Microphone randomly turning on or off on new Sonos Arc with just Sonos Voice Control

@ShaunG Thanks so much for bringing up this topic.  I would not know:

1. Some of us are not lucky enough to get a bad batch that the mic is having this intermittent issue of turning off by itself.  I got my arc from costco at the end of Nov and is having the exact problem as you described.  I had only use the arc for about 20 days and noticed the issue.  But then I was out of town for the holidays and only got a chance to file for a support ticket in Jan.
2. I was referring to this thread when talking to support.  They agreed to send me a replacement, no question ask.  I was happy with the way how they handled it until I saw your recent post.  My replacement unit arrived yesterday and it is a refurbished unit.  I agree with you that it is a ripoff.  I am returning a brand new item and they are replacing it with a refurbished unit for me.

I have been told that I am getting a refurbished unit because I have passed 30 days return policy.  I wish I learned it earlier and just return it to costco.  I reached out to sonos because I trusted that they can handle my case in a professional way.  And also, they knew about this issue and I was hoping the replacement I get is from another batch.  Now I am stuck with a refurbished unit which I don’t know how long they have been keeping on the shelf.  I assume it is very old because the packaging is still the old format.  I have talked to people from both support and sales team, and they were pointing my case to each other.  I totally agree with you that if you have the option to buy and return to a retailer, don’t buy from sonos directly because going through their RMA process is not a good experience for me.  I got the beam gen 2 two years ago and still love it.  I decided to step up to a bigger version and got the arc.  But with my current case pending, I don’t have the confidence to stick with sonos in the future.  I know many people here love their sonos.  I am just sharing my story so others are aware of this if they are on the same boat.  

I hadn’t noticed the change to 45 days for the trial period but if I was in the window I’d sure go for a return and refund versus accepting a refurbished device.

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/legal/terms#legal-terms-sale-returns

Our 45 day return policy / Your right to withdraw the purchase
We are confident that you will love your new Sonos product, however, if you are unsatisfied for any reason, simply let us know within 45 days. We will refund the full purchase price, and we will even cover the shipping cost back to us.

As I stated before:

Microphone randomly turning on or off on new Sonos Arc (with Google Assistant AND Sonos Voice Control).

Tested with various set-ups and input-sources. Took me 1 phone call with Sonos on Friday 26 January 2024. Monday 29 January 2024 in the morning a brand new Arc was delivered (from Poland to Holland). Tested it and the issue did not manifest. Free shipping for returning the faulty Arc. Good performance Sonos!!! I am very satisfied and happy!

Case closed.

@ShaunG Thanks for sharing. I checked. My new Arc is truely a new Arc.

After waiting for a week, Sonos finally agrees to send me a new Arc after I have complained about the refurbished unit they sent me to fix the original mic issue I reported.  I am glad that Sonos listen to customer and is doing the right thing.  Hopefully, it works this time.

@Airgetlam Speakers are a wearable item that will eventually fail because of currents passed through the wires. Electronics are also able to wear down as they age and are used. You don't know what was replaced in a refurbished unit and yes, they go through the a ting for full functionality, but that means nothing on the overall longevity of the unit. 

Check out any company that sells refurbished units and you will see a drastically reduced warranty vs the original new equipment warranty. The manufacturers know this too, and account for it in thebreduced warranty. 

I'll take new any day with the full warranty over an unknown condition "refurbished" unit where the manufacturer can only do so much to test and evaluate the product.  Especially when a new unit was paid for, and not a refurbished unit. I'm a computer engineer, for what it's worth. 

It's good to hear Sonos is making right those of us with units that were defective from the box.

I expressed a personal opinion . To my knowledge, electronics that are software driven don’t suffer from degradation ‘on the shelf’. Unless you have data to the contrary, which I’d be delighted to see. And as long as the device is the same, I’m not overly concerned about ‘old packaging’. The packaging is not what I’m buying, it’s the contents of the package. An Arc is an Arc, no matter how long ago it was produced. I also don’t care if the car I’ve purchased was made on day 1 of the production, or day 364…if the car is the car, and there have been no updates to it, what does it matter that it sat on the lot for X amount of time? If there were software updates to the car (or the Sonos), I’ll get them. 

An intermittent issue could as easily be extant on a new device as one that has been refurbished. 

Those that I could buy refurbished, I did. Unfortunately, at the time of purchase, not many were available as refurbed. I do have quite a few ‘open box’ devices as well. Certainly I tend to look for refurbished when I can. I’m a parsimonious son of a gun. 

Same here in France, Mic turns off and on by itself.

Don’t want an exchange but hope a software fix soon..

Bought last week and serial number begun by A105 2308, I guess built by 2024 August.

@wimvandijk : check the date of manufacture. Mine was august 23. Sonos exchanged it for one from november 23. Issue did not manifest it self. Check my input above.

Then I am out of advice…except that I would still let Sonos replace it by a new one. They check if the issue manifests it self before sending it to you (that’s what Sonos told me before they shipped mine).