Yet Another UK Returns Issue

  • 1 December 2022
  • 6 replies
  • 548 views

Badge

I am returning a Roam as I decided to upgrade to a Move. I received my returns label, commercial invoice and instructions - all good. Arranged with UPS to collect my parcel and waited in. No show. So I took the parcel, with the 3 invoices to a drop off a couple of days ago. Today it got delivered back to me. I spoke to UPS and they stated it would be collected today. No show.


Can you see a theme developing? Also:

With the exact same issue.

Can anyone offer any advice? UPS & Sonos Customer Service have both been useless. The problem with this process is that I can never prove that I handed over the commercial invoices and it just keeps on getting sent back to me.


6 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +15

Hi @CJC2112,

I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble with UPS and I don’t have any insight as to why it’s coming back to you if all the documentation provided is correct.

I would recommend having the three invoices in a clear documents wallet attached to the return parcel, as this can help prevent them being lost by UPS since lost invoices are generally the reason returns are sent back by UPS.

However, as this is a Sonos user driven community and the Sonos staff such as myself are here to help with troubleshooting issues, we aren’t able to offer much advice on sorting this return issue for you.

Besides the clear documents wallet mentioned above, I’d suggest reaching out to our sales team directly to discuss with them.

Badge

Hi @CJC2112 

Did you manage to return the goods?

I created the first topic you linked to above. I never did manage to successfully return the kit - UPS returned it 3 times stating it didn’t have the required paperwork (it did). In the end, I gave the product, a Beam Gen 1, to a family member instead (it wasn’t faulty, I was just returning within 100 days as the  Beam Gen 2 was released).

 

I now have a faulty Play 5 Gen 2 and Sonos have just sent me return shipping labels for that. I guess   I’ll have the same battle to get the product accepted by UPS…...

Badge

Agh @dpg50000 I’m just about to return a faulty Play 5 Gen 2 speaker...How did you get on with this return? Sonos Customer support have been brilliant up to now in sorting the issue out (my speaker is out or warranty but they’ve been great) but now reading about all the issues of getting the kit of the country...Have you been successful this time? Same q to @CJC2112 

Badge

@JezCollins  - my parcel got there in the end. The trick is to monitor the progress. You’ll probably find it gets to the point of export from the UK, and they inexplicably return it to your local depot, claiming you haven’t provided a commercial invoice. I put the required 3 copies in a clear “Documents enclosed” envelope, but I don’t think they even look at it. They’ll also claim they tried to contact you, which they never do.

 

At this point you should ring them on 03457 877 877, and hopefully you’ll get passed to someone who’ll give you their email address to send a copy of the commercial invoice to, and they’ll then get it loaded on the system. After that, it seems to progress ok.

 

One last thing - I also edited the commercial invoice in the “Description of goods” and “Specification of commodities” section, as the one supplied by Ivytech was incomplete.

 

TLDR; UPS are rubbish. Track progress at all times and ring them when something looks off.

 

 

Badge

Thanks for the reply @dpg50000 and glad the package finally got there! Will be posting mine tomorrow and checking on it regularly! 

 

Userlevel 2
Badge

Just to add my recent experience on this. It took a month.  I dropped off the return on 12 May and my replacement is due to be delivered today. 

I had to return a failed Roam.  Returns process seemed well handled by Sonos and I received a clear email with attachments for how to package and label the return.  Found the nearest UPS drop off point.  The attachments were a shipping label and a pro-forma (aka commercial) invoice.  Rightly or wrongly I attached the 3 copies required to the package by elastic bands.  Anyway, no issues with UPS accepting the package.  It made quick progress to Poland.  Then the problems started.  The package just got stuck in the system for 3 weeks.  Getting a status online from UPS was easy but it just said that my package was ‘in a secure facility pending clearance or resolution’.  This seemed to mean customs.  So I expected to be told there was no commercial invoice. Maybe the invoices came detached in transit. Or to be told that it was being returned to me.   But no.  No-one asked me for anything.  No-one could seemingly tell me what was happening or do anything about it.  UPS or Sonos.  UPS could tell me the status which was exactly what their online tracking system would tell me.  

Then after 3 weeks the status changed and it showed as ‘delivered’.  Within a few days the Sonos returns system advised me my replacement was on its way.  Interestingly that comes via DHL.  And assuming that my delivery does happen today, then the replacement has taken 3 days to get here unlike almost 4 weeks for the failed unit to get to  Poland.

Problem was the total lack of information.  UPS would not even say something reassuring like ‘don’t worry there is a backlog and it is taking 3 weeks to clear customs’ or ‘this is too long, let us check and get back to you’.  Sonos knew nothing as until it arrives with them it is not their problem.  It may have been nice for Sonos to say something like ‘that is taking too long, let us check with UPS’.  Sonos will have the tracking ID as they generated the paperwork.  And Sonos is the UPS customer as they are paying for the shipping charges.  If there is a 3rd party involved (IVY TECH) then Sonos can deal with them as appropriate.  I have no idea what their role is.  But Sonos does.

Clearly, if I have a faulty product and it is within warranty, then I have to just follow the process.  

But I can say for sure, I would never do a trial where I can send it back if I don’t want it.  I would be too concerned that I would end up out of pocket. Not worth the risk.  

Really, there has to be a large enough number of UK customers for Sonos to have this sent to a UK location for processing or at least be able to make the receipt of the product back to a UK location sufficient for the purposes of the returns process to deem the product returned. Especially if Brexit has made this a much bigger problem.   If Sonos then wants/needs to ship products between the country of sale and a centralized support location then fine, but spare the end customer from the pain.  

 

Reply