For those interested, I thought I'd share my experience here. Maybe this is already common practice, but I was unaware until I made the mistake.
When the phone was announced for sale, I wasn't first in line, but I was in line before I saw/heard anything about there being two models . So, I placed my order, but only after dealing with the fact that Google Play does not ship to APO (Army Post Office) addresses (I'm an American in Europe). So I used ShipItAPO to get everything sorted.....no big deal.
Later on, I stumble across the article mentioned above. So, I make a call to the play store, only to find out that "If you ordered from inside the US, you'll get the US version of the phone". I had VPN running on my computer when I ordered, so from what Google saw, I was in the US. It was already too late to cancel my order - even though it won't ship for 3-4 weeks (WTF Google?). Once the "hold" amount for the order has been processed (not charged, because that's illegal) then they can't cancel the order.
So, I try turning the VPN off, and ordering with my local address in Europe as my shipping address. FAIL - Google Wallet won't accept my US cards if I'm shipping to a European address (WTF, again Google?). I don't have a European bank account or CC, because it's not needed here.
So, I call Google Wallet, explain the situation and try to figure out what my options are, which it turns out, are nil. The rep from the Google Wallet support line explained to me that if you order the phone via the Google Play store, you get the US version, period. This is one of the worst experiences I've had as far as ordering an item goes. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, etc all ship to APO's and all let you order whatever version you need (albeit in some cases, you may have to order from a European supplier - i.e. Microsoft Germany).
In any case, if anyone else is thinking about ordering from Google Play, and you need the European version, I highly suggest either waiting for a local retailer to have it in stock, or calling ahead of time to verify you can get the model you need. It is possible I didn't get 100% accurate information, but either way I figured I'd share the story and possibly save someone else from a potential headache.
The worst part of all of this, is that I can't cancel the order. I had multiple items on the order....all of which are in stock except the Nexus 5. Because the Nexus 5 won't ship for 3-4 weeks, the rest of my order is held hostage until then. I can't break the order up, or cancel, which is retarded. Any other company I've ordered from would simply ship what's in stock first. Initially I was just going to cancel the order and re-order the stuff that's in stock, but nope - DENIED!
When the phone was announced for sale, I wasn't first in line, but I was in line before I saw/heard anything about there being two models . So, I placed my order, but only after dealing with the fact that Google Play does not ship to APO (Army Post Office) addresses (I'm an American in Europe). So I used ShipItAPO to get everything sorted.....no big deal.
Later on, I stumble across the article mentioned above. So, I make a call to the play store, only to find out that "If you ordered from inside the US, you'll get the US version of the phone". I had VPN running on my computer when I ordered, so from what Google saw, I was in the US. It was already too late to cancel my order - even though it won't ship for 3-4 weeks (WTF Google?). Once the "hold" amount for the order has been processed (not charged, because that's illegal) then they can't cancel the order.
So, I try turning the VPN off, and ordering with my local address in Europe as my shipping address. FAIL - Google Wallet won't accept my US cards if I'm shipping to a European address (WTF, again Google?). I don't have a European bank account or CC, because it's not needed here.
So, I call Google Wallet, explain the situation and try to figure out what my options are, which it turns out, are nil. The rep from the Google Wallet support line explained to me that if you order the phone via the Google Play store, you get the US version, period. This is one of the worst experiences I've had as far as ordering an item goes. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, etc all ship to APO's and all let you order whatever version you need (albeit in some cases, you may have to order from a European supplier - i.e. Microsoft Germany).
In any case, if anyone else is thinking about ordering from Google Play, and you need the European version, I highly suggest either waiting for a local retailer to have it in stock, or calling ahead of time to verify you can get the model you need. It is possible I didn't get 100% accurate information, but either way I figured I'd share the story and possibly save someone else from a potential headache.
The worst part of all of this, is that I can't cancel the order. I had multiple items on the order....all of which are in stock except the Nexus 5. Because the Nexus 5 won't ship for 3-4 weeks, the rest of my order is held hostage until then. I can't break the order up, or cancel, which is retarded. Any other company I've ordered from would simply ship what's in stock first. Initially I was just going to cancel the order and re-order the stuff that's in stock, but nope - DENIED!
Last edited:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram