[jplayer01]

I’m not sure what any of this has to do with Google charging the full amount despite these people being on payment plans. It wouldn't be acceptable for any other provider to do this and it isn't acceptable for Google. The state of these peoples' finances makes this worse, and doesn't absolve Google. It's incredible the mental gymnastics well-off people will do to shift the blame to the poor instead of the weak, vulnerable billion dollar enterprises that fuck up.

This guy took the payment plan according to what he thought was able to pay monthly. And until Google charged him $1000 out of nowhere, that was fine. That's all there is to it.

[Johnny555]

I agree that Google screwed up big time but if you let the cost of your phone get you evicted (even if unexpected), you've made a bad financial decision.

[imtringued]

You keep talking about getting kicked out by the landlord which no one here even mentioned except you in the entire HN thread. "The cost of the phone" leads to additional late fees and in some rare cases to debt collectors harassing you. Suddenly a small $1000 charge that you can pay off next month turns into $1200 and you might pay additional fees to the debt collectors even if their claim is invalid just to get them off your back. Google could also just refuse to hand out refunds at all because they got your money and their law department is bigger than whatever defense you can get and you will lose more money in legal fees than you could possibly recover. Bonus points if they keep charging the monthly payments despite you paying the full price. (congratulations your $1000 phone is now $2000, "plan" better next time)

[Johnny555]

I posted an actual quote from someone claiming that this could lead to eviction from someone that posted on the Google blog page, I didn't make it up out of thin air.

Google should refund all direct costs (NSF fees, etc) but they shouldn't be responsible for rehousing someone that was evicted.