Google Pixel XL Phone 128GB – 5.5 inch display (Factory Unlocked US Version)-Certified Refurbished

Tldr’

Pros:
– Cheap
– Appears to be in good working order from a functional standpoint.
– Full complement of original accessories, not off-brand ones which could potentially damage the phone.

Cons
– Numerous chips and scratches
– Dust in places that shouldn’t have dust yet
– Weird splotches that appeared to be some kind of adhesive
– Debris in the charging port

Full review:

I normally don’t write reviews since what I buy is usually already backed by a number of decent reviews or not worth reviewing anyways(ie cables, etc). Given the small number of reviews here I thought I ought to write something especially given the somewhat lackluster experience I had recently.

I ended up purchasing a unit from Magic Mobile Partners.Overall I don’t have much of a complaint on the unit I received from a functional standpoint, though I didn’t get to test too much of it given that I didn’t know I needed a nano sim and didn’t have one in the time I had the unit.

That being said my primary complaint is surrounding the overall marketing of these units and what constitutes “certified refurbished”. Regarding the unit I received – the only form of refurbishment I could see was that the software had been reset to factory settings. I wouldn’t mind this if I had bought the phone from a place like, Ebay for example, but given that it was given the moniker “certified refurbished” I was expecting a little more work to have been done.

Why do I think that the unit wasn’t put through a proper refurbishment process? When I saw the unit, there were multiple chips and dings on the metal band running along the bottom bezel as well as scratches at various points on the phone. Assuming things had been replaced or repaired, for it to still have that much wear seems strange.

Dust – dust was everywhere. I knew it couldn’t have come from me since I couldn’t even use the phone yet(no nano sim so no reason to carry around in my pocket) Dust was trapped between the bezel and the screen, dust was over the screen, dust was just about everywhere I looked.

Scattered on the phone in various spots, I could see some kind of adhesive, that or sticky residue of lord knows what left over from a previous owner.

All in all, this was not a device that could be considered “certified refurbished” in my opinion. I knew going into the purchase that this would be a used phone, however, at least for me, whenever I see the words “certified refurbished”, I expect standards to be a bit higher than the average used phone when preparing for resale.

To be fair, it may not be Magic Mobile Partner’s fault – it’s entirely possible they rely on a third-party to refurbish their phones. But in the end, clearly quality and pride of work in the refurbishment process was either lost or never done at all, hence my rating.

One final note for the developers / modders out there, your experience may vary but I believe these are probably all previous Verizon units based on what I could find regarding my unit’s build number. It came with 7.1 so if I had kept it I could have unlocked the bootloader.

Phone didn’t appear to be refurbished. Some pretty deep scratches on the screen and the case which led me to question the integrity of the rest of the hardware. Returned it and ended up buying a full priced new phone.

I purchased a refurbished Pixel from this seller, claimed to be fully functional. The device was unable to connect to WiFi (not functional right out of the box). Spent a few hours trying different methods to connect and contacted customer support, who had me try additional methods; nothing worked.

I tried leaving seller feedback, but was blocked from doing so. I can’t help but wonder if this is the reason the seller has such a high rating.

Got the Pixel right on time, charger and cable included in the original box. Everything seemed to work perfectly but WiFi, it started to drop the connection since settings it up. Tried network settings restore, factory settings restore, no change at all. Return process and refund under way. Such a shame, everything else was great about it, battery life up to 3 days, performance above any iPhone, Galaxy S3 or any other high end phone.

I was psyched about this phone, and the one they sent looks cosmetically fine. Unfortunately, it’s completely broken and unusable. Freezes, resets again and again, and when it does turn on I get error message after error message. I’ll be returning it.

DO NOT BUY, IT WILL BREAK. I bought this phone Sept 15 and it died Jan 1. Two weeks past the 90 day warranty. Prime mobility refuses to help me either with replacement or refund. Advertising as “certified refurbished” suggests manufacturer approval, but this fraud company is selling junk phones that die within weeks. DO NOT BUY. I can’t believe I wasted almost $500. Will look into reporting to Amazon. This should be illegal.

Phone description says like new condition but came with some pretty noticeable dents in the chassis, scratches on the rear glass, and wasn’t even factory reset. Even worse the cable provided isn’t correct. I was provided with a USB-C to USB-A when it should have been USB-C to USB-C so I can’t even charge the phone with the correct power plug provided. Otherwise the phone works great, but I’m definitely not pleased with the condition.