2011 12:01

If you go to the settings menu on the second page there is an email address. Mine also has my mobile number.

hth

GwendolineMaryLacey · 27/04/2011 12:01

It's very surprising that a kindle is unregistered to an Amazon account. I thought it had to be when you set it up? I would have a good trawl through the settings. IME it has to at least have an email address associated with it otherwise it'd be empty, which I'm assuming it wasn't

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 27/04/2011 12:05

SOup - OP seems to have gone out of her way to find the owner........dont think she is a wanker do you Shock

HecateQueenOfTheNight · 27/04/2011 12:08

Yes. Police station is the logical option.

Of course, they will look for it at the police station at the coastal town - are you near enough that you can take it? otherwise, take it in to your local police station and they can, I am sure, contact the other station.

You can't say that you contacted amazon and they can't help so therefore you've done enough and you can keep it now!

Original poster
oohlalabonbons · 27/04/2011 12:13

It had no charge when I found it, so I charged it up to look on the settings page. It fits the same charger as my phone and our videocamera, most electronic gadgety things are the same these days. The settings bits were empty, it had nothing where the contact details should be.

I should have taken it to the police station where we were I suppose, I just thought it would be easier to look at the settings and contact the owner. Perhaps I could call them now, it's too far to go back, but they may have contact details of an owner.

And no, SoupDragon, not a wanker!

OP posts:
HRHUrsulaBuffay · 27/04/2011 12:14

If it's unregistered it's likely to be one of the many that went missing in the post over xmas when amazon sent them out unrecorded, they're useable in a limited way unless the wireless is turned on then they're 'bricked'.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 27/04/2011 12:15

Yeah, take it to the police station....they'll prob have a sweepstake to see who gets to take it home Hmm

RtHonLadyEuphemiaOfCaledonia · 27/04/2011 12:17

I'm surprised it had the same charger socket as your phone and camera. Hmm

porcamiseria · 27/04/2011 12:17

god the saints on here...

keep it! you have tried and failed to locate owner

they wont try police station, I wouldn't, and better use use than it languishes in a cupboard

Babieseverywhere · 27/04/2011 12:19

Why the Hmm face, Betty ?

You get a receipt when something is handed into a police station. The item is entered into their system. The police do not steal items handed in, I suspect this is an urban legend made up by thieves who wish to make themselves feel better about their crimes.

animula · 27/04/2011 12:21

I can't see that taking it to the police station is at all sensible. They, surely, will do no more than the OP has done. So it strikes me as a rather odd thing to do.

I would have a hunt around for an e-mail address on it - though I think Amazon would have had that, surely?

It does sound as though you've done all you can, OP.

SoupDragon · 27/04/2011 12:23

If you're not a wanker then hand it in to/call the police.

I am not a saint, I've just been on the receiving end of someone keeping what isn't theirs. Well, DS2 has. The first iPod was a gift, he had to buy a replacement out of his own money*. If you want a Kindle, buy one.

  • Well, I made him hand over the cash to me but I secretly put it in his bank account.
silverfrog · 27/04/2011 12:24

kindles do have the same charge connector as a lot of phones and cameras - its just a mini (or is it micro?) USB. same as my phone, and as my camera, actually.

does the kindle have any books on it? if it does, it has at some point been registered to an amazon account, adn it owuld be odd that it was left "blank" - I have de- and re-registered mine a few times (to share a few books form dh's account etc), but I do not leave it unregistered totally.

you should have left it at the police station in the seaside town.

Spangers · 27/04/2011 12:24

RtHonLadyEuphemiaOfCaledonia lots of gadgets have the same shape charger now e.g. I have done my samsung phone using a blackberry charger, can't remember the name of the connection, micro USB maybe? Same on my sat nav and my camera.

HecateQueenOfTheNight · 27/04/2011 12:24

odd thing to do to take it to a police station?

You do know that when people lose things, one of the things they can do is contact the police station to see if it has been handed in?

They can't contact the OP to see if it's been handed in, so that one thing more right there.

I don't understand people who would keep stuff. If they were the ones that had lost something valuable, would they shrug and say well, someone else has it now, finders keepers and all that, good luck to them.

my fucking arse they would.

manfromCUK · 27/04/2011 12:24

@animula
The point is not that Police will try to find owner, but that the owner may contact the police (that's what I and most other people would do)