My Google Pixel XL's Untimely Death

Almeuit

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Well how should I start this ... First things first. I love my Pixel phone and I think it is a great phone for me. I have been enjoying the camera and the assistant feature a lot during my daily routines. I have no real complaints -- as most say the Pixel isn't an "OMG it does (X) so much better" but more so it executes everything it does well and quick. The only issue I have had is I got a lemon. I have the 128 GB Pixel XL (Black) version (Google Store).

Story time

Last night I got home around 12:30ish (maybe a little later) after going up and hanging with my brother at bowling then his house. All was well with my Pixel except the phone seemed to not want to connect to WiFi calling and the LTE was acting weird. I don't get the best T-Mobile signal at home but usually around 8 Mbps LTE so it should function. Due to it being late (and me being lazy) I just said ehh screw it I will reboot --- that is where the issue started.

The Pixel shut down but never turned back on to finish step 2 of a reboot -- turning on. It simply sat there dead and lifeless. I thought maybe it is having a hiccup so gave it some time but it still wouldn't turn on. I tried everything you can think of ... I tried booting with SIM in/out, on the charging cable, long holding for more than 10-15 seconds on power, booting into recovery, plugging into my PC to see if it saw, etc. etc. -- Sadly nothing was resurrecting my phone. The only thing I noticed was if plugged in for 15 or more minutes it got warm like the battery was charging although the screen never indicated this. I accepted defeat, woke up my gf, and simply told her to wake me up in the morning when she goes to work since I don't have an alarm. Also to add on to this -- I have only used the official charger that came with the phone. I did buy another charger but it is another official 18 W one from the Google Store that I had as a spare.

Resolution / How to fix?!

Once the gf woke me up this morning I did my daily routine in the morning. After that I hopped on the PC and got in touch with Google by calling their 24/7 support line (via Google Voice on my PC). I spoke with a guy who had me try basic troubleshooting (even though I had tried it already) but I can't blame him for doing his job. He asked me to plug it in for at least an hour and give it the 1 more time try. He sent me an email before getting off the phone so I could reply later and let him know the result. I did as he asked and once I got to work I replied and told him -- no go. I advised the phone was still dead and asked what're the next steps?

A Pixel Support person replied to my email (not the original guy from the phone) and asked me for a few things (Name, IMEI, Order #, where did I ship the phone before, etc. etc.). I gladly provided all this information to him and waited. He responded in about 15 minutes with a special URL for me to use to order a replacement. I clicked it, chose where to ship my phone, and my replacement order was submitted. It will be here on Nov. 8th-9th. They are of course going to put a hold on my credit card for the phone till they get the one I have back which is fully okay with me since that is how most businesses do these type of replacements.

What is your point on this post?

I just wanted to tell the story of getting a lemon and having to go through this process. I will say I am very happy with Google as they responded quickly and got me a replacement without much pain / hassle to me. All in all just calling, doing a few things, and having a replacement ordered that same morning I contacted them was a big "WIN" for me in my book. It does suck having to wait over the weekend to get the replacement but in reality it could have been a lot worse. I am satisfied on how it was handled.
 
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chadrob30

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Re: My Google Pixel XL Untimely Death

Great story. Even though I got mine through the Verizon store it is nice to know that if something were to go wrong with the phone Google will stand by it.
 

SteelGator

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Re: My Google Pixel XL Untimely Death

The good news is that is died young -- a trait of lemon electronics. Makes the whole return thing so much easier.

Good luck with the replacement.
 

Almeuit

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Re: My Google Pixel XL Untimely Death

The good news is that is died young -- a trait of lemon electronics. Makes the whole return thing so much easier.

Good luck with the replacement.

Yeah luckily I have nice friends. My buddy is lending me a Nexus 6P to use as a replacement device for the weekend so I am not fully out of a phone. If I didn't have that option I probably would have snagged a V20 from T-Mobile and just paid the restocking fee once my replacement Pixel came in.
 

Jeremy8000

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Re: My Google Pixel XL Untimely Death

Be glad you had the issue now rather than a couple months down the road, where they may have had enough returns processed to where they have a 'refurbished' inventory to draw from. Your replacement will certainly be a new stock unit. Tough that you're having to wait the few days as it is - it should be down to next-day replacement once the production catches up.
 

Laura Knotek

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I'm sorry to hear that your device died. :(

I agree that it's better that it died now rather than 6 months later like what happened to me with my MXPE. Getting a refurbished device was a hassle for me and took almost a month to get one that worked properly. Luckily I had an old device that I was able to use while waiting.
 

Almeuit

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Did you try taking the battery out and in, and then rebooting? Oh wait...

Sadly nope I can't do that. Oh well .. if something fried internally or some other hardware malfunction it wouldn't really matter if you could replace the battery or not :).
 

Chemy JMHT

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That's good from Google, sadly I think a lot of those devices are just traveling around the world and if the failure becomes something regular a lot of people won't have access to a replacement if they are not in the right country.

BTW the Elric brother of your avatar, nice! the Alchemists are one of my favorites.
 

Aredubu

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That's good news, but it makes me wonder how Google is able to ship you a replacement so fast, but when I try to order a black 128 GB the website still shows it is out of stock?
 

IncredibleJedi

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That's good news, but it makes me wonder how Google is able to ship you a replacement so fast, but when I try to order a black 128 GB the website still shows it is out of stock?

Chances are Google is being smart and has some a short supply of stock set aside for exchanges when issues like this arise.
 

Almeuit

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That's good news, but it makes me wonder how Google is able to ship you a replacement so fast, but when I try to order a black 128 GB the website still shows it is out of stock?

I am sure they have some kept aside for random issues. When you mass produce an item you're bound to have a few lemons. It sucks but in reality that is just how it goes. I bet they're pulling mine from the "reserve" they got.
 

WeAreAllUnique

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I had something similar happen to me, but I had to go through Verizon. They didn't have my Pixel model in stock so I ended up getting an iPhone 7.
 

Fit24

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That's good news, but it makes me wonder how Google is able to ship you a replacement so fast, but when I try to order a black 128 GB the website still shows it is out of stock?

I believe most companies have a certain percentage of inventory set aside specifically for replacement of defective units.
 

Fit24

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What is your point on this post?

I just wanted to tell the story of getting a lemon and having to go through this process. I will say I am very happy with Google as they responded quickly and got me a replacement without much pain / hassle to me. All in all just calling, doing a few things, and having a replacement ordered that same morning I contacted them was a big "WIN" for me in my book. It does suck having to wait over the weekend to get the replacement but in reality it could have been a lot worse. I am satisfied on how it was handled.

It's good to know you are happy with your customer service experience. Thanks for sharing.
 

D13H4RD2L1V3

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At least yours died relatively early.

Unlike my 2 LG G4s, both of which died after 6 months, leaving me in a bind. At least my first Note 7 died relatively early during the recall period. (Yes, second one was returned about a month ago)

I sure hope this Moto Z works well for years...
 

I Can Be Your Hero

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Shame you got a lemon, but good to hear you're getting a replacement.

Unfortunately these things happen, and it sycks when it happens to you, but it's great when the replacement process is smooth.