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I have traded up my "legacy" Sonos 5 believeing that it would soon be inoperable. What now?

  • 4 February 2020
  • 37 replies
  • 1061 views
N
Userlevel 1

I have just received a new Sonos 5 which I ordered after I was led to believe that my existing “legacy” Sonos 5 woud no longer operate as from May this year. Will the legacy product continue to work following the Sonos change in policy or I have I been suckered into buying a new product unnecessarily?

My system is telling me that my device will “deactivate in 8 days”. What does that mean for ongoing use of the device??

Like many others, I have spent a lot of money on Sonos products over the years and I am extremely frustrated and disappointed by what has gone on here.

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Best answer by Smilja 4 February 2020, 09:56

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37 replies

N
Userlevel 1

Yes I have received the Play 5 Gen 2, but have not unpacked it yet. Will do so once I settle down. 

Looking back, I should have questioned the ethics of what Sonos was doing as others did before rushing into the trade up. I am sure I will be happy with the performance of the new product (I have two other Play 5 Gen 2s) but I am not happy with the way in which Sonos procured the sale. It’s no way to treat longstanding & loyal customers who have provided Sonos with fantastic word of mouth advertising. The brand has been badly damaged.

BTW, in two houses I have 3 x Play 5, 1 x Playbase, 1 x Beam, 2 x Subs, and 3 x Ones. That’s about $6,000 worth of Sonos equipment, and a significant investment in the technology, which I have always admired.

Enough said by me. Thanks to those who replied to my question. Happy listening  on whatever system you may choose to use!

Nyssa

jgatie

I only got the voice control “value” if I bought an Echo Dot or upgraded to a One.  I want reimbursement.  

Am I doing this right? 

N
Userlevel 1

Here is what Sonos said when promoting the trade up:

“Please note that because Sonos is a system, all products operate on the same software. If modern products remain connected to legacy products after May, they also will not receive software updates and new features.”

So  you could continue to use a legacy product as part of your system but neither it nor any of the other components (even if recently purchased) would receive updates. In other words, your whole sytem would be rendered obsolete if you continue to use the legacy product.

In other words, you better get rid of your legacy products if you want your system to work as it should!

So, yes, I guess it doesn’t say that in terms that the legacy product won’t work -- what it says is that your system won’t receive updates for so longer as the legacy device continues to be used in your system.

My take-away -- if you don’t replace the legacy component none of the components in the system (new or old) will be updated and they will not work as they should.

All that said, can anyone answer my question??

 

J

Thanks for taking the time to post that.

I didn't know this is the second time they are dumping hardware. I feel sick having bought an amp recently. I was reading in other threads about the CEO lying about how products get better over time, ugh wish I could return it to limit my exposure.

I am genuinely curious.  Why are you sick about your recent purchase? In what sense is the CEO's comment lying?

melvimbe

@Nyssa if you seriously want to try and reverse your trade up decision, I think your best move is to contact Sonos directly and plead your case.  It really doesn’t matter what the opinion of the community is on the subject.

Danny
N
Userlevel 1

Hello @Smilja,

A couple of things you said call for comment:

“When you recycle an eligible Sonos product, you are choosing to permanently deactivate it. Once you confirm you’d like to recycle your product, the decision cannot be reversed.”

How convenient!  However, I doubt that it is correct if the truth be known. I expect that Sonos (but not the user) can halt the deactivation process if it wanted. Nor do I expect this is information Sonos  wants to share with us.

“Was the move to legacy mode eventually unavoidable? It was. Have Sonos promoted this move in an awkward way? They did. I think no one is going to deny that.”

Awkward? Not the word most people would use to describe the company’s behaviour.

“And yes, legacy units will continue to work as they do today. They just won’t get new features.”

That may be what Sonos now says but when I placed my “trade up” order the advice was that there would be no updates (which would include security patches) for either the legacy product or any other product in the same system.”

As for pleading my case @melvimbe, thanks for your advice, but I’m minded to stick with the new Gen 2 which I’m sure is a better product. But I’ll be far more cautious in my dealing with Sonos in future and will at least consider purchasing another brand when I am ready for a major system upgrade. Until now I would not have given other products a moment’s thought.

Best Regards

Nyssa

 

melvimbe

As for pleading my case @melvimbe, thanks for your advice, but I’m minded to stick with the new Gen 2 which I’m sure is a better product. But I’ll be far more cautious in my dealing with Sonos in future and will at least consider purchasing another brand when I am ready for a major system upgrade. Until now I would not have given other products a moment’s thought.

 

Just my personal opinion, but if  a company makes a announcement that isn’t going to be well received by a significant set of customers...wait a few days before taking action.  It’s not that uncommon for the message to be modified or clarified in the days following.  In this case, absolutely nothing was to be gained by rushing to a decision, as nothing was going to change till May.  If you had waited till the news sunk in and died down a bit, then you would have been able to make your decision with better information, and no, or at least less, regrets.

Danny
melvimbe

 

“And yes, legacy units will continue to work as they do today.

 

Erm, there-in lies the rub. Legacy units will, but your system won’t, unless you choose to hobble the legs of your modern units by tying them to the legs of the legacy units.

Did you buy a collection of units or did you buy a system of such units - an important distinction.

 

If you keep Legacy units in your system, then your entire system will continue to work as it does today.  You will not receive regular updates, no functionality changes.  Sonos has promised to provide bug fixes and security patches when needed and when possible given the hardware constraints of legacy products.

Danny
Smilja

Hello @Smilja,

A couple of things you said call for comment:

“When you recycle an eligible Sonos product, you are choosing to permanently deactivate it. Once you confirm you’d like to recycle your product, the decision cannot be reversed.”

How convenient!  However, I doubt that it is correct if the truth be known. I expect that Sonos (but not the user) can halt the deactivation process if it wanted. Nor do I expect this is information Sonos  wants to share with us.

 

@Nyssa, I’ve quoted from the offical FAQ. You had to comply with the terms and conditions prior to launching the recycling process. Reading agreements carefully before signing them is vital.

»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
jgatie

 

“And yes, legacy units will continue to work as they do today.

 

Erm, there-in lies the rub. Legacy units will, but your system won’t, unless you choose to hobble the legs of your modern units by tying them to the legs of the legacy units.

Did you buy a collection of units or did you buy a system of such units - an important distinction.

 

So you own a system that works like they do in the future?  Because unless you do, your entire system will work exactly like it does today after May 20.  Nothing hobbled, it will work on May 21 just like it did on May 19.  And it will continue working like that, it just won’t work like a modern system that gets new features.  

jgatie

This undelivered value is not my invention, by the way; it is the logical conclusion from the Spence statement that when a customer buys a Sonos product today, he also pays in advance for what Sonos will deliver to him tomorrow in terms of more/better features. 

Can I now expect some refund on my four play 1 units and a Sub that will remain in a legacy system after May?

 

Moving the goalposts.  You said your system will not continue to operate as it does today.  That is untrue.

melvimbe

But the rest of my post stands - by saying now that you will get what you bought, a system, will need modern products to remain part of a legacy system, leaves Sonos with undelivered value on modern products for the price collected for these, that logically merits a refund to such users that will leave modern products in a legacy system.

 

I disagree. That ‘undelivered value’ is still there be acquired if the customers wants it, they just have to meet the current requirements.  In the same way that you have always been required to update your system in order to receive that ‘value’.  Or in the same way that you were required to sign up for a particular streaming service, voice service, and internet service to receive a particular ‘value’.    You have to have a particular device with a particular OS version to get ‘value’.

 

If you make the argument that the conditions to receive value were not specified at purchase...I don’t think that holds water either, since conditions have always been changing and the specific value isn’t typically known at the time of purchase either.

 

Ultimately, I don’t think the ‘value’  you’re claiming can really be guaranteed, and thus warrant a refund if the customer doesn’t opt to meet the conditions to use that value, because the value is undefined.  As a hypothetical, a customer would not be able to ask for a refund if Sonos simply didn’t provide any new features over a certain period of time, or just not a feature the customer considered to be valuable enough.

 

I am not suggesting a customer can’t be disappointed with future features or feel that the conditions aren’t acceptable  There is a difference between being upset about the situation, wanting to sell your products or move on to a different system, and expecting a refund based on something that wasn’t defined at the point of sale.

 

Danny
K

 I was led to believe that my existing “legacy” Sonos 5 woud no longer operate as from May this year.

Just curious: how were you led to believe this? Any Sonos pronouncement you can point to?

J

Wherever your mistaken belief came from it wasn't from anything Sonos said. 

Smilja

@Nyssa, the Play:5 1st Gen has been put into recycling mode, in 8 days it will be deactivated, meaning it will no longer work.

 

What to expect

When you recycle an eligible Sonos product, you are choosing to permanently deactivate it. Once you confirm you’d like to recycle your product, the decision cannot be reversed. The deactivation happens 21 days after you choose to recycle the Sonos product. The 21-day countdown cannot be cancelled. You can also choose to deactivate the product immediately in the System section of the Settings tab.

Once the Sonos product deactivates, it will securely erase itself of all of your personal information before going into Recycle Mode.

To see how many days remain until your product deactivates, check the product’s name under the Rooms tab in the Sonos app.

During the countdown and once the product has been deactivated, the product cannot be re-added to any system or used to set up a new Sonos system, even if the product has been reset to its factory settings.
 

Recycling your Sonos product

Once your Sonos product has been deactivated, you can safely recycle it by bringing it to your local e-waste recycling center.

You can also send your deactivated Sonos product back to us and we’ll handle the recycling. You can find more information on this page.

 

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3573?language=en

»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
melvimbe

I’m still b-hurt over my dead CR-100 collection… Who do I call?

Woah I didn't know this is the second time they've done this to old hardware. I would be angry too.

 

The two situations are similar, but have differences as well.  The CR-100 is a controller, and was easily replacing by mobile apps that almost everyone has.  They offered a $100 dollar voucher for each CR-100, not a trade in.  There also was no legacy locked version of the system that customers could easily decide to say on.  The CR-100 would no longer work at all after a certain version.  Many customers decided they wanted to forgo updates and lock their systems down to that current version.

 

You could make an argument that what Sonos is doing now is exactly what many CR-100 users were asking Sonos to do then, which is just make it easy for them to stay to stay on their legacy version with CR-100s and forgo updates.  That is not satisfactory to many now, and understandable considering the differences in the situations.

 

Danny
J

@John B : Consumer boycotts are always voluntary.

Indeed.  But ‘boycott’ to me suggests a concerted campaign.  But whatever, I have no wish to debate the semantics.  Let’s agree to differ.

K

@Nyssa : If you want to see what you can retrieve from this situation a visit to the link may be of interest. The thread has now become long and therefore is now unwieldy, and will need a time investment by you. But that may give you ideas in terms of actions you can take, and discuss these there with like minded users. It will probably leave you in a better state then just angry and frustrated, a state that I passed through.

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers-software-228995/the-sonos-brexit-and-pragmatic-ways-past-it-6836056

Smilja

@Kumar, Nyssa received the replacement (a Play:5 2nd Gen) today. No need for taking actions.

 

And yes, legacy units will continue to work as they do today. They just won’t get new features.

»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
K

Erm….isn’t that for @Nyssa to decide?!

Smilja

Was the move to legacy mode eventually unavoidable? It was.

Have Sonos promoted this move in an awkward way? They did. I think no one is going to deny that.

»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
O
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Thanks for taking the time to post that.

I didn't know this is the second time they are dumping hardware. I feel sick having bought an amp recently. I was reading in other threads about the CEO lying about how products get better over time, ugh wish I could return it to limit my exposure.

O
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Thanks for taking the time to post that.

I didn't know this is the second time they are dumping hardware. I feel sick having bought an amp recently. I was reading in other threads about the CEO lying about how products get better over time, ugh wish I could return it to limit my exposure.

I am genuinely curious.  Why are you sick about your recent purchase? In what sense is the CEO's comment lying?

 Lying in the sense of saying something not true. Huuuuuge buyers remorse on the amp purchase. Would not have bought it knowing what I know today. Sonos is not the company I thought it was. 

J

Thanks for taking the time to post that.

I didn't know this is the second time they are dumping hardware. I feel sick having bought an amp recently. I was reading in other threads about the CEO lying about how products get better over time, ugh wish I could return it to limit my exposure.

I am genuinely curious.  Why are you sick about your recent purchase? In what sense is the CEO's comment lying?

 Lying in the sense of saying something not true. Huuuuuge buyers remorse on the amp purchase. Would not have bought it knowing what I know today. Sonos is not the company I thought it was. 

You haven't come close to answering my questions. The Amp is an excellent product and I will be amazed if it is not fully supported for at least 10 years. 

Since I first bought Sonos, free enhancements to my speakers have included play from Android phone, Spotify Connect, Airplay 2, Trueplay, long press to group, app enhancements, wider choice of streaming services.…. I have also been able to add voice control without needing to buy any further Sonos products. 

So my experience has been exactly what the CEO said.  So please  now justify your comment that the CEO was lying on this point rather than just repeat the accusation. 

O
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Thanks for taking the time to post that.

I didn't know this is the second time they are dumping hardware. I feel sick having bought an amp recently. I was reading in other threads about the CEO lying about how products get better over time, ugh wish I could return it to limit my exposure.

I am genuinely curious.  Why are you sick about your recent purchase? In what sense is the CEO's comment lying?

 Lying in the sense of saying something not true. Huuuuuge buyers remorse on the amp purchase. Would not have bought it knowing what I know today. Sonos is not the company I thought it was. 

You haven't come close to answering my questions. The Amp is an excellent product and I will be amazed if it is not fully supported for at least 10 years. 

Since I first bought Sonos, free enhancements to my speakers have included play from Android phone, Spotify Connect, Airplay 2, Trueplay, long press to group, app enhancements, wider choice of streaming services.…. I have also been able to add voice control without needing to buy any further Sonos products. 

So my experience has been exactly what the CEO said.  So please  now justify your comment that the CEO was lying on this point rather than just repeat the accusation. 

John no need to get hostile I'm not here to answer your questions.

I would invite you to go to the massive clarification thread if you wish to debate what the CEO said.

 

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