Probably local laws.

It is simple to purchase an extended warranty for Sonos if you want one. Either as a stand-alone purchase if buying the speaker from Sonos or as an add-on. Costco and Amazon are two I’ve used, there are likely others.

https://www.squaretrade.com/all-plans-protection/  (Misc. Electronics)

I always get a 3 or 4 year plan for Sonos I’m giving as gifts.

Shouldn’t have to” buy” an extended warranty. If Sonos finds that the law requires them to have a two year warranty and still be profitable, same should go for us here in the USA. 

How long does Apple provide in USA? In the UK we get two years from them, too. I could list other examples? 

What an utterly ludicrous comment.  There are myriads of factors affecting profitability that differ between markets.  You cannot pick one factor and say it should be identical across markets to give the same profitability.  Sonos products’ list prices are lower in the US than in the UK so maybe we pay more to cover the longer warranty?  But as I have said, it is much more complex than that.  Please engage brain before hitting keyboard.

Then again, Sonos speakers used to be more expensive in Europe too (Sonos One 229 euro vs 229 dollar). Only just recently the Euro has fallen so the prices are even. I suspect this will not last long….. 

Apple provides 1 year limited warranty in the US. 

I'm unsure of the consumer laws in USA too, but even if a Product fails outside of the Warranty period, you still often have good rights in UK for example - did it last a ‘reasonable' amount of time?

My Garmin watch failed recently, just under 3 years old.  I raised it to Garmin who asked for my proof of purchase.  I gave them it and said it was outside of (its 2y) warranty but I didn't consider it reasonable for it to only last that long.

My next reply from them was a pre-paid return label and a dispatch notification of a replacement watch. Great service.  I've heard some similar stories about Sonos response too - but also others of ‘It's out of warranty, tough, have some discount on a replacement.’. I think it's often how one chooses to discuss these things and being mature and reasonable about it instead of just ‘shouting’.

And I wonder what discount they give on replacement following an out-of-warranty failure.  :)

Significant strengthening of the dollar against the Euro or the GBP has been followed in the past by increases in Sonos prices in Europe and the UK.  Currency movements are one of the main reasons why comparisons between markets, especially of profitability, are a fool’s errand.  Even if one had access to all the necessary data, which of course is not the case.

It would have been a much stronger argument to take a look at the warranty provided by Sonos competitors in the same market.  Pretty sure it’s going to be 1 year everywhere, except for starter companies who have no reputation for quality to rely on yet. 

I am generally fine with the standard 1 year warranty, and I don’t see companies start competing with ever better warranties on electronics    I don’t want to see costs raised, and passed on to customers, to cover rare cases of failures that happen after a year.  Longer warranties is also going to favor big tech companies over smaller and startup companies.  Lastly, I don’t want to push the market further to a subscription based hardware service, where warranties won’t really matter.

I’m slightly surprised that some manufacturers do not sell their own extended 2, 3 or 5 year warranties as an optional additional purchase at the point of sale. It shows too that they have confidence in their own products. 

I would personally prefer that sort of longer-term cover in preference to say a discount voucher.

In my own case Sonos would likely win out on such a deal, but I would have been happy anyway to have had the peace of mind that such extended warranties can/do provide.

I’m not surprised.   Offering an extended warranty on a product you makes can easily be interpreted as a lack of confidence in your product, IMO.  Companies tend to provide free warranty for longer periods of time when they know the consumers don’t have confidence.  You see that all the time for new automakers, or when using new tech in a vehicle, like batteries. It’s not like Sonos products are going to be put under great stress where failure is much more likely, like a vehicle would be.  When it’s offered by the retailer, it doesn’t send that same message of lack of confidence.  

From Sonos standpoint, I would think it doesn’t really make sense financially. The amount of revenue generated would probably be pretty small, and would probably show as a liability on the books, at least as some percentage of what you would potentially have to pay out at cost.   Then again, Sonos has the upgrade program which I think would appear as a liability as well….though perhaps not since it’s just reduce profit on a future sale.

It would make sense to me if Sonos offered an extended warranty as part of the check out process. Many other places do just that and they make a nice profit on the sale. It also gives them a bit of cover if they get complaints about the short factory warranty.

Nice idea.

In the UK a company called Richer Sounds includes a six year for all speaker products except the Roam.

Is the extended warranty for an extra fee?  Quite a few US retailer will also happily add an extended warranty for an additional fee.

No extra free. It’s included in the price which is currently around the same price as an Arc purchased using a 15% upgrade credit.

Many ways to get an extended warranty.  For instance, purchase with AMEX and the factory warranty is extended by a year.

Was just going to say Richer Sounds do free 6 year warranty on Sonos.

Hi Danny.

When they do charge a fee, this is refundable if you don’t make a claim during the warranty period.

Yes… no claim made and Richer Sounds will refund you the fee at the end of the warranty period.

Interesting.  For me, for a company to provide a warranty for longer than customers’ statutory rights signals a greater confidence in their products, not less.

Warranty repairs are not cheap to supply and for me, I also would have a greater confidence in a product with a longer Manufacturer's warranty.

Also, yes, Richer Sounds are a great company to deal with yes.