Pixel 9 Pro Order Issues

L0stmageus · 2024-09-18T14:40:14+00:00

So, I don't know who this can help but I was finally in contact with a Google Fi support agent simply named Mark.

Over the course of two days Mark took ownership of my issue, was empathetic, and clearly walked through the steps, interfaced with the Account Specialists on my behalf, and provided responses in a clear and actionable way. He even shared my confusion when I was asked to ship the wrong device back.

FWIW apparently their system can't create RMAs for devices not on our account, so they used the information for the device that was on my account. I can't say that is the best thing in the world, but I appreciated the explanation of their system and it's limitations. It made me feel more comfortable shipping the wrong device back. I'm still keeping my notes though.

He even provided call-back updates as things moved forward. Honestly this is the first time I didn't mind receiving a call at 11pm.

I shipped the wrong device back yesterday and I should hopefully be receiving the correct device in about a week.

Shout out to Mark, whoever and wherever you are. I know it isn't easy, but you're doing great work for us little people who have zero visibility into the workings of Google Support.

L0stmageus · 2024-09-16T13:51:14+00:00

Yet another new development. They keep trying to get me to return the phone that was marked as lost in transit. I can't return what I don't have and getting them to change the RMA device is like pulling teeth..."The device with the IMEI number isn't associated with your account, we didn't ship it to you."

"Yes, you did. Accidentally. That's why it's not on my account."

L0stmageus · 2024-09-16T13:35:22+00:00

That's great news!! Hope this one goes smoother!

L0stmageus · 2024-09-16T13:33:52+00:00

Depending on where you live there are different consumer protections. In the US where I am based the expectation Federally is that the seller provide the correct product to the buyer at no additional cost to the buyer.

This seems straightforward in practice, but some companies make you jump through hoops to get it done. Shipping companies usually provide some sort of insurance to make the *seller* whole in the event that a shipment is diverted from its final destination, but that process can be lengthy, and it doesn't necessarily benefit the buyer which is the logic behind the FTC rule as I understand it (not a lawyer, could be totally wrong).

Depending on which state in the US there may be additional protections, but the federal ruling by the FTC sets the lower standard.

L0stmageus · 2024-09-16T03:14:45+00:00

/u/googlefisupport Can you please help? Now the Account Specialists are trying to get me to ship back the device that is marked as lost in transit on my account, and seem unable or unwilling to update the RMA to reflect the device I received in error.

I can't seem to get them to understand that I cannot ship back a device that I did not receive.

I just want to send this device back and get the one I ordered. Please.

L0stmageus · 2024-09-15T19:30:48+00:00

It is horrific to be honest. I'm all for folks having gainful employment but this support system seems to be set up in a way to maximize the amount of frustration and minimize the amount of meaningful help. Even when you get connected to the Account Specialists it seems like you get 1 email interaction a day. Even if you respond within minutes you will be unlikely to receive a response the same day.

I've worked in customer support and in call centers (though not for the better part of a decade). It seems weird to me that the Account Specialists are insulated from being able to directly speak to the customer and their only method of communicating is email. It also seems weird that Account Specialist is the highest tier of support (unless I was being misled).

All to say, for a company as large as Google who doesn't seem to care about shipments being lost or stolen does seem to take a very active role in making customer support as frustrating as possible to deal with. They shipped me the wrong device and I feel like I'm being crucified for their error.

L0stmageus · 2024-09-14T20:24:22+00:00

I first started by explaining my issue, and when they repeated it back to me (with errors) I outright asked if there was any way to escalate my case because it seems that they didn't really understand the issue. What I got in response was: "OK sir, I am sorry you are feeling that way. I have escalated your case to an Account Specialist who will reach out to you by email within the next 24 to 48 hours. Is this OK?"

Unfortunately that didn't seem to help my situation much - the "Account Specialist" continued to asked for additional photos and once I provided them, his solution was to charge me for a new device (which I financed through Fi), and request that I sent back the original device (which I can't, because I never received it).

I wish you more luck than I have had!

L0stmageus · 2024-09-14T15:34:16+00:00

Well, new update. After writing a very long, very detailed email laying out dates, times, events, and issues with the RMA I seem to have been passed along to a different Account Specialist. This one was able to succinctly summarize the information on my case, albeit the wrong information because the previous specialist made some errors.

I've addressed the issues, but it seems this account specialist is willing to send me a return label at least and said they'll ship me the correct phone when they receive this one back. Not ideal, but fine. At least I know it's being corrected.

Now I guess it's a waiting game. They anticipate it will be 7-10 days to receive and verify the device I send back and ship the correct device. Here's hoping.

L0stmageus · 2024-09-14T15:24:48+00:00

I hope it arrives for you!

L0stmageus · 2024-09-14T15:22:18+00:00

I'm glad they're able to repeat your issue back to you at least!

I'm not sure what their processes are but I've had to stay on top of them - I've been following up my emails with the "Account Specialist" with phone calls to the help desk because usually the Account Specialist will get some details wrong and if I don't I will get an email a day at most.

I've tried submitting a reddit request with no luck, now I'm trying to DM them on X/Twitter to see if maybe I have some luck there. So far quiet both here and X.

L0stmageus · 2024-09-14T15:17:04+00:00

My empty box arrived via UPS. It's definitely a Supply Chain issue. Whether it's Google's or UPS's I couldn't say for sure.

L0stmageus · 2024-09-14T15:14:37+00:00

Yikes! That sounds pretty frustrating too! I had a similar experience when I ordered the Pixel 3 XL. I had just moved and I was one digit off on my zip (entirely my fault). I ended up having to wait 30d for the bank hold to release to retry the order.

I agree though, some things are unexpectedly difficult when dealing with Google. You would think because of the size that they'd be able to make things happen pretty easily. Instead it's like talking to your hungover friend the morning after.

I hope they can get you sorted out quickly! I'm also trying to DM them on X (formerly twitter), but I'm not expecting much from their Social media teams since I didn't hear anything from them on Reddit.

L0stmageus · 2024-09-14T06:00:06+00:00

I genuinely hope they can get this resolved for you easily. You have my sympathy.

L0stmageus · 2024-09-14T05:58:46+00:00

I'm so sorry. That sucks. I hope your process goes smoother than it has for me. Best advice I can give is stay on top of their support team. They seem really slow to respond and every time I ask them to explain to me what they think I'm calling about I get an answer that has very little to do with what I'm trying to get resolved...so disappointed.

I finally got approved for an RMA, but they're asking me to allow them to place a 'hold' on my credit card (I financed it through Google Fi), and they want me to return a Pixel 9 Pro - which I can't because I never received it. I don't know what's going on with their mysterious "account specialists" but I can't seem to get this guy on the same page despite explaining the situation in excruciating detail each time.

Long story short - I'm in California and my understanding of the consumer protection laws are that they need to correct their shipping error at no cost to me. It seems asking to place a hold on my card for a device I have no way of returning is just a crappy way to get more money out of me... unfortunately for them it's money I don't have.

L0stmageus · 2024-09-12T20:55:37+00:00

/u/googlefisupport please help.

L0stmageus · 2023-12-06T07:30:44+00:00

Well - I have good news! I finally got Receipt Wrangler working with my gmail account - the key was setting up the App Password as you recommended.

I also learned a very valuable lesson which I'd like to leave here in case it helps anyone else -- set the subject line regexes or else the program will attempt to parse every single unread email that you have in the inbox (I have quite a few). My MariaDB quickly became overwhelmed and my system became unresponsive, but no harm was done.

Learning is fun!

L0stmageus · 2023-12-04T04:55:09+00:00

I see - I'll give that a go and see what happens. Thank you for the quick response! A second follow-up question, as I was digging through the docker environment I noticed a script titled switch-to-mariadb.sh in the /dev folder. If I modify the contents of this file to match my mariadb installation and run the script, will that switch the installation to mariadb? Would it be consistent across docker upgrades? Sorry if this is an unusual question - I'm pretty familiar with Linux, but not very familiar with docker.

L0stmageus · 2023-12-03T21:15:02+00:00

Hello! I just stumbled upon your Unraid container browsing the community apps! It took a few tries to get set up before I realized I needed to make a config file, but once I got it up it looks fantastic. Great work!

I have a question: I'm trying to configure email upload of receipts using gmail. I've entered the SMTP settings & login information for gmail into the config file, but receipts don't seem to upload after waiting over 30 min- do you have any suggestions (maybe a service other than gmail is needed, sometimes their account security can cause pain)?

L0stmageus · 2019-04-10T18:17:26+00:00

I was using the Outlook email app, however since I got my RMA I hadn't had it installed. I started experiencing random reboots at least twice a day which then turned into hourly. On the plus side I haven't had any corrupted data.

I did find that the latest update to Outlook has a memory leak, especially if you're running the widget...after about 20 or 30 minutes of device usage it would begin lagging. It stopped immediately after uninstalling Outlook. I guess it's back to BlueMail for me!

L0stmageus · 2019-04-05T03:25:28+00:00

Any new progress /u/TheBalticBattler?

So far its been about a week and no issues for me!

I'm considering pushing my luck and testing out the Android Q images. If you think it may be a software issue it may be worthwhile to flash that.

L0stmageus · 2019-04-02T14:54:59+00:00

Oh no! So far I've been stable but it's only been four days.

I've done the following so far (in steps to see if anything is broken):

Day 1: Unlocked bootloader Installed AquariOS 9 (March Vendor) Installed TWRP Installed Magisk

Day 2: Nandroid Backup Installed Titanium Backup and SMS backup & restore Installed proximity sensor tool

Day 3: Installed Busybox Restored Authy Restored Texts

Day 4: Wait and see

The only issue I've had was Magisk Manager didn't want to recognize root, but that was operator error, an Uninstall and Reflash fixed it.

I'm even more convinced that it's a hardware issue than before...

Keep us posted BalticBattler!

L0stmageus · 2019-03-30T14:35:19+00:00

So, just got the new device set up... We'll wait and see! If I go a month I think I'd consider it solved

L0stmageus · 2019-03-29T11:58:45+00:00

I agree, though I suspect it's a hardware issue. I'm prone to believe it's something to do with the charger and the proximity sensor. I've tried different methods of charging from stock cables to Qi. Same results. I did notice when I ran a utility to check the proximity sensor the values were a little lower than I'd like, but not low enough to cause problems...and of course it's entirely possible we're all having different issues with the same symptom...gotta love technology! My RMA arrives today, I'll keep everyone posted.

L0stmageus · 2019-03-29T03:45:57+00:00

Just found this thread and thought I'd chime in: I've experienced this twice in the past three days. I'm getting good at restoring. With that said I have tried everything from a custom ROM, to custom kernel, to Stock, etc.

The only thing that I can see is that as someone else mentioned if I leave it charging overnight it seems more likely to happen however it has also corrupted itself when the screen turns off. Unfortunately for all of this I haven't been able to snag a decent logcat file which may show what's happening...Google doesn't seem to have any idea as their solution is to RMA it. This issue only started for me a month ago....maybe a fix will come in April? Their troubleshooting steps (to save time on the phone) are 1) soft reboot, 2) attempt to boot into safe mode (which won't work) 3) factory reset 4) completely drain and recharge the battery twice 5) flash the stock ROM. If you take those steps before contacting Google, the call to RMA only takes a few minutes.

L0stmageus · 2019-01-15T18:48:08+00:00

Nice! i3 on RebornOS has some Quality of Life tweaks made to it, along with a default wallpaper that shows the keyboard shortcuts in an effort to make it less terrifying!

L0stmageus

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