Nest Aware annual subscription automatically cancelled

[groot]

Hey there, I am having trouble with my nest aware subscription and I'm at my wits end trying to get it resolved.  This likely isn't the right place to post about this but I'm hoping someone else has dealt with this and can say if they figured it out or not.  

I got a Battery Nest Doorbell in September and got it all set up, everything works perfectly.  When my nest aware intro subscription was about to expire, I went ahead and paid for an annual subscription to keep the service.  About a month later, I noticed my video history was no longer available after a short period of time (3 hours) and subsequently learned that my subscription was no longer active, despite paying for a year.

I contacted Nest about the issue and they referred me to google store, who then referred me back to Nest.  This went on (no joke) about 5 times before I finally got someone at Nest that did a decent job telling me what was going on.  According to him, he could see that my yearly subscription activated but then cancelled a month later for no apparent reason.  He told me to send him my bank statement to verify the charge (which I did) and then set up a support ticket with Google Store with that info.  Unfortunately, I would need to contact Google Store again because Nest cannot do anything about the subscription payment, refund or status.

Back over to Google Store and I have hit a wall.  I have been going back and forth with the support person there for over a week and the rep can't seem to do anything useful.  He has repeatedly asked me for something called a Structure Name and a STOSUB ID, and referred me to my subscription page on the Google Store to get that info.  The thing is, when I go to that page there is no subscription listed because it's not active, so I can't exactly provide that info.

A few notes:

- When I go to store.google.com and look at my subscriptions, there is an option to enroll in Nest Aware as if I had never done it.  Going down that route eventually leads me to a "500" error page.

- When I go to pay.google.com, I can actually see the Nest Aware subscription on my subscriptions page.  It shows my payment on Sep 27, 2021 and that the subscription cancels on Sep 27, 2022.

- When I go to Nest Aware in the google home app, it looks like I can subscribe and pay for the service.  I have not tried to do this yet for fear of further confusing the situation.  If I can't get a result I may end up doing a monthly subscription to see if that works.

The support rep apparently cannot "escalate" the issue unless I get him the aforementioned information.  If anyone has any advice or ideas on what to do, I'm all ears.  The only reason I haven't gotten a refund through my credit card is because I'd really like to have the service, and it really seems like something is broken on Google's end. Thanks for reading through if you got to the end!

[EmptyNester]

Ugggg, how frustrating!  One question. If the guy on the phone said he could see it was canceled then shouldn't he also have been able to see refund for the unused time?

[groot]

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately he couldn't do anything with the actual subscription, it sounds like Google Store handles all of the payment and subscription status info and Nest just turns it on or off based on that. Couldn't issue a refund because the purchase is done through the Google store.

[EmptyNester]

Hmmmm, okay, so does the Google Store acknowledge it was canceled? (Regardless of the reason).  Then they should show a refund for the difference.    

The only other thing I can think of is there any change you have more than one Google email account and maybe there are more details there?   (I'm clearly reaching hard for answers, LOL)

[groot]

Google Store hasn't really given me any solid info, they just say something along the lines of "I need to check with higher support" and then ask for the info I mentioned in the original post.  They's been mostly unhelpful and have not acknowledged there is an issue.

Everything has been done through my only gmail account.  Good question, though!  Really appreciate you taking the time to think on it.

[Brad]

Hey there, @groot

Thank you for all of your patience while waiting for a reply. I wanted to make sure that your issue was addressed as this sounds like it's been quite the frustrating situation. I am sorry to hear that you've had this issue with your Nest Aware subscription. I would feel just as frustrated if I were in your situation. Anywho, I'd love to collect some information from you if you don't mind:

• Do you have a Case Number(s) that you can provide from your interactions? 
• Any additional information you can provide is welcomed.

Please let me know if you need further assistance. 

Best Regards, 

Brad.

[groot]

Hi @Brad , thanks for the reply, the issue still isn't resolved.  The latest case number is Case ID [5-7764000031590], I've had several over the course of this issue.  Unfortunately, I don't have any other info than what is posted here.  Really appreciate the help!

[nestawareissues]

I am experiencing the issue (i.e., Google sees my NestAware charges, when I go to the Nest app or site, its asking me to subscribe, system wont let me subscribe).  I had Google charge my card 3 times and subsequently cancel my subscription. I spoke with customer support and they told me they would escalate this so I can get my refund. They then instructed me to subscribe again.  The system wont let me, "500" error page.  @groot did you get any resolution?

[groot]

@nestawareissues  No I have not had a resolution yet.  Since posting here, I received an email saying the issue was being escalated *again* but have not heard anything else.  Sorry to hear you're having the same issue, it's certainly really frustrating.  I'll post back if I hear anything!

[groot]

@Brad  and @Ashepherdson Any chance you've heard back from the team on this?  I received an email back from the support rep four days ago saying it was being escalated again and to give them 24-48 hours but haven't heard anything back.

[nestawareissues]

Same here. My case# 8-1377000031783 (similar to @groot ). The support hasnt been great. They're telling me to "restart my computer" to fix the problem. @Brad @Ashepherdson 

[Ashepherdson]

Hi Guys, I am just a community expert not a Google employee, so I am as in the dark as you here.  @Brad would be the best person to get some direction here.  

[Goddesscatering]

I too am curious about what is happening because I just got notified on my phone I needed to re-subscribe to next aware then 30 minutes later that notification was gone and it seems like it is working again but this is the 3rd time I have gotten the notice and so I am just waiting for this same issue to happen to me..

[Brad]

Hey folks.

I am afraid I do not have access to your previous cases as I am not a Support agent. I am only a Moderator over these Nest Community Forums. You will need to keep in contact with whomever you have been in contact with on your case. I hope it can be resolved for you as soon as possible. 

Best Regards,

Brad.

[nestawareissues]

@Brad thank you for the reply. is there any information that you can relay between the support agents and us? i feel the support agents are just following a script (i.e., reboot your computer), without really understanding the nuances. the lack of support is frustrating, but the inability for google to refund these charges is criminal. people from the community want to pay for the service, its that simple.

[groot]

This is one of the biggest issues for me, the replies feel 100% scripted. The last 3-4 replies have been something along the lines of "we escalated the issue, we will be back to you within 24-48 hours". Then I hear back 4 days later.

No acknowledgement that there's a specific problem or that any progress has been made, and no mention of a refund as an option despite this clearly being an issue for a number of people.

[Joe540869]

I am having the same issue and after spending the last week with Google and nest with no results. I've decided to let the card company take care of this issue. I have a Google phone, google account, nest aware  pog  Gpay which Google that says this is the best protection I have but they can't find my nest aware charge anywhere in there system. I have saved an email of the charge and screen shot of the order # for a company that pushes hard to watch out for scammers sure looks like they're scamming me to re subscribe even thought I I paid for a year but only got one month of service. Makes me wonder how good there systems is,?

[Dansquestions]

I shared this on the cross referenced post on Reddit, but wanted to share this in the original posting.

I had a similar situation and it has not progressed well at all. I had a monthly nest aware subscription that was charged $12/month. I knew they had an annual plan that was $120 and I wanted to switch to SAVE $24 A YEAR.

When I tried to switch I could not find my nest subscription on my google.pay account, Google home app, nest app, or nest web login in. I contacted Google about it stating my subscriptions were empty, the structure says deleted, but I keep getting charged for the service. I asked that he change me to the annual plan. He said that is not possible and I must cancel and then resubscribe. I opened a ticket to have it cancelled.

They were able to end my monthly subscription. I waited for the subscription to expire. I then signed up for an annual nest aware plus subscription through the Google home app on 12/9. I received a confirmation email of my purchase of $120. I looked at my credit card and I was charged for one year of nest aware for $60 and one year of nest aware plus for $120. I contacted customer service. They stated I signed up for two subscriptions on the same account and that there were no refunds according to their TOS.

I opened additional tickets. Was on chat for over 4 hours and had it escalated only after I threatened a chargeback from my credit card issuer.

Unfortunately it is well documented that Google can just suspend and lock you out of all Google services after a chargeback because it goes against their TOS.

I still do not have it resolved. I panicked because Google was my main driver for email for all my accounts, I had photos stored online, was a Google one subscriber and had 5000+ files saved in drive not counting photos.

I opened a paid Microsoft 365 account for $9.99/month for no ads and I needed the terabyte storage that I might not have access to anymore from Google. I proceeded to change the email address on 197 accounts, moved all my items from Google drive to Microsoft one drive. I downloaded all my photos from the cloud with Google take out. I also downloaded back ups of all my emails with Google take out. I then moved my saved passwords from Google to bitwarden.

[groot]

Wanted to post back here to close the loop on this.  I finally received an email stating that I would receive a refund for the Nest Aware Subscription.  About a week goes by and I check my Credit Card, sure enough I get a refund from Google Store, but its for about $17 less than the full amount.  Contacted support back about it and they said that the refund amount was the prorated amount due to the time since the subscription started.  This is a subscription that I was never actually able to use, so that's pretty great.

All said and done, I am going to sell the Nest Doorbell after this mess.  The customer service was atrocious, and after everything I went through they decided it was best to short me $17.  Zero attempt to try to make up for the problem or the terrible experience.

I won't be recommending Google hardware products (especially nest) anymore.  This was a bad enough experience that I'll probably do my best to switch to a different provider for a lot of stuff.  Considering this is a security focused service, I wouldn't trust google to support anyone in a time of need.

@Bradif you have any contact with Google personnel, I'd strongly encourage having them look at how this all played out.

[EmptyNester]

Sadly, I am hearing these kinds of stories all the time with respect to Google Customer service.  I bet the CEO of Google  has no clue about what is going on with the NEST customer service and the unusable functionality of the Google Home app.  I'm running out of hope that this will all get fixed anytime soon. <Heavy Sigh>

[nestawareissues]

Thank you for the update. Google charged me for the month of January and then it was automatically canceled the subscription.  I received an email saying I was not charged. Low and behold, the charge posted and Google cant seem to find it. We are also going to sell the Doorbell and just not deal with this.  What a mess!

[KHermanBird]

Currently experiencing similar problems following subscription after free trial. Before I waste precious time, I gather from this thread that the only reasonable solution is to pursue a refund for the subscription that doesn’t work and take the now fairly useless doorbell as a loss? I can’t endure anymore being passed back and forth and scripted ‘support’.