Hope you all are doing well and having a great summer thus far!
In an effort to streamline social escalations and increase Google’s direct engagement with our community, I’m excited to announce a change, a new endeavor, and an upcoming AMA!
Starting today, the Reddit Request process will be changing from my Freshdesk system to an official form from Google. You can read more about the new Reddit Request process here. You must use that going forward, assuming you have tried to work with support without any luck or have been asked to fill out the form. Once you submit that form, a member of the Fi Social Team will review your case and escalate where possible to help move your case to a resolution.
Additionally, over the next few weeks, the Google Fi Social Team (u/googlefisupport) will begin engaging on more posts in the community, asking questions and potentially asking you to fill out the escalation form. They are official Google Fi support team members on the social team, and they’ll be happy to help you! As a reminder, this community is not run by Google employees, support team members, or contractors, and we have no plans to change this. We still welcome discussion (both positive and negative) about the service as we always have since the r/projectfi days.
Finally, later this month, we’re planning on having an AMA with members of the Fi team. Start thinking about what questions you might have, and let us know potential topics in the comments below. We’ll announce a date and time in the near future!
the Reddit Request process will be changing from my Freshdesk system to an official form from Google
This is good–I know over the years that many people were hesitant to use the option because it did not look like an official means of interacting/interfacing with google support.
we’re planning on having an AMA with members of the Fi team. Start thinking about what questions you might have, and let us know potential topics in the comments below
Thank you–some ideas below.
Please make very explicit terms for international usage so people aren’t caught off-guard. The terms currently are incredibly vague (“predominantly in your home area” is not very useful), and we hear stories in this sub of people being out of the country for 2 weeks and getting cut off, and people out of the country for 4+ weeks until being cut off. We need actual rules that people can plan for. The current experience is not good.
Please change the draconian way that promotions are evaluated. What I mean: Fi had/has a “BYOD” promotion for people joining. The $100 promotion has terms that the device remains active on Fi. But it’s BYOD–why is there a tie to a device so long as service remains active? It doesn’t make sense. Even changing between physical SIM and eSIM on the same device is recognized as violating the terms.
Please expose the network selection UI on pixel phones so people can easily turn off 5g–5g is such a problematic thing that has been made a worse experience for people with the pixel 6/6 pro/6a, and not exposing that setting which is available on other networks is a huge annoyance.
Is there a roadmap to improve the quality of tier 1 support?
How is google addressing the cases of ineffective resolution and long periods of time between support interactions to address service or store issues? The customer support situation, especially issues with device support through the fi store is why I don’t more-widely encourage others I know to adopt fi and get google devices; because if you get into a bad situation there is almost no resolution that sides with the customer. I’m talking about people hanging for weeks or more (or sometimes indefinitely) that are in the situation where they’ve returned a device (or it was lost in transit), and support just bills them for the item and will not listen to reason. These are very poor experiences and why a lot of people have left fi and google devices in general.
Will google be reimbursing people with device protection plans who opted for screen replacement of their devices this past year or so, but were told they needed to do a device replacement claim, costing $100+ more than the actual screen replacement that was listed in the device protection documentation that they opted for in good faith?
There’s an underlying tone of dissatisfaction in the questions above–because there is some to some extent–but it’s motivated by directly experiencing things that happen within fi/google support that end up being customer-hostile instead of being customer-centric.
Data charges are not competitive at $10 / gb. Any plans to change that.
Same with the $20 talk and text base charge. It is pretty expensive these days.
I know you offer other features such as international roaming and data sims, vpn etc but since use on Fi is primarily in the usa I’d hope for something more competitve.
Eg us mobile has premium verizon data at $9 for unlimited talk and text and $2 per gb. I don’t imagine you can go that low but you can see a very large difference.
Or xfininty by the gig has the first 1gb included in the $15 talk and text base charge. And doesn’t charge for additional lines sharing the same data.
#Why is Google Fi unable to meet the terms of their warranties?
Google Fi is out of stock of replacement phones and doesn’t have a timeline on when they will be back in stock. Despite this, Google Fi is still charging for service and device protection, as well as placing a $475.94 hold on credit cards while waiting for a phone that isn’t in stock.
#Why does Google Fi promise a response within 24, 48, or 72 hours, then never meet that timeline?
I’ve been a Project Fi/Google Fi subscriber since 2015 – 7 years! I’m also a subscriber of the Pixel 5a device subscription plan. All together, this is an unacceptably poor change in the customer experience for Google Fi. In the past, service was always very responsive, and replacements were quick.
Finally, later this month, we’re planning on having an AMA with members of the Fi team. Start thinking about what questions you might have, and let us know potential topics in the comments below.
When can iPhone users expect to be able to apply an OS update and not need to manually reenter the MMS/APN info?
Thanks! I really want to find out if Fi plans to offer a true international plan (one that doesn’t get cut off if we spend too much time abroad). I would be willing to pay extra for it, and I’m sure others would too!
Would be nice if you guys could offer 2 different networks like tmobile & Verizon or T-Mobile & AT&T. I say this because mvnos with att or verizon are able to find a way to offer unlimited data with higher caps than tmobile
Google FI service is extremely erratic and low quality compared to Verizon or ATT. I’ve been complaining since more than two years and the problem of choppy audio, dropped calls, and no service continues. The only reason why I am sticking with them is that I would like to give Google ample opportunity to improve their system as I like their transparent system, easy to understand billing plans, and value. However, if they take an indefinite amount of time to resolve these critical issues, I’ll reluctantly switch to another carrier.
Simply unlimited should include hotspot. I understand reserving the unlimited plus for data roaming and unrestricted international calls and data usage for travelers; thus, is the reason why they have to pay more. But…for the domestic user in 2022 at least two or 3 times we need to connect our notebook or other device to hotspot.
On top of this Google Fi doesn’t give hotspot as an add on (which it shouldn’t, it should be included in the simple unlimited).
Why not change this, give us access to hotspot on the simple unlimited with a cap at least, say 10GB or 15GB included in our plan?
u/googlefisupport What’s your turn around time on these escalation requests? I filled out your form a few days ago and haven’t heard back. Though it’s possible it just got lost in the ether or misplaced?
This is the worst customer service and data access I have ever had. You cannot speak to management regarding complaints. I had a ticket open for a month concerning my data and it was never addressed. Always heard from different people, none of which knew what the problem was. I decided to switch service and despite my number being ported out they are still trying to charge my card which I have now had to cancel. And sure enough a ticket had to opened to cancel my service with a specialist. Save your money this is a terrible service.
I was with Google FI since it’s inception and loved the service until the last few years. I finally had a horrible month of experiences and had to drop it all together to get "any"phone service. My phone quit getting service in 2022, so I decided to replace it with a newer phone since it was 3 years old. I ordered a new Pixel and it barely got service. Some days it got none at all. I spent hours and hours on the phone trying to get help. Finally, someone decided to “escalate” the issue. Then I spent even more hours on the phone with the escalation team who couldn’t fix it. So I returned the phone and purchased a Pixel 6. Google was able to get it working but it only worked for 2 days. I returned the New Pixel 6 and bought an unlocked IPhone from Best Buy. Google couldn’t get that working either, so I cancelled my service and moved to T-Mobile. In the meantime, Google was "working on the refund for the NEW Pixel 6. My refund was only $41 on the new phone that Google could NOT get working! Terrible, terrible rip-off. I could have sold it on line for a lot more! DO NOT buy a phone from Google. Their customer service is horrible and their return policy is a rip off. They cant even get their phones working, and dont stand behind their product. No refunds for a non-working phone!
Google fi 1. did not send me my rebate on my google pixel that I traded in. $300
2 They did not give me my credit when I signed up. $300 plus
3 I just got a new phone and was trading in my old Samsung note 20 They did not send me the trade in box but instead when i looked at it they said they sent it and received it. So not sure where or who they sent it to but they could not tell me.
4 I asked them to update my device protection. They did not nor even tell me how to. Instead, they have been charging me for device protection, on the phone that was traded in for the length I’ve had my new phone.
5 They rejected my claim of a broken screen due to my insurance being on my old phone ( since they didnt update it and kept charging me…
6 there is no way to escalate a claim or get a hold of someone capable of helping me