Nest Minis say Sorry I don’t understand when asked to turn lights on or off

[Dscottnm]

I have been having this issue with two nest mini 2nd gen for a long time, possibly months now.  I have factory reset them and rebooted them and changed the assistant language from English USA to English Canada as recommended by someone here, but I still cannot get them to turn lights on or off — they always reply with “sorry, I don’t understand.”  I have also uninstalled and reinstalled the app and removed and re-added the devices in the app.  The nest minis can tell me what time it is and tell me a joke, but their primary purpose is to voice control lights that I can’t easily reach.  I removed most of the devices that were connected and only two smart plugs remain.  I was told previously that it was a known issue and would be fixed soon but it has not and I cannot find that post to follow up on it. 

[Yoda007 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I had a similar problem so I changed the names of my lights to something easy to say and now the problem doesn’t happen any more. It also sometimes happen if I have TV or radio speaking in the background or if another person is talking when I say “Hey Google …”. 

Hope you get the issue resolved.

[Yoda007 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I had a similar problem so I changed the names of my lights to something easy to say and now the problem doesn’t happen any more. It also sometimes happen if I have TV or radio speaking in the background or if another person is talking when I say “Hey Google …”. 

Hope you get the issue resolved.

[Dscottnm · Accepted solution]

I changed the names and now it is working.  I changed kitchen lights to just kitchen and stair lights to just stairs.  They had worked well for quite a long time before it quit working so I don’t know if this about what I changed the names to or the fact that I just changed them.  If it helps anyone else, these are Wyze smart plugs. Thank you very much for the answer!!!

[Dscottnm]

I spoke too soon.  It worked twice and now back to sorry I don’t understand again.  

[LovelyM]

Hello everyone, 

@Yoda007, thanks for helping. 

@Dscottnm, please answer the following: were the lights working before? If yes, when did the issue start? What's the manufacturer of your smart lights?

If you haven't already, please try to unlink and relink your smart lights from the Google Home app. Here's how: open the app > Tap the Settings > Look for Works with Google > Select the light manufacturer > Unlink. Do the same steps to relink your devices. Once done, ask your Google Nest Mini to 'sync the lights' and then confirm if you can now control them via voice command. 

Let me know how it goes.

Best, 
Lovely

[LovelyM]

Hi Dscottnm, 

I'm checking in to see if you've tried the steps above. I'd be glad to hear from you, so please tell me if you are still having issues.

Cheers, 
Lovely

[LovelyM]

Hey Dscottnm, 

It's me again. I'm checking in to make sure that you've seen our responses. Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns before we close this thread in 24 hours. 

Thanks, 
Lovely

[Dscottnm]

After unlinking, relinking and syncing it worked a couple of times but now it’s back to sorry I don’t understand once again. Do I need to get smart plugs from a different manufacturer? I don’t know if this is only a Wyze problem because other people have mentioned this issue with other types of devices.  I removed eight other Wyze devices and was going to go with straight google devices to try to prevent issues, but it looks like Google doesn’t make a smart plug.

[LovelyM]

Hello there Dscottnm,

Let's try to rename your smart lights and see if that will help resolve your issue. Here are the steps: open the Google Home app > Tap the light icon > Choose Settings > Select Name to edit > Save. Once done, ask your Google Home device, "Hey Google, sync my lights."

Keep me posted. 

Regards, 
Lovely

[Dscottnm]

Hello Lovely.  I have already tried that, as it was suggested by another user.  It worked for a time or two, then went back to saying "Sorry, I don't understand" again.  Each time I change something, such as changing the language, renaming the smart plug, removing and readding the smart plug, etc., it may work for a time or two and then it stops working again.  Sometimes I can turn a light on but when I try to turn the same light off minutes later I get the error.  I would really like to know if this is a Wyze issue rather than a Google issue, but I don't think it is because I have heard other people say that their Nest gives the same "Sorry, I don't understand" response when using other types of voice commands such as playing music which would not involve a Wyze device.

[LovelyM]

Hi folks, 

Please try to factory reset one of your Google Home or Nest devices and set it up again. Check if the device still responds with "Sorry, I don’t understand" or not.

Thanks,
Lovely

[LovelyM]

Hello there, 

We want to ensure you are both good to go. Please reply to this thread if you still need assistance so we can give you a helping hand.

Cheers,
Lovely

[Dscottnm]

Now it’s different. I can turn the lights on, but when I ask for them to be turned off it tells me that I need to set them up in the Google Home app.  

[Muddi]

Hey Kiki09,

Chiming in, could you tell us the specific command that you're saying? Also, do you have the same issue when using the Google Assistant app on your phone?

Cheers,

Muddi

[Kimy]

Hi there,

I'm just checking in to make sure that you saw our responses. Please let us know if you still need our help, as we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Regards,
Kimy

[Kimy]

Hello there,

We haven’t heard back from you, so I'll be locking this thread in 24 hours. Feel free to create a new one if you have other concerns in the future.

Best,

Kimy

[LovelyM]

Hey Dscottnm, 

It's been a few days since your last reply — we're going to lock the thread within 24 hours. If you have further concerns, please feel free to create a new post.

Best regards,
Lovely

[Kiki09]

I have been having the same problem. It started a couple of weeks ago when I asked my google nest mini to turn off my alarm and it responded with “ sorry I don’t understand try again later”. I get this response to pretty much all commands now.