topic Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time? in Apps / Account

Why is this community a complete waste of time?

rrozema — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 18:39:57 GMT

None of the questions in this so called "Community" receive any answers. The only 'activity' going on seems to be some "Community experts", periodically checking if they can close your question. Their responses however seem like a bot's behaviour mostly (f.e. @Jake). And if they are not bots, they must be out only for gathering these useless 'badges', because they never respond in a useful way.

Plus, if ever you do get a response, it's most like some spam, trying to promote a site or a product. And again, no response from any moderator, even if you report the spam.

My advise: don't bother asking any questions here. You won't get a useful response.

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

S3bryan — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 21:00:01 GMT

Let’s see if this helps you. Google does not monitor nor do they care about this forum. The community members will tell you they do not work for Google they only advocate for Google. The only thing Google cares about is data mining and social media presence. Go over to twitter and search Google nest. This forum is for fellow users who also have been abandoned by Google to help each other out. Google purchased nest and now YEARS later we still have nothing from them about the integration. Yet google will hype their pixie Dixie phones and tell you how wonderful nest is. Sorry but it’s true

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

Princesss — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 03:36:18 GMT

Hey folks,

We're sorry if you feel that way but we're here — we're trying to be as responsive as we can.

@rrozema, could you share more details about your concern so we could investigate on it?

@S3bryan, while it is true that this is a community forum, we're always here checking on each of your threads. We'll also take your feedback as an opportunity to learn and to be able to provide a better experience in the future.

Best,

Princess

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

rrozema — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 07:39:47 GMT

@Princesss you could have look at my request for help with the presence detection. The problem still persists, so of you could still give me some pointers what to look for that would be helpful. But even if this is not your area of expertise, the thread will give you a good idea of my complaints with this community: https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Apps-Account/What-are-the-requirements-for-Google-Home-s-presence-detection-a/td-p/87130 . All I got for responses are

a spam message which I reported because the same user did the same thing in multiple threads: no response at from anyone to those reports.
Multiple times a question from some "community expert" if I had found an answer yet. I responded I was still in need of a reply and never got the promised help.
And finally, the same "expert" that promised -but never gave- help, closes the thread.

I've browsed through the questions in the list -and even answered some of them for which I could be of help- but they all looked the same: no response or only spam responses. The only real information was in very old threads which seem to have been converted from a previous board and thereby had lost most of their context.

All this gave me the impression of a waste of time and resources. And looking at the amount of kudos I received on my complaint message, more people feel the same way.

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

Princesss — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 22:31:38 GMT

Hi rrozema,

We apologize for this inconvenience that this has caused you. This is not the experience that we want you to have.

I have reviewed the thread you created and would like to verify other things. Could you list down all the Google Nest devices that are set up in your home? This includes speakers, Nest thermostats, cameras or ddoorbells.

Also, you might want to check here more details about Home & Away routines.

Keep me posted so we can start some steps.

Best,

Princess

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

rrozema — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 04:59:29 GMT

Hi @Princesss,

In my house I have 5 google mini's, 2 nest mini's plus 1 nest hub 2nd gen: At least 1 speaker in every room, the living room has 2 minis as a stereo pair. Plus we have 4 android phones which all share their locations and are set up to report when they leave and enter the home. We use the speakers to issue commands to my domotica system Domoticz via a web service Controlicz.

It's the phones that I suspect not to report their location correctly or not frequently enough. As I described it happens many times -but not always- that one family member leaves the house while others are still at home and yet the assistant switches to away mode. I.e. it switches to Away while someone is still at home. I did even notice a couple of times that it switched to Away while we were all at home. The other way around however happens too: all family members have left but Away mode is not activated.

I want to use Away mode to signal my Domoticz things like: switch off the heating, the vacuum cleaner can start its daily round, remove the restriction on the speed of my ventilation system (it's fully automated using humidity and motion sensors, but i don't want it running at highest speed while we're asleep because of the noise this makes) plus turn off many lights and appliances. Away mode as it is now is not reliable enough to do this: when I allowed Away mode to do these things we kept having to switch everything back manually after anyone left the house.

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

Princesss — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 04:45:54 GMT

Hi rrozema,

I appreciate the details you've shared. Has anyone of you tried to unlink/relink their account to the speakers? I would suggest to try removing the account first to those phone who's not syncing with Away mode. Also, let's make sure that the Home app is updated to its latest version.

Keep me posted as soon as you've tried to unlink one account and compare its behavior.

Best,

Princess

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

Princesss — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 05:45:57 GMT

Hi rrozema,

We just want to check if you have seen our response posted above. Let us know if you have additional questions, otherwise we'll be locking the thread.

Best,

Princess

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

S3bryan — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 11:31:35 GMT

https://9to5google.com/2022/07/08/google-home-nest-app-disaster/ Princess post facts not Koolade, moderators do not work for google. stick with facts instead of spreading pixie dust.

Nearly a year later, the Google Home app has made no progress in cleaning up its Nest disaster

Last year, Google refreshed the Nest camera lineup for the first time in several years, but it also came with a change on the software side of things. The Google Home app is supposed to replace the Nest app, but the transition period has been a maddening limbo. Nearly a year later, virtually nothing has changed on that front either.

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

Princesss — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 22:44:36 GMT

Hi S3bryan,

We apologize for this, but we're here to help. Could you please tell us what Google Nest devices you have so we can sort things out. We'd love to know more details of your set up so we can start some steps in resolving this.

We look forward to your response.

Best,

Princess

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

S3bryan — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 22:56:41 GMT

Princess it’s an article from a recognized tech blog. You’ll notice I even took the time to include a hyperlink. The we you stated is actually not a we, for Google as they have stated does not participate in this forum. They participate only via social media. Yet over there it’s worse. The article if you had taken the time to click the hyperlink, clearly points out google does not care at all about the nest products only the pixie Dixie phones. You know like magic pixie dust from Disney.

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

rrozema — Sat, 20 Aug 2022 08:40:05 GMT

It's not one account that doesn't sync with away mode: All accounts don't sync with away mode occasionally. Syncing is unreliable for all our accounts at times, plus it's not easily reproducable either. Home/Away can be switched on and off correctly for several days or even weeks in a row and then suddenly it can be off again. And without changing anything it can restore to correct behaviour the days after that. So when I make changes -like for example unlinking one account as you suggest- I can't see if it worked or if it didn't, because if it works, that could mean I've fixed it, but it could also mean that it's still the same and we're in a period that it works correctly.

To answer your question: yes, we've removed and re-added accounts from the speakers and still got the same behavior at times. I've had home/away mode for at least 3 years connected to my Domoitcz now and we've gone through multiple mutations in that time: we replaced all our phones (old ones removed, new ones added), we added new speakers, we removed speakers, we re-purposed speakers (remove and re-add in another location/configuration), we moved speakers, we re-added speakers, we removed accounts (f.e. 1 kid left the house), we added new accounts, etc.

Because of the unpredictable nature of the problem I'm now looking for more solid indicators of whether it's working correctly or if something is wrong. This is why I ask for input on what are the exact components that Away/Home mode works on/with, plus if and how I can check correct operation each of these components.

I for myself think the speakers themselves don't do a lot in the away/home process. According to marketing information the nest thermostat does do something to sense presence, but I don't have one of those, the speakers themselves however do'n have any sensors that are capable of sensing presence (other than close-by sensing needed for the manual operation of the device itself). So I'm convinced that in my case only the phones are used for detecting presence of the family members. Can you give me or point me to information on what exactly the mechanism(s) are that presence detection in Google Home uses, preferably including detailed information on how to test the workings of these mechanisms. I think that the google home app in our phones uses location (determined via gps, cell tower and other (wifi) radio sources) to determine proximity to our home's location. If one phone moves away from the home location more than a pre-set distance, it reports this to the google server. When the last phone reports 'away from the home location', i.e. no phone is known to be near the home location anymore, the google server switches home/away mode to away. Then when the first phone reports comming close to the home location again, the server switches to Home mode again.

If this is indeed how it works, I'm looking for example for a way how I can check the status of each individual phone. So I can verify where the problem lies when my home is switched to away while one or more phones are still at home, or vice versa, when my home doesn't get switched to away while all phones have left. If it works in another way, I'm looking for information on how exactly it works, so I can try and diagnose the problem.

So I hope to make clear I'm not asking for suggestions to fix home/away mode by trial and error. I've already tried that for years and this doesn't lead to results because the behavior is unpredictable: if it seems to work after I made some change, I never know if the problem was fixed or that I'm just 'lucky' to be in a period it does work. I need information, not guesses at what could fix the issue.

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

Princesss — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 03:30:35 GMT

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the details you've shared. We'd be happy to take a look into this for you. Please fill out this form with all the needed information then let me know once done.

Best,

Princess

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

S3bryan — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 03:35:27 GMT

Again WE say why bother. Google does not read nor participate on this forum. User feedback is tossed automatically to the trash. Google has proven they do not care about user needs. Telling users over and over and over send us feedback is pixie dust you know like Disney. Feedback from users has been said over and over. Fix how you destroyed nest. Right? You drink the Google koolade

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

rrozema — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 05:48:48 GMT

@Princesss I completed and sent the form.

Thank you

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

Princesss — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 01:32:32 GMT

Hi everyone,

@rrozema, we've received your form-- thanks for filling that out. Please keep an eye on your email as someone from our team will reach out to you to assist you further.

@S3bryan, we understand your frustrations and we want to make it up to you. Please fill out this form with all the needed information so we can assist you via email.

Best,

Princess

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

Muddi — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 13:18:27 GMT

Hey S3bryan,

I just wanted to check if you are able to fill up the form?

Cheers,

Muddi

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

Azarco — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 22:12:53 GMT

Hey S3bryan,

We're back! Did you have a chance to fill out the form? Let us know so that we can assist you.

Best,

Alex

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

Princesss — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 00:17:47 GMT

Hi S3bryan,

One last follow up-- have you had the chance to fill out the form?

Best,

Princess

Re: Why is this community a complete waste of time?

rrozema — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 06:35:43 GMT

He's apparently no longer willing to respond. But then he's not the OP anyway. So no need to close this...