The sad part here is that these phones cost like $200 (edit: sorry, read $20) to manufacture per unit. The $750 price tag is mostly in the SW and supporting infra. The guy talking for a couple of hours with customer support actually soon becomes more expensive for the company than just taking their word for it and shipping a replacement. And that's before you count in the brand devaluation when the guy finds out their 'premium service' is just thin air, and especially the PR damage once you happen to screw a tech reporter over.
Where I live most home insurance companies have adopted a better approach to customer service. They maintain a central registry of claims. Most of the time if you submit a claim they just pay you without requiring any proofs of damage or receipts. But once you start abusing the system (unusually large or high number of claims), they will get difficult. But for the honest, average guy the customer service experience is just phenomenal most of the time (submit claim online and receive insurance to bank account only hours later.) The brand value for having a 'nice' insurance company exceeds the small number of invalid claims that happen to slip through in the process.
It $20 a typo there? The bill of materials alone is likely in the $250 range. Then add the actual assembly cost, shipping the products to the US, etc, and the basic "manufacturing" cost per unit is likely somewhere around $300.
So, that approach is great unless you are unlucky enough to have had to claim more than average. You are faced with a very difficult company that most other people are unwilling to accept is difficult that is treating you like a criminal.
It is the smart thing for companies to do and, what Google should do but, not what is best for consumers IMHO.
Where I live most home insurance companies have adopted a better approach to customer service. They maintain a central registry of claims. Most of the time if you submit a claim they just pay you without requiring any proofs of damage or receipts. But once you start abusing the system (unusually large or high number of claims), they will get difficult. But for the honest, average guy the customer service experience is just phenomenal most of the time (submit claim online and receive insurance to bank account only hours later.) The brand value for having a 'nice' insurance company exceeds the small number of invalid claims that happen to slip through in the process.