I purchased a second generation Sub during the first week of May, but I had to return it due to a strange burning smell that it started to produce. The sound was fine, but I didn’t want to risk a fire while I was away from home.
After I contacted Support about this issue, they sent me a return label, and I dropped off the Sub at UPS. No issues so far, as Sonos support told me that they’d send me a new unit after receiving the defective one.
As I’m not too familiar with returning electronics, I also asked Support to send me a new unit and not a refurbished item. I think Apple has a reputation for this. Support said they’d send me a new unit and that was the end. Or so I thought.
I received a refurbished unit a few days later, and I contacted Support to ask why I received a used item for a product that was less than a week old. Instead of playing the exchange game again, I told them to just refund the Sub after I shipped it back.
Off to UPS (again) I go to drop off the refurbished Sub, and I figure that’s the end. But it’s not. I receive an email about a 10-15 business day waiting period for the Sub. I’ve never heard of having to wait that long for a refund. But, sure, what choice do I have? I go along with it and wait the 15 BUSINESS days. Then nothing.
I contact Sonos by phone this time, as I’d read online that phone works faster. Big mistake. I am on hold, then transferred, then transferred, then hung up on. 48 minutes. I decide to play it out when Sonos calls me back. (At least they called me back after hanging up on me.)
After accepting their call, I am on hold again, then transferred, then transferred, then transferred, then on hold, then I’m told that the department that handles this “type” of return is out of the office for the day. But don’t worry, I’ll hear from someone by email before the end of the day. (I didn’t.) The best part? This second call took 1 HOUR and 47 MINUTES. Close to 3 hours on the phone total and no help at all. The only thing I learned is that the refund never processed. (I have the email from Sonos that says the refund processed.)
Rather than try the phone experiment again, I emailed Support to let them know that I had not been helped and that I’m still missing the money from my account. I also told them that I was not willing to wait another 10-15 BUSINESS days for a refund.
I received a reply from a supervisor (Liz P) who gave me a canned response about how they looked into the matter and processed the refund. I would need to wait another 10-15 business days.
I would never have had to deal with this issue if I would have just used my credit card instead of PayPal. PayPal doesn’t offer chargebacks, and Chase would have refunded my money in a few days max.
I’m curious if anyone else has been stuck in refund limbo or had a similar experience. What Sonos is doing by holding onto funds makes me question the financial health of the company.
I encourage anyone who wants a Sonos product to please use a credit card when dealing with them. They make great products, but the billing/customer service side is atrocious. I worked at call center for a bit, so I empathize with the Sonos phone reps. It’s not their fault, and I never raised my voice with any of them. It’s the fault of management. Management does not equip customer support with answers or proper training.
TLDR: Ordered a new Sub. Sub was defective. Sonos exchanged said Sub with a refurb. I asked for a refund and have been waiting since early May. I’m on here to see if anyone else had this problem and just to educate people to please only use a credit card on their site (or just buy from a retailer).
