Google Nest Smart Thermostat (Open Box)

I purchased the Google Nest thermostat 16 months ago. I had high hopes for this thermostat. It got top rated reviews and I was hoping for a smooth integration with my Alexa system. The trouble began at installation. I couldn’t get it working. I’m very handy and I enjoy dealing with electrical and electronic systems. I struggled with this thermostat installation until I had to call customer service for assistance. The first technician had me reconnect the wires (incorrectly) and reset the thermostat to no avail. I got handed off to another technician and this one got me to put the wires back and do a factory reset. Anyway, getting the thermostat to actually control my ac system was a “whole thing!” This thermostat would control my system with temperature presets but would lose the connection with Alexa. When this happened none of the schedules could be followed and I had no remote control through my phone or through Alexa or even The Google Home app. When I attempted to connect to the thermostat, Alexa would say; “Living room thermostat is unresponsive. Please check your power supply and your Wi-Fi or router!” None of my other “smart” devices were having problems so these instructions seemed pointless! The connection would usually be lost daily and sometimes the connection lasted for only a few hours. The only way that I could regain control was to physically go to the thermostat, scroll to settings and “Restart” the thermostat. When on vacation, I like to keep my ac running because I have pets and my pet sitters come over twice a day. After I left. The thermostat went to “Eco” because Alexa sensed that we were “Away”. That’s fine but I couldn’t override that because the thermostat was (you guessed it) “Unresponsive!” After 16 months of this I finally decided to do the dreaded “Factory Reset” which I had been avoiding because I would have to start from the beginning on programming. Well, after a while, I finally got it back on line, and was pretty confident that I had fixed it. Four hours later. “The living room thermostat is unresponsive. Please check…” I surfed through the Internet and found that this was not an isolated issue. In fact, I found that Google Customer Service would send a free replacement if their tech support could not resolve the (known) connectivity issue. I then spoke to my son and told him about the possible free replacement. He simply said, “ So you are going to replace the thermostat with the same kind and very possibly still have the same issues?” I didn’t have a response. So I finally decided to purchase an Amazon thermostat. There was no secondary app to install so the connectivity should be seamless. I bought for 18% off on “Prime Days” sale so it was considerably less expensive than the Google Nest. I won’t go into the product review of the Amazon thermostat here. But, I will say that I am very pleased with my new thermostat. I have not lost connectivity since start-up. I regret that it took me way too long to replace the Google Nest with a reliable thermostat. The Google Nest may be a top rated thermostat but in my personal experience, the secondary app created a problem with connectivity with Alexa making it unreliable. Towards the end of my struggles with the Nest, I was “Restarting” it daily and sometimes twice a day. In fact, it would surprise me if Alexa would ever be able to tell me the inside temperature of my home! Hey Google. As for your thermostat replacement offer, Thanks, but NO THANKS!