Discontinued support for my Nest thermostat! Very Upsetting.

[RubyW]

Dear Nest Support Team,

I am deeply disappointed by Google’s decision to discontinue support for my Nest Learning Thermostat (1st/2nd gen). This device was marketed as a long-term smart home investment, and abruptly rendering core features obsolete-including app control and remote access-undermines trust in your products.

While I appreciate the $130 discount on the 4th-gen model, this does not fully offset the inconvenience of forced obsolescence. Many users, myself included, purchased these thermostats with the expectation of ongoing functionality. The sudden loss of smart features (despite hardware still functioning) feels like a deliberate push to monetize loyal customers.

Key concerns:

• Lack of long-term support commitments at the time of purchase

• No option for third-party app integration post-discontinuation

• Environmental impact of discarding functional devices

I urge Google to reconsider this decision or extend the upgrade offer’s value. At minimum, provide concrete steps for users to retain basic smart functionality through alternative means. Or, Is there anything else you can offer me?  Like a free upgrade and installation. It is no fault of mine that you are choosing to discontinue my service. 

Sincerely,
Ruby Wilder

[AE4]

Right there with you! Nice try but they’re not forcing me to buy another product. The Emerson Sensi does everything the Nest does…for about $50 cheaper!

[TheSilkMan]

If they wanted to do the right thing they could release the Nest app fir 3rd gen and earlier owners to either open source or to localized app use with our own local area network and wifi. Instead they are holding us as captive consumers. 

[wwdiesel]

Totally agree!  They are greedy money hungry con artists fleecing all NEST customers just because they can. **bleep** them!!!! 

[Drmom000]

I hope someone starts a class action suit against them.

[Mikebola]

Just found out about this.

I'm hoping to find some for cheap, and use the displays for car gauges.

Also going to replace mine with a digital thermostat that can be controlled by an ESP32 or something. This just makes the objective of removing Google from my household easier.

[dmauch]

My apologies if this has been answered before but what is to prevent Ecobee, Emerson or any of the other substitutes for Google, to do the same thing.

[Mikebola]

Some already have. It's a known expectation of any product that requires a service or subscription.

I got mine for free because it was damaged. I wouldn't have considered buying one of these.

[AE4]

Nothing…but until they do. With Google, we have our answer.

[TheSilkMan]

I went with the Ecobee with a discount through my energy company. I figure that Ecobee doesn't have the leverage that Google has in terms of Ecosystem. So, if they pull a Google on us, we drop them and move on to the next more stable company.  They will eventually fold.

[dmauch]

It kind of seems that Google was clever enough to offer their Gen 1 & 2 Nest owners the $149 Gen 4 based on the price points of the Ecobee Premium at $259.99 or their Enhanced at $199.99. With Google, you get two (2) units for $300 whereas with Ecobee, you get one (1) unit for only $40 or $100 less respectively. For those of us who are part of the Google eco system, it's not rocket science regardless of how sinister Google's decision is....and they know this!

[AE4]

I’d happily pay for one inferior but continued product than two superior products with expiration dates. To me, there’s no excuse at all to not allow a third-party app take over the tech so that people’s purchased property doesn’t just turn into trash. The amount of good faith in buying any tangible product from Google went out with the thermostat. 🙂

[TheSilkMan]

Agreed. I was very close to buying the $49 Amazon Smart thermostat which after rebate, you get it for free. The only reason I didn't do that is because you are then forced into one Ecosystem (Alexa).

[TheSilkMan]

Well, IMHO they played their hand and their customers.
For me, it is worth getting their hands out of my house. The price point they are offering the next gen thermostat for has nothing to do with them giving consumers anything. The government is giving energy efficient rebates through electric companies anyway. So all they did was match the rebate(which they get subsidies for anyway). Greed is greed.

It's not just the thermostat they have dogged us on, it's almost all the hardware in the original Nest Ecosystem that we get the hit on: Nest Protect, Nest X Yale Lock, Chrome cast dongle, VPN, Nest Hub, Nest Home Max. These are perfectly working products. They could of just taken off the Nest hosted site and let each household be its own host. But these guys never do the right thing.

Let's NOT forget that they killed the Works With Google program and undermined IFTT.

I'll take my chances through diversification with another company. Especially since I can get an Ecobee Premium with sensor for the same price. That way, I have options to use Alexa or Homekit if they pull anymore stunts.

[dmauch]

Generally speaking I don't disagree with you and I'm as incensed as the rest on here. With three Google Nest doorbells, I'm sure they'll figure out a way to sh_tcan perfectly good doorbells as well. And I agree 100% that they could have allowed a 3rd party app to take over the tech but Google is likely to learn as the word gets out, that the Bud Light and CrackerBarrel debacles along with short-term greedy decisions can have long term consequences on their bottom line- and maybe they're so big, they don't care. Nevertheless, it is what it is and there's no guarantee that Ecobee, owned by General Holdings Inc. (Generac), won't sometime use the same strategy.

[TheSilkMan]

Yes. Something tells me that in some dark or poorly lit Boardroom, Google has decided that they are an Ai software company; not a hardware company. By buying Nest, the effectively were buying its customer list and could care less about the hardware hit its customers would take. They figured that dumb American consumers buy a new iPhone every year, despite having a perfectly working phone. What they failed to realize is that a thermostat is critical infrastructure in a home and we don't change them like we change undergarments. 🤔 

Their loss is another company's gain.