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My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

9to5google.com

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Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#61

Post by vesinisa »

funnyfacts365 wrote: post #6

And now, after the PR shitstorm for reaching HN's frontpage, all will be solved in a couple hours...

The sad part here is that these phones cost like $200 (edit: sorry, read $20) to manufacture per unit. The $750 price tag is mostly in the SW and supporting infra. The guy talking for a couple of hours with customer support actually soon becomes more expensive for the company than just taking their word for it and shipping a replacement. And that's before you count in the brand devaluation when the guy finds out their 'premium service' is just thin air, and especially the PR damage once you happen to screw a tech reporter over.

Where I live most home insurance companies have adopted a better approach to customer service. They maintain a central registry of claims. Most of the time if you submit a claim they just pay you without requiring any proofs of damage or receipts. But once you start abusing the system (unusually large or high number of claims), they will get difficult. But for the honest, average guy the customer service experience is just phenomenal most of the time (submit claim online and receive insurance to bank account only hours later.) The brand value for having a 'nice' insurance company exceeds the small number of invalid claims that happen to slip through in the process.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#62

Post by tdkl »

lgeek wrote: post #11

I'm not saying that he's necessarily dropped it or that it's okay for the CS rep to have accused him of that, but my 4+ year old Galaxy S3 has the same sort of bubbles in two corners on which it has been dropped so I get why that was the first question asked.

Isn't there a burden of proof to claim the device was dropped ? If there's no visible damage from a supposed impact, then any company can just use this as an excuse.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#63

Post by lightedman »

Moxee has the EXACT same problem. The glass is so thin and not secured on properly, so when the phone heats up, the glass cracks where the adhesive failed.

So looks like the lesson to learn here is do not buy Google or Moxee-branded products.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#64

Post by lightedman »

blackguardx wrote: post #38
kalleboo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And even if Apple service is above-par in the US, it's decidedly average outside of the US. I have a 6s with the aluminum corrosion issue[0], but "cosmetic damage isn't covered". At least when I still lived in the EU I had consumer rights laws to fall back on. [0] mine looks far worse than this http://forums.macrumors.com/attachments/image-jpeg.641961/

Woah, Aluminum doesn't corode very readily. Do you work around mercury vapors, by chance? I wonder if it could also be something unusual in your sweat (perhaps from your diet)?

Almost anything corrodes very easily under human skin contact. If you take a pH testing kit, and put a drop on your skin, you'll notice you're pushing fairly acidic levels.

I destroy guitar strings on a near-weekly basis, despite all the anti-corrosion plating tech they have.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#65

Post by kalleboo »

blackguardx wrote: post #38
kalleboo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And even if Apple service is above-par in the US, it's decidedly average outside of the US. I have a 6s with the aluminum corrosion issue[0], but "cosmetic damage isn't covered". At least when I still lived in the EU I had consumer rights laws to fall back on. [0] mine looks far worse than this http://forums.macrumors.com/attachments/image-jpeg.641961/

Woah, Aluminum doesn't corode very readily. Do you work around mercury vapors, by chance? I wonder if it could also be something unusual in your sweat (perhaps from your diet)?

The prevailing theory is that it's a manufacturing defect in a small number of early devices (mostly ones shipped around launch day) related to some flaw in the anodization process. Since it hasn't happened to enough devices to warrant a class action, it doesn't make it on Apple's radar so it's just "cosmetic damage". In some cases Apple Store/Authorized Retailer staff has blamed it on third-party cases or protectors, but I had mine in an Apple case.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#66

Post by mannykannot »

blackguardx wrote: post #38
kalleboo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And even if Apple service is above-par in the US, it's decidedly average outside of the US. I have a 6s with the aluminum corrosion issue[0], but "cosmetic damage isn't covered". At least when I still lived in the EU I had consumer rights laws to fall back on. [0] mine looks far worse than this http://forums.macrumors.com/attachments/image-jpeg.641961/

Woah, Aluminum doesn't corode very readily. Do you work around mercury vapors, by chance? I wonder if it could also be something unusual in your sweat (perhaps from your diet)?

Residue from the manufacturing?

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#67

Post by kalleboo »

lightedman wrote: post #64
blackguardx wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Woah, Aluminum doesn't corode very readily. Do you work around mercury vapors, by chance? I wonder if it could also be something unusual in your sweat (perhaps from your diet)?

Almost anything corrodes very easily under human skin contact. If you take a pH testing kit, and put a drop on your skin, you'll notice you're pushing fairly acidic levels. I destroy guitar strings on a near-weekly basis, despite all the anti-corrosion plating tech they have.

My phone was in an Apple Smart Battery Case the whole time it turned bad, no skin contact.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#68

Post by dbg31415 »

WhitneyLand wrote: post #41
tamcap wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was literally my thought. Apple doesn't have the best customer service ever, but it's pretty decent and people that have warranties seem to leave happy. a) if the author speaks the truth (and I have no reason to believe otherwise) that the was never dropped - Google should fix it. That much is obvious. Now, the b). b) C'mon Google - you know the author is a techie / twitterer / reviewer - of all the people to an…

>Apple doesn't have the best customer service They don't? Who does then? Now if you want to say they're not perfect and they've had their problems, I would agree with that.

Costco - Best return policy on the planet. But anything confidently, return anything no questions asked. Solid support line too.

Fry's - Knowledgeable service for consumer goods and online price matching. Apple Stores are full of pretty idiots who love to make you wait.

Dell - Enterprise hardware, and support is great. Apple phone support is painful, if turning it on and off again doesn't help you are out of luck unless you have Apple Care and can wait a week for a replacement.

EDIT:

Buffalo - Great call line. People on the other end know their stuff.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#69

Post by shakna »

cobookman wrote: post #55
shakna wrote: post #8

Waiting to see when this crops up here, and how it'll fly considering Consumer Rights [0]. It falls into minor, so Google will have to: * free repair, (with a repair notice describing the fault) * replacement (must be the same condition as the purchase, so no second hand!) * refund (the same amount you have already paid, provided in the same form as your original payment.) And of course, the kicker: > You are entitle…

* replacement (must be the same condition as the purchase, so no second hand!) I believe apple & att will replace the broken phone with a manufacture refurbished device.

Under the Consumer Laws I mentioned, manufacturers have more leeway, but a business cannot require you to deal with the manufacturer.

Apple is required, and does if you point out their obligations, to provide a new device if you purchased a new device.

As phones are also guaranteed a "reasonable lifetime" of 5 years, this has led to replacing 4s with 5s and the like.

However, as you mention ATT, you might be American, in which case, almost none of these guarantees applies to you.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#70

Post by cookiecaper »

kutkloon7 wrote: post #37

Sorry for my pessimistic views, but I think big companies always have had the power to screw over anyone they want. This is especially the case in the US, where it seems to be quite accepted for companies to screw you over. Almost all countries lack an easy option for non-billionaires to take action against big companies. If you go to court, they will deliberately make the costs too high to pay for normal people, and…

I absolutely support reform of the legal and court system so that it's affordable for normal people. Large companies routinely bully small innovators with legal threats and dubious suits, which the smaller groups can't fight because they don't have the money; they would go bankrupt first (and do when they try to fight anyway). It's not even legal for the founder of a company to try to represent himself in court (companies cannot be pro se litigants). That badly needs to be repaired.

However, let's not forget that there are many consumers looking to screw over companies too. There are many consumers who would drop/damage their device and then try to pass the damage off as a manufacturer defect. Laws that require companies to accept a return and furnish a full refund and/or new replacement based solely on the consumer's belief that there's an issue, like the one quoted above, incur large losses in fraudulent claims. In the US, the issue is voluntary; it's possible for companies to sell things without warranty, and it's possible for the consumer to make the choice to buy from such a vendor, and IMO that's how it should be.

There may not be a lot of sympathy for a big conglomerate like Google getting hit with false defect claims, but it doesn't just affect them. Most small businesses deal with many obstinate customers daily, and the policies that have been formulated to allow consumers to ding large companies out of spite are much more damaging to a new company starting out. This is the case with credit card chargebacks, for example, which are a massive source of fraud against businesses (which cost more than a full refund, because they also incur a chargeback fee from the card processor).

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