It's quite common. HTC even advertise it as something you can do for free: http://www.htc.com/us/uh-oh-protection/

They also advertise it as "hassel"-free, which is funny.

Nut allergies can be serious business.

Only if you buy that one phone from them on their website.

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.

They've had that program for prior phones of theirs, that were not directly bought through them.

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

In the article, the author says that other companies (Samsung, Apple) do support that, but for a fee. It seems reasonable to expect Google to also provide that service.

I guess Apple is one example I've used before, so I take back my previous statement there.

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".