Google Pixel 8 - My First and Last Google phone
I bought a Pixel 8 in January/2024 and all was good until March/2026 I started having an intermittent pink vertical line on the display. Of course, right after the 2 year warranty period. Nonetheless, I noticed that there was an extended warranty program for this exact problem and my device was elegible for it, so I sent it via mail.
2 days later I got feedback: they couldn't confirm my reported problem and instead they found an audio issue (which it never had or at least I never noticed it) and were requesting 100€+ to fix or I could choose for the device to be returned to me unrepaired.
Since the vertical line was intermittent I thought it would be easy to just send them photo evidence that I had of my phone with the vertical line showing up. This is where it gets frustrating - there is absolutely NO option to get in touch with the repair team, no phone number, e-mail, NOTHING - so that I could explain and send the photos. There is only a bot with limited options which let me create a ticket (which again, can't attach any photo) and for which I got no feedback whatsoever.
Since I got no feedback for the ticket and got limited days to give a feedback before they return the phone by themselves, I searched for a google support e-mail and sent an e-mail explaining the situation and the photo evidence of the issue. They answered back the next day to contact another support team and gave directions to where to click to reach this contact. These directions got me absolutely nowhere and I couldn't find any further contact. I was honestly baffled that they couldn't redirect my request internally.
I just gave up on this bad service and will get another phone. Google devices never again...