Misleading coverage

[allend]

Google will lie to you to get your business. I recently switched to Project Fi which meant purchasing a device that would work with their service. Project Fi phone service says it is covered in 135 countries but while working in one of those countries I was unable to connect to their service. After contacting Google they said that there is a problem with their network and that they won't be able to fix it while I'm here (I guess they assumed I was on vacation). After saying I'll be here for two months they spent over a week having me try all sorts of trouble shooting fixes. They must have thought that I would forget about the issue but I finally insisted they tell me whether or not they have coverage where I am. They said they do not and they are still trying to set up providers. They used an online troubleshooting chat session and a long string of emails from two service techs with "fixes" the whole time knowing that none of their fixes would help. They were deceptive and dishonest. Has anyone else had similar experiences?

 

[The drizz]

Google does very well as a whole by hiding behind T&C's, sketchy wording and complete unavailability of customer service. If you contact them they will give you the biggest runaround possible in hopes you forget about the issue or just get frustrated and give in (which most people end up doing). To get results, they need to be pressured every step of the way by you insisting on receiving the case number of complaints, employer identification numbers and being included on all correspondences as they "escalate" your case into infinity. I can verify that there are countries and territories listed as being covered that Google representatives will also verify aren't covered. Lean on them, document your correspondences and then seek legal damages in small claims court where they cannot sit behind a wall of lawyer shills.

I wish you success in your rage against the machine!

 

[svim]

Lots of pent up anger and frustration aimed solely at Google in this thread. A few decades ago calling the main office of some corporation would eventually result in being able to yell at some poor, lower level staffer over the phone, but in today's world pretty much all of those same corporations insulate themselves from direct public interactions and instead rely on phone-trees and Twitter as a buffer. Vent all you want about Google but there's a sad reality in that it's hardly the only one doing this.
Suggest you switch to iOS. Apple has its network of Apple Stores and if you have a problem, and you want to deal with an actual person, you simply make an appointment with an Apple Genius. (They're trained not only in all the Apple services and products but customer service as well.)

 

[The drizz]

Lots of pent up anger and frustration aimed solely at Google in this thread. A few decades ago calling the main office of some corporation would eventually result in being able to yell at some poor, lower level staffer over the phone, but in today's world pretty much all of those same corporations insulate themselves from direct public interactions and instead rely on phone-trees and Twitter as a buffer. Vent all you want about Google but there's a sad reality in that it's hardly the only one doing this.
Suggest you switch to iOS. Apple has its network of Apple Stores and if you have a problem, and you want to deal with an actual person, you simply make an appointment with an Apple Genius. (They're trained not only in all the Apple services and products but customer service as well.)

Apple is good at CS. But so is Verizon and Sprint and T-Mobile and it saddens me to say but so is Microsoft (deeply loathed but still better than google at CS).

Google's CS is literally avoidance and they hide behind a poor line of communication that they purposefully blur. And since we are in the whole project fi section of the forum could you expect this gripe to be about anyone else??

No you couldn't

Yes apple is a better alternative but Google should have some recourse for it's misleading coverage, false advertising etc, etc, etc..

Shill

 

[svim]

....Shill

OK, tag me as a shill but I'd prefer this than being unable to grasp what is or isn't a reality. If Fi isn't working for you, move on to something that does. Marketing in the real world isn't about telling consumers truisms, it's about selling you some product or service.

 

[The drizz]

Dear shill,


There are such things as truth in marketing laws that the ftc upholds that Google blatantly violates and while google still hides behind a wall of T&C's that should be illegal to the extent that they are setup in away for google to defraud its consumers, google is also brazen enough to admit they have violated those laws and deceived the consumers with its marketing. Google is a shady business once you do your research and at the same time I love the convenience it offers with open source formats and decent interface to switch files from platform to platform. Now from that statement you can say "either love it or hate it, you can't do both" or "if you love it so much stop complaining" and even "if you hate it so much just move on" but the truth of the matter is, and I may be speaking out of line on behalf of the OP, we WANT Google to be good and awesome and useful and I have no issue giving my dollars to bolster a companies success if it is not getting my dollars by FRAUD.

I would LOVE to never look at another cell phone or service provider and got excited to see the pixel book and wireless earbuds and pixel pen... Ohhh the innovation and functionality... It was a "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!" moment. But as consumers that's the worst thing we can do. This is an important talking piece for the company to hear and get better at what it does and garner more business and revenue and create more innovation and on and on.

I'm happy with my phone and for the most part, the service, but I also travel. The world. And when I saw this post it hit home. To arrive at a country and not get service that was advertised as covered. A large part of my decision to switch was the worldwide coverage and then not get it when you need it the most... Shameful. Google will regurgitate its list of countries and territories it covers and advertises and it's not true. They lie to get people to switch and they lie to their customers that have legitimate gripes about them being lied to in the first place (unbeknownst to them to later).

So reality or not, shill, Google defrauded it's customers and continues to violate truth in marketing laws and we should just "move on"???

GTFOH with that.

Hugs and kisses,
Not a Shill

 

[svim]

OK, keep trolling all you want but your arguments are hollow and baseless. I'm not pushing for Google or Fi, I'm simply pointing out your focusing solely on one corporation while ignoring the fact that there are countless numbers of other companies doing the exact same thing is a revealing matter. Maybe you're just now learning that capitalism has a lot of problems, maybe you're just trolling the site. How about one of you actually state just which countries you're have a problem in instead of your vague references.

 

[The drizz]

OK, keep trolling all you want but your arguments are hollow and baseless. I'm not pushing for Google or Fi, I'm simply pointing out your focusing solely on one corporation while ignoring the fact that there are countless numbers of other companies doing the exact same thing is a revealing matter. Maybe you're just now learning that capitalism has a lot of problems, maybe you're just trolling the site. How about one of you actually state just which countries you're have a problem in instead of your vague references.

Did you really just try and turn this thread into a conversation about capitalism??

No thanks, we're not going there today

 

[Rico ANDROID]

OK, keep trolling all you want but your arguments are hollow and baseless. I'm not pushing for Google or Fi, I'm simply pointing out your focusing solely on one corporation while ignoring the fact that there are countless numbers of other companies doing the exact same thing is a revealing matter. Maybe you're just now learning that capitalism has a lot of problems, maybe you're just trolling the site. How about one of you actually state just which countries you're have a problem in instead of your vague references.

The OP point has nothing to do with moving on and forgetting about it. The OP is well aware of his options. The point is he purchased a product which was misrepresented and he deserves a resolution, be it the advertised services or a refund. Personally i would not just move-on and throw away money without some communication and fix from the company in question.

 

[psionandy]

*Cough* LIST OF COUNTRIES *Cough*

 

[svim]

The OP point has nothing to do with moving on and forgetting about it. The OP is well aware of his options. The point is he purchased a product which was misrepresented and he deserves a resolution, be it the advertised services or a refund. Personally i would not just move-on and throw away money without some communication and fix from the company in question.

All is unsubstantiated from just where the problem occurred to an alleged conversation. Again, this smells more like trolling.
If however all is true, the OP must have some kind of documentation, and even if the OP is unable to get a resolution of some sort than with that documentation there's plenty of leverage for a suit that even a pro bono lawyer can use.

 

[The drizz]

All is unsubstantiated from just where the problem occurred to an alleged conversation. Again, this smells more like trolling.
If however all is true, the OP must have some kind of documentation, and even if the OP is unable to get a resolution of some sort than with that documentation there's plenty of leverage for a suit that even a pro bono lawyer can use.

I've quite a few screenshots of message conversations with Google help, lemme see if I have one of the admittance to not having coverage in a country it lists.

Nope, just shots of the conversation with a number to call the goog's legal Dept. It may be in my email, will try and find ... After turkey and such

 

[Rico ANDROID]

its good that you do hqve some communication with the company on this issue

 

[The drizz]

SERVED!

Hahahaha not quite yet, still looking though

 

[The drizz]

I've quite a few screenshots of message conversations with Google help, lemme see if I have one of the admittance to not having coverage in a country it lists.

Nope, just shots of the conversation with a number to call the goog's legal Dept. It may be in my email, will try and find ... After turkey and such

 

[Rico ANDROID]

Hahahaha not quite yet, still looking though

I am hoping you get good support from the company. I qm totally interested in this topic to see how it gets resolved. "thumbs-up"

 

[The drizz]

*Cough* LIST OF COUNTRIES *Cough*

Here's the list of covered countries they send to you when ever you ask which covered countries you won't actually be covered in

https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6157794?hl=en

Still trying to find the correspondence in which the Google rep says that the US territory listed isn't actually covered... But I am failing to do so. And now that's kinda funny because the territory that's not actually covered doesn't have the "may change at any time without notice" attached to it like the other countries

 

[psionandy]

So.. Which one of the countries did you find they weren't providing the service in?

 

[The drizz]

So.. Which one of the countries did you find they weren't providing the service in?

The US territory of Guam

But I don't believe I have digital evidence to upload of the Google rep I was talking to saying that there is no coverage in Guam, will try searching one more place

 

[psionandy]

Well, it has been working in Guam.....

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProjectFi/comments/492q73/fi_in_guam/

 

[The drizz]

Well, it has been working in Guam.....

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProjectFi/comments/492q73/fi_in_guam/

From over a year ago...

Maybe this content from this current month may be more relevant

https://productforums.google.com/forum/m/#!search/Guam/project-fi/YkF2DRqzZ-4

Unless I copied the link incorrectly... Doesn't seem to be loading as a hyperlink as I type this message

 

[psionandy]

From over a year ago...

Maybe this content from this current month may be more relevant

https://productforums.google.com/forum/m/#!search/Guam/project-fi/YkF2DRqzZ-4

Unless I copied the link incorrectly... Doesn't seem to be loading as a hyperlink as I type this message

That says the service was working up until 2 or 3 weeks ago.....

 

[The drizz]

That says the service was working up until 2 or 3 weeks ago.....

Sooo... It's not working and there's no service? Hmm ... And Google says that there is no coverage in Guam? Hmmmmmmm

Curiouser and curiouser

 

[psionandy]

Chris Kimbrough Level 1 NOV 19

My friends and I have been using Project Fi in Guam for about a year now, mostly on pixel some on nexus. Around the time of the Oreo update, our service began to deteriorate u til about 2-3 weeks ago when our service completely stopped.
We have ensured all the correct settings are enabled and have tried to work though the service switching dial codes with no luck. There are four available networks displayed in settings (all named "Project Fi"), however when selected they all report unable to connect.

It continue to report our issues to customer service, who runs us through the same steps of settings and dial codes. Everytime we are referred to engineering, but still no results.

Hoping someone in here can help us figure out if we will get service back, or if we will have to swap to a Guam service provider for 3x the cost.

Based on all the evidence so far.... it appears there is a service provided in Guam.

However, the evidence that you've provided in your link.. combined with your experience makes it look like there are technical problems with it at the moment. These appear to have occurred recently.

I appreciate this may be frustrating to yourself... as you are trying to use a service that is unreliable to the point of unusability.. it appears you are not alone in this.

It must doubly frustrating that you and others like Chris in the posts that you referenced on the productforum search above, aren't getting good customer service, and still have outstanding issue.. and that their customer service people have sent you confusing and somewhat contradictory information...


It's not true however to extrapolate this into the claim that "Google are being deceptive and dishonest" in order to take you money.. or that they are blatantly violating FTC rules


But yes.. their customer service isn't the level that i would expect it to be.. and I hope you get it resolved as soon as possible..

 

[The drizz]

It's not true however to extrapolate this into the claim that "Google are being deceptive and dishonest" in order to take you money.. or that they are blatantly violating FTC rules


But yes.. their customer service isn't the level that i would expect it to be.. and I hope you get it resolved as soon as possible.

HEY! I thank you for the wishes for a quick resolve for our issues!

But to quote the response on got from Google on whether there was service there the answer was "I am afraid not". Still advertised as covered without exemptions of changing without notice.