Thank you, Google

The weekend before last, I noticed something strange about my Nexus 10 tablet. The centre of the screen looked grubby. I’d actually noticed this a little a few weeks before, but had assumed it was the light, or some fingermarks on the surface.

But no, the centre part of the screen, in an irregular blot about 3 inches wide, was actually slightly green, and not as sharp as the rest of the screen. Opening a blank page of white, this could be seen quite clearly; and it was nothing on the surface, this was in the screen itself.

So that same weekend, I tried to contact Google, but was directed to an office-hours helpline. I meant to call last week, but there was a lot going on, and I forgot. So I called today, expecting a lengthy discussion. The device is two years old – now I don’t consider that old, for something that cost 300 quid; and given one of it’s selling points was the high-quality screen, having that blemished is a bummer. But companies sometimes try to hide behind a nominal year’s warranty.

But I shouldn’t have worried. The customer services person I got was very pleasant, and talked me through some diagnostic questions (which was essentially changing the brightness to different settings, and looking to see the blemish was still there; and viewing it from different angles. Then she announced my Nexus was buggered (well, not in those words), and offered me a swap. No argument whatsoever.

They aren’t making Nexus 10s any more, but they have returned tablets, which are reconditioned to like-new condition. They would send one to me, and when I was satisfied, I would return mine to them. They would put a temporary authorisation on my credit card, but not charge me, and when my old one was returned, the authorisation would be removed.

This seems pretty reasonable to me. The whole thing was dealt with in 10 minutes, and the person I was speaking to said she will deal with the whole process throughout – she said if I replied to their automatic email, it would be routed to her. I think that is called “taking ownership”.

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