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Leaving Google Fi

jasonatwood.io

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Re: Leaving Google Fi

#101

Post by londons_explore »

whack wrote: post #72

This reminds me of a similar experience with the Nexus tablet. I'm not sure whether the blame lies with Google or HTC, but it sounds all too familiar with what the author described. TLDR: because the credit card billing address did not match the shipping address, the customer service representative refused to accept payment for a defective tablet which needed to be repaired. They insisted on mailing the tablet all th…

Sometimes it's less effort to change the billing address of the card...

Some of those 'app based' credit cards let you change the billing address with just a tap of a button. It's particularly useful when you're away from home and the company won't ship to anywhere except the billing address.

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#102

Post by kgwxd »

icxa wrote: post #38
ArlenBales wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the quickest route to having your Google account permanently suspended. (YouTube, Gmail, etc. goodbye)

I wonder if this is a good thing. Really random aside incoming: I once was only able to quit my League of Legends video game addiction because I gave my account away that I had so much vested in (skins, all characters, rune pages) by basically messaging a random stranger, changing the account to their email, going to a random password generator site, changing the pw copy+pasting the password without me looking, and s…

I tried to do the same thing with an expensive bottle of liquor a few weeks ago. It only worked for a week :/

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#103

Post by londons_explore »

zf00002 wrote: post #95
londons_explore wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a good chance that Google views the complainant as fraud too... And that's why they can't talk clearly about what's going on. Their records show that first phone as delivered. They think their device has been stolen from them. Then the 'fraudster' tries to get another device sent to them - which is 'returned' under suspicious circumstances. All the delays might be a police investigation they aren't allowed t…

But their records wouldn't show the first phone as delivered. And the second wouldn't show as delivered either if he refused delivery.

Bet ya they did... Fedex will claim, on investigation, that the package was delivered and just missed the final scan at the customers door.

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#104

Post by TheAceOfHearts »

jaggederest wrote: post #84
paxys wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google does not have such a customer-obsessed culture Simply because Google has never considered its users "customers" in the first place

There is only one customer at Google, and it is the people buying ads. Astonishingly enough, even at moderate ad volumes there's still no customer service. You have to start spending truly astronomical amounts of money before an actual rep will attempt to help you with essentially any problem. So to Google, "actual customer" means "someone spending six figures per month on advertising on our platform". As far as I am…

I have lots of criticisms of Google, but let's not spread misinformation. GCP does offer paid support options, depending on your business requirements. If it's critical for your business then you can afford to pay a few extra hundred dollars a month

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#105

Post by ncallaway »

londons_explore wrote: post #86
aerovistae wrote: post #66

Here's what I did in a similar situation, for those who may be interested. Basically I signed up for AT&T home internet, and it DID NOT WORK, period. It was unusably slow and cut out constantly. I couldn't use it. I told them so within a week, they sent someone to fix it, they failed to fix it, I told them I'm canceling. I proceeded to return their router and switch to a different provider and immediately got fine se…

You're lucky... Some collections agencies are far more rigorous... They'll come to your house every day at awkward times. They'll ring your grandma and try to tell all your friends you're in debt, etc. If they finally get paid, it won't be $600 - it'll be $600 + $1500 of interest at 55% APR and $1200 of fees for letters, visits, phone calls etc.

Under the FDCPA you have the right to demand no contact with you, your workplace, or your family members.

If they willfully violate this non-contact demand, they can be on the hook for $1,000 in statutory damages. They can also be on the hook for disruption they caused at a work-place, or emotional of physical distress.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/damages-fdcpa-violat...

If a debt-collector is getting overly aggressive, send a certified letter to their headquarters explicitly invoking the FDCPA and demanding that they not contact you further. Document the letter, and save the certified letter receipt.

If they contact you further, or harass your family, document it thoroughly and then speak to a lawyer about filing a lawsuit.

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#106

Post by rgbrenner »

londons_explore wrote: post #70
harry8 wrote: post #15

This is fraud. As soon as any rep sees the evidence of the fraud and stonewalls they are engaging in a conspiracy to commit fraud. At that point the law should take over. "The policy says I must break the law" is not a defence. "The fraud was opportunistic rather than pre-meditated" is not a defence. You can't break the law because of a company policy, you're a human you have responsibilities. Prosecutions need to ha…

There is a good chance that Google views the complainant as fraud too... And that's why they can't talk clearly about what's going on. Their records show that first phone as delivered. They think their device has been stolen from them. Then the 'fraudster' tries to get another device sent to them - which is 'returned' under suspicious circumstances. All the delays might be a police investigation they aren't allowed t…

The timeline is 2 months long... over 1 month between the phone being lost and the new one being returned.

Packages get lost for all kinds of reasons. If you ship things regularly, it happens occasionally. You open a case with Fedex, the driver gets a week to find the package. If he can't, the package is declared lost, and the insurance on the package is paid out.

You're ridiculous if you think Google is calling the police for every lost package. What would they even base a case on? Fedex tracking of a package delivered without a signature? Geez. The cops would just ignore their calls.

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#107

Post by rgbrenner »

londons_explore wrote: post #103
zf00002 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But their records wouldn't show the first phone as delivered. And the second wouldn't show as delivered either if he refused delivery.

Bet ya they did... Fedex will claim, on investigation, that the package was delivered and just missed the final scan at the customers door.

nope. Packages delivered without a signature can still be lost and the insurance paid out. How else would they prevent their drivers from stealing packages?

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#108

Post by eeeeeeeeeeeee »

ehsankia wrote: post #90
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to talk to a real person at Google is an exercise in futility. It’s like trying to contact a single person in the Borg.

That's most definitely is true if it's about one of their free services (gmail, youtube, etc), but I'm not sure why people expect free services to have the same quality of support as Amazon Prime where you're paying monthly fees + more for the products. Become an actual paying Google customer[0] and you'll get a real person. Of course, the issue here is slightly different. The author clearly did get to talk to many r…

It doesn’t matter. I’ve been a paying customer of Google (Apps / Mail / Gsuite) for my company. Good luck finding helpful support if you run into any situation slightly outside of the norm. I’ve had my entire company email domain down and was told by Google support to “wait.”

As the other commenter noted, Google does not have a customer-first or even customer-top-10 priority and it shows, again and again.

Re: Leaving Google Fi

#109

Post by jlmorton »

I had almost the exact same experience. Google Fi has the worst customer service of any online company I have ever interacted with. It's a strong statement, which I've reflected on here for a moment, but I believe it's accurate.

I ordered a new Pixel 3 as part of the Cyber Monday promotion, which was $600 for the phone with $200 in Fi credits. When ordering the phone, I accidentally used the pre-filled shipping address on Google's order form. This my mistake, but I noticed it quickly when I got the order confirmation email. The default shipping address went to my office address. My company had moved officers the month prior. The office was empty and unoccupied. I couldn't receive the phone there.

Before calling Google Fi, I called FedEx. FedEx quickly answered my call and pulled up my order. Typically, FedEx is able to re-route a package that is still in shipment. However, Google Fi has placed restrictions on the shipment which prevent recipients from changing the address. Only Google can update the address.

I called Google Fi and waited on hold for over two hours. This was around the holiday season, and Fi is a newish service, so I wasn't particularly annoyed by this. When I finally got ahold of someone and explained my mistake, they said they'd open a case with their shipping team, who would be in touch with me.

Two days later, no one had contacted me, so I used Google Fi's online chat feature. After waiting in line for an hour and a half, I was connected to someone. I explained the problem again, asked if there was any ETA. They said the problem was already escalated, nothing to do but wait.

Another two days later, no contact was made. I contacted Google again. I got the same answer. The ticket has been escalated to their shipping specialists, they will be contacting me.

At this point, FedEx attempted delivery of the package, which was rejected, since no company exists at the address. I contacted Google again. They said the shipping specialists would be getting in touch with me.

One week after this, FedEx noted a delivery exception, and that the package would be returned the sender. I contacted Google again. Now that the package is being returned to Google, could they cross-ship me a replacement phone to the correct address? No - I would need to contact their shipping specialists, who would be contacting me.

Several days later, I finally received email contact from the shipping specialists. This team immediately cancelled my order, without ever talking to me. They noted that the shipper had been unable to deliver the package, so they would refund me the cost of the phone.

Unfortunately, at this point, the Cyber Monday promotion had ended. The phone now cost $200 more, and the Google Fi credits had been reduced to $100. I asked Google if they would honor their previous pricing, since I had been trying to change the shipping address for several weeks. My message:

> Thanks for getting back to me. When I purchased the phone on Cyber Monday, there was a promotion, with the phone costing $599 and $200 in Google Fi Credits. Today, the price of the phone on the Fi shopping site is $799 with $100 in Fi Credits.

> The package with the phone waited in XXXXXXXXXX at FedEx's facility for a week, and I contacted Fi support several times to try and get the shipping address updated. Each time, I was told that the issue had been escalated to the Shipping Specialist team, but a week later, the package was returned by FedEx. If the address had been updated when I first contacted Fi support, then FedEx would have simply delivered the package the next day.

> Will Google Fi still honor the original price I paid for the phone?

Google's Response:

> Thank you for the response. If you happen to process another order, please let me know. I can escalate your case to my higher level of Support for approval for the promotion. I cannot guarantee that the request will be approved, but I will explain the why you did not receive the initial order in full detail. Please let me know if you have further questions.

So I did that. Ten days later, and fully one month after I ordered the phone, I finally heard back from Google:

> My name is Lee and I'm a higher level Specialist here with Google Fi. I'm working directly with our Promotions Team to determine your eligibility for our "Pixel 3 / 3 XL $400 Back" promotion that was ongoing from November 22nd @ 11:00 PM PT - November 27th @ 11:59 PM PT.

> After thoroughly reviewing your account, we have determined you are ineligible for an exception to this promotion.

> Per the promotion terms: "Limited time offer available from 11/22/18 11:00 PM PT through 11/27/18 11:59 PM PT, or while supplies last"

> Since your original order GS.XXXX-XXXX-XXXX was returned to shipper due to an incorrect shipping address, we are unable to provide an exception.

> We apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any questions, you can always reach us by replying directly to this email.

Every interaction with Google Fi took hours of time. None of them ever resulted in a positive experience. Google Fi was never able to do anything to help the situation. They could not update the address. They couldn't cancel the order and ship a new phone. They couldn't honor the original pricing. There was literally nothing there were ever able to do to help me recover from my mistake using an incorrect shipping address defaulted on the order phone.

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