SSML code ignored when speak tag is used

I have a service that returns a strings with SSML strings in them. If I pass this to the ApiAiAssistant SDK wrapped in a <speak> tag, Google Home complete ignores everything inside the <say-as> tag. Is this because the app hasn’t been fully deployed?

Examples:

const phonetic_name = 'Product <say-as interpret-as="characters">ABC1</say-as> - Bottle';

//  Google Home says: "We found Product less-than say as interpret as equals 
//  characters greater-than A-B-C-1 less-than say as greater-than Bottle"
assistant.ask(`We found ${phonetic_name}`);

//  Google Home says: "We found less-than speak greater-than Product 
//  less-than say as interpret as equals characters greater-than A-B-C-1 less-than
//  say as greater-than Bottle less-than speak greater-than
assistant.ask(`We found <speak>${phonetic_name}</speak>`)

//  Google Home says: "We found Product Bottle"
//  Web simulator response:
//  { "response": "We found Product<unknown word to simulator>- Bottle\n" }
//
//  Further down in the debugInfo:
//  "final_response": {
//    "rich_response": {
//      "items": [{
//        "simple_response": {
//          "ssml": "<speak>We found Product <say-as interpret-as=\"characters\">ABC1</say-as> - Bottle</speak>"
//        }
//      }]
//    }
//  }
assistant.ask(`<speak>We found ${phonetic_name}</speak>`)

The last one seems to be the correct way to do this, however in both the simulator and on the Google Home device it’s refusing say the things inside the say-as tags. Am I doing something wrong?

[glittle]

All I needed was to read out numbers, so I got what I needed by doing 'my number'.split('').join(' ') and it correctly reads the numbers for me.

[Swivelgames]

@glittle Please see my solution and let me know if it works for you.