I'm with you on this one. Given Google's record on customer service, I'd stay far away from this kind of service until they can prove that they're able to deal with customer's needs both adequately and in a timely manner.
Yeah, I'll give you that. Although, in Europe, I've seen that the carriers are the actual executors of the transaction, so complaints would go through them. And given the better consumer protection of credit cards, I'd have an inclination to use credit cards for larger transactions. But I travel a lot internationally, and I've personally had my credit card number stolen three times in the last year and despite the fact that I caught the transactions quickly (within 48 hours every time), I think carrying around a piece of plastic with everything that someone needs to steal money from you and that you have to hand to random strangers is one of the oddest ways to do a financial transaction that I can think of. If we aren't going to adopt an EU-style "chip-n-pin" system in the US, then I'd rather authorize transactions on my fairly secure, and always-with-me cell phone that's screen locked, will auto-erase itself with too many incorrect tries, and that I can remotely erase, that hand plastic around and hope that my waiter is honest.
It remains to be seen how exactly this system will work in the US, and what kind of consumer protection (if any) there will be, and what the charges (if any) will be. But I was pretty pleased with the system when I was in Poland - and once I'd used it once, I was vastly happier to pay by cell phone, than by credit card or cash.
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