Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020) • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#31

Post by WinterMount223 » Tue, Mar 15, 2022, 1:08 AM UTC

R0b0t1 wrote: post #15

tedivm wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you sue google they'll close your entire google account, which in turn can cause a lot of issues for a lot of people. I personally refuse to use gmail in part because of this- if you have a problem with one google service you risk losing access to all of them.

This is generally news to the hyper-libertarian HN clientele but I am pretty sure enforcing your rights as a consumer isn't supposed to open you up to retaliation in the US.

It’s not unusual. They decide that they don’t want to do business with you anymore. It can be included in their TOS that pre-arbitration is mandatory. By you going directly to civil courts you are breaching their TOS which is a reason for termination.

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#32

Post by cft » Tue, Mar 15, 2022, 1:09 AM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #29

cft wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a brand new one https://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-iphone-11-with-64gb-memor...

The author purchased a 12 Max, where is that to buy unlocked? All you've found is an out-of-stock older model.

No even the title say 11 Max, not 12. In 2020. And Best Buy does sell new unlocked iphones, see link above.

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#33

Post by more_corn » Tue, Mar 15, 2022, 1:09 AM UTC

That’s pretty messed up. Sometimes local phone shops can unlock your phone for you.

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#34

Post by limeblack » Tue, Mar 15, 2022, 1:10 AM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #3

They purchased a T-Mobile locked iPhone from Best Buy. Best Buy don't sell new unlocked iPhones (only used store with reviews saying they're sometimes locked). They then activated the phone on a T-Mobile MVNO which allowed the phone to work. They had an unrelated issue with Google Fi (terms of service violation), purchased a foreign SIM card, found out they had purchased a locked iPhone and then contacted Google Fi s…

As a Best Buy part time employee the correct answer is that we don’t sell the newest iPhone models unlocked in stores. Refurbished models are the only iPhones we sell unlocked in our store. Online that’s is a different matter entirely and yes there are some newer models we sell unlocked online but it’s minimal because of fraud.

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#35

Post by bschwindHN » Tue, Mar 15, 2022, 1:11 AM UTC

For those who live outside the states but go to visit every once in awhile, what do you do for sim cards? I live in Japan and currently I switch to a google fi sim card when I visit, but it's far from ideal.

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#36

Post by elmerfud » Tue, Mar 15, 2022, 1:11 AM UTC

I think there's more to the story than what's being said. It seems the customer is having trouble and either Google or T-Mobile should be better about handling the issue but I don't think we're receiving the entire story. I have used T-Mobile exclusively for many years now I have used it when they were being resold by harbor mobile. I'm very happy and satisfied with their service but I have moved both my sim and have placed other Sims from other carriers into my phone and I have never once received a message that my phone has been locked to T-Mobile as a carrier.

Edit: so I had given this some more thought and I don't believe that this is Google or T-Mobile that's put the carrier lock on his phone it's something that Apple allows you to do. It's something that users of iPhone devices can enable or disable in their Apple account. Because I've actually gotten iPhones from family members who are tech savvy who verify that it's an unlocked phone but it would not accept my SIM card saying that it was locked to a carrier. What they needed to do to fix it was log into their Apple account and release the carrier lock that allowed the phone to take a new sim. So this is really Apple anti-theft protection that he's got going on.

T-Mobile was one of the first bring your own device companies where they separated service plans from devices payment plans. I hope he gets his problem fixed and updates his medium post to indicate that this really isn't a Google fi or a T-Mobile issue.

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#37

Post by dangrossman » Tue, Mar 15, 2022, 1:12 AM UTC

GiorgioG wrote: post #22

tedivm wrote: post #7

Google Fi (originally Project Fi) was amazing when it first came out, but at some point they switched to contracted support with no ability to resolve issues (it's not even the support people's fault, as they literally don't have the power to do anything). For awhile Google people used to hang out in the Google Fi subreddit but they seem to have mostly moved on to other projects or companies. Besides locking phones l…

Google is turning into a complete sh*tshow across seemingly all product lines. Aside from Ads (I mean Search) I can't think of anything that hasn't fallen into disrepair or been EOL'd.

Ads are just as bad, and Search is little more than Ads these days.

They've outsourced Google Ads "account strategists" to contractors abroad who hound Google's advertisers by any and all contact methods they can find -- not those you've given Google -- to force you onto "account review" phone calls in which they talk you through ways to spend more on Google Ads. Then those ads get reviewed by people that don't have the time or knowledge to apply Google's ad policies properly, so they're constantly deactivating years-old ads for vague and very wrong reasons, until you resubmit the same ad and it's approved again, at least until the next random review.

Google has no core competency any more.

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#38

Post by cschmid » Tue, Mar 15, 2022, 1:12 AM UTC

No carrier should be able to brick a phone without it being locked to the network. I did some research online, and it seems that the culprit here is actually Best Buy (and Apple) for selling phones as unlocked although they actually aren't: Apple sells iPhones to third parties under a 'US Reseller Flex Policy' [1], which means that they are automatically locked to the first carrier they are activated on.

Nothing on the Best Buy website gives me any indication of this happening. If this is really true, it's deceptive advertisement. I'm not a lawyer, but this looks illegal.

[1]: https://swappa.com/faq/answer/us-reseller-flex-policy

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#39

Post by gnabgib » Tue, Mar 15, 2022, 1:13 AM UTC

mig39 wrote: post #8

This happened to me with a nameless Canadian carrier. I bought an iPhone, unlocked, from Apple. It worked great with many SIMs in different countries. At some point, the screen broke on the phone, and Apple did an "AppleCare express replacement" where they sent me a replacement phone and I sent my broken one back. The next SIM I put in the phone locked the phone to that carrier. It took like 5 minutes with Apple supp…

I hope this was before December 2017[0], this behaviour hasn't been legal in Canada for half a decade.

[0]: https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications...

Re: Google Fi bricked my iPhone 11 Pro Max (2020)

#40

Post by exabrial » Tue, Mar 15, 2022, 1:16 AM UTC

Google bricked by LG v35. They had absolutely no remorse and support told me there was nothing they would do. (Notice I used the word would, because they absolutely could do something but that would interfere with $).