Google isn’t honoring Pixel’s warranty, customers say

“Had Google disclosed the defect to her, she would not have bought a Pixel.”

The same San Francisco law firm that recently settled arbitration claims against LG over the "bootloop" issue has now filed a new proposed class-action lawsuit against Google. This time, the firm is alleging manufacturing defects in the microphone on Pixel and Pixel XL handsets.
The firm's clients—Patricia Weeks of Florida and Waleed Anbar of California—say that they both purchased Pixel phones in 2016. However, months after their purchases, they both said that they experienced a defective microphone. The case, Weeks v. Google, was filed Tuesday in federal court in San Jose, California.

When they approached Google's customer service, they were told that Google would not refund them or offer a replacement.

"Dr. Weeks did not know that the Pixel phones have defective microphones when she bought her phone. Had Google disclosed the defect to her, she would not have bought a Pixel or would have paid substantially less for it," the complaint states.

Weeks was definitely within her one year warranty: she informed Google of her problem in March 2017, three months after her December 2016 purchase. Anbar was not; he bought his phone in December 2016 and reported the issue in January 2018.

Both plaintiffs are being represented by Girard Gibbs.

Other users began reporting faulty microphones around the same timeframe, not long after the Pixel's launch in October 2016.

The lawsuit claims that, among other allegations, Google is in breach of its own warranty, which states that the company "will in its sole discretion and to the extent permitted by law either repair your Phone using new or refurbished parts, replace your Phone with a new or refurbished Phone functionally at least equivalent to yours, or accept the return of the Phone in exchange for a refund of the purchase price you paid for the Phone."

Emily Clarke, a Google spokeswoman, told Ars, "We don't comment on ongoing litigation but it might be worth including a link to our help center page in your story which explains the solutions we have for out-of-warranty customers."