Imagine you’ve spent hundreds of dollars on a new smartphone, and after only five months your device gets stuck in an endless cycle of rebooting. You’d hope the manufacturer would rush you a new phone and apologize for the inconvenience… only to end up caught in an endless loop of inept customer service.

Consumerist reader Brian purchased his Nexus 6P phone through Amazon last October. The device worked great until March 14, shortly after he completed an Android system update.

On that day, Brian says he was on an important phone call with his accountant when he heard a loud buzz from the phone. He looked down and the device was attempting to reboot. It didn’t work.

Brian believes that the Android update sent to his phone in March is the cause of the bootlooping. Others complained of being trapped by the constant rebooting after the same update.

“We all sent our phones in [to manufacturer Huawei] and are waiting for replacements,” said Brian.

He sent the device, along with a slew of photos of the phone that Huawei requested, to the company on March 16. Brian says Huawei later confirmed it received his phone the next day.

A March 24 email promised Brian that he would soon be receiving a follow-up message with the tracking information for his repaired device. After he failed to receive any updates on the phone for 10 days, Brian once again contacted the company via chat.

At this point a rep told him (again) that the device was received on March 17 and that the status was almost finalized. However, it would take seven to 10 days from the moment the device was sent back for a customer to get a message with their tracking number for delivery.

When Brian said he no longer wanted the Nexus 6P, a chat rep promised that the issue had been fixed and that Huawei was sorry for all the confusion.

“My interactions with the company have been very nice, but not helpful at all and with no new information after contacting them nine times total,” Brian tells Consumerist. He eventually received his original phone back from Huawei, though he never got an email from the company with the tracking information. In fact, when he called Huawei after he’d gotten his phone back, the company insisted the device was still at the Huawei service center.

 

Brian subsequently returned the phone to Amazon for a full refund, which he used to purchase an LG phone.

“My saga is over, but there are still others out there waiting for their phones from Huawei with no updates,” he points out.

 

Consumerist reached out to Huawei about the bootlooping issues and the delay in returning phones to customers, but did not hear back from the company.

A rep for Google tells Consumerist that it is aware that some customers are experiencing issues with the Nexus 6P and that it is investigating. In the meantime, anyone affected by the issue is asked to reach out to Google customer service at 1-855-836-3987.

Not Alone

A quick look on the web shows the Brian isn’t the only Nexus 6P owner to encounter the bootlooping issue or the delay from Huawei.

One owner posted on a Google Support Forum that he was instructed to send his phone to Huawei after encountering the bootloop problem.

The man says he sent the phone in March 20, and four weeks later it still hadn’t been returned.

He claims that Huawei has repeatedly told him each week that his phone is “shipping Friday.”

“They will never transfer me to a supervisor who can do anything or give me more information,” he writes, claiming that Huawei stopped communicating with him in early April.

He says he even reached out to Google about the issue. At that point, he joined a conference call with the tech giant and Huawei.

“Huawei gave the same run-around and Google eventually got off the line,” the man recalls.

A number of Nexus 6P users shared similar stories on Reddit. For the most part, owners’ experiences have mirrored that of Brian’s, with long wait times and little explanation from Huawei on both the issue and the delays.

In one case, an owner says they sent their phone to Huawei in mid-March after it began to bootloop.

After three weeks, the user says Huawei said it would be returned by the end of the week. That didn’t happen. After 32 days, he received a replacement, but the USB-C connector was broken.

Another user says there were no problems with the device and the battery was fine until just last week when it froze and began to bootloop.

“Google refuses to do anything, that’s when my love for the phone turned sour in about 30 minutes,” the poster writes. “My 6P lasted a year and a half perfectly before bricking itself with no symptoms.”

In another case, an owner says that after sending the phone to Huawei for repairs, a rep reported that the repair center had moved cities.

“He said it would take 20 to 21 business days,” the poster says. “I’m at 16 business days.. I JUST WANT A REFUND AT THIS POINT.”

Some owners, however, say they received had the opposite experience. One commenter from the UK says they received “some of the best customer support I’ve ever come across.”

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