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I purchased a Sonos One to try the Sonos product line for the first time.  I purchased the device in April 2021 and it stopped working in May 2021.  It was replaced under warranty for a new Sonos One which I received in May 2021.  This new Sonos One failed in June 2021 and Sonos replaced it with a refurbished unit this time.  The refurbished unit was received and installed in July 2021 and subsequently failed within a week.  This makes three defective Sonos One units in four (4) months!  While this is enough to make me angry that I ever decided to try their products, the customer service has been what has me ready to insane.

I initiated another RMA return on this third unit on July 27, 2021 and it is now August 11, 2021 and I still have no replacement unit and another call to customer service got the response … “we received your defective unit on August 3 and it is still being processed” along with NO ETA for when they would ship the replacement unit. I’ve basically spent the better part of five months now attempting to get a single working speaker and still have NOTHING!

I’m not sure at this point if the quality of the Sonos products themselves are the worst part of this experience, or if it is the absolute terrible experiences I’ve had trying to get reasonable customer service turn-around or responses.

Absolutely terrible company in my opinion.  

It’s not been the worst in my experiences with them. Every transaction I’ve had with them, while sometimes slower than I’d have preferred, has ended satisfactorily. 

There are several companies out there, particularly in the TV space, that would hold that honor. And some of the smaller Asian electronic device makers, who are probably not large enough to have any CS are pretty bad, too. 

Agree @JayInPgh Sonos support has gone from one of the best to one of the worst IMO. IIRC they fired a bunch of support people last year when they had a massive round of layoffs June 2020. 

The quality of Sonos support has definitely gone down since 2011; it is not the worst because there are plenty that are just as mediocre. It is certainly no longer the USP it once was.

The support folk in 2011 had a deep knowledge of the system that aided troubleshooting. Emails I have received in the last couple of years were superficial canned responses. Thankfully the regulars - buzz and ratty - are still around, on an unpaid basis as in the past. Which is probably why when they respond, their responses are of a very high quality.

Having had a recent “support experience” (got a replacement Beam today, after the previous one got the “flashing white light of death”), it’s way off what I’d expect from this company given the cost of the products.

Aside from a bordering-on-rude support rep who made me upload a video of holding the connect button whilst plugging it in - twice, presumably to prove I wasn’t telling fibs (?!), the replacement process was long and drawn-out. Not to mention that the replacement Beam has “refurbished” on the box (I was kind of half-hoping for a Beam 2 as a replacement - hahaha!).

It’s also taken me 3 hours to set up the system again, having to factory reset all my devices along the way and eventually give up and start from scratch. Also had to remove everything from Amazon and delete/reinstall the Alexa app and sign in again to get that working. As an IT professional, I dread to think how anyone not quite as savvy with technology would’ve managed! I hope this one lasts more than 5 months...

 

Really must do better Sonos.

 

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