Skip to main content

I’ve had a Beam (Gen 1) installed for a few years, using my Amazon/Alexa account to control devices in my living room. It’s worked flawlessly, until a few weeks ago.

Alexa itself works fine - I can ask questions, interact with the service etc, but I cannot control any of my smart devices. After puzzling on this for a few days, I stumbled on the issue: the Sonos device is using the wrong Amazon account, one belonging to my daughter. The smart devices shouldn’t exist in her profile, but I don’t get any “errors” - just the little chime after issuing a command that suggests it’s worked as normal.

 

I have other Amazon Echo devices in my home, and they’re working fine: for example, asking my Echo:

switch on plug 1

.. switches on plug 1. Trying the same with the Sonos gives the chime, but plug 1 doesn’t do anything (given that the other account doesn’t know about “plug 1”, I’m surprised it doesn’t say something along the lines of “I don’t know about device plug 1”)

 

if I ask the Echo

what profile am I using?

it’ll answer

you’re using Kenny’s profile

 

However, if I ask Alexa on the Sonos

what profile am I using?

it’ll answer

you’re using <my daughter’s> profile

 

My daughter - grown up and left home - has been nowhere near this device recently, so I’ve no idea what’s happened. More importantly, I can’t fix it: I’ve searched and tried all the usual advice: both from the Alexa and the Sonos apps, I’ve tried removing the Sonos skill from Alexa and the Alexa setting from Sonos, I’ve rebooted, reset and rechecked everything a hundred times, from multiple different mobile devices (none of which my daughter’s account has ever been used on), but still Sonos insists on using the wrong account!

 

Asking Alexa on Sonos to:

switch my profile

… tells me that it’s not supported.

 

So: Alexa itself is fine - using Alexa from an Echo device is working as normal, but the Sonos has somehow associated itself with another account, and I cannot get it to unassociate/reassociate with the correct account. Any advice?

If you open the Sonos App>Settings>Services & Voice>Amazon Alexa and then select your Beam, does it show the correct account?  If not select Remove Alexa and then re-add.


Yes, it shows as the correct account (my account) in the Sonos app.


Yes, it shows as the correct account (my account) in the Sonos app.

Try removing it and re connecting it.


Afraid I’ve done that, several times (see my original post). I’ve tried removing the account, removing the skill, rebooting everything inbetween, using different devices (iOS and Android) to re-set up the account. Nothing makes any difference :(


I’m not sure that the profile is the problem here. Profies are a subset of an account, as I understand it, and your daughters profile should have full access to all the smart devices.

Have you looked at Alexa support online, or contacted them?  This might be an issue they are familiar with.  Have you looked at the activity in the Alexa app  (More → Activity History) to see if there is any error  or something stated there?  Alternatively, you can contact Sonos support directly.  Create a diagnostic right after the issue happens and Sonos staff will be able to look at logs to get a better idea of exactly what’s happening.


I haven’t contacted Alexa support I’m afraid - given that Alexa’s working fine on other Echo devices, I suspected it was more of a Sonos problem. I’ve also tried a work-around: I installed Alexa on my Samsung TV (which is the TV that the Beam is connected to), and again Alexa works fine there. So it’s something Sonos-specific, or at least related to the Alexa “registration” on that device.

Looking at my Amazon account, I don’t have any sub-profiles: it’s just my account with no-one else on it. My daughter has a completely separate Amazon account.


Your issue may be linked to this post, I suggest that you call Sonos support:

 


I haven’t contacted Alexa support I’m afraid - given that Alexa’s working fine on other Echo devices, I suspected it was more of a Sonos problem. I’ve also tried a work-around: I installed Alexa on my Samsung TV (which is the TV that the Beam is connected to), and again Alexa works fine there. So it’s something Sonos-specific, or at least related to the Alexa “registration” on that device.

Looking at my Amazon account, I don’t have any sub-profiles: it’s just my account with no-one else on it. My daughter has a completely separate Amazon account.

 

So it’s not a matter of the wrong profile, but the entirely wrong account.  Is your daughter’s amazon music  service account setup in Sonos?  If so, can you remove that?  

Have you tried removing Alexa from the specific speaker (not disabling the skill entirely) and then reinstalling it?

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/remove-a-voice-service

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/set-up-amazon-alexa-with-a-voice-enabled-sonos-speaker


No, my daughter’s account has never been set up on any Sonos device - she has her own Echo device at her own home.

Yes, I’ve tried just removing the service from the speaker :(