Shitty service from Google play - please advise

[superdeeduper]

I am appalled at their terrible customer service and not sure if what they are doing is legal. Ordered 3 nexus 7 tablets, two of which stopped working after only a few weeks. Phoned up Google who did a bit of trouble shooting over the telephone and then agreed that they were faulty and I would need replacements.

This is when things get a bit bizarre. I was told I would have to order 2 replacements and could then send the faulty ones back in the boxes. They also sent me address labels. At no point was I told that this would cost me anything.

I have now gone onto the link they sent me to order the replacements, All seemed straight forward until I realised that they had actually charged my account for the replacements. When I phoned them, thinking this had been a mistake they explained that no, the money goes into a holding account and is only returned to me once they receive the faulty devices. For security apparently . I told them that I needed the money back and was told that they couldn't cancel it now. After a bit of too and froing, I finally got to speak to a supervisor who cancelled the order but it will take 24-48 hours to go back onto my bank.

I made them clarify that I cannot return the faulty devices to them any other way. They are saying that I need to have the money to cover the replacements and if I don't I can't return them. So I am being made to pay for a faulty product which they sold me.

I have spoken to a few members of their shit customer service team all who have given me conflicting advice. They also keep telling me that their is no-one higher I can complain to not is there anyone I can email with a full detailed complaint.

So unless I have over £300 which I can give them for a few weeks, I am stuck with 2 faulty devices. Surely this can't be right??? Or legal?? Very worryingly I have "googled" (oh the irony) and found hundreds of complaints from customers with similar problems.

Sorry this is long. Can someone please advise if there is anything I can do. Thanks

You have a right to reject the goods as they have turned out to be faulty, and claim a refund. It's not unreasonable for them to want them back before they issue your refund. It also sounds reasonable that if you want them to send you the replacement before you've sent them the faulty ones then they want you to pay for them.

Agree with Collaborate. You seem to want them to send out free replacements or refund your money before you send them the faulty goods. If they did it would make them an easy target for fraud. So yes, it is about security as they told you.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. We had the same problem with two Nexus 7s and difficulties with Customer Services. They were going to send us "bags" to return the faulty Nexus' but we only received one bag and were told each Nexus had to be sent separately.

However, an IT guy at work looked at one of the faulty ones and there is something on it relating to Auto Brightness which, when switched off, seemed to resolve the issue and the Nexus is now working perfectly.

Apparently Google Play are aware of this problem but will not speak or mention it when customers are reporting faulty tablets. I have a feeling Google Play will bring out a new Nexus with the problem resolved and they'll carry on pretending the problem never existed.

I agree that their customer service is rubbish. Although on a much smaller scale, I have found them to be useless (got a £10 play card and due to forgetting the password etc wasn't able to log in - they took the money but have not been able to use the credit due to aforementioned email issue). Although they tend to respond to emails the replies are meaningless, and the whole tedious saga has been going on for over a week now.