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Dear Community,

Many Sonos customers are angry and unhappy at what Sonos has done in releasing a new app which removes a vast amount of functionality, much of it basic stuff, with just the promise that it will be re-added over forthcoming releases. I personally feel that Sonos has treated its customers with derision, and I’m angry and unhappy that this new app was released in such a poor state of development.

I have pursued my complaint, asking that the old app is made available again to iOS users whilst the new app is developed to an acceptable level which includes the last functionality.

I am asking the community to back this by:

  1. Call customer service and demand that your complaint is escalated to the highest level. Don’t accept the “standard” reply that the 1st line customer reps have been given to respond to you … that the functionality will be added over forthcoming releases. Insist it is this is not acceptable and ask for your complaint to be escalated. Unfortunately, it can take over an hour to get your call answered due to the obvious popularity of the new app… but don’t allow call queue to put you off.
  1. Email the CEO at ceo@sonos.com. Yes there is a “form” response which you may get, but every complaint to the CEO is given a number internally.

The line I have taken is that “the product has become unfit for purpose as key features have been suddenly and unexpectedly removed, making the purpose for which it was purchased unachievable.” I have adopted this wording following a brief exploration of the potential for legal action should Sonos insist we wait for the functionality to be restored. You may use this or adopt your own approach, but remember calls are recorder (assuming you permit).

Do nothing and you are accepting that Sonos can ride rough-shod over its community.

A week late, but I finally got a reply from Sonos after emailing the CEO. While the response continued the company's irritating habit of pretending there were positive as well as negative results from this whole debacle ("We’ve received a great deal of feedback thus far, on both the improvements made as well as where we fell short"), they are at least FINALLY answering questions about which specifically functionality will be returning to the app when:

"Additional improvements to screen reader for visually impaired customers: May 21
Adding to queue and playing next: early June
Sleep timer: mid-June
Snooze alarms: mid-June
Local music library search and playback: mid-June
Update Wi-Fi settings: mid-June"

I remain angry they took so long to do this very basic damage control, and mystified they didn't even ATTEMPT to provide this level of detail during Tuesday's Ask Me Anything, but it IS progress.

Email sent

I'll be emailing too 👍 I'm an Android user.

I have been able to revert back to S2 for the time being but I am disgusted the way Sonos has treated its customers.  Its mind boggling to think that Sonos must of tested the app before release and deemed it an upgrade 🤔  It's a car crash. I feel iv been s#@t on from a great height.  So disappointed.  How they will pull back from this god only knows.  We must make our voices heard 😉

I got a reply from Sonos after emailing the CEO. Make of it what you will but I see no rollback option & they are still somehow proud of the pile of junk that was released 😞

 

Dear Gary,

First, we’d like to thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us and with our CEO, Patrick. We’ve received a great deal of feedback thus far, on both the improvements made as well as where we fell short. We expect that feedback will continue to roll in, so we’ll be working through it all in the coming weeks. 

We are incredibly proud of the work that was done to deliver the new Sonos App to the world, but we also recognize that there’s still plenty of work to be done, and want to provide you with an update. 

First, we heard loud and clear that removing Alarms from the Sonos App was disruptive for many users, so we prioritized and reintroduced Alarms to the App not long after launch. If you are missing this feature, ensure that your Sonos App and products are all up to date.

Next, an update about additional features coming soon:

Additional improvements to screen reader for visually impaired customers: May 21
Adding to queue and playing next: early June
Sleep timer: mid-June
Snooze alarms: mid-June
Local music library search and playback: mid-June
Update Wi-Fi settings: mid-June

Thank you again for sharing your feedback with us. We’re working hard to bring these features to the new Sonos App quickly while also resolving bugs and improving the overall experience. If you are experiencing an issue with your Sonos System, feel free to contact us. Alternatively, we’ve included some helpful resources below:

Sonos Community
User Guide ???????
Sonos Support

Kind Regards,

The Sonos Customer Experience Team

Thx for sharing.  If things don't get sorted PDQ I'll be moving over to Denon. 

 

Steve

Understanding what goes into the overhaul of user experiences, I’d argue that this is not nearly as bad as most people are claiming it to be. Is there a slight learning curve, sure. That comes with all user experience updates. This is far more intuitive than the previous iteration and knowing how product development goes, any “removed” features will most certainly be returned. 

That said, this is definitely far better than the previous iteration once you’ve worked through it and understand how it is now. All products require learned behaviors while doing their best to make the experience as intuitive as possible. 

amdyhou and all. I have also been having the same conversation with support and refuse to accept the BS they are spewing back. I would also expect firings and resignations for this catastrophe. 

I have cc’ed ceo@sonos.com on every reply back to sonos support and have also raised a complaint to the Washington state attorney general office. Support don’t seem to give two figs and keep reiterating the same nonsense about “bugs” and the stupid timeline to slowly reintroduce back the things they lied were not going to be removed.

I am still utterly furious with sonos and this stance they are continuing to take whilst leaving me with 8 amps and two roams that are practically bricked, as the features I used have all disappeared. I refuse to wait until the end of the summer when the constant releases and hope for EXACT parity is back. 

Connect with your consumer bodies and raise complaints there and keep harassing the support lines and cc’ing ceo@sonos.com

I can’t wait for the stock market to hand Sonos its arse in a bucket.  Arrogance on this scale should be “rewarded” appropriately.  I’d also get some real joy from seeing a headline saying that the Board has sacked the CEO.  Lord knows, companies have fired CEO’s for less.

Understanding what goes into the overhaul of user experiences, I’d argue that this is not nearly as bad as most people are claiming it to be. Is there a slight learning curve, sure. That comes with all user experience updates. This is far more intuitive than the previous iteration and knowing how product development goes, any “removed” features will most certainly be returned. 

That said, this is definitely far better than the previous iteration once you’ve worked through it and understand how it is now. All products require learned behaviors while doing their best to make the experience as intuitive as possible. 

Nope.  Being consistently unable to play music because the app can’t find one or more of my speakers (which speaker is missing changes - sometimes many times in a day), or because the app won’t connect, or won’t recognize that it’s actively playing music, isn’t a minor bug.  It’s a complete failure. I’ve had my system for YEARS - and it’s been glitchy at times - but this is next-level garbage.

bmputz:

 Do you use a local library?

Only occasionally. I usually use Pandora, Spotify, Soundcloud, or Apple Music.  I tired of even the old app repeatedly losing its connection to my Library.

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