I bought a Nexus 10 tablet a couple of months ago. When it arrived, the box had 2 seals on it which said "do not accept if seal is broken". Both seals were broken. The plastic sheets that cover the front and back of the tablet had clearly been removed and replaced, which made me think they'd sent out either a refurb or a tablet that another customer had returned.
I called Google about it and they said that they had to open the box in order to register my Google Play account on it, except I had not checked the box for them to do that when I placed the order and my account wasn't registered on the tablet. I was then told that some Nexus 10s had left the factory without a power supply in the box, so the box must have been opened so they could put one in. I said it was silly to do that without putting a note in to tell me, considering what's printed on the box seals. I also said that it didn't explain why the plastic sheets had been removed from the tablet. They offered me a replacement, which I took.
The second tablet had bad light bleed issues, so I returned that one too. The third one had light bleed issues, but also the seals were broken on it and there were signs of it being used. The fourth one also had light bleed issues and one of the speakers seemed noticeably quieter than the other one. I contacted Google via email and arranged to return it for a refund as enough was enough.
When you return a product to Google and they send you a replacement, they actually reserve a charge on your credit card, so I paid £320 for the first Nexus 10, but Google reserved another £320 when they sent me the replacement, so the balance on my credit card was £640. They then release this charge a couple of weeks later. This is annoying, because after the second return, the balance on my credit card was up to over £960 and I only have a £1,000 limit, so it meant I couldn't use it to buy things.
Anyway, here I am 28 days after returning the 4th tablet, with a 36 email conversation with Google support in my Gmail inbox, but I have no tablets and no refund. I contacted them last week to ask where my refund was and they said that it will be in my account shortly. I contacted them yesterday as I still hadn't been refunded and they emailed me earlier asking if I had sent the tablets back. FFS. I have just emailed them saying that I wouldn't be asking where my refund was if I hadn't returned the tablets and I've provided them with photos showing the return paperwork for each of the 4 tablets signed by the TNT courier.
When you deal with their customer support, you clearly get pre-canned responses a lot of the time. For instance, here's one of the emails I received when I contacted them: -
I like Google's products (faulty Nexus 10s aside) and services, but they really need to sort the retail side of things out. I have never had another company put a hold on funds on my credit card when sending me a replacement for faulty goods, nor have I ever had to wait this long for a refund.
I called Google about it and they said that they had to open the box in order to register my Google Play account on it, except I had not checked the box for them to do that when I placed the order and my account wasn't registered on the tablet. I was then told that some Nexus 10s had left the factory without a power supply in the box, so the box must have been opened so they could put one in. I said it was silly to do that without putting a note in to tell me, considering what's printed on the box seals. I also said that it didn't explain why the plastic sheets had been removed from the tablet. They offered me a replacement, which I took.
The second tablet had bad light bleed issues, so I returned that one too. The third one had light bleed issues, but also the seals were broken on it and there were signs of it being used. The fourth one also had light bleed issues and one of the speakers seemed noticeably quieter than the other one. I contacted Google via email and arranged to return it for a refund as enough was enough.
When you return a product to Google and they send you a replacement, they actually reserve a charge on your credit card, so I paid £320 for the first Nexus 10, but Google reserved another £320 when they sent me the replacement, so the balance on my credit card was £640. They then release this charge a couple of weeks later. This is annoying, because after the second return, the balance on my credit card was up to over £960 and I only have a £1,000 limit, so it meant I couldn't use it to buy things.
Anyway, here I am 28 days after returning the 4th tablet, with a 36 email conversation with Google support in my Gmail inbox, but I have no tablets and no refund. I contacted them last week to ask where my refund was and they said that it will be in my account shortly. I contacted them yesterday as I still hadn't been refunded and they emailed me earlier asking if I had sent the tablets back. FFS. I have just emailed them saying that I wouldn't be asking where my refund was if I hadn't returned the tablets and I've provided them with photos showing the return paperwork for each of the 4 tablets signed by the TNT courier.
When you deal with their customer support, you clearly get pre-canned responses a lot of the time. For instance, here's one of the emails I received when I contacted them: -
And every time you do get a response from a human, they always say that they are working with a "specialist" that is handling your case, except you never get to speak to this so-called specialist 1 to 1. Also, the name at the bottom of the replies changes each time, so no one person takes ownership of your issues.
I like Google's products (faulty Nexus 10s aside) and services, but they really need to sort the retail side of things out. I have never had another company put a hold on funds on my credit card when sending me a replacement for faulty goods, nor have I ever had to wait this long for a refund.
