Android 9 (Pie) Only: Context.startForegroundService() did not then call Service.startForeground() - Works fine on Oreo

We adjusted our ongoing notification for Oreo and it worked great. Now, on Pie only (not happening on Oreo devices), we're getting the titled error. Has something changed in foreground services in Pie that I'm missing?

Here's the onCreate code for the foreground service ->

override fun onCreate() {
    super.onCreate()

    val notification: Notification = NotificationCompat.Builder(this, packageName)
            .setSmallIcon(R.drawable.status_notification_icon)
            .setContentTitle(getString(R.string.ongoing_notify_temp_title))
            .setContentText(getString(R.string.ongoing_notify_temp_message))
            .setGroup(AppConstants.NOTIFICATION_GROUP_ONGOING)
            .setColor(ContextCompat.getColor(this, R.color.custom_blue))
            .build()

    startForeground(ONGOING_NOTIFY_ID, notification)

    appSettings = AppSettings(this)

    weatherLookUpHelper = WeatherLookUpHelper()
    MyRoomDatabase.getInstance().invalidationTracker.addObserver(onChange)

    retrieveCurrentLocation()
    createAlarmManager()
}

as you can see, we're just creating the notification and then calling startForeground. Any ideas on why this code would generate the titled error?

Side Note: Fabric Crashlytics shows this crash only happening on Pixel devices (pixel, pixel xl, pixel 2, pixel 2 xl) running Pie

from Android 9 (Pie) Only: Context.startForegroundService() did not then call Service.startForeground() - Works fine on Oreo