Skip to main content
Contributor II
Sep 29, 2024 9:14 AM UTC

Open Letter to CEO Patrick Spence

Open Letter to CEO Patrick Spence - 28/09/24

 

Good evening Mr Spence, (if indeed it is you reading this)

 

A little about me and my relationship with your company…

 

I’ve been an avid Sonos fan and consumer for almost 20 years. I have supported your business through every incarnation of device from the days of the Zone Player to the ARC.

I have Sonos in every room of my home and I have purchased new generations and promoted the product to my friends and family despite my Roam almost setting my house on fire. It is safe to say I love(d) my Sonos.

Now my reason for writing to you on a rainy Saturday evening in the UK.  I desperately need your help before I am forced to abandon Sonos for good.

I know you’re aware of the problems associated to the S2 App since May because you wrote to me in June. However as recently as last night I received a further email assuring me the App experience is improving and highlighting the new features.

As a customer suffering with the dismal experience daily these emails leave me frustrated and even more irritated because the App (therefore the products) just don’t work. Sonos used to be simple, stable and reliable. A coveted system and one to be proud of.

Now they’re an unreliable, glitchy, embarrassment. Sadly Patrick all of that manifests in the S2 App. It’s the reason I refuse to buy Ace or any other products even if they are 20% off!

The problems are too numerous to list here and too frequent to report daily to the support team; who I imagine are already overwhelmed. The community is littered with problems highlighting the issues and the reviews are nothing short of appalling.

My plea to you is to lead your team to urgently focus their efforts solely on fixing the problem before your community walks away from you.

Please don’t let Sonos become a fabled embarrassment of the past and please stop sending update emails unless it’s to announce the problem is fixed. Frankly that’s the only email announcement any Sonos owner wants to receive currently.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I wait with great anticipation of receiving that update very soon.

 

Paul

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

14 replies

Ken_Griffiths
Sep 29, 2024 9:35 AM UTC

I think most of the issues are now fixed, apart from ‘saving the queue as a playlist’ and issues around local library ‘display of artwork and album compilations’.

I’m based in the UK too and the system is working okay here, apart from the things mentioned.

Please see the attached, just as examples from our Home Sonos setup.

Translate
PSCravenAuthor
Contributor II
Sep 29, 2024 9:57 AM UTC

Hi Ken, my biggest gripe is I am constantly battling with missing, lost or unresponsive speakers. Switching between devices just doesn’t work. Handover from Spotify fails most but not every time. Alexa integration is now a mystery so I don’t use it.

Translate
Iain59
Collaborator II
Sep 29, 2024 10:20 AM UTC

I think most of the issues are now fixed, apart from ‘saving the queue as a playlist’ and issues around local library ‘display of artwork and album compilations’.

I’m based in the UK too and the system is working okay here, apart from the things mentioned.

Please see the attached, just as examples from our Home Sonos setup.

Where system stability is concerned, I agree with you Ken. From early August where problems with lost speakers were a regular occurrence to now where our system has had 100% stability since the last firmware update things are moving in the right direction. In that time I've learnt more about WiFi networks than should be required for a home consumer product and our Deco Mesh also had a firmware update which has improved overall network stability as well. App refinement still needed though as you note.

Translate
Prodigy I
Sep 29, 2024 10:33 AM UTC

Nick Millington gave some insights into some of the issues that have been happening. Improvements are being made and let’s hope things keep improving still.

 

If you already haven’t, check out the Answered questions here if you are interested in technical details e.g. about volume control and device discovery:

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/1fq1g6n/september_office_hours_w_keithfromsonos_nick/

Translate
PSCravenAuthor
Contributor II
Sep 29, 2024 5:09 PM UTC

Here’s a prime example Ken just tried to play a daily mix from Spotify. Should work. Doesn’t 

Translate
PSCravenAuthor
Contributor II
Sep 29, 2024 8:01 PM UTC

I think most of the issues are now fixed, apart from ‘saving the queue as a playlist’ and issues around local library ‘display of artwork and album compilations’.

I’m based in the UK too and the system is working okay here, apart from the things mentioned.

Please see the attached, just as examples from our Home Sonos setup.

Here are a couple of examples Ken. After restarting everything (I mean I literally turned all the power off), I can now play music from Spotify down stairs however Bedroom 4 will not reconnect. None of this is uncommon, so I find it hard to believe I am an isolated case and most issues are fixed.

 

Translate
Dogdad
Headliner III
Sep 29, 2024 8:08 PM UTC

I think most of the issues are now fixed, apart from ‘saving the queue as a playlist’ and issues around local library ‘display of artwork and album compilations’.

I’m based in the UK too and the system is working okay here, apart from the things mentioned.

Please see the attached, just as examples from our Home Sonos setup.

Do you read any of the posts in the fb groups?? From what I see posted…many issues still exist and users are frustrated. 8 out of 10 posts in this community group seems to be an issue or complaints. So I would disagree that most issues are fixed..jmo.

Translate
PSCravenAuthor
Contributor II
Oct 15, 2024 7:16 PM UTC

2 weeks on an no response…

Translate
Lyricist III
Oct 15, 2024 11:53 PM UTC

Most issues are NOT fixed in the app, including today’s problems with Apple Music.  Grossly disappointed and frustrated.  

Translate
MoPac
Headliner III
Oct 15, 2024 11:57 PM UTC

I think most of the issues are now fixed, apart from ‘saving the queue as a playlist’ and issues around local library ‘display of artwork and album compilations’.

I’m based in the UK too and the system is working okay here, apart from the things mentioned.

Please see the attached, just as examples from our Home Sonos setup.

 Don’t forget queue does not follow the music progress.  

Translate