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From my experience with a 2013 Pixel I got from I/O, these machines come with a huge caveat: you can't get them repaired. At all. I cracked the glass over the s

From my experience with a 2013 Pixel I got from I/O, these machines come with a huge caveat: you can't get them repaired. At all. I cracked the glass over the screen on mine and called Google about getting it fixed, expecting them to tell me that it'd cost $X00 for an out-of-warranty repair. But they wouldn't take it at all. They suggested contacting 3rd-party repair shops, but some research into that nixed the idea pretty quick. So if something goes wrong with machine 1 day after your warranty runs out, you're probably SoL. Apparently replacing the battery isn't too difficult, but, other than that, you don't have a lot of options. That's okay for a $300 laptop. But I don't think it's acceptable for a $1,200 one.

danjoc 9y ago
>So if something goes wrong with machine 1 day after your warranty runs out, you're probably SoL. https://9to5google.com/2016/12/09/google-pixel-screen-peeling-support/ https://9to5google.com/2016/12/09/google-pixel-screen-peelin... You're pretty SoL when it's brand new too, evidently.
- PeachPlum 9y ago
  Are your customer protection laws super weak ? In the UK I would have gone to the local Trading Standards Office. Seems all people in the US can do is complain on websites and hope someone online-famous enough takes up their cause.
  - baq 9y ago
    That's the trade-off of having less regulation. OTOH I hear that the US has the most regulation in the world, so I'm confused.
    - rsynnott 9y ago
      I assume you hear that from someone who's either very confused or just making it up. Consumer regulation in the US is generally rather weak as compared to the EU. Some other regulation less so, but the idea that the US has the most regulation isn't really credible. Some aspects of the American right-wing like making these very extreme claims, presumably on the basis that some people won't bother to check. Another even more implausible one is that America is the most-taxed country; this simply isn't even vaguely true no matter what way you look at it.
  - neverminder 9y ago
    My Pixel's disk gave up after over a year's usage, so I thought I was screwed, but then found out that in UK (EU) warranty for electronic goods is 2 years, called google support and they sent me a brand new one, no questions asked.
    - Markoff 9y ago
      well you also pay same price in EUR as in USD despite EUR being stronger, this longer warranty ain't for free...
  - danjoc 9y ago
    >Are your customer protection laws super weak ? Yes. The same companies also fight right to repair laws. It's frequently illegal to repair the broken thing yourself.
t420mom 9y ago
+1. I'll never buy Google hardware again. 6 weeks ago, my Pixel C tablet bricked itself playing Minecraft: Pocket Edition (my guess is that the heat corrupted some of the flash memory). Google agreed to replace it under warranty, but they didn't manage to address the package correctly (they forgot to include some details, like the street, city, zipcode, and state (according to FedEx)). What followed was 4 weeks of calls to Google support. Each time they promised they would reach out to the "shipping partner" and get it sorted. I was also receiving emails threatening to charge me the full cost of the replacement device because I hadn't sent in the broken tablet yet. Eventually the package got delivered... back to the Google warehouse. Google wasn't aware of this until I called them up - their system assumed it had been delivered to my house. Another promise to fix the situation - and this time they managed to actually get a package to my house. Only it was a Pixel C Keyboard, not a tablet. Another call, another promise. It's been over a week now and the latest package has not yet been shipped, it's stuck in the order confirmed state. So, 6 weeks later, still no replacement. Luckily the tablet is mostly for entertainment, I personally plan to never rely on Google for anything important like making a living.
- sushisource 9y ago
  Google customer support is a complete joke. I can appreciate their philosophy of trying to spend as little money on it as possible by making quality software... but at some point people are going to call you and it needs to not be a horrible experience. Especially as they've moved into hardware. Gotta get that right.
  - limeblack 9y ago
    There weren't exactly unhelpful last time I talked to them but I would like to say someone did hang up on me. I wasn't even being unreasonable I just told them I was wondering if they mind waiting on the phone while I installed something.
- Markoff 9y ago
  ah common, don't be so harsh on their hardware, it's not like Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P were not really good design...
hsod 9y ago
Another "bad Google support on chromebooks" anecdote: I bought a Chromebook (forget which one) direct from Google. It was DOA, wouldn't even turn on. So I went through the whole return process and a few weeks later I got a replacement (which had some issues of it's own, but that's another story). After using it for a few days I realized I wasn't happy with it so I decided to return it. No problem, I thought, they have a 30 day return policy. Except the 30 days started counting from the day my original broken one was shipped. Even though I wasn't in possession of a working device for the vast majority of that time. I did manage to get someone on the phone but he was inflexible on the written policy and steadfastly refused to escalate the call. After arguing for about an hour I finally gave up.
- yrro 9y ago
  Good grief, consumer protection laws in the US really are a joke.
- withdavidli 9y ago
  That sucks. I'll note to just return a broken one and buy another new one to get full warranty. Hope you were able to resell it without much of a loss.

danjoc 9y ago

>So if something goes wrong with machine 1 day after your warranty runs out, you're probably SoL. https://9to5google.com/2016/12/09/google-pixel-screen-peeling-support/ https://9to5google.com/2016/12/09/google-pixel-screen-peelin... You're pretty SoL when it's brand new too, evidently.

PeachPlum 9y ago
Are your customer protection laws super weak ? In the UK I would have gone to the local Trading Standards Office. Seems all people in the US can do is complain on websites and hope someone online-famous enough takes up their cause.
- baq 9y ago
  That's the trade-off of having less regulation. OTOH I hear that the US has the most regulation in the world, so I'm confused.
  - rsynnott 9y ago
    I assume you hear that from someone who's either very confused or just making it up. Consumer regulation in the US is generally rather weak as compared to the EU. Some other regulation less so, but the idea that the US has the most regulation isn't really credible. Some aspects of the American right-wing like making these very extreme claims, presumably on the basis that some people won't bother to check. Another even more implausible one is that America is the most-taxed country; this simply isn't even vaguely true no matter what way you look at it.
- neverminder 9y ago
  My Pixel's disk gave up after over a year's usage, so I thought I was screwed, but then found out that in UK (EU) warranty for electronic goods is 2 years, called google support and they sent me a brand new one, no questions asked.
  - Markoff 9y ago
    well you also pay same price in EUR as in USD despite EUR being stronger, this longer warranty ain't for free...
- danjoc 9y ago
  >Are your customer protection laws super weak ? Yes. The same companies also fight right to repair laws. It's frequently illegal to repair the broken thing yourself.

t420mom 9y ago

+1. I'll never buy Google hardware again. 6 weeks ago, my Pixel C tablet bricked itself playing Minecraft: Pocket Edition (my guess is that the heat corrupted some of the flash memory). Google agreed to replace it under warranty, but they didn't manage to address the package correctly (they forgot to include some details, like the street, city, zipcode, and state (according to FedEx)). What followed was 4 weeks of calls to Google support. Each time they promised they would reach out to the "shipping partner" and get it sorted. I was also receiving emails threatening to charge me the full cost of the replacement device because I hadn't sent in the broken tablet yet. Eventually the package got delivered... back to the Google warehouse. Google wasn't aware of this until I called them up - their system assumed it had been delivered to my house. Another promise to fix the situation - and this time they managed to actually get a package to my house. Only it was a Pixel C Keyboard, not a tablet. Another call, another promise. It's been over a week now and the latest package has not yet been shipped, it's stuck in the order confirmed state. So, 6 weeks later, still no replacement. Luckily the tablet is mostly for entertainment, I personally plan to never rely on Google for anything important like making a living.

sushisource 9y ago
Google customer support is a complete joke. I can appreciate their philosophy of trying to spend as little money on it as possible by making quality software... but at some point people are going to call you and it needs to not be a horrible experience. Especially as they've moved into hardware. Gotta get that right.
- limeblack 9y ago
  There weren't exactly unhelpful last time I talked to them but I would like to say someone did hang up on me. I wasn't even being unreasonable I just told them I was wondering if they mind waiting on the phone while I installed something.
Markoff 9y ago
ah common, don't be so harsh on their hardware, it's not like Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P were not really good design...

hsod 9y ago

Another "bad Google support on chromebooks" anecdote: I bought a Chromebook (forget which one) direct from Google. It was DOA, wouldn't even turn on. So I went through the whole return process and a few weeks later I got a replacement (which had some issues of it's own, but that's another story). After using it for a few days I realized I wasn't happy with it so I decided to return it. No problem, I thought, they have a 30 day return policy. Except the 30 days started counting from the day my original broken one was shipped. Even though I wasn't in possession of a working device for the vast majority of that time. I did manage to get someone on the phone but he was inflexible on the written policy and steadfastly refused to escalate the call. After arguing for about an hour I finally gave up.

yrro 9y ago
Good grief, consumer protection laws in the US really are a joke.
withdavidli 9y ago
That sucks. I'll note to just return a broken one and buy another new one to get full warranty. Hope you were able to resell it without much of a loss.