Google’s Nest Smart Speakers Stop Listening, Users Say in New Class Action

Case Overview: The lawsuit accuses Google of selling defective Nest devices that no longer respond.

Consumers Affected: U.S. buyers of malfunctioning Nest smart-home products.

Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

Google popular Nest devices have a widespread, system-breaking flaw, according to a new lawsuit, in which users say they no longer reliably respond to voice commands. 

Four products, the Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max, Nest Mini and Nest Audio, suffer from a malfunction that leaves them unable to carry out basic tasks, rendering entire smart-home setups effectively useless and a waste of money, the lawsuit claims.

Google heavily marketed its devices as a dependable, hands-free way to control lights, thermostats, media, and other appliances through Google Assistant, the lawsuit states, but users now say the backend processing that interprets voice commands has deteriorated to the point where devices routinely ignore requests, misfire, or return unrelated results.

Users Say Google’s Smart Devices No Longer Understand Commands

Four Nest users from California, New York, Texas, and Florida say they collectively spent years building smart-home ecosystems around Nest devices, only to watch them fall apart. 

Alexander Kwitny, Nicholas Schieder, Bradley Calame, and John Mucci filed the lawsuit, where they argue the devices triggered the wrong actions, refused to process routine commands, responded with random audio, or failed to recognize registered voices.

The group says they invested thousands of dollars in Nest products and compatible accessories, repeatedly attempted fixes, resetting devices, re-linking accounts, retraining voice profiles, and spent hours troubleshooting, with no improvement. 

Several say the malfunctions occur dozens of times a day, disrupting basic tasks like turning on lights, checking the weather, playing music, and managing home routines.

Complaint Blames Google’s Own Systems for the Breakdowns

Google’s server-side processing, the system that analyzes voice commands and sends instructions back to devices, is the root of the malfunction, the group alleges. Instead of improving over time, they say it has grown less accurate and less reliable, causing devices to misinterpret or ignore even simple requests. 

Users online have reported similar problems for years, according to the complaint.

The group urged Google to address the problem under consumer-protection and warranty laws in a letter they sent in October, according to the lawsuit, but Google declined, saying its services are provided “as is” and suggesting users enroll in its new Gemini for Home system. Plaintiffs argue that Gemini does not resolve the underlying issue.

Smart-Tech Lawsuits Pile Up as Devices Stop Working

Google is already facing other lawsuits over alleged privacy violations and data collection practices involving its AI models across Gmail, Chat, and Meet. The company has also agreed to multimillion-dollar settlements in unrelated data-sharing and tracking cases.

Meanwhile, Sonos is defending another speaker related proposed class action lawsuit after a 2024 app redesign allegedly crippled core speaker functions and left customers with pricey hardware they say no longer works properly.

In the Google Nest smart speaker lawsuit, the proposed class wants to represent U.S. customers who bought Nest devices from retailers other than Google’s online store. They accuse Google of misleading consumers, selling defective products, violating advertising and warranty laws, and failing to provide the reliable smart-home controls it promised. 

They’re seeking damages, refunds, the return of Google’s profits, attorneys’ fees, and a court order requiring the company to fix the devices so they function as advertised.

Case Details

• Lawsuit: Kwitny, et al. v. Google LLC
• Case Number: 5:25-cv-10182 
• Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division 

Plaintiffs' Attorneys

• Jonathan D. Selbin, Jason Lichtman, and Tiseme Zegeye (Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP)
• Darren T. Kaplan (Kaplan Gore, LLP)

Do your smart-home devices ever ignore you? Share your story in the comments.