Update: DEAD! Don’t miss it if this becomes alive again. Sign up for deal notification alerts here!
In November, I wrote about an amazing deal to buy a Google Pixel phone with Google Fi service and get travel gift cards equal to the amount paid for the phone.
Even better, it qualified for a $100 AMEX Offer, that made the deal even more amazing.
I just got my rewards link and I can choose to split the amount or use the full amount for Airbnb, Delta, Hotels.com, and Southwest gift cards. That’s even better than I thought it would be!
If you have a $1,000 rewards card you can choose to save it all, redeem it all, or redeem part of it now and then come back later to redeem more of it!
But best of all, there is no deadline to select the gift cards you want, so you can just wait until you’re ready to travel and redeem it then.
Don’t forget that you must keep Google Fi active for 120 days in order to avoid being charged for the price of the gift cards. However I’ll switch the Pixel to another phone service at this point.
I’ll keep the service active for now and after 120 days I plan on pausing, though not cancelling, my Google Fi service. Many people use Google Fi domestically, but I’m on a grandfathered shared Verizon plan with unlimited everything for $30/month, so it’s not compelling for me to use in the USA.
I use Google Fi extensively when traveling abroad. 4G LTE data is the same $10 per GB everywhere in over 200 countries. That’s a bargain for true high-speed data. Plus you only pay for what you use, so if you use 1.1GB you’ll pay $11, not $20. You can make phone calls for 20 cents/minute or you can make phone calls to the US/Canada over the data network with Google Voice with no charge per minute. The line itself effectively costs just 67 cents per day and you can pause your plan and number as needed. I’ve used it in places from Israel to Svalbard to the UAE. You can view supported countries here.
While other carriers offer data plans that work abroad, they typically offer slow data speeds and have extremely stingy caps on how much high speed data you can use per day.
You can use your Google Fi phone as a hotspot and you can even get a free data only SIM for other devices to use at the same low rate per GB anywhere in the world.
You can use your Ink Business Cash® Credit Card to pay your Google Fi monthly phone bill to earn 5 points per dollar. Or you can use your Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card Card to earn 3 points per dollar plus get free insurance on your phone.
What an amazing promotion this was! Thanks Google!
Did you get your gift cards yet? Where will you redeem your travel gift cards?
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67 Comments On "What Will You Do With Your Google Fi Travel Gift Cards?"
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I just chatted with Google and they told me that if I switch the service to another phone it will deactivate the promotion. Is that not true?
People that switched the service at the beginning got the gift cards as long as they didn’t pause the service.
Plus the terms only said that the phone has to be activated until you get the gift card, afterward it just said you can’t pause or cancel service for 120 days from signup.
I had already planned to go to Europe this summer. I essentially got a free phone and used the GCs for flights
Awesome!
Who was the sender on the rewards link? I have not received mine and want to keep my eyes open.
Sender: googlefi-noreply@google.com
Subject: Redeem Your Travel Gift Card(s) from Google Fi
Dan in regards to this
“However I’ll switch the Pixel to another phone service at this point.”
Are you certain that is allowed yet? I actually asked Google specifically that question, as I want to sell my pixel 3’s,and they told me the service needs to remain on the device for 120 as well. I cannot think of a way for them to even know if it is or isn’t but since you brought it up I’d love to hear your thoughts.thanks
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/free-stuff/will-google-fi-travel-gift-cards/#comment-1400400
You can also view the original terms here:
https://www.dansdeals.com/shopping-deals/electronics/cell-phones/hot-signup-today-google-fi-phone-service-device-get-200-credit-buy-phone-get-gift-cards-equal-price-phone/
Nothing states that the device needs to be active more for more than 60 days within 75 days of device shipment. Regardless of what reps claims, the only relevant term is that you can’t cancel for 120 days.
Right so I read that excat part back to them and they still insisted that I cannot switch phones. I’m pretty sure they just had no idea but I don’t wanna risk anything either. Thanks tho
As we say, DROPR (Don’t rely on phone reps).
Nothing wrong in playing it safe, but there’s nothing in the terms against this.
And that’s besides that people who already switched on Day 1 got the gift cards as well.
Didn’t get the Gift Card yet. I hope I didn’t mess it up :/
They probably did mess it up.
They (meaning what was promoted online and then confirmed by associated) lied to me as with many other people by confirming we were eligible recently saying we are no longer eligible per the terms they updated after we could not return the phone.
Ugh, that sucks. I hope you dispute the charge with your credit card company. It will mean having to return the phone, but that is total BS.
I used my old google voice # as my new google fi number. Does that mean I no longer have a Google voice account enabling me for free data voice calls?
Trying to sell mine. Any idea where I can get maximum value?
DDF?
Hi. Are you in the Lakewood area? I might be interested in buying your phone (if that’s what you are selling)
I’m selling a Pixel 3 (basically never used) in Lakewood area
Has Google Fi service?
Thanks for the reminder. Just checked and got the email. Do I have to activate now or can that wait until I’m ready to redeem? Also, now that I got it can I assume it’s safe to pause service?
All of that would be answered by reading the post.
I knew it was 120 days, just forgot when that started from.
Regarding my first question, the email I received says to click the link to activate, at which point I’ll be able to redeem. My question is do I need to click that initial link now or do I wait until I’m ready to redeem?
I accidentally cancelled my service after getting the GCs. Anyone have any ideas?
Try to reactivate it, hope for the best, and read the terms next time?
They’re gonna reactivate it and still keep the promotion, BH. Gotta read terms better next time!
Which carriers can these phones be used for other than fi?
All carriers.
I made a mistake and cancelled my service today. I’m I out of luck?
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/free-stuff/will-google-fi-travel-gift-cards/#comment-1400420
So I unfortunately found out that this is not true :
“You can use your Google Fi phone as a hotspot …. anywhere in the world.”
So in Australia and NZ I was not able to use my GoogleFi phone as a hot spot which is the whole reason I signed up for it! It was very disappointing… Ended up going with a local sim card and the rep told me that in fact GoogleFi does not support hot spot abroad (or at least in Aus/NZ).
Has hot spot worked for you in other countries?
I have used it in other countries.
Why do you keep mentioning airbnb in your posts? Those antisemites do not deserve the publicity.
I’m not promoting them. I didn’t add my referral link for them in this post. I didn’t post an excellent coupon that came up for them last week.
But are you really asking that I should lie about what all of the options are for redemption?
I had some of the worst/most frustrating customer service experiences with Google as a result of attempting to redeem and qualify for this deal.
1.) FedEx lost my original shipment, so there was a long delay in getting me a replacement because FedEx had to wait ~10 days to make sure it didn’t show up in their warehouse, at which point I could then file a lost package claim. I didn’t end up getting the phone until 12/26. A month after I made the purchase.
2.) After speaking with multiple agents on the phone during this time, and also getting it in writing that I’d be eligible for this deal since I didn’t lose the phone. I was assured I’d be eligible for the offer, even if it had to be escalated to the promotions department. Curious as to when I’d get an email about the offer I reached out to an agent to confirm my status and enrollment in the offer on Feb 6 via email and then once again via phone to follow up on the inquiry.
That was then escalated to the promotions department and that’s where it went off the rails (even with written confirmation that I was eligible). The agent I was dealing with was adamant that I would not get the $1000 travel gift card, and that instead they’d provide me with a service credit instead. After a bunch of back and forth and a complaint filled to the BBB, the agent still wouldn’t budge, nor would they escalate the case to anyone else in the department, and the only way I could communicate with them was via email. They did agree to allow me to return the phone however, and get a refund on the phone, but still have to pay my service fees for the past 3 months (~$60).
Fast forward to today. I have not yet returned the phone, but it’s all packed up with an RMA ready to go. I got an email from Tango to redeem the $1000 in gift cards!!
Do I return the phone and forget the whole thing happened? Or do I chance redeeming the $1000 Tango gift card, and selling the phone after 120 days (which is late April)?
I had almost the exact same experience. The same lies that I would receive the promotion after I received a FedEx box that was empty. Then, many weeks later after receiving and activating the phone, being told it was only a service credit (which was unacceptable). The same back and forth with customer service, endless calls and emails. Being told by a supervisor that the supervisor who said it was a service credit wasn’t from the promotions department so just wait… Then a month later being told she was and that I’d been waiting in vain. A BBB and FTC complaint. And magic receipt of the gift card email after all that wasted time and effort.
It’s one way to ensure that your potential customers hate you.
I had similar story, FedEx lost my phone and got a new one sent over a month later. I still haven’t received the gift card though. Do you know when you activated your phone? Wondering when I can expect to get the gift card.
I activated the phone on 12/26 and got the email from tango 3/6.
BTW you can pop in any other GSM Sim and use other service from day one. And it doesn’t jeprodize the promotion. (CDMA will not work)
Are you sure? I had an issue with the Google Fi service and I emailed them numerous times. Eventually I just stuck my Verizon SIM in but i was nervous that they’d disqualify me from the promo.
Already got and used mine (Delta, for an international ticket). My credit was $900 though, and the website would only sell Delta GCs in certain denominations. To add up to $900, it needed 4 GCs (500, 250, 100, 50). Of course the Delta website only takes 3 GCs. Calling in was a disaster b/c of lots of weather calls and b/c the call-back malfunctioned, and I ended up buying using only the 3 largest GCs and went to sleep. Send a Twitter DM to Delta and b/c the fare hadn’t changed they were able to redo it using all four GCs.
Can someone help me with this?
I Sold some gift cards, in order for the other person to use them does it need to be in their name or can i print out mine from my email under my name and send it to the person that i sold it to?
Either one is good
Dan’s smart linking to other comments. Up next: website forum NLP/AI that automatically loads others comments of related nature
How do you expect to use Google Fi when you travel abroad if the original phone is canceled? Is there a way to use two services on a single phone? Or a separate phone for backup?
I got my answer. Put Verizon Sim in the phone and that’s it.
Its funny how the post title is one thing and the replies are completely off topic.
Most likely hotels.com gift cards booking are eligible for hotels.com 10 nights / 1 free night hence increasing the value of the redemption.
does anyone know if blackberry key2 works on google fi? google doesnt realy say yes or no conflicting reports
I got the bring your own phone promo. They sent me the sim card. I put it into my verizon samsung 8 to activate the service and sim card. I then pt back in the verizon sim and continental to use that phone on verizon. Once my Fi sim was activated, I slipped it into an old LG gsm phone (dumb phone) and it works regularly on tmobile betwork. I also put the Fi sim in a tmobile galaxy 5 (locked to tmobile and officially not compatible with Google fi – the system is too old to download the fi app), and it worked fine. I used it in israel, but I needed to manually set up to apn
is it possible for you to have your verizon number forwarded to your google fi number when your abroad and call that person back on your google fi device and have the number show up as calling from your verizon phone?
can you have a data only sim and pay on how much gb you use without having to pay 20 dollars for unlimited talk and text? how much gb does wifi calling use lets say an hour over the audio on google hangouts (not the video feature)
I ported my number out if Tmobile for this promotion.
How can I port my number back to Tmobile and still keep the Google Fi service paused?
Any advice would be appreciated!
$900 Delta Gift Cards
How long can you keep fi paused consecutively?
If anyone has a Pixel 3 in mint condition I was looking to buy one. I was about to buy from Best Buy literally today and they removed the 300 dollar credit while it was in my cart.
In flatbush.
I have the pixel 2 XL, used for 2 months
FYI: I received mine 92 days after activation (Despite saying 75-90 days). I’m reluctant to keep the money [$900] out there with ‘Tango.’ Not sure the chances of losing it if I try to wait until I need it. Thinking of just using it for AirBNB
Dan you sure about changing the phone?
I’ve searched quite a bit and no definitive evidence despite I agree the terms seem that way.
Since it’s esim how would one actually move the service?
Check this thread
https://amp.reddit.com/r/ProjectFi/comments/atj2j7/cannot_use_the_pixel_3_travel_promo_with_any/
Is there a way to live switch the fi number to another device AND carrier and still leave the plan active and pause it?
I need to put this number on a “dumb” phone, but I don’t want to be charged upfront the remaining balance on the Pixel (another 647 to go).
So I want to keep this plan, but change numbers.
I transferred a Google Voice number per the discussion at the time and the multiple positive responses from Google support reps. I haven’t received my gift cards yet and just logged into the promotions page only to see it change from “transferred number” as it was before to “Transferred number is ineligible” and now theyre saying im ineligible. Did this happen to anyone else? Any tips? This is crazy!
Same here. I bought the phone with Amex and would file a chargeback if the issue isn’t properly resolved
I have the same issue.
Trying to get help with online chat now
I don’t know why I have not received the travel gift card yet. I met all the obligations, and was eligible until the last day when all of a sudden my status changed to inelligible. When I contacted them they gave me some nonsense about now having a prior service a/o 8/28/18. I’ve had the same phone # for 4 years. When I forwarded them emails showing my bills and correspondence they said they will forward to promotion dept. I’m still waiting. So frustrating. I think it’s all a scam!!
I also didn’t receive my link to get the cards. Dan, can you post it here so we can try directly ourselves – or is it a customized link? I ordered on November 28th. Thanks.
Can someone confirm they got 5x paying for Fi with an Ink card? Last time I checked, it didn’t.
The monthly service does get 5x.
Hi – thanks for the deal – i was able to get the Pixel 3 and redeem the gift cards (hope to us them for AirBnB this summer). I have a question with how to transfer the phone to verizon. I now have a a google fi account on this phone. Should i cancel the service or keep it paused before transfering the phone to Verizon? I do want to keep google fi for travel but i want to use the pixel 3 now for my standard phone on verizon. Any thoughts would be appreciated.