the problems continue:
Beam: Keeps switching back to ARC from Bluetooth - how to stop?

seriously we should demand a recall or a fix

That’s not really anything to do with the Beam (directly) - it will likely be the case you have the CEC protocol enabled on the TV itself - otherwise control will revert back to the Beam if you try to step away to other outputs, like Bluetooth - this is usually the case for any brand of Receiver/HT attached to the TV’s ARC/eARC port.

Try it with CEC disabled.

You seem to generalize your problems with the Beam.

”Dialogue sync doesnt work”

Please explain. Sonos can delay sound, but cannot expedite sound. What is the problem on what make and model TV?

”Fights with TV speaker”

It shouldn’t and mine doesn’t. When, how?

”Alexa can’t turn off TV”. When, how, what TV? Could this not be a set up problem, an Alexa problem or a TV problem? Please explain.

“Doesn’t generate enough volume”. Please explain. If the source volume is low, Sonos can only go so far……

“cant use the S2 app for “all” features from the computer”. For most people this is not a problem (why is it for you?) and Sonos does not treat this as a secret. Read up before you buy?

“Keeps switching back to ARC from Bluetooth”. Switch off CEC for the moment. This is inconvenient and seems somewhat Sonos specific. Calling the Beam a “failure” for this doe s seem to go a bit far for me.

TV Dialog Sync works fine - note it will only ever slow/buffer the audio output for Sonos group-room playback. There’s no ‘flux capacitor’ to move the audio the other way.

The power on/off features are part of the CEC protocol implemented by your TV manufacturer - not all manufacturers make/models of TV support power off for a variety of reasons - but there’s nothing Sonos or anyone else can do about this. Speak to the TV support desk as sometimes there maybe a ‘hidden’ TV Engineers menu that may allow you to enable the CEC power-off feature - but see what they say. Note it may invalidate the TV warranty if you tamper with such settings.

Likely a sound-card issue - consider changing the sound card in the PC

You would need to be more specific but the Sonos App is a ‘remote’ controller for the speakers and it’s own built in Apps - it does not extend to controlling things on your PC - consider getting a one-for-all remote to perhaps generate your own macro’s for device/app control

To get your money back just return product to point of purchase within the time specified at the POS. if outside of that period you can perhaps simply sell it in on. Your small loss will perhaps become someone else’s gain. I’m sure there are many online who will happily take it off your hands at the right price.

My Beam works perfectly.  None of the problems seen happen with it.  Now it isn’t used as much because it is connected to the bedroom TV, but it gets enough use that these drastic problems would surface eventually. 

I agree with Ken, there appears to be some CEC problems going on, and in my experience, most CEC problems originate in the TV, not the peripherals.  FIrst suggestion for CEC problems is to reinitiate an HDMI handshake by unplugging at least the TV, if not every connected peripheral, for a couple minutes and then plugging them back in.