Hans Sprungfeld
Undecided
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 12,944
- Reaction Score
- 31,294
After 10+ months of trouble-free performance, my Google Pixel 5a phone one day powered down and never again functioned.
I quickly located some message board discussion that the telephone's failure was an identified and known (though not overwhelmingly widespread) issue. And I was also given strong advance warning that Google Store technical support for warranty repair/replacement held high possibility to be a nightmare.
Across multiple sessions, at multiple junctures, for multiple issues, by multiple means & access points, and related to multiple departments . . . I have been challenged by and I remain uneasy within my worst, sustained customer service experience ever. This spans decades, and I spent many years working in application programming, systems design & implementation, training & direct customer support on-site and remotely, primarily in computer telephony .
I am only posting now after it appears that my replacement telephone has been finally been shipped today, even though Fedex cannot yet provide Tracking information. I anticipate many more possibilities for trouble that will not be resolved easily.
Similarly, the required return of my dead telephone - done from a Walgreen's Fedex counter - continues to show ONLY that a label has been generated. No further Tracking information is available, even though Walgreen's tells me that the phone I left with them (for which I obtained a receipt on Tuesday night) is gone from their store.
Have things degraded so badly that ALL companies are as bad as I am experiencing?
I know that I will not again purchase directly from a manufacturer's retail channel that is essentially 100% online and holds almost no possibility for direct, real-time communication except super-highly limited telephone contact, and chat sessions that offer more possibilities but is still poorly designed and managed.
Until this purchase, I went 4 or 5 two-year cycles with Moto X and Moto G phones that were steadily regarded as value winners. My expectation was that after a couple of years, the phone would show the stresses of heavy use, and I'd just spend another $2-300 for the next version of a decently featured & performing phone. I chose the Pixel for better camera, a longer software update/support cycle, and a two year interest-free financing for a phone I planned as a 3-year proposition.
A shout out to Capital One and Walgreen's, both of whom have had actual people who could answer simple questions quickly, responding to situations that eluded key word auto-responses, circular runs through web sites, untrained agents, siloed information systems, etc., etc.
Again, is this our world, especially since COVID?
Does anybody know of or recommend something better?
What forums, apps, sites, or resources have you found helpful?
At this point, I'm planning toward what would be my successor phone, or where I'd buy it, or how I'd deal with a performance problem, or a repair in or out of warranty, or getting tech support that might relate to network, hardware, operating system, applications, etc.
Optionally, I'd settle for somebody else's rant, just so I know I'm not alone.
I quickly located some message board discussion that the telephone's failure was an identified and known (though not overwhelmingly widespread) issue. And I was also given strong advance warning that Google Store technical support for warranty repair/replacement held high possibility to be a nightmare.
Across multiple sessions, at multiple junctures, for multiple issues, by multiple means & access points, and related to multiple departments . . . I have been challenged by and I remain uneasy within my worst, sustained customer service experience ever. This spans decades, and I spent many years working in application programming, systems design & implementation, training & direct customer support on-site and remotely, primarily in computer telephony .
I am only posting now after it appears that my replacement telephone has been finally been shipped today, even though Fedex cannot yet provide Tracking information. I anticipate many more possibilities for trouble that will not be resolved easily.
Similarly, the required return of my dead telephone - done from a Walgreen's Fedex counter - continues to show ONLY that a label has been generated. No further Tracking information is available, even though Walgreen's tells me that the phone I left with them (for which I obtained a receipt on Tuesday night) is gone from their store.
Have things degraded so badly that ALL companies are as bad as I am experiencing?
I know that I will not again purchase directly from a manufacturer's retail channel that is essentially 100% online and holds almost no possibility for direct, real-time communication except super-highly limited telephone contact, and chat sessions that offer more possibilities but is still poorly designed and managed.
Until this purchase, I went 4 or 5 two-year cycles with Moto X and Moto G phones that were steadily regarded as value winners. My expectation was that after a couple of years, the phone would show the stresses of heavy use, and I'd just spend another $2-300 for the next version of a decently featured & performing phone. I chose the Pixel for better camera, a longer software update/support cycle, and a two year interest-free financing for a phone I planned as a 3-year proposition.
A shout out to Capital One and Walgreen's, both of whom have had actual people who could answer simple questions quickly, responding to situations that eluded key word auto-responses, circular runs through web sites, untrained agents, siloed information systems, etc., etc.
Again, is this our world, especially since COVID?
Does anybody know of or recommend something better?
What forums, apps, sites, or resources have you found helpful?
At this point, I'm planning toward what would be my successor phone, or where I'd buy it, or how I'd deal with a performance problem, or a repair in or out of warranty, or getting tech support that might relate to network, hardware, operating system, applications, etc.
Optionally, I'd settle for somebody else's rant, just so I know I'm not alone.
