The Nexus 7 saga: Resolved

Just tuning in? You may want to catch up on the first and second posts in this series before reading on.

So, it finally ended. Since the previous post, I’ve had countless conversations with the Play Store and their various departments. I finally got the shipping labels and my frustration reached all new heights when they hadn’t given me a refund after a month, despite saying they’d done so on multiple occasions. However.. after opening a dispute with my bank, they gave the money back. Here’s how it went down:

After a few more calls and numerous emails, I was pleased to see shipping labels arrive both at work and at home. It took involvement from the escalations team to get them and when the Play Store finally got it together, I was inundated with 3 sets of the things.

At the time I wasn’t 100% on whether I should give them one more chance and request another replacement or just go with the refund. After another conversation with them, and no guarantee a new one would be issue free, I decided to go for a refund.

That was a mistake.

First and foremost, they needed both the replacement and original devices back to be inspected. I’d already sent the replacement back and it’d shown on my wallet account as such. The problems came with sending the original device – the device I wanted a refund for – back for inspection.

Having sent it back, I’d waited 12 of the 14 days in which they should have inspected and provided a refund for an update. On emailing them I got the following:

Hi Jason,

Thank you for your followup. Your returned device must first be inspected before determining the validity of the refund request. It has been noted in your account that the device was received with a screen issue. Results of the inspection will generally be available within 14 business days after your device is returned, at which point refund processing takes place.

If your refund has already been processed by Google, it may take a few business days for your account to reflect this. Please contact your bank directly if you would like additional details on receiving the funds from a processed refund.

Fine, they still had two days to finish looking at the screen and determining that yes, I was not lying about it. The fact that would require 14 days is beyond me, but regardless.

I next requested an update on the 16th day of waiting. This time I told them I’d be taking it up with my bank if they didn’t get on with it. They managed to churn out this email:

Hi Jason,

As mentioned earlier, the 14 day inspection time begins upon receipt of your device. If you have a tracking number for your second return, I’ll be happy to check in with our shipping provider on the location of your shipment.

Regards,
The Google Play Team

Well, according to my shipping information on the TNT website, they’d received the device the next day after sending it. The 14 day period had definitely passed and they apparently couldn’t be bothered to get the thing out of the box and confirm the screen was dodgy in two weeks. That’s pretty poor. A few more emails passed back and forth with the points above and I got nowhere.

Due to this, I filed a dispute against them with my bank.

Shortly after informing the Play Store of my dispute, they informed me the device is showing up as “refunded” on my wallet account. I checked myself and confirmed that yes, they had indeed stated they’d refunded the money, however there was nothing on my card.

The dispute was left to progress.

I requested updates every few days and got the same old drivel back from the Play Store. In the mean time, I was asked by my bank to provide any evidence that would help my case with the dispute. This is how it looked:

Having sent that off (1.5 months worth of emails, receipts, tickets, etc), I waited. I gave up on contacting the Play Store because they are, frankly, useless.

After a few days, I was emailed by the Play Store by an employee I’d not previously spoken to. She stated they’d been “having issues” with refunds due to the high amount they’d been processing and that mine had now been processed to be credited in a couple of days.

Whether that was simply coincidence or whether my bank had a hand in the resolution I’m not sure, I was simply pleased to see the debit on my account credited. It was over. My bank replied themselves a few days later to say the amount had returned to my card.

Done!

With that refund, I went to Currys for a 3rd N7 to find that one, too, had a faulty screen. It was returned the same day and I made the decision that 3 faulty devices was enough. ASUS have completely let me down.

Instead, I purchased a 16GB Galaxy Tab 8.9 for a little less than the N7 and have been pleased to see there’s nothing wrong with it. At all. Sure, it may never see Android 4.2, 4.3, 5.0 officially, but at least the screen isn’t falling off.

That’s all that matters to me.