{"id":451887,"date":"2026-05-30T00:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T00:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/451887\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T00:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T00:12:10","slug":"a-pixel-9-pro-is-being-kept-hostage-by-google-after-its-automated-repair-diagnostic-incorrectly-charged-an-owner-490-for-a-non-existent-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/451887\/","title":{"rendered":"A Pixel 9 Pro Is Being Kept \u201cHostage\u201d By Google After Its Automated Repair Diagnostic Incorrectly Charged An Owner $490 For A Non-Existent Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

A harrowing experience was narrated by a Pixel 9 Pro owner, who sent in his repair for a routine warranty claim for a well-documented hardware defect involving vertical green lines appearing on the display. This problem is specifically and officially covered under Google\u2019s factory warranty, along with being included in the company\u2019s Extended Repair Program.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, a glitch in the automated repair diagnostic flagged the problem as something else, leaving the owner with a rather steep $489.41 bill to proceed with the repair. The disappointing part is that Google won\u2019t return the Pixel 9 Pro until the balance has been paid, meaning that the device is now in the company\u2019s custody without permission from the owner.<\/p>\n

Instead of issuing a standard warranty claim for the Pixel 9 Pro\u2019s defective OLED, the repair diagnostic claims it was a \u201cgeneric phone call problem\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pixel 9 Pro owned by Redditor \u201cOk_Study_592\u201d was said to be in pristine condition, with no water damage, except for the display defect. Instead of Google Support placing the smartphone through a standard replacement procedure, the diagnostic system says that the device suffered from a \u201cphone call problem,\u201d which is completely unrelated to the vertical green lines issues mentioned above.<\/p>\n

Even after contacting support, which claimed this major conundrum would be resolved within 48 hours, the owner states that no one has updated him and that his Pixel 9 Pro remains in Google’s possession due to an incorrect diagnostic run. Not wanting to fork over nearly $500, Ok_Study_592 says that he has little choice but to escalate his problem to BBB (Better Business Bureau) and the FTC.<\/p>\n

As part of his obligation, he says that he will send a final notice to Google Support with both case numbers in the hopes that his Pixel 9 Pro is returned to him unscathed and, luckily, without the green lines. We mentioned in our previous report that one of the reasons why Google will continue to be beaten by Samsung and Apple in the U.S. smartphone market<\/a>\u00a0is that the company continues to ship its Pixel smartphones with underpowered Tensor chips<\/p>\n

However, we\u2019d also like to add that these warranty incidents, where it\u2019s an \u201copen and shut case\u201d for issuing replacements to users, customers are still subjected to a ton of misery, which will ultimately prevent buyers from jumping into Google\u2019s ecosystem.<\/p>\n

News Source: Reddit<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Omar
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tAbout the author<\/a>: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech’s mobile<\/a> section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tFollow Wccftech on Google<\/a> to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A harrowing experience was narrated by a Pixel 9 Pro owner, who sent in his repair for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[342,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-451887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-mobile","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}