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

Enlarge / Pixel devices. (credit: Google)

Google has changed its repair policy in response to criticism from repair advocate Louis Rossmann. 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. Section D, article 4 of the terms include the rather incredible line "Unauthorized Parts: You will not send in a Device containing non-Google-authorized parts – if You do, Your Device will not be returned to you." That's right, according to the terms, Google would keep a device sent in for repair, and you wouldn't get it back.

We asked Google for a comment on Rossmann's video, and a spokesperson says the terms will be updated:

If a customer sends their Pixel to Google for repair, we would not keep it regardless of whether it has non-OEM parts or not. In certain situations, we won't be able to complete a repair if there are safety concerns. In that case, we will either send it back to the customer or work with them to determine next steps. Customers are also free to seek the repair options that work best for them. We are updating our Terms and Conditions to clarify this.

That sounds a lot more reasonable.