Hi ​@HDY 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

I am sorry to hear of the issue you were having with your Arc, and of the difficulty you’ve had in getting a replacement shipped to you.

I won’t lie - Brexit has caused problems for us. Before Brexit, all shipments to the UK came from our warehouse in Poland. That was causing so many problems with ordering that we ended up opening a new warehouse in the UK so that products have already been through customs before customers in the UK even order them.

When it comes to returns, however, it simply isn’t cost effective to have them shipped anywhere other than to Poland - to do otherwise would entail setting up a whole new Returns department. Unfortunately, this means that customers are exposed to some of the difficulties we have with Brexit.

Once the unit arrived at our warehouse, however, it was entirely on us that a replacement was not immediately shipped - we apologise.

Please be aware, however, that you are in the minority - although there may be reports here of people having issues with returns, reporting that everything went smoothly is just not something people tend to do, so you won’t see those.

My colleague has just informed me that he will now instigate a process by which we’ll discover why this has happened, and rectify it for you.

I hope this helps - I’ll post here again once I find out more information..

Hi ​@HDY 

I have just heard back - we had no B-stock inventory to send to you, so we are now sending an A-stock replacement to you instead. You should already have - or very soon will - received an email to this effect.

I hope this helps.

​@Corry P 

Hi Corry thanks for your reply and comments - its really appreciated. I haven't received an email yet but will keep an eye on this in the next few hours and report back.

By the way what is B stock versus A stock replacement please? If A stock means a new replacement then great thank you (albeit that's what I would expect anyway as I bought all new devices in my ecosystem). If B stock means refurbished then I would not want this and instead request that my own faulty Arc be sent back to me as the retailer would cover this immediately and provide a new one.

I fully appreciate your comments on Brexit (I don't like it either) which is why I mentioned in my original post that I can deal with and be patient with those kinds of issues - its the “black hole” you go into with customer service staff once the return has arrived in Poland whereby they can't tell you what is happening (nothing at all). This is where the frustration is. If they could help / provide updates then it would greatly ameliorate the situation.

Once again thanks - and I will report back once we have any movement my end.

Hi ​@HDY 

B-stock is either units that have been returned within their Money Back Guarantee period, or units that had an issue that has now been fixed (such as if there were some cosmetic damage - we’d take the working internals out and put them into a new, undamaged enclosure, for example). If you organise a replacement unit, it will automatically be replaced with A-stock (brand-new stock) if the item was purchased in the last month. If you’ve had the item for over a month, it is replaced with B-stock. The stock you are resupplied with is determined by the system and cannot be overridden by our level 1 agents.

There is no guarantee whatsoever that a unit you purchase in a store has not been purchased and returned before - if the store opens the box and determines that everything that should be present, is, it may well go back on the shelf, or be kept back for when someone comes in looking for a replacement. I have seen evidence of this many times.

I understand - it does happen from time to time, regrettably. All the information the agent you speak to on the phone will see is a check-box - a simple true or false. They are not in the warehouse themselves, and to find out more requires generally requires that we get in touch with someone who is - which is what we just did.

I hope this helps.

​@Corry P Thank you Corry and in any case am happy you have confirmed an A stock replacement is what will be shipped. Again thanks for your help.

I haven't received any email from your Sonos colleague yet but as mentioned will keep you updated.

Thanks

Hi ​@HDY 

It may take a while to process yet. I will check again for you before the end of the day.

Hi ​@HDY 

You should have by now received an email for tracking your new package. If you have not received this, please let me know and I will give you the link via a private message.

It might be worth checking your spam folder too.

I hope this helps.

​@Corry P 

Hi Corry thanks - I have been checking spam folders throughout but still no message in my mailbox or spam folder so probably need to send it to me directly please (where will I find private message by the way? Do you mean you will email me personally or on this community platform?)

Corry I would also be happy to privately share some of the (downloaded) support chats I have had - you offer great service so I think you might be surprised to read some of the content. For example I had been told that my replacement had already been shipped last week….

Again thanks Corry for your great service….its an example of the way to do things for your colleagues. I will confirm back here when I have your direct message.

Best regards H

Hi ​@HDY 

I’ll send you the link here (click on your user icon at the top right, then Private Messages):

I can already see your cases, so there’s no need. I will look through them and arrange feedback where required. Thanks!

You are most welcome!

​@Corry P Hi Corry I have the link now via your direct message thank you. Fingers crossed all will be fine but let’s close the loop here when I receive delivery of the A-Stock item.

I will report back here in due course. Thanks again and have a good rest of the day.

Best regards, H 

​@Corry P 

Hi Corry,

I promised I would report back and here is my balanced summary as being a UK customer and my experience of the warranty return process pre and post your intervention.

First of all thanks - the Arc replacement arrived today.

• My limited exposure to the tech support team when submitting diagnostics and deciding the product was defective was positive.
• On reflection I would recommend people first go back to their retailer if it is proven their product is defective and if they are within the Sonos warranty period (and especially if they have an extended 5 year warranty such as mine). I executed the Sonos warranty return with the blessing of my retailer thinking it would be simple and “a premium experience” but I believe it complicated and elongated the process unnecessarily. It wasn't a good experience from the point that Sonos Poland received my return and this eroded my trust in the brand.
• Opinions may vary here but I think that replacing a newly bought product with a refurb is unfair. If that is “the policy” then ok BUT I think Sonos should be make this very clear to people before anyone sends a product back as it was only something I realised when I started researching warranty returns (and I only started researching warranty returns when it started to occur to me that the customer service agents I dealt with via the support channel really couldn't help me at all). This policy was a sting in the tail of an already frustrating process.
• Corry - your interventions, communications and professionalism have been exemplary and I cannot thank you enough. It is exactly the sort of premium standard I / anyone would expect from Sonos.
• As the new CEO states when the products work Sonos is magical - I agree with this - after all I spent a lot of money on Sonos and set up a resilient home network with my retailer’s installations team to support it. This must however be backed up by fantastic customer service in the way it has been delivered by you Corry. I would strongly recommend your Polish team goes through some extensive training and I hope the new CEO and his team  focus on this when they are in place and not just the App etc.

In summary therefore, Corry,  you have restored some of my faith in Sonos but I still harbour some concerns if I need to lean on the support process ever again and I encounter people / colleagues who are not of your standard.

The new Arc is now installed and working so fingers crossed this one will stand the test of time. In the meantime I wish the Sonos team well in working through residual challenges faced by the business so that, as customers, we can enjoy the Sonos we want to love so much.

Thanks again,

H

Hi ​@HDY 

I am glad to hear you got your replacement at last, and thanks for the feedback - I will see to it that it reaches the right people.

I do have a few points I’d like to make in response, however.

I’d only recommend taking a unit back to the retailer if it is within 30 days of you buying the product - after that, they likely will not be interested/equipped to take it back. If you buy the extended warranty from the store (and it is not our warranty), however, then you should indeed take it back to them.

This would increase costs massively, and that could only be passed on to customers. Not to mention the increase in E-waste. What would we do with all the units that are returned for no reason other than the buyer deciding they don’t want it anymore, or it doesn’t fit in the space they have for it? There are many occurrences when a perfectly operational unit will be returned. As I stated, if you have a unit for less than one month, it will be replaced with a brand new unit. It seems pretty fair to me, as we do make sure that every unit sent out is in perfect condition. And, if it were found not to be, you would be within your rights to ask for a replacement that was.

Thank you, and you are most welcome.

Mistakes happen. It doesn’t mean people need retrained. I don’t personally know how the warehouse operates as I have never been there, but they are busy people who know what they are doing. I don’t have the figures, but if you were one out of a hundred, does someone need retraining if they are 99% effective? Of course, I do appreciate that for the person involved, it’s not going to feel like things are going well, but there are systems in place to ensure sound operation in the majority of cases.

Thanks!

​@Corry P I too have a very similar experience. My return Arc was acknowledged as delivered to the facility in Poland on 13th January and I received an email stating that the replacement would be shipped in 1-5 days. After 7 biz days and no update, I contacted Customer Support to ask when I would receive an update and was told that they had escalated to the returns department.   It has now been 2 weeks and I still have had no response. Can you help resolve this for me please?

​@User143940 I hope Corry can help you get this sorted out asap and am sure he or one of his colleagues will. You should not have to go through that sort of customer experience. 

Hi ​@User143940 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

I am sorry to hear that you too have been waiting on a shipment. We do aim to do better.

I have found your case and can see a comment on it from - at time of writing - 48 minutes ago that the shipment has been “released” and that you should receive an email soon.

If you do not receive an email with tracking details by the end of the day, please let me know. Thanks.

I hope this helps.

Excellent. Thank you very much for the update

@Corry P I have not had an email advising me of tracking details so I’m notifying you as requested.  Hopefully, you can help to escalate this and get my Arc returned to me.  

Hi ​@User143940 

I am sorry to hear that - thanks for letting me know.

I asked a colleague to look into the situation for you and they informed me that I was a little enthusiastic yesterday about the timing - I was told it still looks as it should, and that it may take a little while longer. Please be assured that steps have been taken to get your replacement item to you, and that you should get an email with tracking information soon. I’ll just be a little less definite about when you’ll receive it. It should be soon now though.

I hope this helps.

@Corry P thanks so much for getting back to me and I really appreciate your help and feedback on this matter.  Unfortunately, however, this is the response that the returns team are providing to customers on a regular basis and they don’t quantify what “soon” means.  My Arc speaker has now been on the road and at the facility for a month with no voluntary updates provided at all other than what I hear when I contact returns and from yourself.  This is, quite frankly, appalling customer service and this situation needs to be fed back into the senior management team as my experience, from what I read and hear, appears to the norm rather than exception.

Again, thanks for your support and fingers crossed.

Hi ​@User143940 

I do understand, and I will feed this back.

Please be aware, however, that when things go smoothly, no-one comes to the community to report as much - I assure you, this is not the norm.

@Corry P thanks for all of ur help.  My delivery according to DHL tracking details, is due by end of day tomorrow!!  One question, how comes the delivery process to Poland took almost 2 weeks but shipment back to me can be completed in 1 day?  Is the supply local from the UK and not Poland.

Thanks

Hi ​@User143940 

Fantastic!

Yes - that is it exactly. Units ship from the UK, but get returned to Poland as the UK has no Returns department. This is since Brexit - we used to just ship from Poland, and it did not take long.