"Cell phone will not be returned": Google changes controversial repair policy
Will Google keep a cell phone that is sent for repair in the USA with "unauthorized parts"? The questionable passage is now to be changed.
Pixel phones should not be sent to Google Repair with unauthorized parts.
(Image: Google)
Google is changing a controversial passage from its repair guidelines in the USA. The company currently reserves the right to simply retain devices with "unauthorized parts" when they are sent in for repair. For example, anyone who has a non-original battery installed would lose their phone if they send it to Google for repair for any other reason.
This passage from the US repair guidelines, which has been available there since July 2023, was recently discovered and addressed by Youtuber Louis Rossmann. As a result, several US technology media picked up on the topic, which led Google to clarify: Google did not retain devices sent in with parts from independent manufacturers, Google told Ars Technica, for example.
If a device cannot be repaired due to the unauthorized parts because of safety concerns, the device will be returned to the customer. Otherwise, customers would be contacted and the next steps would be worked out. In other words, the controversial passage from the repair guidelines was probably never implemented in this way. Google now wants to amend the passage to clarify the actual procedure.
No problem in Germany
The German guidelines for Google's own repair program contain a different wording anyway: "Devices with components that have not been authorized by Google may not be sent in. If you send in such a device, it will be returned to you unrepaired," it says. This does not mean that devices with unauthorized parts can simply be retained.
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In addition to Google, Samsung has also recently been criticized for its approach to repairs. The repair service provider iFixit has ended its collaboration with Samsung due to numerous complaints- partly because Samsung obliges service providers to completely disassemble devices with unauthorized parts.
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