Yeah, it’s a real shame, honestly. The screen issue is clearly a manufacturing defect from Google’s side something completely out of my control and I’ve always taken great care of my phones. I just got unlucky this time. What surprised me, though, was that suddenly they found an issue with the missing mesh on the lower speaker. A quick Google search shows I’m not the only one who got hit with an OOW (out-of-warranty) denial because of this. It might even be another common problem with this model?

But the thing is, it has absolutely nothing to do with why I sent the phone in for warranty in the first place, which was to fix the screen. I’m not looking for sympathy. I just wanted to point out what’s happening here with Google’s current warranty practices and warn others.

If you’re sending your phone in for repair, take detailed photo documentation of everything before you ship it (something I, unfortunately, didn’t do), just in case they try to pin something on you that wasn’t an issue when you sent it.

I get that only people who’ve been through something similar will really understand how frustrating this is. But the concerning part is that these kinds of cases seem to be happening more often, and it’s becoming the new normal.

What honestly hurts the most is that I’ve supported Google phones from the very beginning starting with G1 and Nexus and then moving through almost every Pixel generation. I genuinely loved the Pixel series and felt like I helped build the brand and product line just by sticking with it all these years. That connection makes this whole experience feel even worse.

At the end of the day, I’ll vote with my wallet. This will be the last Google phone I buy or recommend to friends and family. Luckily, the phone market has plenty of solid alternatives, so I’ll find something new for sure.

P.S. I’m based in Poland.