Dead spots on CR200

it just seemed that the majority of the complaints concerning the defective screens on the CR200's were from users in the UK.

When mine failed, in Australia, I asked the local support person whether they were seeing many of these failures. He said that that they were having a few, but it wasn't a very large percentage of the units shipped. I got the impression that the failure call was not an unusual event for them.

It is a bit odd that all my failed screens have been a row up from the bottom right though.

Yes mine failed there too. The first thing that happens is that the alphabetic speed dial fails at about "T". This has just started happening to the replacement unit also now. If it follows the path of the 1st unit it will get to the point where the "i" button and the Now Playing button (music symbol on the Music menu screen) will become very difficult to select. The backspace key on the search facility's keypad is already difficult to select.

I've seen liquid spills behave this way. A sugary drink enters a unit and seems to dry and the unit works fine -- for a while. Over time the sugar takes on some water from the atmosphere and acids form. The acids are erratically conductive and they can eventually consume metal parts. A single drop can bring a unit down months after the spill has been forgotten.

I may have been guilty of cleaning the 1st unit with a damp cloth, but this 2nd unit has had the most TLC as far a dampness goes.

It is good that Sonos have been great with regard to replacements and extending the warranty, however the incident is not without cost to the customer. Firstly you have to freight the damaged unit back to them, and then you have to chose a time when you can be without a controller for around a week.

I have asked twice on these forums whether there is any assurance that the faulty batches have been cleared out of retail stocks. There has been no answer to this question. I certainly wouldn't be buying a second controller without such an assurance.

?.... or the Britts are a whiney bunch that expect things to work

To right we do. I'm on my fifth controller in a little over a year. Maybe you would like to change your remote as often as us whining Brits do.

Hello All,

As always, if you are experiencing any sort of malfunction with your CR200 please contact our support team for further analysis.

Specific to the CR200 touch panel issue that was communicated to our CR200 customer base in August 2010, Sonos has continued extremely detailed testing and analysis of all reported and returned CR200s that were suspected to have exhibited a touch panel failure from our customer base. Based on our findings, our original analysis, that only a small number of CR200s were affected from an original manufacturing build, remains true.

That being said, of course it’s plausible that a touch panel can exhibit a failure, regardless of manufacturing build.

We do not have immediate information available about the precise regional distribution of the original CR200 manufacturing build nor do we know precisely about currently inventory levels within distribution of remaining CR200 from the original manufacturing build. We can say that based on the volumes of CR200s that have shipped from the original build that it is unlikely, although not impossible, that all original CR200s have worked their way out of our distribution channel.


Sincerely
Mike

We do not have immediate information available about the precise regional distribution of the original CR200 manufacturing build nor do we know precisely about currently inventory levels within distribution of remaining CR200 from the original manufacturing build. We can say that based on the volumes of CR200s that have shipped from the original build that it is unlikely, although not impossible, that all original CR200s have worked their way out of our distribution channel.


Sincerely
Mike

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the update and please bear in mind that I sincerely feel that Sonos stands behind their product and will do the correct thing in a quality matter like this.

It is one thing to not have information pertaining to what still exists in the inventory of retailers which I quite understand. However it is quite another thing to say you don't have records pertaining to the regional distribution of the original CR200's that had this issue. At the very least you must have records of the serial numbers involved and the countries where these CR200's were originally shipped to.

I for one would like to know if any of the defective CR200's was shipped to Amazon for shipments to US customers. Can you at least give me a clue?

Hello NYC Guy,

It's safe to say the original units shipped into world wide distribution, including Amazon, back in mid-2009.

Mike

Hello NYC Guy,

It's safe to say the original units shipped into world wide distribution, including Amazon, back in mid-2009.

Mike

Hopefully the CR200 I received from Amazon in Dec. 2010 was produced well past that point!

By the way, I own several Pioneer Elite components and they had an issue with some of their blu-ray players. Pioneer sent out an email alert to all registered owners of that particular BD player and alerted people as to which serial numbers to be on the lookout for which they knew were problematic and might have to be returned. It was a proactive move on their part. Sonos should really consider doing this for the CR200's with the affected serial numbers which were known issues based on the authorized RGA's that have been made you. While you are standing behind the product and replacing them from anyone that complains, that is a reactive move. Alerting us is also a strong PR move and will only pay you dividends in the long run and also at the same time enhance your company's reputation!

We can say that based on the volumes of CR200s that have shipped from the original build that it is unlikely, although not impossible, that all original CR200s have worked their way out of our distribution channel.

Thanks for the update on this issue Mike. It is good to see you interacting in the forums.

What i understand from your post is:

• the initial batch of CR200 had a problem causing a fairly low, but still unacceptable, failure rate
• units from this batch are still probably still out there in unsold retail stocks

I also understand that you have extended your warranty period to compensate for this problem.

There have been reports here of people who have had failures, then followed by failures of their replacement units. I think I saw a post from a guy who had four failures to date. My own unit failed, and now it's replacement unit is starting to fail also. ... These replacement units are coming from Sonos, not the retail channel.

Would it be possible to change your procedures such that replacements are shipped from the batch that you have no reason to suspect will fail, rather than from the batch that you know sometimes fails? As I said in my earlier post it is great that Sonos are standing behind this failure, but the incident is not without cost to the customer. One failure per customer is enough IMO.

Hi Mike,
I have a short follow-up question. Are the replacements that you are shipping refurbished or brand new CR200's?

Any CR200 issue that is related to a touch panel failure will be replaced based on our stated warranty. The original manufactured CR200 stock has been long since depleted at Sonos.

Interesting I received a replacement for a replacement i.e. unit 1 failed last July after 6 months, the replacement unit has just failed and been replaced today.

The replacement unit came with an invoice that describes it as "Sonos Controller 200 Refurbished UK"

Were it to be found that my failed unit was not faulty or had in some way failed at my hands I would be rather upset to be charged the new price for a refurbished unit.

To be fair I doubt this would happen and at any rate after my lack of success a new CR200 is not on my Sonos shopping list. That aside I should stress I'm very happy with the rest of my Sonos purchases and with the support provided for the failed units, but it would be better if they hadn't failed.

Ken