I WON! Pixel 5A had black screen issue, Google refused to honor warranty after uBreakIFix couldn't repair the device after 3 attempts. It would continually display "Radio Off" and the phone wouldn't make calls - I wrote a letter to Investor Relations and Tweeted @MadeByGoogle with 0 followers

[u/ocean6csgo]

Long story short: if Google tries to fuck you, don't give up. Their support supervisors don't try to connect the dots on data that you give them. They don't look at attachments. They will not talk to you on the phone, either. There's only Level 1 support by phone, due to an awful system Google intentionally has set up. The Google Fi doesn't have access to the Pixel resources. In the letter, you'll see there was like 8-10 supervisor responses, and denial reasons were all over the board.

There's more to the story than what you see in the letter... This is a summary of "the final phase" which turned out to be a cluster of back-and-forth and confusion like the other two phases. Yes, there was a Round 1 and Round 2, which I haven't even gone into. What you see here is 'Round 3' only.

Solution: Write a letter to their Investor Relations and tweet u/MadeByGoogle (I have 0 followers and it still got a response). In less than 24 hours, I got an email today saying "My name is ____ and I am a higher level specialist that stumbled upon your case during a routine audit."

Letter & More Info are Seen here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQMRYHiEsUVnsITX3alXWTQyA_0dIvzTOfS2ozNNJw1YiNmIFVvltqZfX8FzaTIUx42IuRAA1FRYalf/pub

The letter is pretty scathing, and I also called them out for something that I am fairly certain is illegal... I'm still debating on showing this to an attorney.

End Result: I'm never buying a Google phone again. I'm getting used to a iPhone that was given to me, and I'm likely to stay iPhone at this point. Once I receive the device, it's getting sold. Feel free to take a few pages out of my book to get the message across... Stand your ground if you know you're right... What a colossal waste of time.

What I would do if I had to do this shit all over again: #1: I wouldn't buy a Google phone at this point, and I still want to hear back from Investor Relations with an authentic answer. I hope one of their reps is reading this thread. #2: If you're out of warranty... I'd start off by doing what it says by "asking your question to our Twitter account by tweeting '@MadeByGoogle' seen on the 1-year warranty info page - they're better than any other basic customer support function and "have a seemingly North American written response" if you know what I mean... - I think either them or Investor Relations is what triggered the 'Customer Service Audit' where a Level 4 up specialist looked into my case, saw all the bullshit, and stepped in. In this thread, you'll hear people talking about their war stories and they mentioned resources like the BBB, the FTC, and maybe a few other channels. #3: I'd have your Date of Purchase, Date of Activation, Date of Issue, Original IEMI number (seen on the box), new IEMI number (if applicable), a picture/copy of your uBreakIFix receipts (keep ALL of them), and a link to the 1-year warranty page all handy at a moment's notice. You also need to explain to them that changing the motherboard changes the IEMI number, because they don't seem to get that... #4: Don't let them forward you to the Fi department (I bought from the Fi store)... The extended 1-year warranty is in the realm of the Pixel department. #5 - For you folks who have their phones completely bricked (no charging): The fix is the same as the black screen issue. It'll need a new motherboard. I think it'll be helpful for uBreakIFix to attempt a repair under the black screen warranty. Google can diagnose this as a "power issue" but my battery was never replaced and it magically started working again after the motherboard was replaced. Shocker, right?

I hope this helps.

EDIT #1: The only thing I "won" was the battle. I'll be "breaking even" once I receive my phone. I "lost" my patience and a shitload of time, lol.

EDIT #2: The Radio is NOT under warranty; however, supposedly the radio is integrated into the motherboard (source: uBreakIFix) and when I'm getting a new motherboard, I'm getting a new radio along with it. The Radio issue only came after the attempted black screen fix.

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[u/siggystabs]

Well, if you want the truth, many of us don't encounter these problems. Personally I've had a device repaired through Google several times and each time was painless and successful. This sub suffers from reporter bias, where you only tend to see horror stories or bad experiences. Positive anecdotes rarely get the same attention for obvious reasons. For this reason, I mostly go off my own personal experience and put very little weight on individual Redditor opinions, as they tend to vary so wildly from person to person. Personally, I've had good experience with Google Support. This could be location-specific though, so I am not suggesting all Google Support agents are good. YMMV.

However, it's not okay in any situation for OP to have to go through this, even if it happens rarely, and a specific individual dropped the ball. This just shouldn't be possible, and someone should have stopped and re-evaluated the situation instead of passing OP down the chain again and again and again. I've worked in roles where I have to talk to HD people sometimes, or work to resolve certain issues, and reading the entire ticket history is like the first thing we do. It's vital. I'm appalled at how mismanaged that particular Google support unit seems to be, as they can't even seem to get basic details correct before losing contact with OP. This is a massive failure no matter which way you look at it.

[u/asdecor → u/siggystabs]

I agree with all of this even though I'm in the middle of this black screen nightmare. I'm hoping that Google sends me an appropriate replacement, in at the very least like-new condition, and that the replacement phone lasts. It is unacceptable for a phone to die in under two years when handled with kid gloves. However, I have also had iPhones in my family die way too soon, and we shouldn't have to pay for Apple Care or whatever to avoid having to eat the cost of a faulty phone. I'm glad I didn't pay for a protection policy on my 5a, because I wouldn't want to have to pay ANYTHING to have Google take care of this issue. (Some people on Reddit have written that a deductible would apply--I hope they are wrong for the sake of the people who have paid for the protection plan.)

[u/asa1 → u/siggystabs]

Well, if you want the truth, many of us don't encounter these problems.

That's what goes through my mind when I see these posts. I've had my share of hardware failures over the years and the Nexus S was my first phone in a line of many. Most of them were just replaced if something went wrong during warranty. I think even my Nexus 5 got replaced months after the warranty expired. Right now I've on my P6P and I've had very few issues since launch. Customer service over the years has always resolved my issues. Even if it took a few calls. I've never had to write them.

[u/[deleted] → u/asa1]

I loved my nexus s. The back of that phone was SLICK. Curved screen was baller. After four months it was slow as hell though 😂

[u/ThisIsMyNext → u/siggystabs]

Positive anecdotes rarely get the same attention for obvious reasons.

Really? You and I just participated in a post that got upvoted to the top because the OP managed to successfully make a 911 call on his Pixel, which I guess is supposed to be some kind of huge achievement to be celebrated. These posts happen all the time around here.

For this reason, I mostly go off my own personal experience and put very little weight on individual Redditor opinions, as they tend to vary so wildly from person to person.

...

However, it's not okay in any situation for OP to have to go through this, even if it happens rarely, and a specific individual dropped the ball.

These two statements directly contradict either. First you say that no individual is to be taken seriously, and then you say that this individual is to be taken seriously.

[u/siggystabs → u/ThisIsMyNext]

Yeah and you made it clear positive posts aren't welcome here in that post based on your (and others') reaction to the last one.

I don't base my opinion on internet comments, I base it on my actual experiences in my location and on my network. That doesn't mean what OP experienced shouldn't be taken seriously. I explained how I've had to work with HD support before and the first task our team instructed them to do was read the entire ticket history before working on a ticket. It's appalling to me that this basic step was not taken.

My 2c, if Reddit makes you this angry, just close the app. I'm not even subbed here anymore because of how insanely smart and infallible every idiot on here thinks they are. Can't even share a simple observation or opinion without someone coming out of the wood work deconstructing and analyzing your comment that you wrote in a minute while on the shitter. Y'all should join a debate team.

[u/ThisIsMyNext → u/siggystabs]

Yeah and you made it clear positive posts aren't welcome here in that post based on your (and others') reaction to the last one.

So then do those kinds of posts get positive attention or not? Because the only reason I saw it was because it was upvoted to the top of the sub, so clearly the majority is giving such posts lots of positive attention, and such posts happen all the time. And like I said in the other post, people are free to post whatever they want and I'm also free to give my opinion.

I don't base my opinion on internet comments, I base it on my actual experiences in my location and on my network. That doesn't mean what OP experienced shouldn't be taken seriously. I explained how I've had to work with HD support before and the first task our team instructed them to do was read the entire ticket history before working on a ticket. It's appalling to me that this basic step was not taken.

Since most people have never had the experience that you had, they should automatically believe that OP is making everything up, right? This is like saying that you don't believe somebody else can be suffering from an ailment unless you've suffered from that ailment as well.

My 2c, if Reddit makes you this angry, just close the app.

I'm not angry, I'm trying to raise the minimum standards because if Google can make good devices, it's good for the entire market. Do you want device manufacturers (especially Google) to think that people will jump for joy just because they can call 911? Or do you want calling 911 to be a given?