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My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

9to5google.com

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Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#101

Post by vesinisa »

JshWright wrote: post #93
vesinisa wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 thei…

It $20 a typo there? The bill of materials alone is likely in the $250 range. Then add the actual assembly cost, shipping the products to the US, etc, and the basic "manufacturing" cost per unit is likely somewhere around $300.

Sorry, meant $200.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#102

Post by AlexB138 »

Lazare wrote: post #28

It's a persistent story: Google reliably has the worst customer support of any large company, to the point that Comcast or your local DMV starts to look good in comparison. It's impressive, in its own way. And as long as their consumer facing products were things like free webapps, they could get away with it. ...but if they want to sell a premium-priced handset, they can't get away with it. It's a USD$750 phone, com…

Very true. I use Google Fi, but am about to drop it because the support has been horrible. They're friendly, but I constantly miss calls and their support's solution is to ask me to get another working phone to test with and spend a couple of hours filling out diagnostic tests and bug reports. They are also unwilling to do something as simple as send me a new SIM card until I do this.

This, along with they they gave the middle finger to the Nexus line, has turned me from a strong Google supporter into someone who will give a second thought before considering using their services.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#103

Post by wyager »

Fnoord wrote: post #39
rfrey wrote: post #5

If Google wants to charge Apple iPhone prices, they can't continue with Google level service.

> If Google wants to charge Apple iPhone prices, they can't continue with Google level service. This differs per jurisdiction, but in general you are entitled by law to receive a working device without flaws. In my jurisdiction this even extends beyond warranty. For example, you can expect a car, a door, or a guitar to work beyond 2 years. This law is irregardless of what you paid for the product or what the perceive…

Does this apply in the US? I'm only aware of mandatory warranty periods in the EU. Personally I think they're a bad thing overall, since they preclude inexpensive short-term-use or disposable electronics. I haven't done a thorough market survey or anything, but last time I was there, electronics were generally much more expensive than in the US.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#104

Post by karyon »

shakna wrote: post #95
mannykannot wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it is not already happening, can we expect more arbitration clauses in purchase agreements, or does the law already rule that out? (There will be different answers in different jurisdictions, I expect.)

Within Australia, Consumer Law overrules any and all conflicting arbitration clauses. For example, "extended warranties" you pay for are considered useless, and the ACCC recently did a public awareness campaign against them. Why? Products are guaranteed to last a "reasonable lifetime", where precedent determines reasonableness. Precedents I know: * "Dumb" phone, 10 years * Smartphone, 5 years * Fridge, 10 years * Car…

that... sounds too good to be true. could you provide any references on what the actual consequences of this warranty are?

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#105

Post by jasonlotito »

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.

In the last 5 years, I've had better customer service from Dell then Apple. In fact, in one day, I deal with both Apple and Microsoft customer service, and Microsoft won, hands down.

I'm not going to pretend that Apple's customer service is horrible, but I can safely say that they aren't special anymore. Maybe I've just been incredibly unlucky, but simply put, their customer service is lackluster at best.

Edit: Just to be clear, this is all consumer level support.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#106

Post by givinguflac »

dbg31415 wrote: post #85
dbg31415 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 unl…

I really hate Apple Stores... wanted to go on a bit of a longer rant here... I hate the physical stores, I hate the App Store. 1) Lost my power cord while traveling, so I thought I'd jump into the Apple Store and pick up a new one. Should be an in and out thing... took 1.5 hours of me just waiting around the store for them to sell me a power cord. This was in Sydney. Once I actually got to talk to someone, it still t…

1.) Maybe that's a Sydney Store issue? Never experienced anything close to that myself.

2.) Yeah that's dumb. Maybe it's a stocking thing since it's Australia? Never heard of anything like that in the US.

3.) Almost everything on the mac store exists outside of it as well, but I agree it is somewhat designed more for consumers. You could use deployment tools if the source isn't App Store, or a 'family' account that shares purchases among users. Though I agree that's not ideal. Supposedly they're improving management with some new tools similar to how apps can be managed on iOS.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#107

Post by kps »

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)?

To be pedantic, aluminum corrodes very rapidly in air, but the surface rust (aluminum oxide) is stable and shields the underlying metal. Aluminum oxide mixed with whatever dye Apple used, on the other hand…

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#108

Post by shakna »

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…

See my comment [0], it isn't that way everywhere. I've issued complaints through the ACCC three times this year, and had 48 hour turnarounds to fix my problem.

Example:

I purchased a $200 specialised bean bag for my 2 month old daughter who has appalling reflux. It broke in assembly. I reached out to the company, who refused to deal with me. I complained, and the next day received a shipping notification for a replacement.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13145568

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#109

Post by ohyoutravel »

This is pretty disturbing. I have a nexus 5x on Fi and would love a Pixel, but because of stories by this I haven't upgraded. Since I'm on Fi, I'm kind of stuck with Google phones unless I switch. But Fi is too friendly for international travel and data rates, and it's cheap generally.
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