I'm extremely disappointed. I thought with their whole advertising of "24 hour support" they identified customer support as a weakness of theirs, and are trying to remedy it. Nope.

BTW in your case, you can probably just buy a new screen: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/google-ubreakifix-pixel/

Are you not in the US? Maybe it's different elsewhere, but my nexus 5x died a little while ago, and I only had the default warranty, not the extra protection, and it was insanely easy to get a replacement.

I filled out the form[1] (saying I had already tried the usual android-saving moves), got a call back in two minutes as promised by that form, the customer service person accepted I had already tried things and didn't ask me to do anything else, then I immediately got the email with the link to get a new phone shipped to me. Was probably less than 15 minutes of my time.

(you also seem to be talking about something else than the OP. If your phone died in two weeks that's definitely under the warranty, regardless of if you purchased extra protection).

[1] linked here: https://support.google.com/store/answer/6301527?hl=en

I was not asked to do any troubleshooting.

FWIW before it stopped working, the pixel was hands done the best phone I've ever used, in almost every category.

I'm very sorry you had that awful experience. I know it doesn't remedy your past experience, but please know myself and many other Googlers have been and still are putting a lot of work into the tools being used by the customer support reps around the globe to better help you.

Everyone on the team I'm a part of recognizes the perception you've eloquently provided, and very much care to scale with humans in the loop.

I remember once contacting Sun for info on software many years ago and received an email where they promised that someone would "reach out to me".

I didn't want to be reached out for - I just wanted some text answering my question.

So for now, I'm just patiently awaiting their response and hopefully they'll give me the green light to mail it in for a replacement or something.

https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees...

By the way: "Google and uBreakiFix offer walk-in repairs for Pixel and Pixel XL" http://www.androidauthority.com/google-ubreakifix-repairs-pi...

I'm not upset that they don't have an accidental damage warranty, I'm upset that I can't send it to them and pay them the $100/$200/$300 or whatever it is directly for _them_ to fix it, not some random dude who's never seen the Pixel before.

On the other hand, the "who's never seen the Pixel before" part? C'mon, the phone just came out—if an i-device breaks on the first day, you'd better believe that if you take it to an Apple Store someone's fixing it who has never seen that device before. That's the fundamental problem of new hardware designs (especially when coupled to bathtub curves); you can't blame Google for it. Give them a month and every repair shop around you will have fixed plenty of Pixels.

* A repair manual

* Parts

* Tools

* The ability to replace your device on-the-spot with a new one if they brick it

I went to my local Apple store on release day, showed them it wasn't working, and they swapped it out straight away, no questions asked.

Send your pixel to our authorized repair shop here. They will bill you.

If I may say so, a family member has one, and the phone itself is excellent. Much better speakers and included accessories compared to the Pixel line at around half the price.

The repairs tend to basically cost as much as it would to buy the same item refurbished regardless of the issue.

SSD died on your MacBook air selling for $500 on eBay? That will be a $450 repair sir.

Sure, they may have manuals and everything else at the Apple store, but there is very clearly a reason why companies like iCracked and iFixIt exist, and it isn't because Apple offers such a wonderful and affordable repair shop.

It would be great if Google offered a way to get the phone repaired through them, but using Apple as an example of how it should be is a bit insane to me.

I figured I could take it to Apple for a battery replacement. They said they would do it — for $900. They told me it involved replacing the entire bottom half of the computer as the battery was glued in.

So I called their support line and complained that the laptop was perfectly fine and it shouldn't cost that much to replace a battery. They ended up replacing it for free, as well as the screen (because they identified that the anti-reflective coating was starting to wear). So while the policy was ridiculous, the actual outcome was very positive.

WTF? This is nonsense.

Apple prices for battery repairs are clearly outlined on their web site[0]. This has always been what I (or relatives/friends/coworkers) paid for France[1] when I had to change a battery.

[0]: https://support.apple.com/mac-notebooks/repair/service/prici...

[1]: https://support.apple.com/fr-fr/mac-notebooks/repair/service...

They told me that those prices are the service pricing, but do not include parts. And because the entire lower-half of the laptop needed to be changed in the rMBP model, the total cost would come to about $900 AUD.

The actual item listed on the repair invoice is "Top Case Assembly with Battery" @ $562.73 and the "Hardware Repair Labor" charge is listed at $289 AUD.

Did you ever have friends or relatives change the battery in a retina MacBook Pro? Apple cannot remove the battery because it is glued into the lower case assembly. And so when I got my machine back from Apple the trackpad, keyboard, and lower aluminium chassis was brand new (however the bottom plate, logic board, and internals were the same).

When I complained in-person and through phone support I was told the same story specifically about the retina MBP model. They said that the standard charge for battery replacement in this model included the entire lower case assembly. I heard this from about four different support agents, even when it was escalated to the special support agent that was able to eventually authorise the free repair.

When I received my MacBook Pro back from battery service the keyboard, trackpad, and lower aluminium chassis were brand new. So they did change it all out just to replace the battery.

At least with Apple I can drive to a physical store, hand my laptop or phone over and know it will be repaired properly. And in many cases I've been either (a) upgraded to newer hardware or (b) just had the device swapped entirely.

1. Cracked screens are incredibly easy to fix, so the one example you can give that doesn't cost an arm and a leg is the one thing that arguably any random repair shop should be able to do.

2. Not everyone even lives near an apple store, so while you might benefit from driving in to a physical store, there is a large chunk of the population who won't (at least not without driving a few hours).

PA is a great example of this - the only stores in PA are basically around Philly and around Pittsburgh. Live anywhere else in the state and you are driving to a store out of town.

That isn't so bad if prices are reasonable, but when you get there and hear "$600 to replace the battery" the stores start to feel less useful.

I understand that there is value in the Apple store. I'm not trying to say that there isn't any, but I do believe the original comment overstates that value, especially when Google (or a third party they work with) offers a pretty reasonable replacement plan as an add-on to your purchase.

Or free if you paid $100 - $250 (depending on the class of device it covers) for AppleCare.

AppleCare is head and shoulders above other extended warranty plans in my experience. Others tend to be jokes or ripoffs or both.

Provided you can find spare parts, good luck finding spare parts for the Pixel. For Apple products it's usually a breeze.

The pixel offers a $99 replacement plan, plus an additional $99 every time you replace the phone, up to 2 times. I think it lasts for 2 years.

If the only thing holding you back on getting the phone is being able to get it repaired, the cost difference is $70 or $50 the first time you break your screen, and $40 or $0 the second time, and the plan covers more than just broken screens.

The biggest downside is that you have to front the $99.

But that requires foresight in buying the insurance and most people just don't have that. In my case, I have only ever broken one phone, so buying insurance with the idea that I break even at ~2 incidents would not be worth it for me. In the Pixel's case, I would like the option to pay full fees for fixing rather than only the option of previously having had foresight AND having to break my phone twice.

Not only did they not do it (they initially said no problem), they lied and told me I needed to replace the entire panel for $800 as it was a broken `spring` and could not be fixed.

I called bullshit and fixed it myself at home with a screw driver set.

$800 to tighten a screw?!

4+ year old iMac with dead video card. I took it to the local authorized Apple dealer, who wanted $50 to diagnose the problem.

Dealer called back and said Apple agreed to replace the video card for free and cover the $50 dealer diagnosis fee.

I had the same thing on an older MacBook Pro with dodgy graphics card. Took it in to an authorised dealer, who didn't charge me up front for diagnosis, to then get a call saying it had been replaced and no fee was due as covered by Apple under a previous recall. This was in the US.

I was burned by this and Motorola before as well here in the UK. The official repairers are just about as awful as you can get. Half the screen stopped working after a month. The official repairer cocked up the handset further and claimed water damage and sent me an invoice for £138 (handset price was £159 new) holding the handset to ransom. This was when Google/Motorola were the same company in theory.

A letter was sent back suggesting that they can insert the invoice in a body orifice of their choice and send it back now or it'd be small claims court. It arrived 5 days later by courier. Proximity sensor was dicky, so it went back again. That took a month.

Paying for an Apple product is almost worth it for the service. I prefer to go without either though.

I can't say I've ever done that with any product ever...

You could not get that phone second hand (or from any other reseller) and send it in to them for repair.

That's basically "insurance" included in the price of the phone, not a "pay for what you broke" repair center.

Source: I first heard about this program from my reseller-purchased HTC One m8.

Still, I feel like that's a silly reason to advise people never buy the phone. Especially when they do provide an "insurance" policy with a "blessed 3rd party".

It's not warranty or free repairs he is asking for isn't it? He is asking for paid support.

[1] https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/7206638?hl=en

>I can’t send my $800 phone to the manufacturer and pay some extra money to get it repaired like I could if this was a Samsung or Apple device.

>Hey Google, if you want to pivot into a real brand: You need to provide real support. No other flagship phone tells people “well, good luck” if they have a common incident break the device.

I have two reasonably destructive young children, so it's a little extra piece of mind.

I'm sad that I'm out some money, and I definitely think I am at fault, but I don't think I'm being unreasonable.