My Pixel has a manufacturing defect • Hacker News Board

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#241

Post by gniv » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 7:14 PM UTC

imchillyb wrote: post #167

That phone was dropped. Deep scratches are clearly visible, as are bits of concrete or asphalt that are embedded between the glass and the bezel. The coloration of the plastic bezel is changed where a /buff-job/ was done in an attempt to remove said scratches. That is a human error problem, not a manufacturer defect issue. I hope they take you to task for lying so blatantly and attempting to stir up trouble. If you'v…

Maybe or maybe not. The glass doesn't look damaged. But it's not really important. Google should not have even asked the question -- just offer to send a replacement.

This is a new phone that they want to be successful, so they need to go above and beyond.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#242

Post by tuxracer » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 7:16 PM UTC

AlexB138 wrote: post #102

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…

Google Fi support is extremely friendly and often almost zero hold time. The actual substance of the support however is very much lacking. Google Fi sent me somebody else's SIM card with my Pixel. It turns out Google Fi pairs a SIM to a specific Google account. So when I booted my Pixel for the first time the email field was pre-populated with someone else's email address (but not the password luckily) and I got a "B010" error trying to activate. This is a very specific error code which I later found out means that I was sent the wrong SIM card (or trying to activate someone else's SIM card). But they didn't have this properly documented so they spent a long time on the phone with me factory resetting it, clearing data for certain system apps, booting in safe mode, etc... before escalating the issue and saying someone will get back to me later. A week later they contact me and say I was sent the wrong SIM and send me a new one. It was a terribly frustrating introduction to using their service. Also seems a needlessly frustrating experience if their support documentation and call back times were better.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#243

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 7:18 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#244

Post by cgvgffyv » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 7:19 PM UTC

carlisle_ wrote: post #185

AlexB138 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This is exactly my experience with Project Fi. I started having major problems staying connected to a cell phone tower and they were asking me to spend so much time troubleshooting. I have a full time job, my phone wasn't staying connected to a cell tower in downtown SF for more than 15-30 seconds at a time. I was having a ton of anxiety and Project Fi support was content to let me do their troubleshooting for them.…

Get an iPhone. Christ. It's almost as if you people enjoy suffering for the sake of it.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#245

Post by vinay427 » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 7:21 PM UTC

justin66 wrote: post #177

csallen wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People with good experiences don't write angry blog posts, so those data points are often left out of the discussion.

Those data points don't matter. A customer service organization that only wastes the time and money of some of its customers, with no escalation path to get a proper resolution, is still horrible. It doesn't matter that it worked for you.

(Not the user you replied to.)

I agree, but I think that it's difficult to accurately evaluate the quality of a customer service department with these anecdotes because every large company will have the occasional misstep. I have personally heard of bad stories from every company mentioned in this thread that supposedly has good customer support. What's less obvious is whether there is a bias between different types of users. I'm just throwing out a theory here, but perhaps Pixel users are more technologically minded than iPhone users (this wouldn't surprise me) and so they are more publicly vocal about their issues because they are more invested.

For instance, Nexus devices were probably more common among Android developers and reporters on blog sites, so Nexus problems were important to them and were popularized by the online media more than an equivalent problem would be in a more mass-market phone that might be popular in a different country.

tl;dr Every company has had missteps, and I don't think anecdotes provide a clear picture by which to rank them.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#246

Post by X86BSD » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 7:25 PM UTC

ajmurmann wrote: post #235

eli wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't they officially backing away from fiber?

Yes, they made a ridiculous marketing speak non-announcement about that about a month or two back.

Yes, it was odd. They are still rolling out in the cities they are in but have given up expanding to other cities. As usual I think they just don't have the will to power through the issues to keep deploying in city after city. Or they are not making as much money off google fiber subscribers data as they thought and it's not worth it anymore. Or they can't find people to actually do the infrastructure construction they need. Hence two years or more just to get service no matter how close it is. But again I expect this from google, I have never been impressed with anything they have done. Sadly.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#247

Post by vinay427 » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 7:25 PM UTC

Fnoord wrote: post #232

wyager wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> but last time I was there, electronics were generally much more expensive than in the US. There are various factors: * VAT is always included unless (if its aimed at business solely, like IBM, then this doesn't seem to be the case, but then that is being mentioned) * Relatively low EUR. The EUR also isn't doing so well compared to the USD. * Storage tax. This to compensate the entertainment industry. * Environmenta…

> but last time I was there, electronics were generally much more expensive than in the US.

> * Relatively low EUR. The EUR also isn't doing so well compared to the USD.

For a non-Euro holder visiting Europe, doesn't that mean things are cheaper in Euro [the currency] countries? Most companies do not adjust the price of their products often.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#248

Post by X86BSD » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 7:29 PM UTC

ricw wrote: post #180

vidoc wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> First google is no apple. Don't expect that level of service. They simply don't care. In my experience, Apple support isn't great either, unless you are a paid customer. When I bought the Iphone 3G, it had dead pixels upon arrival, I got a replacement, same thing, then went for another replacement, but at this point they started to argue, talk about "half-dead pixel" (a new concept), etc .. I had to insist heavily…

Interesting. I've always had a very pleasant experience with support for my apple devices. To the degree that I've had two laptops repaired for free that were out of warranty. Getting an iPhone screen officially repaired on the spot is something that still amazes me. In the end, googles lack of support is one of the major factors I'm willing to pay the extra cash for Apple devices. That plus privacy and thought out s…

Same here. The fact the above poster got two replacement phones for free is proof they have good service. You think a dead pixel on a google pixel phone will get replaced? Let alone twice. I don't think so.

Apple has good service but they won't repair/replace everything. But i find them more than reasonable when something goes wrong.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#249

Post by ssijak » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 7:33 PM UTC

devsquid wrote: post #240

SomeStupidPoint wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your experience is basically why I use both Azure and AWS, but have never even tried GCE despite their many promising features. I've had great support experience with both Azure and AWS, but simply don't want to risk needing support on a Google product. Not worth the headache.

Huh strange, I've had excellent customer experience with GCE and Google in general. AWS also has excellent customer support.

Problem is when they find out your in violation of something on some totally unrelated google service and ban you from using GCE also. Not saying that it happens often but it do. On some old unused google account when google music was just enabled for US (they checked credit card address, I am not from US) I payed for the service to try it with friends US credit card. Some months later they disabled google wallet entirely for that account permanently, thereby rendering all their paying services unusable for that account because you could pay for them just over google wallet not with paypal or something.

Re: My Pixel has a manufacturing defect

#250

Post by cale250 » Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 7:38 PM UTC

jsjohnst wrote: post #132

dbg31415 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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) I desperately want to call b/s on this, but guess that it's possible. Seriously, power cords are on the shelf in every Apple Store I've been too (over thirty, at this point, including a half dozen international stores). Using the Store app on your phone you can checkout without a human involved. Most don't know this I agree, but there is no way I'd wait that long if it were me. I'd be in someone's face in under a…

Not all stores have anything but the most recent inventory on the shelves. My local one has the old style MagSafe 1 power adapter and iPad Air 2 leather cases, but they are in the back. Worse yet, when I asked about these things recently, an employee said "sorry, we don't have those anymore." I didn't believe him, so at that point I had to wait another 15 minutes for a manager to become available who knew where these things were.