1y ago

Google changes repair policy after criticism of third-party parts ban

arstechnica.com

Google previously said it would not return mailed-in devices using "unauthorized" parts.

11 comments

Keep in mind that policy changes can be reverted at any moment in time, so this is only good as long as people pay attention.
- There are evisting federal laws, right to repair laws, and plenty of attorny generals who will get involved.
  
  So that in 15 or so years, a class action lawsuit completes where Google now provides you with a whole $10 coupon to the play store and a check for $0.65.
- Google doesn't care what end users scream about (such as YouTube ads) but I have a feeling some lawyers had an emergency meeting to explain why this was a crap idea.
  I feel like this change is here to stay for a while.
They only did this because mainstream news sources picked this up and shamed them
Vote with your wallet on avoiding pixel
- It's really sad since I want to avoid Google altogether, and the best way to do that is Graphene OS which requires a Pixel.
  
  And, ironically, pixel phones have great replacement part availability. At least so far
They're just kicking the can down the road until the heat dies down.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Rossmann dug through the Google Store's "Service & Repair Program Terms & Conditions" for its first-party mail-in repair service and found the same style of onerous bans on third-party parts that Samsung was recently caught using.
The Google Store's promotional page on sustainability makes a good argument for device repair, saying, "From product design to manufacturing and across our supply chains, we are working to address our environmental and social impact at every step."
It mentions device repair as part of that mission, saying, "When you opt to fix your phone instead of replace it, you help keep e-waste out of the landfill."
Rossmann argues that companies don't really want you to repair devices, since that hurts the bottom line and that they primarily want to get out ahead of right-to-repair legislation.
The first is with invasive terms like Samsung's and (recently) Google's, which Rossmann says are designed to render the repair program ineffective.
iFixit runs first-party parts stores for at-home repair of devices and recently ended its relationship with Samsung.
The original article contains 563 words, the summary contains 171 words. Saved 70%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

11 comments