Google Store gave me a locked device as warranty replacement
I have a Pixel 3XL, an old model I know, but very suitable for my mom's light usage. All of a sudden the device stopped working and a lock icon appeared at the top right of the screen.
https://imgur.com/sk0M6lX
We first tried fixing it by resetting the phone but all we see now is the welcome screen with the same lock icon. After conducting some research, I discovered that the lock indicates a remote device lock. This device was given to me by Google Store in replaced of another one that malfunctioned during its warranty period.
Now I'm waiting on Google Store to give a me . but so far it has being only a handful of back and forth emails with instructions to reset the device, that changes nothing, and questions if there is any liquid damage.
I'm very disappointed with their lack of effort to really solve the problem.
41 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 102 ms ] threadI went back through the seller, and they refunded the purchase and I got another that worked fine. They said it's a risk of buying phones from individuals even if you check status at the time of purchase. Luckily, I still had my old phone and retransferred all the data back over again and lost little except for a few calls/SMS messages.
Can you not finish OOBE? What is the actual effect of it being "locked" like this. Or does OOBE want you to login to the previous Google account?
(There is a bypass for that, and Pixel 3's can become bootloader-unlockable if they are updated and connected to the net. It sounds weird, but true). But I'm not sure this icon represents either of those cases.
I'm quite curious.
Actually, I think it is FRP. I can't remember exactly which bypass method I did but... This might help https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rpMv76zOcSg The method I used felt very akin to using the Win98 Login Help system to bypass login.
But also, Google's becoming quite inept at running Android. I've had it completely screw up notification handling where it says one thing, but does another - literally yesterday I missed several new WhatsApp convos because the system decided every new convo was going to be "silent" and hidden. I had major lockscreen bugs that took 5 months from "fixed" in Issue Tracker to being shipped. They've removed all ways (for me?) To direct contact Device Support (I'm 99% sure they advertised this when I signed up for Google One). And frankly they're useless and deceitful to communicate with, and often immediately want you to factory reset, which is awful because they've put zero pressure on the Android ecosystem to properly sync account creds, so it takes a solid two hours to fully reset a Pixel.
Oh right, and the multiple times that I had shipping confirmation of a return, and they even accidentally told me they'd initially received the device, but either had internet theft or just lost it and then put a $700 charge on my card for weeks until they finally fixed it. I'm still upset about that.
Luckily, certain "dating apps" that I use have all basically become web-based now, so I might actually have a transition path away from Android...
Seriously though, that sounds like your phone is no longer serving you. Google really has moved away from its roots.
Since I use jmp.chat for SMS, Matrix for everything else, and can use ride share apps and OSM from any browser... I think I'm going it a shot soon. Every corner of my digital life is plagued by proprietary crap lately, and AOSP builds are just a nuisance with SafetNet nowadays.
Google's help though? Basically wanted us to engage them in some sort of circus over a device 3 days old. We just straight up returned it and ordered a new one which has worked great. Google wouldn't even issue a straight replacement through their tech support and we did a Return + Purchase to get around their hoops they were trying to get us to jump through.
As all things with Google: they need to actually fix their user support. Even as paying customers of theirs they passed our concerns off and treated us like idiots. I've been using Google's phones since their Nexus line but that experience has made it so I'll be looking elsewhere when replacing my 6 in a year or two.
Everyone knows about their customer service issues. Google must know it's a problem, but for some unknown reason (probably shareholder value) refuses to fix it.
They are never going to address their shitty customer service.
I work for a company that has decided that any contract under 5K ARR can’t get anything other than copy and pasted answers and certainly can’t get real help (even if they did find a real bug).
The support team are just told to give them the runaround until they leave, as by making a support request they become no longer profitable.
Can only imagine how true that would be of phones and user accounts.
Just google A/B testing done on this already. Consumer behaviours are well established in this regard.
Perhaps Google support is bad, but it's not all bad.
It even seems like it might be a strategic choice. If you want to reduce costs by 15%, you only have to nuke 15% of returns. The other 85% you can be nice to, and they'll go to bat for you when the 15% start complaining.
Why we got the run-around treatment with my wife's device? Unsure. But I'm not willing to play those games down the line so we're going to find other devices on next replacement.
Absolutely hopeless support - only option was to send it back to them which requires a 7-10 day fix time. No option for a hold being placed on the card, replacement device sent and then the hold released when they received the new phone.
They've clearly realized this is unacceptable given newer phones now have options for in person servicing.
Whenever I deal with an iPhone issue on behalf of my wife the Apple Store/customer service experience is stellar - an hour max and you're on your way with a new device. Google is like pulling teeth, and you likely will be shunted to third parties to boot. I value their warranty at $0.
As someone who uses other Google products for my business, I am afraid to chargeback since it can trigger some random process at google killing my business and no way to resolve.
That is how it is working with Google.
Edit: After this comment, I went back and used contact form and got the refund after 20 minutes on phone. I only dared to ask for refund since I know hackernews would force Google to do the right thing if something goes wrong after the comment.
This is indeed very wise. You are quite likely correct in how that would go, and it would be your business accounts and any personal accounts linked with them in even a small way, and maybe some of your employee(s) accounts (if applicable).
I generally think Google is one of the least evil of big tech, but this issue is massive and terrible, and they really need to do something about this because they're heading down the road to evil with these kind of practices.
Just don't feed it money, no? Bad comapny = no business. + Tell everyone who asks it's a bad company and why.
A chargeback is not the same as asking for a refund, so I don't know why you were worried about that, at most they would've denied a refund.
Then my wife's one died a few days before the end of her warranty. They sent us to the local store, who again confirmed same issue. Motherboard dead. Google told them they'd follow up with us, and then after a few days I reached out to them but because that was now out of warranty they refused to replace the device. I completely gave up at that point. It wasn't worth it to get a replacement device that would likely die just like our previous two had, so we bought a non-Google replacement. That argument with google over warrant was so ridiculous and so frustrating, for an amount of money that they'd blink and not miss, we just swore off buying google hardware ever again.
Then just a month ago, my warranty replacement died in exactly the same way. Technically speaking I could get a replacement, as I understand it. No way I'm going to go through all that hassle again.
Then their system ignored the returned phone delivery status and proceeded to charge me full new price for the refurb phone after the 'deadline' passed.