08 Oct 2025
I recently got my Google Pixel 6a repaired. Its screen had cracked from an accidental fall some time back. There are no Google-owned service centers for repair in India, even in a city like Bengaluru. At the time, I enquired at independent repair shops and was quoted around ₹14,000 for the repair. This seemed excessive, as the new phone itself cost less than ₹30,000. I gave up on the repair and switched to using an old iPhone 11 that I had borrowed from a friend.
Google does not have a company-owned service center in India.
For the limited ways in which I use my smartphone, the six-year-old iPhone 11 (released in 2019) sufficed. However, I recently stumbled upon the support section of the Google Store website. They still don’t have company-owned service centers, but they offer repair services via a third-party repair company with which they have partnered. The good part was that they provided door-to-door phone pickup and drop-off. The website asked for some general information, like the device’s IMEI number, and quoted, to my great surprise, ₹6,000 + tax for the screen repair, including to-and-fro shipping.
After some consideration, I decided to get it repaired. My experience switching to iOS wasn’t really smooth, and even though I made it work for me, I had several qualms with it. More on that in another post.
I made the pickup request on the website and immediately received an email to prepare the device for shipping. It included instructions on backing up the data, etc. As I keep most of my data online in cloud storage, clearing the phone and factory resetting it was quick. I wrapped the phone in protective wrap and packed it in a small box. The next day, I received a call from a courier service (Bluedart), and a person visited to pick up the box.
The service experience was smooth.
I received an email from the Google Store about the pickup with a tracking ID. In fact, I received timely updates on each step of the repair via email. To my surprise, my phone was shipped to Noida, some 2,000 km away!
It took just one day for the phone to reach Noida, and the next day evening, I received an email about the phone’s receipt at the service center. The email mentioned that they would investigate the damage and proceed with the repair if the repair cost was within the original estimate, which was ₹6,000. I had not paid any money until then. I woke up the next morning to an email stating that the frame also had to be changed. Indeed, the frame was dented from the fall.
They revised the repair cost to INR 7,200 and asked me to either accept the revised cost or get the phone back, supposedly at no charge. I decided to proceed with the repair, at which point I was asked to make the payment. I was informed the next day that the phone had been repaired and shipped back to me.
I received the phone back in two days. The repair was good, and it looked as good as new. One reason why I had previously decided against repairing at independent repair shops was the shoddy workmanship that I had seen some of them do. The frame replacement removed almost all signs of wear.
If you have owned a Pixel phone, especially ones from a few years ago, then you know that the fingerprint sensors on them are not great. They use optical fingerprint scanners instead of the more accurate ultrasonic fingerprint scanners. (The new Pixel 9 is the first Pixel, to my knowledge, to have an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner). A quick search online will show you that over the years, many Pixel users have lamented about its hit-or-miss behavior. In my personal experience, too, the fingerprint sensor had a success rate of roughly 50%. It was so frustrating that I developed a habit of entering the passcode without even trying the fingerprint sensor.
The screen replacement made the fingerprint sensor work better than in its stock condition.
To my surprise, the sensor on the repaired screen works so much better. It is still an optical sensor and it is still slow, but in the last few days of using it, I have never had it fail! This unexpected fix has brought me so much joy that now I sometimes unlock it just to get that satisfaction :D
I guess Google updated the sensor hardware in some way after I got my unit, and thanks to the screen repair, I now have it on my phone. I hope to keep using it for a few more years.