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Horrible Experiences w/ Google

Shane Henry

Lurker
Apr 17, 2015
1
1
Hello friends,


I am taking the time out of my day to write this review because I think it's well deserved. So, here goes.


After deciding my budget and reading/watching several online reviews from professionals and product owners, I made the exciting decision to purchase new phone.


I purchased a Google Nexus 5 back in October of 2014 (Less than 1 year as of today's date 04-17-2015). Now the purchase data is important because it means the product at this time is still under warranty with Google, or so they say. So, the start of my “wonderful” adventure with their product began.


About 3 days after I purchased the phone I received it in the mail. It was a very beautiful phone, and I was extremely impressed that a phone of it’s cost (cheap) could look so nice. Needless to say at that moment, and I mean that moment only, I was impressed with the quality.


So I turned the phone on, and to my surprise I immediately noticed that the phone’s vibrate functionality wasn’t working. I thought it was strange so I called Google. Here’s where the problem began.


The “Google Representative” (Mi Lu, from their call center) had me go through some basic troubleshooting step, even though the phone had just been turned on. After a full restore with still no luck she decided that the phone would have to be set back and replaced. Fine, no problem.


Almost a week later I receive my new phone, this time with a working vibrator. So, for the next couple of months I am good to go. Phone worked great, and then the real problem kicked in.


About a month ago, as I was using my phone (on a call) the person I was talking to all of a sudden couldn’t hear me. I thought maybe it was a service provider issue so I called them back, and they still couldn’t hear me.


I decided to go through all the normal troubleshooting steps to see if I could resolve the issue myself. I even went as far as a full restore of the phone, of course having no luck. So I called my “friends” at Google once again.


This time I got in touch with a different “Google Representative”. He again had me go through a series of basic troubleshooting steps, even after informing him that I had already restored the phone. After several minutes of wasteful troubleshooting, the representative finally made the decision that the phone qualified for a “Warranty Replacement”. This is where it got interesting!


Google’s strange warranty policy left me for a loop. I cannot understand why this policy is in place. I also cannot understand why there aren’t any alternatives to the policy rules to accommodate people with trust issues, like myself.


In order to have your phone replaced under warranty, apparently Google put’s a hold on your card for the ENTIRE price of the phone at the time of purchase. Meaning a hold of $499.00 plus tax would be placed on my credit card until they received my phone at their warehouse. Now you think, okay understandable, but is it?


I remember having a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 sent back on warranty, Samsung also put a hold on my card, but it wasn’t for the price of the phone, it was for $1.00. This hold allowed them to make an authorized charge to the card if they did not receive the broken phone.


This leads me to my point. If Google is going to request that I have a card with $499.00 on it, so they can place a hold, is it really a Warranty? Can you trust them to release the hold after they have received the phone? What’s to stop them from blaming you for the issue and keeping the money? The answer, there isn’t.


Many people purchased the Nexus 5 because it was a great phone for someone on a budget. It offered superior specifications to many flag ship phones at half the cost. Because of this fact, how can Google justify making people put a hold on their card, when they may be on a budget and can’t afford to pay for another phone. What makes the situation worse is, they will not replace your phone without the hold.


Now, I dive deeper in to the reasons I decided to purchase a new phone all-together, rather than support Google’s wonderful warranty policy and their Nexus 5 phone.


1. The plastic body of the phone is very cheaply made, and having a case on the phone the entire time made no difference. The trim around the edge cracked in serval places (Near the volume rocker, power button & SIM card slot). Also, even under the protection of a case the top left corner of the plastic trim chipped away from the phone revealing the side edge of the screen.


2. They phone’s quality was up to par. The red version of the Nexus 5 doesn’t exactly used “Red Plastic”. The plastic is actually coated with a red acrylic paint and after a short time started rub off at the points where my case made contact with the edges of the phone.


3. The “beautiful display”, doesn’t stay beautiful for long. The Screen developed strange smudges underneath the screen protector that would not go away. My belief is the “Gorilla Glass” non-smudge coating wore off very easily. I also noticed that after some time the LCD developed several light leaks towards the top and bottom.


4. The internal parts of the phone can’t handle everyday use. After having two, in my opinion, extremely important parts of the phone fail within a year, this tells me the phone is using crappy generic parts. This also tells me the level of quality control used with the phone was very low.


5. Customer support and warranty policies are garbage. Placing a hold on a customer’s card when their product is under warranty is very nerve racking. It also develops trust issues with the company, even worse when the person they are charging already has trust issues. It also doesn’t help the situation when the person they are trying to “help” is already angry with the fact that their phone quit working in less than a year. What makes the situation worse, there is no alternative policy if you don’t want a hold placed on your card.


So after all the hastle I made my decision, I purchased a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. I have not been happier, and I can only hope that people really consider this review before they decide to purchase a Google product.


Thanks for reading!
 
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In order to have your phone replaced under warranty, apparently Google put’s a hold on your card for the ENTIRE price of the phone at the time of purchase. Meaning a hold of $499.00 plus tax would be placed on my credit card until they received my phone at their warehouse. Now you think, okay understandable, but is it?


I remember having a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 sent back on warranty, Samsung also put a hold on my card, but it wasn’t for the price of the phone, it was for $1.00. This hold allowed them to make an authorized charge to the card if they did not receive the broken phone.


This leads me to my point. If Google is going to request that I have a card with $499.00 on it, so they can place a hold, is it really a Warranty? Can you trust them to release the hold after they have received the phone? What’s to stop them from blaming you for the issue and keeping the money? The answer, there isn’t.
Sorry to hear about your bad luck with the phone - twice! Unfortunately, it is hardware, and issues can happen with hardware.
Regarding the warranty, the hold is (IMO) not unreasonable. They are cross shipping you a replacement device. What's to stop an unscrupulous person from taking the new phone and not sending back the old phone? If you are truly worried that Google won't release the hold (and will charge you that amount even after you return your phone), all you need to do is to call your credit card company and they will take care of it. Personally, I think it is not unreasonable.
With Samsung, though they put a hold of $1, nothing is stopping them from charging you the full amount ($700?) if they want to blame you for the issue ;)

I've had to deal with HTC for warranty claims in the past - it is a mess! You are left without a phone for several weeks while they try to repair your phone, and then, they have the option of telling you "sorry - your issue is not covered by warranty - pay shipping to get it back, plus a repair bill for an issue not covered by warranty". Compared to that, Google's warranty policy is so lenient, and trouble free. I had to use it once, and am thrilled that I had a working replacement in just 2 days!

Regarding the issues - I've used the N5 for about a year, and looking at it, I can easily sell it as "mint condition" - it depends on how you take care of it. I used it without a case (though I did have a glass screen protector on it). Smudges under the screen protector - may be because of a bad quality screen protector you purchased perhaps?

Regardless, at the end of the day, what matters is your perception about the phone. If you were not happy with the N5, you are not happy. The Note 4 is an excellent phone! Wonderful camera and an awesome screen. I personally prefer not having the TW software, but it does have its benefits. All the very best with your new phone :)
 
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Bought my n5 on release day, and when I turned it on, it had 2 dead pixels. Rang Google and they swapped with another one straight away.

Best customer service I've experienced, especially regarding dead pixels. Sony for example wouldn't swap my PSP years ago because it "only" had 4. Minimum was 5 dead pixels for it to warrant a replacement.

And regards to trust issues, maybe Google have trust issues like yourself lol. Works both ways.
 
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I, too, don't think the hold on your card is unreasonable. Inconvenient maybe, but much less inconvenient if you had to wait for the replacement until they got yours back. And, they still could say it's not covered at which point you'd have no phone at all.

Don't get me wrong. I get it. Having to deal with technology warranty claims is a major pain and often frustrating. Every major player in the tech industry gets it wrong sometimes. It would be great if a phone could predict a malfunction, notify the manufacturer and ship a replacement even before the fault happened. ;) Many companies after 90 days will only replace your phone with a refurb unit in the warranty period, unless you have some kind of insurance policy. If Google gave you a brand new N5 after 5 months, you should be praising them.

As to the build quality, the N5 was never really a "flagship". The idea of the Nexus line was to provide a purely Google contract-free phone at a reasonable price that could run the newest version of Android. The N5 certainly fit those criteria. The N6 is a flagship (and I'm currently loving one ;) ) - the cost reflects that, and a lot of Nexus fans have squawked about this deviation from the concept.

JJ is right. It's about your perception overall and you've been disappointed. That's a shame. :( I think you might think differently about Nexus if you tried the N6, but the Note 4 is also an excellent device. :)

Warranty policies are in place to protect both the consumer and the manufacturer. I'm sure neither is really pleased 100% of the time with them.
 
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