Rossmann dug through the Google Store’s “Service & Repair Program Terms & Conditions” for its first-party mail-in repair service and found the same style of onerous bans on third-party parts that Samsung was recently caught using.
The Google Store’s promotional page on sustainability makes a good argument for device repair, saying, “From product design to manufacturing and across our supply chains, we are working to address our environmental and social impact at every step.”
It mentions device repair as part of that mission, saying, “When you opt to fix your phone instead of replace it, you help keep e-waste out of the landfill.”
Rossmann argues that companies don’t really want you to repair devices, since that hurts the bottom line and that they primarily want to get out ahead of right-to-repair legislation.
The first is with invasive terms like Samsung’s and (recently) Google’s, which Rossmann says are designed to render the repair program ineffective.
iFixit runs first-party parts stores for at-home repair of devices and recently ended its relationship with Samsung.
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