Horrible product & service

[Quadster]

Worst experience ever. Nest thermo would not connect to network. Three different solution versions offered by awful off-shore customer service. First one said I needed to call my ISP to remove parental controls from the router. ISP called BS.  Other solutions proffered included restart and factory reset, neither of which worked. Total of five hours on the phone with Nest, which refused to replace the thermo free of charge. I wound up buying a new one for $200, which some forums and YouTubers said was the ultimate solution.

Now I'm wondering if it was the battery, which Nest never mentioned. The thermo has been on the wall for four years, and I found out later that when the battery is weak, it will shut down certain functions including Wi-Fi connectivity. But there was never any visible indication of low battery power. I will be getting around to the battery replacement on the old unit and will report back.

All around a horrible experience. For starters, companies absolutely need to keep customer service and tech support in the US. Enough with these $6,000 per year foreigners.

[Patrick_Caezza]

Which Nest thermostat do you have?

Does it have a C wire installed?

What type of HVAC system do you have?

None of the Nest Learning Thermostats or the Nest Thermostat E have replaceable batteries. Yes, there are people who will tell you that you can replace them, but they are not replaceable. The batteries that are sold as replacement ones are of the wrong size, voltage, and amperage. Will it work if you install one of those "replacement" batteries? Maybe.

Yes, Nest has always claimed that a C wire is not required in most of the installations, but the fact is you need to have a C wire installed to ensure you have no power issues. This is just a fact of the real world.

[Quadster]

Thanks. Yes I do have a "C" wire connected (it's blue). It's upsetting because only today did Nest tell me the battery isn't considered "serviceable." I did see info online about batteries as you describe. But Nest never mentioned a low battery as being a possible cause of my issue, when many online forums described my symptoms to a tee. I now regret buying this product for a second time. They are essentially admitting to planned obsolescence and want you to spend $200 shortly after it's out of warranty. I hope more people see this and consider an alternate product. Next isn't all it's cracked up to be.

[Markjosephp]

Hi folks,

Chiming in and I wanted to stop by and see how I could help.

@Patrick_Caezza, thanks for sharing your knowledge.

@Quadster, I'm sorry if you have to go through this and we'd like you to have a better experience. Let's find out more about what happened. A few questions to isolate:

1. Do you have more than one thermostat? If there's more than one thermostat:
   1. Does the issue show up on the other thermostats too?
2. Is there a wiring report or message on your thermostat and/or app?
3. What are the power readings in on your Nest Thermostat? Settings > Technical info > Power.

I'll look forward for your response.

Thanks,

Mark

[Quadster]

1. One thermostat.

2. No messages ever appeared on unit or app.

3. Too late for this, as I was forced to buy and install a new Nest after only four years of operation.

Google tech support is either incompetent or they're less than forthcoming about battery life.

[Markjosephp]

Hello Quadster,

Chiming in to check if you have additional questions or concerns as we will be locking this thread within 24 hours.

Thanks,

Mark

[Markjosephp]

Hello Quadster,

Thanks for sharing the details, and I'm sorry to hear you're still having issues with your Nest Thermostat that won't connect to the WiFi because of the battery issue.

Please complete this form so that we can help you more effectively and let us know once you're done.

Best,

Mark

[Markjosephp]

Hi there,

I know it has been a while but I wanted to ensure that everything is covered here. Were you able to fill out the form?

Regards,

Mark