128GB Google Pixel XL 5.5" Factory Unlocked Smartphone (Refurb) Expired

Sorry for being late, but maybe helpful for people who are still on the fence.
I would say, just don't do it, pass on this deal.

Here is what I experienced when I bought a certified refurbished Pixel XL shipped and sold by amazon. First of all, it was listed as a new in the available options page and I thought I was lucky to get a brand new pixel xl 128gb for $270. However in the checkout and order confirmation page it changed to certified refurbished.

Kept fingers crossed and hoped I will actually get a brand new pixel xl but I didn't.
I received the phone in a aftermarket box with a lame 1A after market charger and usb c cable. The box was labelled as Certified Refurbished New. Don't know what that means.

The phone had minute scratches all over the back probably from the case and there were lots of wear around the charging port and speakers. Ended up ordering a replacement.

Replacement came in, similar box and accessories but the handset itself looked brand new.
I was super happy but annoyed at the same time since for some reason my Anker fast charger was not charging it fast and only a QC 2.0 charger which I had bought long time back was charging it rapidly. So I thought I probably have to get the original charger from google which is pretty expensive for $50.

There are lots of listing on ebay for $20-25 but not sure they are legit or not and so passed on them.

Now the hell, tried to activate the phone on Sprint BYOD plan. Online didn't work, calling customer service didn't work ended up going to the corporate store but still did not work. The guy told me the phone is showing up as not authorized after entering the MEID and that usually happens if it is still active on another account or it has device payment pending. However all online IMEI checkers was showing the phone as clean, I was able to get the phone activated on MetroPCS without a problem.

Ended up contacting google support, they took IMEI and ended up asking for a proof of purchase. I invoice from amazon did not work since, it said I paid $0.00 since it was an exchange. Then porvided the first invoice from the original order, they said there is no IMEI listed on the invoice so we can't help, please contact the seller and ask them to provide an invoice with the IMEI number so that we can establish ownership of device.

I contacted amazon support, explained the whole situation and them amazon provided an email with the requested details to provide to google.

Finally gave everything to google and they kept asking did you request an RMA for the device? Because I am not able to make any changes since an active RMA request is open on the device. It was hell, finally after lot of back and forth they said they were able to change the ownership to my name.

Went to Sprint online BYOD checker and it was showing up as ready for activation. Ended up activating on Tello just in case.

So far I was happy that finally everything is sorted out, I didn't get the original box and charger for $309(after taxes) but still could use the phone on 1 year free sprint plan.

Unfortunately all this time did not even notice the vibration motor was not working. Yep, it was complete shit hit the fan with the purchase.

Factory reset the phone, contacted google support back again, they took remote control of the phone, played around with setting, putting it on safe mode and what not. At last they said well seems to be an hardware issue, you need to order a replacement. Then guess what again same story, there seems to be already an open RMA for this device, where did you buy this from? Sorry since this is a retail purchase you have to contact the seller for a replacement we can't help.

I was so frustrated with the whole ordeal, I ended up buying a S9 from Cricket and swore never ever another refurbished phone even if it is from amazon.

I buy and sell lot of electronics, kind of my hobby on the side but boy the quality of refurbished products have really gone down. I am not touching any refurb unless it is directly from the manufacturer. Even if it says manufacturer refurbished I have ended up getting 3rd party used products which are not even refurbished. Totally not worth the time and effort to save a couple of $100 and settle with a used device with poor battery life. cheap 3rd party accessories that don't even work etc.

Just sharing my experience, not saying everybody will have the same bad luck but if you buy this be prepared for all this hassle.

Here is the video of the first phone which I received from amazon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mLD4oQUjn8

Here are some pics of the phone for you guys.

https://imgur.com/a/8wM2rB9

23% 1 rating. That means 1 out of 4 have got bad phones. I better stay out of it

I bought one of this a month ago. It's brand new as far as I can tell. The battery life is as good as it can be for a new one, and include a brand new headset in the box. I figured that Google didn't want to dump these inventory to affect the price for pixel 2, thus they would rather call it "refurbished". Pretty good deal if you don't mind the reduced warranty. I might just be lucky but worth a try.