Google infuriates Nexus One customers

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 12 Jan 2010 at 08:22

Google is drawing fire over its customer support, as its move to a direct sales model gets off to a rocky start.

Despite charging $529 for a smartphone without a contract, Google only responds to emailed complaints, and admits that it can take up to three days to deal with issues. The company does not offer telephone support.

However, since the smartphone was launched on 5 January, the support forums have been filled with complaints - predominately from existing T-Mobile customers trying to discover whether they can get a discount on the device.

I was leaning towards the Nexus but with the lack of customer service, along with everything else I am leaning towards the iPhone now

After 500 posts, Google confirmed that customers would need to sign up to a new contract to receive the smartphone at the subsidised price of $179. Google's problems have also been compounded by problems with AT&T's 3G network, which the companies claim to be investigating.

The problems have left many potential Nexus One customers disillusioned. "I am really on the fence between the iPhone and the Nexus One phone," notes poster 1211mt.

"I was leaning towards the Nexus but with the lack of customer service and the 3G issues along with everything else I am leaning towards the iPhone right now. Google needs to keep the public informed on what you are doing to resolve these issues," they conclude.

It was a similar story with a poster called Dorjan who writes "[Google] has failed greatly in launching this new phone. It is quite obvious by the nature of this forum that it has angered and turned off its greatest potential consumers."

Google claims it is aware of the problems, with vice president of engineering at Google, Andy Rubin, telling a CES press conference that the company "has to get better at customer service."

The Nexus One will be available in the UK through Vodafone, though a price and launch date has yet to be confirmed.