0s12BeukNvDGVbT In addition to the issue with the "free" battery replacement potentially not being free, I have also discovered a report from Ars Technica, describing how Google's cash payout also comes with a price:
I selected my $50 "appeasement" through an online form, and two days later, I received an email from Bharath on the Google Support Team.
Bharath wanted me to know that I was eligible for the money and it would soon be in my hands... once I performed a small, almost trivial task: giving some company I had never heard of my name, address, phone number, Social Security number, date of birth, and bank account details.
[...]
And though Google promised "no transaction fees," Payoneer appears to charge an "annual account fee" of $29.95... but only to accounts that receive less than $2,000 through Payoneer in any consecutive 12-month period.
Does this fee apply to me if I sign up through the Google offer? I was directed to Payoneer support with any questions, but the company's FAQ on the annual account fee doesn't say.
[...]
I planned to write Bharath back to switch my "appeasement," but then I noticed the fine print: No changes are possible after making a selection.
[...]
To recap: My phone was shot, I had to jump through several hoops to get my money, and I couldn't change my "appeasement" once I realized that it wouldn't work for me.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/how-google-nerfed-my-pixel-4a-then-stuck-it-to-me-too/
Outside of that, user "munkle" in the comment section wrote this about the store credit Google offers as a final option:
Something else not pointed out about the $100 credit towards a new phone is that it is effectively useless, unless you absolutely cannot wait for one of the many sales. It doesn't stack with discounts. Google frequently discounts their phones a lot more than $100. If you try to apply the code on a sale price it will change the phone to full price and take off $100. Most people are going to choose the $200-300 off sale instead.