Remember I posted about Samsung having your phone disassembled for non-Samsung parts?

[thewayne]

If you send your phone in to Google, THEY CAN FLAT-OUT KEEP YOUR PHONE FOR NON-OEM PARTS!

From the article, "As YouTuber Louis Rossmann discovered, Google’s service and repair terms and conditions contain a concerning stipulation. The document states that Google will keep your device if a non-OEM part is found. You can see the excerpt below." (excerpt in the linked article)

The terms and conditions went into effect last July.

So, in the Samsung case, the repair shops are being ordered to destroy your personal property. In this Google case, it's theft. There's something called First Sale Principle, in that if you buy something, you own it - it is your property and you can do whatever you want with it. Both Google and Samsung are clearly violating this. There's going to be some serious class action law suits over this if anyone's property is stolen or destroyed following these rules.

As one Slashdot commenter said, it would be akin to taking your car into a dealership and they refusing to return it because you had a brake job done at Pep Boys or some place.

https://www.androidauthority.com/google-keeps-phones-with-non-oem-parts-3448350/

https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/24/06/03/2025211/google-can-keep-your-phone-if-you-send-it-in-for-repair-with-non-oem-parts

Comments

[disneydream06]

WOW, bring on the lawsuits. :o :o :o
Hugs, Jon

[dewline]

Such corporate behaviour cannot be tolerated.

[thewayne]

The arrogance is frankly unbelievable.

[conuly]

Seriously wtf.

[silveradept]

The did, at least, back down on this particular policy, but it is certainly emblematic of the idea that electronics manufacturers and software developers alike see the consumer as something to draw money from and to attempt to control in the most ridiculous ways possible. They all want to be monopolists, and so they use and abuse the contract law to get as close as they can to such things.

[thewayne]

Yeah, I posted an update after they changed their policy due to blow-back.  Still, complete violation of First Sale Doctrine.