I bought a Google Pixel that was lost in the mail. Google told me that they will issue a refund. That didn't happen. I'm now getting past due notices and my credit score lost 70 points.

Submitted by KingFisher9 t3_zxlwt4 in personalfinance

I'm at a loss on what to do next and could really use some advice.

I bought a google pixel using google's financing service on 10/16/2022. The phone was lost in the mail and I opened a case to refund the order. My interaction with google's customer support team has been a nightmare every step of the way. It took ages to get them to respond to my emails to open a claim and to provide me with basic information to give to UPS. On 10/31 google finally said that they will refund my phone.

That never happened. Recently I've started getting past due alerts and have tried multiple times emailing and calling google. I have an email chain with 28 back and forth emails. I've called them several times and every time its like banging my head against a wall. Not a single google representative reads any of the past emails, I've been hung up on, I've been promised to get a call back that never happened, and I've wasted hours of my life on this.

I now have a $750+ outstanding account that is impacting my credit score. What can I do from here? Is there another agency I can contact to dispute the balance? I'm having no luck at all talking to anyone from google.

4

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

9c9bs t1_j212e1k wrote

Are you dealing with the Google Store or Synchrony Bank? Where did you purchase the phone? I had a similar thing happen to me (granted it was a few years ago) and Google was quick to send a replacement device.

How you financed the purchase shouldn't be a factor in how they handle your complaint.

6

KingFisher9 OP t1_j213nw8 wrote

I purchased the phone through Google store. It's financed by synchrony bank. I've been calling/emailing google store.

2

kepler1 t1_j21eegf wrote

Did you stop paying the bill when the phone wasn't delivered? That was a mistake. The best thing would have been to continue paying the bill until the issue was resolved, and get credit for that later with the company. Now it's going to be a much harder thing to get that credit mark reversed, if it ever even is reversible.

6

9c9bs t1_j21cwbs wrote

Gotcha, that stinks. I'd recommend you keep trying with Google. Maybe you'll have better luck now that the new product season/holidays are over. It's not like they're withholding your refund intentionally, it's probably just bad customer service.

0

Hmmletmec t1_j212cyt wrote

>Is there another agency I can contact to dispute the balance?

Have you not contacted your credit card issuer and disputed the charge? This is standard stuff.

3

KingFisher9 OP t1_j212q52 wrote

I paid for the phone using Google's financing service not my credit card. It's through synchrony bank. But I guess the same thing applies here. I will try to contact them. Is there anyone else to contact to get the late payment/delinquent account off of my credit report?

2

Cruiser5139 t1_j214y40 wrote

Look up how to dispute an incorrect credit item on your credit report.

2

iamnewnewnew t1_j21kkqi wrote

/u/Hmmletmec /u/KingFisher9

Don't dispute/chargeback against Google (or any major data holding companies such as Apple as well).

they have, and will, ban your email account on file. effectively locking you out of everything.

2

kepler1 t1_j21e1bf wrote

Why is it impacting your credit score? Are you not paying the bill? You need to pay the bill while it's under dispute, not because it's the "right thing to do" but because with google you have little other recourse than to wait it out. Otherwise you're just tanking your credit score. I guess there's no point in paying it now, because the damage has been done.

Your case is a replay of this person's same situation: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/yunynk/should_i_dispute_a_charge_through_one_of_the/

And DO NOT INITIATE A CHARGEBACK WITH YOUR CREDIT CARD when it comes to Google. They will shut down your accounts, Gmail, etc.

1

ItFromDawes t1_j2272ut wrote

Sorry for what you're going through. My Pixel 7 was also lost in the mail. I ordered directly from the Google store and the package never came despite the tracking info saying so. I emailed the customer service and they just sent me a replacement and it all worked out. I'm curious: was your package also from UPS? I think the delivery guy stole mine.

0