Who Would Have Thunk It? Great Customer Service From Google!
Google Nexus 6P and Pixel XL
One of the longest running jokes in the tech industry is that Google’s customer support system is nothing more than a python script (for those that aren’t techies, python is a programming language widely used by Google). Getting actual human help for problems with Google problems was long thought impossible. However, Google really came through for me recently.
Back in 2010, when Google launched it’s first smartphone, the Nexus One, it was seen as a commercial failure in part because Google had no real infrastructure for providing sales and technical support. While Google still has issues on the sales side with trying to purchase their most popular phones the tech side has dramatically improved.
In January 2016, I bought a Nexus 6P as a replacement for the last in a long series of Motorola phones going back to an original 2009 Droid. I’ve really liked the 6P in the time I’ve owned it, especially the camera. When we took a family vacation to Puerto Rico last year, for the first time, I didn’t take a big SLR with me, relying only on phones and while there are some shots I would have liked to get with a longer lens, I wasn’t disappointed with the image quality.
In recent months however, the battery life has severely degraded and running the AccuBattery app it estimated that the battery had less than half its original capacity. Since like most modern phones, the battery is sealed into the case, I decided to reach out to Google to see if they had a battery replacement program like the one offered by Apple.
If you happen to follow any Android news feeds, you may have seen a bunch of stories in recent days about Google replacing defective Nexus 6P smartphones with newer Pixel XLs. I actually contacted Google before these stories started appearing and was fully prepared to pay for a battery replacement.
Google store support actually offers several ways to contact them, email, live chat or by phone (you enter your number and they will call back in a few minutes). I opted for the chat and after explaining the diagnostics I had gone through including a factory reset, I was informed that they would replace my phone, free of charge. Since the Nexus 6P has been out of production for some time, they didn’t have any stock left for replacements.
Instead Google offered to send me a new Pixel XL. The 6P was offered in 32, 64 and 128 GB sizes but the Pixel is only available in 32 and 128 GBs so Google is actually giving the larger 128 GB for customers that have 64 GB 6Ps. I received an email with a link to order my replacement and two days later I had a brand new phone! I didn’t even have to sit around an Apple store for a couple of hours for a genius bar appointment.