Google Assistant/Home: A strange man’s voice answers

My household has far too many Google products in it, among them several Home Hub, Nest, and original Home speakers. There are very few commands we actually use on a regular basis but turning off a light near the bed, setting the temperature, and turning on an array of lights to make my basement look less like a death trap are things we use all the time.

For the past few months a rather regular event has been my wife attempting to turn off a device, being greeted by a male voice saying that the TP-Link Kasa service is unreachable and to try again later. No matter how many times she asks once it’s told her it’s down Google Assistant will have the male voice, and all her requests will somehow not work.

Now, I know the voice options for Assistant, it’s one of the male voices… but none of us have chosen one of the male voices. Both her and my Google Assistant voices are stock and neither of the kids have chosen that voice. Once the man’s voice is heard, nothing works for her. I ask Assistant to turn out the light and bam.

It’s become a running joke that it just hates her. The later it is in the night the less chance she has of it turning off the light she’s reading by.

Light is wired in such a way that to turn it off manually you need to crawl under a desk six feet away, using voice commands is preferable.

We’ve never been able to narrow down anything other than that it’s on one of the original Google Homes, and it’s usually after 11pm. Works fine any other times. If I’m not mistaken the volume is also slightly louder, although that might just be the voice.