Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Nest Learning Thermostat is HORRIBLE for Rental Properties. The only thing worse than using the Nest in a rental property, is then contacting Nest support to stand behind their product. I was a huge fan of this company. In fact, I own a total of five Nest Learning Thermostats, representing an investment of $1,250. I will be selling them all on ebay as soon as I am done typing this review. I was an early adopter of the Nest learning thermostat for my primary residence. I thought it worked well, looked cool, and had functions that other thermostats just didn't have. Long-story short, after success with the thermostat in my primary residence, I called Nest to inquire about the functionality if the units were installed in a vacation rental property. The person on the phone said they would work great, and as a landlord I would really like the "lock" feature. They directed me to their support website which said "When Thermostat Lock is enabled, anyone can change the temperature on Nest - but only within a range chosen when you locked Nest". This sounded wonderful. I could set a range of temperatures, and know that my weekly guests would not be turning up the heat to 80 and then leaving for the day, or running the air conditioner on the second floor with the heat running on the first floor. My two vacation rentals are in Florida. I installed them about a month ago - and they worked great - until it got cold in Florida. I had the units set to "cool" mode, but in the evening, the temperature drops quite a bit in late-December/early January, so there are instances when the heat needs to run in the evening or early morning. No problem I thought, because Nest has three different settings: Heat, Cool, or Heat-Cool. I set it to heat-cool, and I set a "lock" range of 68 degrees up to 78 degrees. This meant that the heat would automatically come on if the temperature dropped below 68 degrees, and the air conditioner would automatically come on if the temperature went above 78 degrees, and the guest should be able to set the temperature within that range. I received a call today from the guest telling me that the home was too hot, and asked if everything was working okay. I viewed the Nest online, and I saw that the temperature in the home was 77 degrees. I told her that the air conditioner would automatically kick on if the temperature went over 78 degrees, but if she wanted to adjust the temperature now, she could simply turn the dial to the left. She said "I tried that - but it keeps asking for a lock code". After 15 minutes of me trying to troubleshoot it over the phone, I gave her the unlock PIN and she was able to change the temperature. I then tested the "lock" feature on my Nest at home, and the same thing occurred. This couldn't be right though, because you are supposed to be able to change the temperature within a range. That's the purpose of the lock. I spent over an hour on the phone with Nest customer support, and after initially telling me you always need the PIN to change the temperature on the unit (which is wrong), they changed their story to tell me that the "lock feature" doesn't work in heat-cool mode. Okay - that's a disappointment - but there is nothing I can do. I told them I would like to return the 4 units. They refused, stating I was outside of my 30 day window. I explained "I just installed them on 12/8/2012, and today is 1/2/2013". They said "that's fine, but they were delivered to you on 11/28 - you would have needed to call us on Friday to return them". I protested, and said "but the functionality advertised on your website doesn't work - it is false advertising". I was speaking to "Brooks" in customer service, who is a "level two" adviser. Brooks reply - and I quote - "If it was that big of a deal for you, you should have tested it within the 30 day period and made arrangements then". I explained again that this is Florida, and that there was no need to have it in heat-cool mode a month ago, and why would I expect it not to work if the website said it would work??? I asked him - isn't Nest concerned about their reputation, advertising a feature that doesn't work. He said "it does work - it just doesn't work in heat-cool mode". Brooks went on to say "We can't be expected to list every little thing the Nest can't do on our website" I told him if the locking feature was an "add-on" or a "software upgrade", then that would be fine - but I purchased it based on the locking feature, and the website said it would work. Brooks reply - "The website doesn't specifically say it will work in heat-cool mode". I asked him to read along with me from the website: "When Thermostat Lock is enabled, anyone can change the temperature on Nest - but only within a range chosen when you locked Nest". I again explained that this feature works in "heat only" mode, "cool only" mode, but not "heat-cool" mode. Brooks reply was "We can't allow you to return something that is working. The website doesn't say it won't work in heat-cool mode, but it also doesn't say that it will work in heat-cool mode. It doesn't mention heat-cool mode at all with regard to the locking feature, so you should have no expectation that it would work in heat-cool mode". Really - that's your answer??? It also doesn't say that the unit will work in New York but not Florida, or that it will work on even days but not odd days. Do we have to be that specific?? In closing, his suggestion was that when the unit is in heat-cool mode that I disable the locking feature. Of course, If I were to unlock the thermostat, then the guests could move the temperature to as high or as low as they would like, they could disconnect the unit from the wi-fi, they could program a static temperature so the house will be nice and cool when they arrive home in the evening, even though they might have spent the past 12 hours at Disney, so I would be cooling a vacant house. They could disable the "learning" feature. They could disable the "auto away" feature" They would see my e-mail address and perhaps password in the settings menu. Words cannot express how disappointed I am with this company. I really thought they were different. Couldn't they have said "you know what, you're right, the locking feature doesn't work in heat-cool mode. We're sorry". I could understand if I found out about this 2 years after I installed the thermostat - but I missed the return date by one business day, and their website clearly displays an error with regard to the lock feature. My last issue - which up until now I have lived with - is that these units disconnect from the wi-fi on a regular basis. Remember, I have 5 units across three different homes, each with a different router, in two states, and two cable companies. The wi-fi drops are not "operator error" - it is something in the unit itself. If it is installed in your home, so you don't need the wi-fi, and you don't care about remote access or the locking feature, then you will love the unit. If you are relying on for a rental property or second home - then stay away.