That this happened while your son was overseas should not play into this equation. Yes, it added inconvenience, but was not the fault of Google and is unreasonable to expect them to take liability for it.
Them shipping the replacement to the wrong address was wrong, but you went through the hassle of driving to get it. So for this, I would ask them for a bill credit equal to the amount of gas it cost you to make the trip, or $25, whichever is more. That would be reasonable for me and I may settle for less than $25 since my fuel cost would be $12-15 for that round trip. The point here is that you'll have better luck stating what you would like and why, compared to just telling them they need to do "something."
The phone itself is more tricky, as Hallux pointed out. Replacing with a refurbished device is the industry norm across all manufactures. Yes it sucks but it'll be about useless complaining to them or venting online to expect them to change. I've been through this refurbish roulette many times and trust me when I say I get how frustrating it is.
I can't tell for sure by your initial post, but it sounds like your son only had the phone for a week or two when this happened? If so, I'd see what kind of return period Project Fi/Google might have. With most carriers, you have up to 14 days to return a phone for a refund minus a restocking fee. If that was available to you and the phone broke in that amount of time, I'd try using that as leverage into a new phone. If nothing else, normally you would just get the refund and purchase it again. The problem is you would be outside any sort of return window and convincing them to make an exception because he was out of the country will be hard.
If the actual defect happened outside of the return window, then I'm afraid you'll be out of luck. About the only time a carrier or manufacturer would give a new phone in this case is if they have no refurbs in stock.
If all else fails, you may have to go with the nuclear option. Tell them what you want and why, clear and to the point, and that you'll cancel your service if you don't get it. This will sometimes get their attention and they will work with you. If not, cancel. If you bluff and don't cancel, that will likely go into your account notes and make them less likely to work with you in the future.
03-23-2018 09:24 PM