How my Google Pixel warranty claim went (Australia)

I've owned a Google Pixel 2 for just over a year now -- and yes, I know it's an old phone but I wanted a compact-sized phone with a good quality camera and sometimes a premium old phone is better than a similarly-priced budget phone.

For a few weeks I was having problems charging it, and then it finally gave up charging all together. It was obviously a charging port issue, as I had tried another charger and before it completely stopped charging it would only charge if the plug was connected in a certain way.

I was pleased to find the phone had a two year warranty so set about finding out how to make a warranty claim.

After an unexpectedly long search to find the process it seemed that the way to start, for Australia at least, was to contact Google support by phone or chat.

I had a pleasant, but long experience on chat where I was encouraged to make sure that the problem was definitely the charging port but the person (or was it an AI robot?) by trying a new charger, factory resetting the system, etc, but I did convince them it must be issue and was given two options to proceed: contact my retailer for a potentially quick replacement option or return my phone to Google at their expense.

I opted to return it to Google and they started the process to arrange collection of the phone. This involved sending me an email with information needed to fill out an online form to arrange collection. I did this immediately and they then sent me some PDF forms that I needed to sign and print, three copies in the case of some of the pages.

The excess of paperwork is due to the fact that the phone is to be shipped to Hong Kong.

Next step was to call their local carrier (Toll) and arrange a pick up time, which I did for the next day.

Within half a day of the phone being picked up I received an email saying that my replacement phone had been shipped. According to the Australia Post tracking, the item was coming from Sydney.

A replacement phone arrived quickly. It was new and in a box but did not come with a charger.

The new phone works, but as Pixel 2 is an old model now, I suspect these have been sitting around for a long time because the battery is not as good as the last one, despite being new. It doesn't last as long and sometimes when it get's below 50% it shuts off.