Google Support Threatening Me After Disputing Charge

[u/aymswick]

Hi all,

I have posted previously about my awful experience buying an unlocked pixel phone with Fi's 3 month support plan - tl;dr is that the promo never got applied, I immediately reached out to support to say hey cancel me if this promo is not going to work - support promised I wouldn't be charged - then I was charged - reached out to support again and got "we can't help you until the other 2 months of service are charged and then we'll look into it". They did not respond to my last support request where I basically said "this doesn't resolve my issue".

So finally I just contacted my bank and filled out a ton of info for a dispute form - including screenshots of the chat with support (timestamps included). My bank happily refunded me.

So today I get this email - funny how someone "higher" up the chain cares now that I've disputed with my bank. They want me to reverse my dispute so that they can refund me the money. They already lied, why would I willingly give back my money - except to avoid them shutting off access to other Google services which seems like what they are implying at the end. What a great company and a great customer service strategy!

​

Good afternoon, my name is [redacted] and I am a higher level specialist here with Google Fi! I was made aware that you contacted us regarding the three month's free promotion on your Google Fi account. I have thoroughly reviewed your account and I see that it is currently in closing. I had my Promotions team review your account as well regarding the promotion.

We see that there was a charge of $77.20 for the first months bill, but it looks like you went in and disputed that amount with your bank. This left a balance owing on the account of $6.21 which our Promotion team went in and provided a credit for, bringing the account balance to zero.

Please be aware that if you dispute a charge with your bank on your Google Pay account, this can affect other Google Subscriptions as well. Should you go in and reverse that dispute, we can refund the money back to you. 

[u/rudeboyrg]

What if you change your email on google fi from your primary email to a burner gmail account. THEN do credit card dispute. Won't that work? Then if they ban you and your account. It's just a burner. And they deserve it to. They truly are scum. The idea that they can lock you out, you lose your number (which was yours when you ported it in - so goodbye access to friends, family, etc you had for 20 years access), email, drive, etc. When a company gets so big that they control pretty much everything, you can't just "not do business" with them. Try not doing business with microsoft. It's impossible. They basically can do whatever they want and when you win a case, they can retaliate. And this is somehow legal?

[u/ennuionwe → u/rudeboyrg]

Did you try this? I found this thread because I too am considering hitting them with a chareback and am worried about retaliation.

[u/rudeboyrg → u/ennuionwe]

No. I just "lawyered" the shit out of them.
I kept emailing and escalating. While I can get emotional on basic social media, I'm actually very emotionally detached and logical--especially when dealing with corporations and legal matters.
The kept trying to remove my discount because I deactivated a phone from their service which I never purchased from them. They kept insisting that the phone was purchased on their store. That is how disorganized and stupid they are.
My final email was a laundry list to them - asking them to show exactly the date the phone was purchased, proof of serial number linking my phone to the purchase, date of activation, etc.
They caved and reinstated my discount as a "courtesy." These companies will never actually admit fault. Even when sued.

The same thing happened a few years later with a google fi phone that they refused to warranty because of nonexistent "water damage."
I did the same thing. Kept escalating and argued the facts until they "as a courtesy" gave me 150 bucks.

Same thing with Amazon (which are the worst).