My Pixel has a manufacturing defect • Hacker News Board

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#201

Post by tomca32 » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 5:24 PM UTC

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.

Dexcom. They sell glucose monitoring devices for diabetics.

People on the support line are diabetic themselves and are using the same monitoring devices to manage their illness so they really know what they're talking about.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#202

Post by justin66 » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 5:27 PM UTC

sigmaml wrote: post #196

justin66 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, bullshit. That's lint or something, and those scratches are totally normal. Buffing leaves circular scratches. It looks better than most phones that have been in use more than a week or two.

To my eyes, they don't at all look "totally normal". That is the wear and tear you would develop after several months (or even years) of normal use. In this case, the phone does look as if it had either a hard fall, or a hard hit against something.

The person I was responding to was claiming that the guy had buffed the plastic, which is obviously crazy. All I can say in response to your claim that it looks like the phone has had rough use is that I'm pretty sure most of my phones with plastic edges were worn more than that very quickly, through normal use.

In addition to the defect the guy called them about I see unscratched glass, unscratched metal, lint, and some abrasions on one of the three edges of plastic that don't go deep at all (I bet you couldn't feel them) which are probably only visible because the phone is being lit from above. None of this is a big deal.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#203

Post by edoceo » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 5:28 PM UTC

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.

IBM. They call back when they say, same contact through the process. They have a model I've used as the basis at my current company. Customers love it.

But having a Google product doesn't make you a Google customer. We're basically parts of a hot-dog for them.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#204

Post by Kipters » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 5:32 PM UTC

jasonlotito wrote: post #105

WhitneyLand wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

Same as my experience. I've had four awesome experiences with Microsoft support.

1. Microsoft Band, a month after its warranty expired (bought in the USA), they still replaced it for free because of plastics wear, a common issue for that version

2. GF's Surface RT: faulty touch screen 1 year and half after she bought it, replaced for free, no questions asked, they even sent the replacement before I shipped the faulty one

3. GF's Lumia 925: she thought the pictures taken by the back camera were yellow-ish, she got it replaced with another brand new 925 for free. Six months later we bricked it trying to install a Windows 10 Insider Preview, replaced for free with a Lumia 830

4. My Lumia 1520, sent it in for repair because the battery was wearing out (it lasted a little more than a day instead of 1 and half/two), got a Lumia 950 XL instead

A friend of mine also got his Surface Pro 3 replaced for free.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#205

Post by lucb1e » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 5:32 PM UTC

givinguflac wrote: post #124

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…

That's exactly my experience as well, and a major reason I moved away from google services in general. I had about as much chance of my cat helping me fix an issue as I did google.

Same here. When my database server died two weeks ago it was shit for me. Until I fixed it, it meant no email, website hosting (not much static content) or telegram bots for me, but at least I can fix it myself. No risk of getting banned or being included in dragnet surveillance when the NSA decides to ask Google for something (I'm not American so protection laws don't apply; I might be a terrorist). Of course that's putting it all too strongly, but there's just no chance of that happening, plus I can help myself. It's like moving out of your parent's place: you have to do more shit, but at least you get to do it your way.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#206

Post by danielhooper » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 5:34 PM UTC

thenomad wrote: post #100

WhitneyLand wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

Herman Millar. "My chair's seat fabric has torn a bit. Is there anything you can do?" "When did you buy it?" "Erm, around 6 years ago, I think." Checks records "No problem, an entire replacement seat will turn up in a truck tomorrow. We'll fit it and leave your chair good as new. Have a nice day, sir."

Restoration Hardware is similar.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#207

Post by alkonaut » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 5:36 PM UTC

Compare this to buying a Samsung TV (exactly the same product only the screen is larger) - they answer the phone right away and are at your house with a friendly service guy in 1-2days.

They should obviously just take the phone and give him a replacement. If they saw obvious signs he dropped it they could just send him the bill.

This is a premium product (on the sticker). The service doesn't feel premium.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#208

Post by kbd » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 5:36 PM UTC

This is one of the most practical reasons why I always intend to own an iPhone. If I have a problem I can walk down to the Apple store in my local mall and get it fixed.

Recently, the battery in my old iPhone 5 was starting to swell. I got it replaced in a few hours. If I had an Android phone, I have no idea the hoops I'd have to go through.

A cell phone is an essential at this point and it's not worth using any brand but the most reliable and easy-to-get-fixed.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#209

Post by trome » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 5:37 PM UTC

tw04 wrote: post #190

trome wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at it from Google's perspective, unless you are pushing volume and have a dedicated account manager, they will not help you, it'd cost too much for them to do so.

It wouldn't cost them too much, they just don't have an incentive. They've got a virtual monopoly on the search market. If there were 5 different search engines with market share split between them all, you can bet that they'd either need to provide superior support or superior margins to maintain their market share. This is a symptom of a monopoly, not a symptom of the market/an inability to make money while providi…

Sure, they could afford to hire support personnel, but they would be deluged with inquiries on day 1, even if less than 1 percent of Google's users contacted them every 5 years.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#210

Post by ak217 » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 5:39 PM UTC

To be fair, I've had the opposite experience with Google Play Store support for my Nexus 5. I'm on my 4th Nexus 5 chassis, the previous 3 were taken back by Google (one broken glass, one sticky power button, and one water intrusion taken back due to a one time courtesy replacement policy). I don't feel great nor terrible about the phone, but clearly Google has spent substantial resources supporting my purchase. My phone calls with them were always very fast and to the point. (Their new hardware division in charge of Pixel may be doing things differently though.)