Due to the ban by the US government, Huawei is about to face a wide range of restrictions. Despite getting a 90-day reprieve, it is uncertain if Huawei smartphones will continue to have full access and support of the Android ecosystem from Google.
To address this uncertainty and provide some reassurance to their customers, local Malaysian smartphone retailer DirectD has launched a refund campaign for their customers who use the smartphone brand.
Via a post on their Facebook page, DirectD announced that if your device loses access to Google’s collection of apps and services, you will be eligible for a 100% refund.
That means you can either replace your phone with another, or get a full cash refund.
The Google collection of apps includes the Google Playstore, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.
The post links up to DirectD’s entire Huawei product catalogue that covers both Huawei and Honor brand devices.
The refund is only applicable to original Huawei Malaysia units purchased via DirectD, so if you bought your Huawei elsewhere, you won’t be able to claim the refund (so you better keep that receipt!)
The campaign’s terms and conditions also mentioned that the refund is valid for new devices bought starting June 24, 2019. Yes, that’s today.
The refund doesn’t include software and security updates and only lasts for as long as the warranty of the phone.
FYI, Google and several other US-based companies which sell hardware, software and technical services to Huawei are currently lowkey pressuring the US government to lift their ban.
So, best case scenario is that this refund won’t be necessary in the near future!
