Internet search giant Google has slashed its fee for returned Nexus One smartphones by more than half. The fee went from $350 to $150 after consumers clogged Internet forums with complaints about the fee.
Effective immediately, customers who bought Google’s Nexus One phone and cancel or downgrade their wireless plan within 120 days from activation may be charged a $150 equipment recovery fee, according to the company’s U.S. terms of sale. Customers who return the device to Google within 14 days won’t be charged the fee.
“I thought Google was trying to be different and shake things up a bit in the wireless industry,” one poster using the name mhammo said said before the fee was reduced. “Not only is the customer service related to Nexus One in really bad shape, we now learn that Google will implement their own ETF of $350 on top of any ETF imposed by the carrier. I don’t begrudge them making a profit, that’s a no-brainer, but let’s be reasonable.”
Even with Google’s lowered fee, Nexus One users may think twice before returning the device because wireless carrier T-Mobile charges a $200 early termination fee.
“Google’s fee seems a little high, given the fact that consumers are also paying an ETF to T-Mobile,” said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president of Interpret.
Besides online forums, the Federal Communication Commission received a slew of complaints about the fee, and the FCC put pressure on Google.
Mobile-phone makers and carriers have been under close watch by the FCC in recent months after the agency launched an internal consumer task force. Led by Joel Gurin, chief of the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, the group is charged with investigating consumer complaints against companies like Google.
The Internet search giant, however, isn’t the only one feeling pressure from the FCC…