Play:5 Hardware Failure

Well firstly.

Your contract is with the retailer from whom you purchased the speaker. If you have a contractual beef take it up with them.
However, chances are the unit is outside of warranty so $150 to inspect, repair and test a Play 5 doesn't seem particularly unreasonable to me. You are not going to get it repaired for any less than that elsewhere unless the fix really is very easy.

I suggest you bite the bullet and get it repaired by Sonos or their authorised repair shop, request a report and then prepare to argue the toss depending on what they find. However, as you say the unit is out of warranty so it would have to be a gross manufacturing defect to help.

This may be rather a simple point, but I've had intermittent problems with a PLAY:5 Gen1 which turned out to be due to a faulty power cable and/or the force being applied to it when the unit was pushed back against a wall.

Don't forget, under EU law you are protected for 6 years from date of purchase. I had a laptop repaired by Apple FOC after 2 years under this piece of legislation. Contact the retailer involved and tell them you are invoking your rights under this law and they should legally repair it at no cost you to you given the fact this should last a lot longer than 1 year. (note power cable will not likely be covered by main unit will be).

Don't forget, under EU law you are protected for 6 years from date of purchase. I had a laptop repaired by Apple FOC after 2 years under this piece of legislation. Contact the retailer involved and tell them you are invoking your rights under this law and they should legally repair it at no cost you to you given the fact this should last a lot longer than 1 year. (note power cable will not likely be covered by main unit will be).

It's not really as simple as that. There is NOT a six year warranty. If YOU can prove the fault was present at manufacture AND you would have a reasonable expectation of a 6 year life (I think that second bit would be easy) then you have a claim.

If you are in the UK then "The Sale of Goods Act" is your friend

Worked for me Stuart more than once. Depends who you are dealing with as to how pushy they get but in my experience if you deal with the store the right way and stand your ground they will normally do the right thing.

Always ask to speak to head office or the area manager if not.

Here's apples page about their take on it: http://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

Simon, I absolutely agree it is worth fighting your corner and as you say it will depend largely on how well your present yourself and who you talk to. Your experience and my comments do not disagree with each other, here is a section from the page you linked to:-

Any defect or non-conformity of goods with the contract which becomes apparent within 6 months of delivery are presumed to have existed at the time of delivery. After the expiry of this 6 month period, the burden to prove that the defect or non-conformity of goods with the contract existed on delivery generally shifts to the consumer.

Thank you everyone for the quick replies! Unfortunately, I'm in the states and the UK laws don't apply. The 1979 Sale Of Goods Act would be great to reference but I'm not in the UK, and besides, the Sonos products sold in the UK have two year hardware warranties so I'd still be covered. Go figure, people in the states get screwed with a 1 manufacturers warranty. I was hoping someone who had gone through this type of failure might be able to suggest a fix, like replacing a fuse, capacitor, something along those lines since I'm sure that's what the problem is... That's easy enough for me to fix on my own. I can tell you I won't be paying Sonos $150 to make the repairs and if I can't get something worked out with them or the retailer I bought it from, that was the last Sonos product I'll ever purchase. I'd rather give Bose or another competitor a shot if this is how they treat customers. Might not be any better somewhere else but I'd at least give it a shot.

Hi SixPointsKev.
Did you get any progress on your Play:5? I have one with similar problem. I am.just searching for schematics to start troubleshooting..

Hi All,
I am in the UK. Have had the same problem with a play 5 which is completely dead. I tried plugging it in overnight when re-set didn't work. Plug in did not work overnight and re-set still not working. Just no lights working on it at all. Just tried the power lead from the non working one on a working speaker it didn't work. Checked the actual fuse in plug and the fuse had blown. Have now plugged the non working speaker in and will leave it tonight and see if it works in the morning for a re-set. Fingers crossed as these are very expensive speakers to not work after a couple of years. Will let you all know tomorrow :o)

Hi... Did it work..? I have mine running on an external power supply, as I gave up fixing the onboard switch mode supply. No schematics. And previous owner had already opened it, so I could not utilize Sonos exchange program, which otherwise would have been nice.

Sadly no it didn't work. Guess the fuse went because there was something wrong with the speaker. Checked both power leads today and both still working but play 5 still dead :0(

Sad to hear. But do check out if that same exchange program is available for you. I know here in Denmark, it was actually quite a good deal (when comparing to just having to scrap it)

But then again, now you have the excuse to go out and buy the updated play:5 😉

411y.


Before you do anything to the speaker give Sonos a call. As Jesper suggests they may well offer you a re-furbished unit at a very attractive price.

Hi all thank you for the advice. We contacted Richer sounds who we bought it from and they have suggested to take it back to their shop even though it is out of warranty and they say they can send it to Sonos if they can't get it to work. Will let you know the eventual outcome but it may be a while.

Hi,
Does anybody have information on how/where to buy spare parts ? My Play:5 stopped working correctly. Actually, the central (big) speaker has problems. It makes itching noise. Tried opening the Sonos and disconnecting this one only and the rest works great. But of course, without the main speaker, no bass 😢.
My Play:5 is 2,5 years old, so according to Canadian law, 1,5 outside warranty and support "offers" me a replacement (same version) for a "generous" 206 CAD. So I'm looking for a way to repair it. Asked support to provide me with a replacement part, but no response for now.
Thanks for any hint

Hi all just to let you know that Richer sounds in Reading returned our play 5 to Sonos for £40 who have replaced it with a new one for no extra charge. Great result. Thank you to all who helped us try this solution :0)

Hi,
Does anybody have information on how/where to buy spare parts ? My Play:5 stopped working correctly. Actually, the central (big) speaker has problems. It makes itching noise. Tried opening the Sonos and disconnecting this one only and the rest works great. But of course, without the main speaker, no bass 😢.
My Play:5 is 2,5 years old, so according to Canadian law, 1,5 outside warranty and support "offers" me a replacement (same version) for a "generous" 206 CAD. So I'm looking for a way to repair it. Asked support to provide me with a replacement part, but no response for now.
Thanks for any hint

Sonos don't supply replacement parts though you may find somewhere on the web where folk have dismantled units. Advice for the future is to call Sonos BEFORE you open the unit. They usually make very generous offers to purchase refurbished units. But once opened all bets are off.

Thanks for the advice. I indeed called them BEFORE, but since there was no acceptable proposal, I took the things in my own hands. As mentioned here above, their "generous" offer was to pay 206 $ for a replacement unit. Mine was even not 3 years old.

Thanks for the advice. I indeed called them BEFORE, but since there was no acceptable proposal, I took the things in my own hands. As mentioned here above, their "generous" offer was to pay 206 $ for a replacement unit. Mine was even not 3 years old.

Given Sonos had NO liability on your failed product to offer you a replacement Play 5 for around 1/3 the cost of a new one is in my opinion extremely generous. It's irrelevant now as you'll either need to buy a new one or purchase second hand

Sorry, but in Europe, 2,5 year the device would still be under warranty. So that crap about out of warranty in Canada because here is only 1 year is just bulxxxxx

They had liability. Just their product which was not OK. As I wrote, I tried and opened it AFTER having contacted them and their failure to propose an acceptable solution.

Sorry, but in Europe, 2,5 year the device would still be under warranty. So that crap about out of warranty in Canada because here is only 1 year is just bulxxxxx

I'm not saying it's not frustrating and annoying. But like I said you WERE offered a very good option which you chose to ignore. In my opinion that was a mistake. But we live and learn eh?

Well, clearly your vision of "generous" and mine are not the same. That's it. About learning, I've indeed learned that I will never buy Sonos anymore.

Hi... Did it work..? I have mine running on an external power supply, as I gave up fixing the onboard switch mode supply. No schematics. And previous owner had already opened it, so I could not utilize Sonos exchange program, which otherwise would have been nice.

Hi, my play5 power supply seems to have died too. Could you share how you hooked up an external power supply as that seems like the easiest way to get it working again. Thanks!