As some of you know I'm in the process of moving to the US from the UK. While the various logistical hurdles to overcome just require a bit of planning and of course some removal of money from my bank account, you would expect moving an account (in this case Google) from one country to another to be painless....
All I want to do is have a US registered address and access to the US Play Store with music and apps intact.
Easy huh ?!
Wrong.
After spending an hour on the phone to the mild manned people at Google HQ, their response was of shock and ore, and of course they couldn't give a hoot with the answer of "computer says no"
Google Play Music - Mess Up #1
Firstly all those 22,000 music tracks I uploaded to Google from the UK, plus the purchases I have made, of which there are 100s - what happens to those !?
Well get this, I have to download the music I purchased, and then re upload them to a new US registered account, along with my huge music collection. Then revisit all the Album covers that Google Play Music misses, painstakingly changing and refreshing covers. Not to mention a re-subscription to Google Play Music All Access, which I will lose out on my initial $7.99 outlay.
It took almost a week to upload my original collection, and now I'm faced with a longer upload time to my US account.
Isn't there such thing as a cloud at play here ? What a waste of my time, when the technology is there to do this kind of thing far quicker than a manual process.
Google Play Apps - Mess Up #2
Secondly apps, yes as you can guess from the state of Google Play Music, the same story is here. Although I cant download the apps I purchased, and since Ill be connecting to a different store....yes you guessed it, a further kick in the nuts is coming. I will need to repurchase the apps on my new account.
I could add my old account, download, then switch once downloaded (assuming this process does actually work) but shit we are in the year 2013, not 1999. What a massive ball ache.
Google Drive - Mess Up #3
Left with switching between accounts, oh and Id lose the additional storage I pay for because I no longer can pay for it via the UK.
So there you have it, just three examples of a basic customer service, forgotten, and not cared about. At least Google can make a floating barge showroom, balloons that relay the internet to a redneck in Texas and have a self driving car.
Moving my account to the US is somewhat beyond them.