10-11-2021 03:32 PM
Hey everyone,
I appreciate everyone’s patience as they’ve shared their feedback and questions regarding the pending Scottish legislation changes. We’re aware of the proposed legislation changes to the fire and smoke alarm standard in Scotland requiring households to have interlinked heat and smoke alarms. Nest Protect cannot function as a heat alarm due to specific hardware and functional requirements of those devices. So, beginning February 2022, Nest Protects will not meet these new requirements due lack of interconnection with a compatible heat alarm.
At this time, there are no current plans to produce a heat alarm and we do understand this is not ideal for many of our Scottish customers, but you can still use your Nest Protect as a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm as an addition to your interconnected system. We understand these options may not be suitable for everyone so we ask if you have any additional questions around next steps for your Nest Protect, you can contact support to get additional details.
We ask that you continue to refer to the guidance of your fire and local authorities and we’ll also share any updates and changes as they arise.
Thanks,
Rachel
10-12-2021 09:51 AM
Hello, it’s good to finally have confirmation on this after two years of asking. The lack of a compliant solution means that rather than just purchasing a single new Nest detector, customers in Scotland will have to purchase an entire set of detectors from a Nest competitor. There is obviously no obligation to keep an existing product compliant with future regulations, but I expect better from Google, given the huge period of notice we gave you for the change. Would Google consider a pro rata refund of the life remaining in what is now a defunct product? The suggestion of using existing Protects alongside a compliant system is frankly ridiculous.
02-19-2022 09:54 PM
Couldn’t agree more. I knew when Google bought nest it would be a disaster!
Suggesting using the protect alongside a compliment system is an absolute joke. Google need to take a good look at themselves!
are these now removed from sale in Scotland?
why not allow a third party to link their heat detector to nest? That way people in Scotland aren’t getting bent over by Google after spending hundreds of pounds on “smart” smoke detectors. Your lack of support just screams lack of care.
09-22-2022 05:32 PM
That would require them to fix integrations, something they've also been dragging their feet on for years...
10-20-2022 10:35 AM
Hello everyone,
Thanks for posting and sorry for the late reply. We hear you — our team is working hard to deliver the best experience for our users — we'll take this as feedback. Keep your eye on the Google Nest Community page https://goo.gle/2JvnMRy for any updates. Let us know if you have additional questions.
Regards,
Emerson
10-20-2022 10:53 AM
Working hard ? What do you mean by that ? Are the team working on releasing a nest heat only detector ? Or what exactly ? Thanks
10-20-2022 01:15 PM
"Feedback" is the corporate word for stfu stop whining about getting scammed.
10-26-2022 02:57 PM - edited 10-26-2022 03:00 PM
Hi folks,
We're always looking for ways to improve and to bring more features in the future. While we don't have any news to share if they'll be releasing any new products, I'd suggest you send a feedback about this using the Google Home App to let the Google Engineering team know about this. While they won't respond directly back to you, this is the best way to let them know about this. Here's how: Share feedback.
Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns as I will be locking this in 24 hours.
Best,
Emerson
10-26-2022 04:33 PM
Do not lock this thread. This is an ongoing issue. It needs to remain open to ensure as many people as possible can see that the products for sale in certain areas of the world will not meet the safety requirements put in place.
Your response feels like a non response. Just using corporate speak.
Why should this entire group of customers have to go repost all of our comments on this matter in another place? Making customers feel unheard is a great way to begin your corporate spiral.
This entire website is a resource for Google to see what problems exist, and i definitely feel that anyone representing Google here has been dismissive and not helpful. Direct your engineers here. Direct the board of directors as well.
It is not your customers responsibility to "submit feedback" as you describe. We're providing it with the hopes it will be helpful and guide your company to know what people want. If you fail to use the resource, that's on you when sales drop and nobody seems to know why.
Again, do not lock this thread. Doing so will show how little regard Google has for the safety of its users in selling partially non functional life protection equipment (smoke alarms.)
10-12-2021 01:50 PM
Can I translate this for Scottish members?
tough luck, you bought a pup when buying Nest. A total and utter waste of your dosh. Buy something else, and mibes just leave the nest stuff oan the ceiling… it’ll cover the holes made when you installed it, just fine. In fact, that’s the only purpose it’ll serve in Scotland from here on in.
thanks Nest, a total and utter waste of money and effort.
04-16-2023 04:39 PM - edited 04-16-2023 04:41 PM
It's not just the Nest. All of the older interconnected brands can only communicate with their own.
It would be a waste to toss out a Nest system, better to just use them until they expire as all detectors have a 10 year lifespan, after which they must be replaced. And the clock on that begins on the date of manufacture, not on the date of purchase.
10-12-2021 02:03 PM
Thanks for the update. Presumably you’ll be removing Nest Protect from sale in Scotland immediately as it is non compliant?
10-15-2021 09:36 PM
Did you really just say "you can still use your Nest Protect as a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm", you are kidding right? You expect customers to keep your defective product along with a compliant set?
You have just lost a whole country of potential customers, not only for the smoke detector but I'll guarantee that people will also shy away from all other nest products in future. Not just from Nest but also away from all Google assistant based products, Google 0 - Alexa 1
I can't think of any other word than disgusting.
10-29-2021 06:06 PM
I was almost buying the Google Pixel 6 but not now
10-15-2021 11:28 PM
Ouch!
I have 4 wired Nest Protects in my house, and because the one in the kitchen will no longer comply with Scottish law from Feb 2022 (and thus also invalidate home insurance policies) I'll need to replace the whole system.
So I have basically wasted ~£400 on the Nest Protects! 😞
10-16-2021 02:29 PM
My 2 x Nest Protect still have 7 and 8 years life left in them. Will you be offering a prorated refund?
10-18-2021 01:14 AM
Same applies to new builds and major refurbs in England and Wales - would be nice if Google admitted this too.
10-18-2021 02:25 AM
@RachelC the tags in your post say Nest Protect (Gen1), so does this only apply to the older Nest Protects? Or does it also apply to Nest Protects that are currently on sale?
10-20-2021 01:59 PM
Applies to all Nest Protects
10-20-2021 01:10 PM
So the 7 units I have installed are basically ceiling ornaments not fit for purpose.
10-20-2021 01:59 PM
I guess, the nightlight could still be useful… but yes, they are utterly pointless from a legal/insurance perspective.
10-21-2021 05:28 AM
I have been waiting for an answer from Google half expecting a date when I could purchase a heat alarm and make my very expensive 8 protect system compliant with Scottish law. This answer beggars belief! Big holes in my ceilings for the hardwired alarms which are nothing more than extremely expensive nitelights now and they still have 6 years of life in them. These are the only Google products I have ever bought and that fact will remain. Absolute joke of a company!
10-21-2021 07:54 AM
Just curious, has anyone contacted Google support, as per Rachel:
We understand these options may not be suitable for everyone so we ask if you have any additional questions around next steps for your Nest Protect, you can contact support to get additional details.Thanks,
Rachel
I am wondering what the 'next steps' would be?
10-22-2021 08:14 AM
I think I may be doing this as there is nothing letting you know these are non compliant.
10-22-2021 08:19 AM
Maybe watchdog@bbc.co.uk would be interested?
10-22-2021 08:21 AM
I intend to contact my MSP Monday and ask why they contine to allow these to even be sold.
12-07-2021 06:20 AM
I believe BBC Watchdog / Rogue Traders are already investigating Google on this topic. I guess the more people that contact the BBC on this topic can only help. There is a link on the BBC watchdog website to share your story/issue.
10-22-2021 05:28 AM
This is madness. You need to put a compliant model into production ASAP.
No point talking about how sustainable your products are when you've just scrapped hundreds or thousands of devices across Scotland.
Please provide an update
10-22-2021 08:16 AM
Do you have an easy link for contacting support as I find my self with your not fit for purpose system that I need to replace.
10-25-2021 02:53 AM
The building regulations in England also require a connected heat alarm in the Kitchen but unfortunately that hasn't stopped Google continuing to sell them here even though they know they're non-compliant and not suitable for the UK market. Shame on you Google.
I bought 9 of these before realising they're non-compliant, by which time it was too late to return them. Please do the honourable thing and either withdraw these products from the UK market or ensure they're clearly labelled and advertised as being non-compliance so that potential buyers don't fall into the same trap as I have.
10-25-2021 03:15 AM
I’m trying to get Which? to cover this but they seem strangely uninterested. Of course they like most of the media rely on a lot of traffic from the search engines…
10-26-2021 09:16 AM
Edward posted a reply to a question question in 2/21, regarding Google Nest's smoke alarm compliance with the latest Scottish Governments legislation, which to come in on 2/22.
Here is part of his reply,
10-26-2021 09:50 AM
The Scottish government list the Nest Protect system as non compliant. It may not be passed into law but I think the wording is pretty much set. There are many reasons for a dedicated heat alarm. This is just one. I had planned to fit one of these in my garage when I realised they are no good in there either.
10-26-2021 10:47 AM - edited 10-26-2021 10:54 AM
I shared this thread on Reddit here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Nest/comments/q96b1a/google_confirm_nest_protect_alarm_system_not/
I also contacted Nest Support directly and these were the replies I got:
Nick: Hopefully there is a solution. It would be very disappointing to have to replace my 4 wired Nest Protect with a different system to comply with the law come February.
Google Support: We do appreciate your time checking this with us. As of now, we don't have any update but will keep our users posted via our support site.
Nick: As such, that makes the £400 I've spent on the Nest smoke alarms a waste of money. Do you have a buy back/ refund scheme?
Google Support: About buy back or refund scheme, as of now, we don't have either of these options.
So no real additional information or help! 😞
12-13-2021 01:35 PM - edited 12-13-2021 01:36 PM
NickB - Did you make any progress with Google Support on this topic? It seems Google Support have actually stopped replying to support tickets on this Google Nest Protect Scotland issue - Which is a curious way to treat customers. Personally I'm stuck what to do...
12-14-2021 01:56 AM - edited 12-14-2021 01:56 AM
No, that was the last update from them. Which was basically a polite non-answer. They have acknowledged that their alarms are not compatible with the up-coming law, but have offered no solution (updated firmware for heat-only, or heat-only new model, etc), nor offering any refund/buy-back scheme. So basically Nest alarms will need replaced with another system that does comply with the law. A frustrating waste of money 😞
10-27-2021 01:23 AM
I believe that it's not just the lack of heat detectors that make the google nest non compliant. Also on the battery model the batteries can be removed, so are not tamper proof, and communication via WiFi is also not permitted, so I would say that unfortunately for all of us with Nest alarms, we are screwed. As has been said before, a now very expensive night light system.
10-27-2021 01:58 AM
The battery replacement might be an issue, but the Nest Smoke alarms do not connect to each other using WiFi, they create their own wireless connections (just like other wireless smoke alarms. ZigBee if I remember correctly), Wifi being used only for initial setup and mobile notification.
10-27-2021 02:53 AM
Ah, I didn't know that I thought they all spoke back via WiFi.
Interesting regarding the ZigBee system, I wonder then if it would be possible for a 3rd party to make a "works with google" version of their ZigBee connected heat sensor.
If they could then they would capture anyone in Scotland who already has a wired nest setup, as they would only need one new device.
10-27-2021 03:02 AM - edited 10-27-2021 05:30 AM
After a bit a digging it turns out that Next Protect use 'Weave' which is based on IEEE 802.15.4, and although similar to Zigbee is not the same thing.
So it's seems unlikely that any 3rd party Heat Sensor that are compatible with Nest Protect will be immediately forthcoming. 😞