This is the transcript from a Google Support chat. It’s sad when even the simplest support request is too hard for customer server / technical support to understand.
- Christine 10:34 AM – Thanks for contacting us! My name is Christine . I’m happy to answer any questions you have about Google Home.
- Christine 10:35 AM – Hi Dave!
- Christine 10:35 AM – How can I help you today?
- Dave Tavres 10:35 AM – Hi there… I’ve been using two Chromecast devices on two TVs for several years… In the past week, suddenly, Google Home won’t turn off the TVs
- Dave Tavres 10:35 AM – I just did factory resets on BOTH Chromecasts, but I still get the error
- Christine 10:35 AM – Understood, let me help you out.
- Dave Tavres 10:35 AM – “Sorry, something went wrong”
- Christine 10:35 AM – Did you make any changes?
- Dave Tavres 10:35 AM – MHL is STILL enabled (on both TVs) – nothing has changed.
- Dave Tavres 10:36 AM – No changes – on EITHER TV and no changes on either Chromecast.
- Christine 10:36 AM – May I know what email address are you using in your Google Home app?
- Dave Tavres 10:36 AM – ***@***.com
- Dave Tavres 10:37 AM – The “Turn off bedroom TV” and “Turn on Desk TV” both stopped working in the past week.
- Dave Tavres 10:37 AM – “Turn on/off”
- Christine 10:37 AM – Open your Google Home app and check if your Chromecast device will show up.
- Dave Tavres 10:37 AM – I’ve also tried “Turn off Bedroom Chromecast” – just get the error message.
- Dave Tavres 10:38 AM – I just factory reset BOTH Chromecast devices and set them up in the past 20 minutes.
- Dave Tavres 10:38 AM – I can use Google Home voice commands to play music just fine.
- Christine 10:38 AM – Is it showing in your Google Home app?
- Dave Tavres 10:38 AM – What? The TVs? Yes – I just factory reset BOTH Chromecast devices and set them up in the past 20 minutes.
- Christine 10:39 AM – Scroll down to “Local devices,” tap add to room then choose your room.
- Christine 10:39 AM – You should select your Chromecast device.
- Dave Tavres 10:39 AM – Where do I find “Local devices” in the Google home app?
- Christine 10:39 AM – At the home page, you will see the name of your Chromecast device.
- Dave Tavres 10:40 AM – Yes – the Chromecast devices are both there – but they are NOT listed under “Local devices”
- Dave Tavres 10:40 AM – I don’t see a “Local devices” option.
- Christine 10:40 AM – Tap one of it then make sure to assign it in a room.
- Dave Tavres 10:40 AM – ?? huh? They get assigned to rooms during setup.
- Dave Tavres 10:40 AM – I just factory reset BOTH Chromecast devices and set them up in the past 20 minutes.
- Dave Tavres 10:41 AM – And assigned them to rooms.
- Dave Tavres 10:41 AM – Do you NOT want me to look for “Local devices”?
- Christine 10:41 AM – Try to cast manually if you can.
- Dave Tavres 10:41 AM – I have done so for both. I can use Google Home voice commands to play music just fine.
- Christine 10:42 AM – I’m asking you to cast manually on your Chromecast device not with your Google Home s’peaker.
- Dave Tavres 10:42 AM – Yes.
- Christine 10:43 AM – Tap the name of your Chromecast device make sure that it’s assigned into a room where your Google Home speaker is located.
- Christine 10:43 AM – Check out this ,link https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7552173?hl=en
- Dave Tavres 10:43 AM – They are both assigned to rooms already. That happens durign setup.
- Christine 10:44 AM – Try to say “Ok Google open Youtube on (name of your TV)”.
- Dave Tavres 10:44 AM – Yes – youtube opens.
- Dave Tavres 10:44 AM – (And plays)
- Christine 10:44 AM – Is it casting from your tv?
- Dave Tavres 10:45 AM – ?
- Dave Tavres 10:45 AM – Youtube is playing on the bedroom TV after I say “Ok Google open Youtube on (name of your TV)”.
- Christine 10:45 AM – So it means it’s working.
- Dave Tavres 10:45 AM – Yes – I told you it was working at the start of this chat.
- Christine 10:46 AM – How many TV’s are you trying to control?
- Dave Tavres 10:46 AM – Just one right now.
- Christine 10:46 AM – Understood, if it is working what other things do you want to do with it?
- Dave Tavres 10:46 AM – “Dave Tavres 10:35 AM Hi there… I’ve been using two Chromecast devices on two TVs for several years… In the past week, suddenly, Google Home won’t turn off the TVs””Dave Tavres 10:35 AM I just did factory resets on BOTH Chromecasts, but I still get the error”
- Christine 10:47 AM – Try to make a command to turn it off.
- Christine 10:47 AM – Make sure to mention the name of yout Tv.
- Dave Tavres 10:47 AM – “Dave Tavres 10:35 AM MHL is STILL enabled (on both TVs) – nothing has changed.”
- Christine 10:47 AM – What do you mean by MHL?
- Dave Tavres 10:47 AM – ? Do you not know what MHL support is for the Chromecast?
- Christine 10:48 AM – I’m not trained for Chromecast features.
- Dave Tavres 10:48 AM – ?? I’m not talking to someone who supports Chromecast?
- Christine 10:48 AM – I’m from Google Home support for Google Home speakers.
- Dave Tavres 10:48 AM – https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7498991?hl=en
- Dave Tavres 10:48 AM – This is the page I’m on.
- Dave Tavres 10:49 AM – When I say “Ok Google turn off Bedroom TV” – I get the response “Sorry, something went wrong.”
- Christine 10:49 AM – Are you using an external Chromecast that is plug in at the back of your TV?
- Dave Tavres 10:49 AM – Yes.
- Dave Tavres 10:49 AM – 2nd generation
- Dave Tavres 10:50 AM – And it’s connected to the MHL port on the TV.
- Christine 10:50 AM – One moment.
- Dave Tavres 10:50 AM – MHL / HDMI-CEC
- Christine 10:51 AM – Unplug your Choromecast device from the tv for 2 minutes.
- Dave Tavres 10:51 AM – Dave Tavres 10:38 AM –
- I just factory reset BOTH Chromecast devices and set them up in the past 20 minutes.Dave Tavres 10:52 AM –
- During that time, each one was unplugged from the TV AND the power for at least 5 minutes.Christine 10:52 AM –
- Understood, but we need to eboot it.
- Dave Tavres 10:52 AM – When you unplug it from the TV AND the power for at least 5 minutes, that should be considered a ‘reboot’
- Dave Tavres 10:52 AM – Which I have done.
- Christine 10:52 AM – We need to do it again.
- Dave Tavres 10:52 AM – I ALSO did a factory reset.
- Dave Tavres 10:52 AM – Okay… it’s unplugged
- Christine 10:53 AM – Because we will be doing a sequential reboot for your devices.
- Christine 10:53 AM – Once 2 minutes is over plug it back then unplug your Google Home speaker for 2 minutes.
- Dave Tavres 10:53 AM – ??
- Dave Tavres 10:53 AM – Huh?
- Christine 10:54 AM – You have a Google Home speaker, right?
- Dave Tavres 10:54 AM – Yes
- Dave Tavres 10:54 AM – So you want me to unplug the Chromecast *and* the Google Home mini?
- Christine 10:55 AM – Once you plug back in your Chromcast that’s the time that you can reboot your Google Home speaker.
- Dave Tavres 10:55 AM – Okay – they are both unplugged. Now what do you want me to do – exactly?
- Christine 10:55 AM – Wait for 2 minutes before plugging it back.
- Dave Tavres 10:56 AM – “it”?
- Dave Tavres 10:56 AM – You’ve talked about two different devices.
- Christine 10:56 AM – Your two devices.
- Dave Tavres 10:56 AM – So plug them both back in now?
- Christine 10:56 AM – Yes.
- Dave Tavres 10:57 AM – Okay – both plugged back in.
- Christine 10:57 AM – Try to make a command in turning it off and on.
- Dave Tavres 10:57 AM – “Sorry, something went wrong. When you’re ready give it another try.”
- Dave Tavres 10:58 AM – That’s what the Google Home mini says
- Christine 10:58 AM – May I know what’s the exact command did you use?
- Dave Tavres 10:58 AM – This worked fine (on both TVs) until last week.
- Dave Tavres 10:58 AM – I said “Okay Google, turn the bedroom TV off.”
- Dave Tavres 10:58 AM – I also tried “Okay Google, turn the bedroom chromecast off” – I get the same error.
- Christine 10:59 AM – We will need to reboot the router (unplug router from power source for 2 minutes) to refresh the signal. Once you do this, you will lose Internet connection—just don’t close this chat box so you won’t lose me.
- Dave Tavres 10:59 AM – ???? WHAT?! You actually think the INTERNET connection is why this won’t work?!
- Dave Tavres 11:00 AM – I use Google WiFi. Can I restart it from the app – or do I need to unplug it from the power?
- Christine 11:00 AM – If you’re getting that error message it seems that they are not communicating properly with your network.
- Dave Tavres 11:00 AM – I can cast Youtube and music with no problem.
- Christine 11:00 AM – You need to unplug it from the power source.
- Dave Tavres 11:01 AM – So doing “Ok Google open Youtube on bedroom TV” works fine – but you still want me to reboot the WiFi router?
- Christine 11:01 AM – Yes please so we can make sure.
- Dave Tavres 11:01 AM – Okay, hold on.
- Christine 11:02 AM – Thank you.
- Dave Tavres 11:04 AM – Okay.. internet came back… and Chromecast said “Connecting” and is now connected.
- Christine 11:05 AM – Great!
- Christine 11:05 AM – Let’s give it a try.
- Dave Tavres 11:05 AM – I just did… same error message. “Sorry, something went wrong…”
- Dave Tavres 11:05 AM – I just tried “Okay Google, open Youtube on bedroom TV” and it started playing.
- Christine 11:05 AM – Have you tried doing a factory reset on your Google Home speaker?
- Dave Tavres 11:05 AM – Yes.
- Dave Tavres 11:06 AM – Google Home Mini
- Christine 11:06 AM – Give me few minutes.
- Dave Tavres 11:08 AM – I have also unplugged power to the TV for several minutes, and plugged it back in.
- Christine 11:09 AM – Understood, give me few minutes and I’m seeking assistance with our higher tier.
- Dave Tavres 11:09 AM – thanks
- Christine 11:10 AM – Thanks for your patience.
- Christine 11:11 AM – Are you using a dual band router?
- Dave Tavres 11:11 AM – I’m using a Google Wifi router
- Christine 11:11 AM – I see.
- Christine 11:14 AM – Thanks for waiting Dave!
- Dave Tavres 11:14 AM – Sure
- Christine 11:15 AM – I’ve already seek help with our higher tier and they advised us to monitor this case within 24 hours. So that they can also check on their end if this issue is happening with other customers.
- Christine 11:15 AM – We will give you a callback tomorrow for an update.
- Dave Tavres 11:15 AM – This has been happening for a week now.
- Christine 11:15 AM – May I have your callback number?
- Dave Tavres 11:15 AM – ***-***-****
- Christine 11:15 AM – Understood. We will have it checked so we can find a fix.
- Dave Tavres 11:15 AM – Unknown numbers are blocked… what number can I add to the whitelist?
- Dave Tavres 11:16 AM – Or, you can email me – ***@***.com – and I can call when they email me
- Christine 11:16 AM – For calling feature check this out https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9849261?hl=en
- Dave Tavres 11:17 AM – ? Huh?
- Christine 11:17 AM – Are you getting an error when your trying to make a phone call using your Google Home Mini?
- Dave Tavres 11:17 AM – I don’t use my Home mini to make or recieve phone calls
- Christine 11:18 AM – For whitelist numbers or blocked numbers we don’t have an access on t.
- Dave Tavres 11:18 AM – ???? WHAT?!?!?!
- Dave Tavres 11:18 AM – What are you talking about?!
- Dave Tavres 11:18 AM – You said someone would call me tomorrow.
- Dave Tavres 11:18 AM – My mobile phone blocks unknown numbers.
- Dave Tavres 11:18 AM – What number will you be calling me from?
- Christine 11:19 AM – A toll free number from Google.
- Christine 11:19 AM – We don’t have a specific number.
- Dave Tavres 11:19 AM – RIght – an UNKNOWN NUMBER.
- Dave Tavres 11:19 AM – So when they call, I won’t get the call.
- Christine 11:19 AM – In case we won’t reach you ut we will be sending you an email.
- Dave Tavres 11:20 AM – Good.
- Christine 11:20 AM – Apologies for the inconvenience. Is there anything else that I can help you out?
- Dave Tavres 11:21 AM – Can you please re-state my problem.
- Christine 11:21 AM – It’s all about turning on and off feature using your Google Home Mini.
- Dave Tavres 11:21 AM – Turning “on and off” what device?
- Christine 11:22 AM – Your chromecat.
- Dave Tavres 11:22 AM – Thank you. And that is what you have in the support ticket that you forwarded to the next tier?
- Christine 11:22 AM – Yes we will contact you tomorrow.
- Dave Tavres 11:23 AM – Thanks… I just want to make sure there’s no confusion that this is about using Home mini to make calls, or that there’s any issue with my Home min.
- Christine 11:23 AM – Understood, thanks for contacting Google! Have a nice day.
Christine ended the chat
Email update: May 2, 2020:
On Sat, May 2, 2020 at 10:12 AM <googlehome-support@google.com> wrote:
Google Nest logo
Hello Dave,
Thanks for reaching out to the Google Nest Customer Care Team.
Apologies for the late response, try to say this command “Ok Google turn on TV / Ok Google turn off TV”. Let me know how it goes.
For your reference your case number is 3-3124000029976. If you need more help, you can contact us again and reference this case number or reply to this email to reopen your case.
Have a new question? There are lots of ways to get back in touch with us below.
Thank you,
Christine
The Google Nest Customer Care Team