How to File a Claim Against Google Nest

We’ve all been there at one point or another where we use a service happily, and then see activity on our account, maybe a charge that we weren’t expecting. Perhaps your issue with Google Nest has to do with being refunded for something that doesn’t work or misleading sales tactics, maybe it’s an issue with a promotional credit. No matter the case, if you’ve been wronged by Google Nest you might want to know how to sue them. We can help.

Google Nest Customer Service

Google Nest makes it really difficult to speak with a real person. If you have a problem with your service or your account, their help and support page lists a range of topics that might answer your question but most of these have to do with functionality and not with account problems. For that, your best bet is to reach out to customer service over the phone at 1 (855) 469-6378.

Sometimes the company won’t bother fixing the issue until you pay for the mistake, or admit you did something wrong, even if you didn’t. What do you do in these cases?

Now you go to small claims court.

Arbitration Clauses

Your user agreement with Google Nest will most likely have language that prevents you from taking a lot of legal actions, like joining an existing class action lawsuit or starting a new one against the company. However, this doesn’t mean you have no options. 

What you can do instead is go to small claims court or use consumer arbitration. 

Is Small Claims Court the Best Solution?

Just because you are able to sue Google nest in small claims court doesn’t mean that you can. Not every case is suitable.

For example: small claims court will only deal with monetary compensation and not Equitable compensation which isn’t likely to be a problem if your issue is one that involves money. If you have a problem with physical technology or equipment, the court won’t be able to get you new equipment but instead can give you the monetary value of that equipment so that you can replace it yourself.

This is something to take into consideration when you are determining how much money you want Google Nest to give you in order to solve the problem.

This is important because most small claims courts have monetary limits between $5,000 and $10,000 on average but in some cases as low as $2,500. So if you’re trying to get compensation for a small amount, it might not qualify and if you’re trying to get compensation for complete damage is not covered by your insurance policy after Google Nest failed to function properly, that might be something above and beyond the court limit.

How to Sue Google nest in small claims court

The first thing you have to do is send a demand letter. You have to contact the Google Nest once more just to let them know that you’re going to small claims court but you are asking them nicely to voluntarily fix the problem first.

In many cases if the company really believes you’re going to file against them, they might offer you a settlement at this point in exchange for dropping the case because that will prove less costly to them.

In this demand letter you need simply include a few sentences that explain who you are, what your contact information is, maybe your account number, what the issue is, what you’ve tried to do all ready to fix it, and what you want Google Nest to do now. This should be sent via certified mail to their official mailing address.

Google Nest Labs
3400 Hillview Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94304*

*Note: The address you should use will be listed in your individual agreement.

If you don’t get a response or the response you get is not as polite or apologetic as you might have expected, then you follow these steps:

1. Fill out your state required forms. Check your state court website to find all the necessary forms. You might have formed specifically your state and your county in which case you’ll need those as well. Be sure to have the right number of copies. Most courts require three or four copies and if you don’t have enough, you’ll have to come back another time.
2. Formally file your complaint with the court.  Bring all the forms that you filled out to the courthouse at the right time. Pay the county clerk the small claims court filing fee. Then they will take your paperwork, give you stamped copies and an upcoming court hearing date.
3. Legally “serve” Google Nest. You have to legally notify Google Nest that you have taken additional action by serving them a copy of the court documents. Your state court website will have specifications on how this process is to be done. Be sure you follow these specifically otherwise your case will be thrown out.
4. Go to your court hearing. Make sure you have the documents that you filed with the court house originally as well as any other evidence you have to back up your complaint against Google Nest. They may or may not send a representative but either way your job is to explain your side clearly to the judge. 

Use Consumer Arbitration

If you fall outside of the requirements for small claims court or the process seems too time-consuming, there is always consumer arbitration. The steps for this are pretty similar but we help you generate documents and serve the right people.

Steps to File a Claim Against Google Nest with Consumer Arbitration 

1. Submit your complaint to Google Nest. This is an official, legal notice that you are pursuing legal action if they don’t fix the problem. To make it easier, you can tell us what they did, what you’ve tried to do, and how you want them to fix it now using our online interface. We generate the legal notice for you and submit on your behalf. 
2. We also create the hard-copy demand letter which contains a time frame. We ask Google Nest to fix it by a deadline and if they don’t, you will use consumer arbitration. Google Nest could choose to settle at this point, recognizing that it could end up costing them a lot more if they don’t. But if they don’t settle, there are still options.
3. File your arbitration documents from the American Arbitration Association. We file on your behalf with a “documents only” arbitration process so you don’t have to take time off work to go to meetings or courthouses.
4. The documents are filed with the American Arbitration Association on your behalf.  A case administrator is appointed who will collect information and be the go-between for you and Google Nest. An arbitrator is appointed who will set a hearing which you can choose to do over the phone, in person, or “documents only”.