their 'automation' of support, from my experience, is actually basic idiocy -not a plot. it's actual people thinking they just need to make their 'ai' better. not understanding that a huge switch statement is not an ai. it's hipster trash writing code.
i ordered a pixel2xl for over $1k. week later, days after promised arrival, status unknown on fedex tracking#. called fedex -they have no idea where the package is. no way to reach google on their webpage where i bought the phone. after a couple of days, i started a chat with play store support, asked them about the phone. they had no idea, i said refund, now. also, order is cancelled -i refuse delivery if you find the lost shipment. 'ok.'
a week later the phone shows up. i have my refund. i said come to my door, pick up the package. amazon can do it with returns, and mail services offer this. they said 'no -you must bring it to a fedex office and mail it back, or we'll charge you again'
blocked google from my amex, flashed a custom rom, typing this on my free phone now, years later. super fast, only needs charging once a week.
and in my work, i sell solutions that often do failover to cloud. but i don't even offer google cloud to customers. because i care about customers, and google will randomly cause them issues. google has lost literally tens of millions in business. by causing me to dig and find out how shitty and dangerous dealing with them is, which was caused by me getting a free phone, and them threatening to close all my google accounts, and fraudulently charge my card.
google is a bully. an incompetent one. while they make money, they are also missing out on a lot of money, by sheer stupidity. myspace was big too. and yahoo was big too. big because of dumb masses -and dumb masses are driven by emotion and lack of logic. super volatile.
I would not have blocked the charges; I would say that the FTC has ruled that items you did not order are yours to keep. As you should never have received the item, it is perhaps negligent in the part of the delivery company not to halt or recall the delivery, but that may not be available on all shipping options, and exercising this option may incur a fee to the shipper. As you were in possession of the device, I think that Google would be within rights to attempt to charge you in this instance, all the same. And yet I also understand your stance. I just don’t understand your justification for keeping the phone.
Keeping it, I get that. Who doesn’t want a free phone? I knew someone who had a box show up at their desk at work with a refurb phone inside. It was seemingly new and yet had a SIM card inside. So I showed them how to replace the SIM, and reflashed it. It’s theirs, and the responsible thing to do for any, every phone that’s new to you, is to replace media and/or wipe media, reflash firmwares, and reinstall the OS. Just good data hygiene for the previous owner and for the new one. As a worker bound by HIPAA etc for certain sites and jobs, it’s just a habit, and hopefully soon an automated process, and then a startup maybe? I probably do it 10+ times a day. But I digress.
Free phones are real? I’ve seen it.
If you get another free phone let me have your old one lol
i kept the phone because they refused to pay $8 to the mailing service to pick it up at my door. when shit shows up randomly at your door, you do not have the obligation to spend an hour of you time taking a trip to the ups location, standing in line, mailing it, then going back home. now if like with amazon they come to my house to pick it up -it's theirs. but they thought they could force people to mail it. they lost.
my justification is: a random person cannot mail me crap and expect me to spend free time and effort to mail it back. they're free to pay ups to do that, or get it themselves. at my door. my justification is, entitled people in a high horse can do whatever they want, but they have zero power over me to get me to do something.
i ordered a pixel2xl for over $1k. week later, days after promised arrival, status unknown on fedex tracking#. called fedex -they have no idea where the package is. no way to reach google on their webpage where i bought the phone. after a couple of days, i started a chat with play store support, asked them about the phone. they had no idea, i said refund, now. also, order is cancelled -i refuse delivery if you find the lost shipment. 'ok.'
a week later the phone shows up. i have my refund. i said come to my door, pick up the package. amazon can do it with returns, and mail services offer this. they said 'no -you must bring it to a fedex office and mail it back, or we'll charge you again'
blocked google from my amex, flashed a custom rom, typing this on my free phone now, years later. super fast, only needs charging once a week.
and in my work, i sell solutions that often do failover to cloud. but i don't even offer google cloud to customers. because i care about customers, and google will randomly cause them issues. google has lost literally tens of millions in business. by causing me to dig and find out how shitty and dangerous dealing with them is, which was caused by me getting a free phone, and them threatening to close all my google accounts, and fraudulently charge my card.
google is a bully. an incompetent one. while they make money, they are also missing out on a lot of money, by sheer stupidity. myspace was big too. and yahoo was big too. big because of dumb masses -and dumb masses are driven by emotion and lack of logic. super volatile.