Matt is trying to do a nice thing. The previous occupant of his seat on a plane left a Kindle behind in the seatback pocket. He took it with him, planning to reunite the device with its owner. But that person has a very common name, and Amazon has no interest in being a go-between to help reunite lost Kindles with their owners.

If nothing else, let this story serve as a reminder to have contact information, even if it’s just an e-mail address, available somewhere on your easily lost electronic devices.

Matt writes:

I recently found a Kindle in the seatback pocket on a flight. Thinking
that I would be able to look up the owner’s contact information, and
knowing how unhelpful airport lost and found is, I took the Kindle
with me to see if I could mail it back to its owner.

Unfortunately, the owner only left his name (a very common one) on the
Kindle. However, since I had the serial number of the Kindle, I
thought that Amazon would definitely be able to either give me his
contact information or email him with my contact information.

I called Amazon, and after a long time on hold, I was told that they
couldn’t do anything and that I should turn the Kindle in to an
electronics recycler. Thinking that this was just some rogue person in
the call center, I checked online and found this, which seems to
confirm that they will not help reunite lost Kindles with their owners.

I’m hoping that if you make this plea public, Amazon will take the
information I have and help me reunite this Kindle with its rightful
owner.

Just to be clear, I’m not doing this for any reward (and explicitly
will not accept one). Instead, I am doing this because I have had
several run ins with unhelpful lost and found people and I just want
to help one person be reunited with something that they lost.

Please contact me with any questions. I’d be happy to provide the
important information to Amazon if requested.

Kindle fans of Consumerist, any other ideas for how Matt can reunite this lost, lonely device with its owner? (If you’ve misplaced one on an American Airlines flight recently, we’ll pass your information on to Matt.)

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