DOA (Deactivated on Arrival) Echo Dot?

Activation error 12:2:15:10:1

After hearing us extol the virtues of Amazon Alexa, and our small menagerie of Echos and Dots, my in-laws decided to buy three Echo Dot (generation 2) for their house. The drop-in/intercom feature is probably what sold them on it. One night after dinner, and freshly downloaded Alexa app in hand, I started going through the setup process. 1st Dot went just fine.

The 2nd dot simply wouldn’t connect to wifi. I could see the network it was creating and join it, but it wouldn’t accept the password for the house’s wifi. Several attempts, restarts, unplugging, etc, and I gave up and went to the 3rd Dot. That one was activated without issue; at least I knew the problem was with the device at this point.

A few more attempts with Echo Dot #2 finally there was a meaningful error code in the app:

12:2:15:10:1

A quick search and one Redditor suggested that calling Amazon customer support was the solution. I filled out a web form which included my phone number and I got a callback right away.

After explaining my multiple restarts, setting up 2 devices just fine, and giving the code, the rep asked for the device’s serial number. Low and behold it had been reported missing, and Amazon had remotely bricked the device preventing it from being activated. There was an issue with another customer reporting a lost shipment, and some serial numbers getting crossed in their system. A few minutes later and everything was squared away.

Bottom line – if you have trouble activating a new Echo and you get error 12:2:15:10:1, just contact Amazon support (unless you swiped it from someone’s porch – then you’re probably out of luck.)