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Google kills Pixel Pass without ever upgrading subscriber’s phones
(www.theverge.com)
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this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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The headline and a lot of the article are trying to give the impression Google is screwing customers out of what they paid for even though the article itself admits they're still going to honor the deal for existing customers. They just won't be extending contracts or writing new ones. Seems like the author is trying really hard to make a mountain out of a molehill.
So a core part of the premise of Pixel Pass (device upgrades) is being lost, even to existing Pixel Pass users.
Original marketing from 2021:
I think it's because of the original marketing for Pixel Pass. Google marketed it as being better value than other post-paid mobile phone plan arrangements in some way. It's just the same boilerplate terms under which a large proportion of mobile phones have been sold for decades in my country - so it was confusing when Google tried to sell me "a new way to buy a phone" where literally the only new thing about it was that you can get discounted Google services bundled. I wouldn't be surprised if people are getting pissed off about it now for not receiving value that was never actually offered.
They're not honoring that part of the deal.
Upgrading would have involved signing a new 2 year deal. It's just a fancy-sounding financing program; the 2 years were to pay for the device they've had for 2 years. I'll never understand the appeal of buying a high-end/expensive phone on such a program because you'll be stuck paying for something outdated by the end of it, but shrug, that's not unique to Google.
Well using inflation, if I have the phone for the two years at the end of the two years I'm paying back with money that's worth less.
I personally don't do it but it is literally good value because you pay back with money that is worth less - future money
I suppose that's true for some types of financing, but looking more into this particular plan, it all comes down to how much you value the bundled services... and they don't seem stellar to me. The math I'm seeing from the time of announcement suggests you'd pay $1080 for a $599 smartphone or $1320 for a $899 smartphone. Even if you were planning on paying for YouTube Premium at full price, inflation still has a tough time beating that.
A clickbaity article? No way!
It's one of those things where people put value in the opportunity. Some people would not have bought a new phone at the time if not for the chance to get the new phone in the future. So while this was a fancy word for financing the phone and bundling of services at a discount, and people aren't losing a phone they "paid for," people did pay for it because of the perk.
People aren't really losing money because of this being cancelled, but some of them only paid for the program in the first place because of something they aren't now getting.
More fuel for the fury engine.
Wow hot take! Except that it's completely incorrect
Did you even read the article? I did.
Sure did which makes me wonder how hard you had to try to intentionally miss the point. Shilling super hard to try and make it seem like Google didn't set up yet another service with promises that they decided to just cancel without warning after getting enough people hooked into their hardware. Obviously they're not kicking people off their contracts because they'd get sued and that's not the point and you know it. How does Google boot leather taste btw?
"Everyone who disagrees with me is a shill!"
Thanks for admitting you have nothing useful, logical or truthful to say :)