I have had my Nest Thermostat for over 2 years now. I have had 1 issue over a year ago. The Nest team was excellent and after trouble shooting the problem they sent me out a replacement unit. That unit has worked great until the end of July.
The settings in the newer unit have been set to Balanced as it relates to the energy/comfort settings since I have had the unit. I left for vacation and turned of most of my electronics and such (not my AC unit) while I was gone. I left the AC as always because I had dogs at the house that were being watched by a neighbor. When I returned 6 days later and checked my energy consumption (which should have been lower) I discovered that it was averaging more than double for the past 5 days. I called the Nest team and was told it was an AC unit issue and to call an AC company. I called Top Notch AC company and they responded quickly. They checked my AC unit and advised that my thermostat was bad. They said it was telling my heat strips to come on every time my AC unit kicked on. They checked the thermostat and again said the thermostat was bad and to replace it. They disconnected the power to the heat strips while I contacted the NEST company, so I would not continue having outrageous electric bills.
I called Nest back, thinking it was still under warranty, and they ran me through a list of diagnostic procedures and determined that the Base of the unit was bad and not the Thermostat. It is then we discovered that the unit was out of warranty. They said that despite what the AC company said it was not the Thermostat, but the base unit. They assured me that purchasing a base unit would resolve my issue. I was hesitant because the AC company who actually diagnosed the unit said it was the actual Thermostat, but opted to follow the directions of the NEST representative.
I purchased the base ($50) and waited for it to come in. The base unit came in about a week or so later. I replaced the Base unit but was not able to reconnect the heat strips back immeditately. During this period of time, while the heat strips were disconnected, my energy bill was back to normal.
After hooking the power back up to the heat strips, I discovered the next day that again my energy consumption jumped to more than 2.5 times the normal daily usage. I unhooked the heat strips again and the consumption dropped again.
I called a different AC company this time for a 2nd opinion. I told them only that my energy bill was high and they check out my unit. They too discovered that the Thermostat was powering up the heat strips when the AC kicked on and that was causing the drastic increase in energy consumption. They also said the Thermostat was bad and needed to be replaced.
Today I called the NEST team again. This time they said the issue was a setting on the thermostat. And that I needed to change it from Balanced to Energy Savings. They avoided my question several times as to my all of a sudden the Balance Setting was causing the Heat strips to come on. I requested that they provide me a credit for the $50 I had already spent, at the direction and promise that it would fix my problem and they refused.
Josh the NEST representative (case number 4-19684032238) could not provide an answer to why all of a sudden the same settings as I have always had suddenly increased the consumption. I aske for the credit and he attempted to process a warranty claim, even though I told him I already knew it was out of warranty. He eventually told me that the warranty would not go through and I asked me if I had returned the old base. I advised him that I did not, because they new base was purchased and I was not told to keep the old base. He said I could pay full price for the new unit and then ship back the base that I had purchased. I am fine with this, IF I get it in writing, but that was not gonna happen.
I requested a supervisor several times, and Josh just kept saying that the supervisor would tell me the exact same thing he had told me. I told that might be true, but I would prefer to hear it from a supervisor and not him. Eventually he told me that no supervisor was available but they would call me back. As of the writing of this complaint, I have not heard back from a supervisor.
Can someone at NEST help me please.
