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Nyssa
Contributor I
February 4, 2020
Answered

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

  • February 4, 2020
  • 37 replies
  • 1261 views

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

    @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

    37 replies

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    Smilja
    Smilja
    February 5, 2020

    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)
      Kumar
      February 5, 2020

      I just realise that I have erred here in reporting what Sonos said in promoting the trade up by relying on what the OP reported. The reference to May in that report cannot be from the launch of the Trade up, because this May thing is just two weeks old.

      So I stand corrected in what I have said above via the quoted, copy/pasted from an OP post. Therefore the conclusion about the Trade up promotion I wrote also isn't correct - Sonos may not have told all the truth back in October, but there does not seem to have been any active misleading that happened then.

      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.

      jgatie
      jgatie
      February 5, 2020

       

      “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.  

        Kumar
        February 5, 2020

        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?

        jgatie
        jgatie
        February 5, 2020

        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
          melvimbe
          February 5, 2020

          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
            jgatie
            jgatie
            February 5, 2020

            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? 

              Stanley_4
              Stanley_4
              Grand Maestro
              February 5, 2020

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

              Obsoleted
              Lyricist III
              February 5, 2020

              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.

              melvimbe
              melvimbe
              February 5, 2020

              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
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