Most of the Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro pre-orders from the past couple of weeks have arrived in customers hands, as we are about a week past the initial launch day. Because so many used their current phones as trade-ins for a discount, that has given a full week or so for those trade-ins to have already been sent out and arrived at the Google Store’s trade-in partner for assessment. Unfortunately, a number of customers are running into issues if they used a Pixel 10 series device as a trade-in.
A couple of readers pointed us to a lengthy reddit thread that discusses Pixel 10 trade-in problems and it is filled with customers all running into a similar issue.
Pixel 10 trade-in denials for Pixel 11 orders
That issue is a device assessment that ends in denial of the trade-in, but also suggests that full requirements have been met. That denial is leading to charges on cards, phones being sent back, and also a mention of a refund in the same breath. There is conflicting information coming from the trade-in assessment that is causing chaos.
There are two scenarios here that are playing out. We have some folks who received an instant discount for their trade-in and they are being immediately charged for the trade-in denial (or they are at least seeing a hold for the value on their cards). The other group is for those who were hoping for a refund from their trade-in, which isn’t happening, at least not yet.
So what’s going on here? According to several people on that thread, through talking to Google’s customer service, they believe that the Google Store’s trade-in partner simply doesn’t have any of the Pixel 10 series in their systems and that’s causing the denials. When they scan or enter in Pixel 10 series devices, since they aren’t in the system, it is triggering denials and charges or non-refunds.
Google is apparently aware of the situation and keeps telling people that they need to wait up to 48 hours for a fix or for someone to straighten this all out.
That said, if you are trading in another device (not a Pixel 10 series), you should be fine.
Recapping here – if you bought a Pixel 11 series phone and have a Pixel 10 series phone to use as a trade-in, you may want to hold off on sending it back just yet if you haven’t already. There is clearly an issue with the US Google Store’s trade-in partner and the Pixel 10 series.
We’ll update you as we learn more.
Have you traded in a Pixel 10 through the Google Store? How’d it go?
Cheers Zach and JiGSaW525!
