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6 days ago I recycled my Play 5 with Richer Sounds on the back of the Sonos "bricking" of legacy products and used the 30% discount for a new Play5 . I recycled my old Play 5 with the store and have now found out they will no longer be bricking said products but I have now recycled/lost my perfectly good speaker but they ate still offering the 30% discount. What are my rights here? Being a loyal customer I have now lost out!

I would assume you have the same rights as a person who purchased an item last week at the grocery store, and this week it goes on sale. 


@Airgetlam So do you think if I wanted to return the new play 5 this week as it's not even been opened I could return it this week for a refund therefore I should I be able to get my old speaker back? 


Honestly,  no, I don’t think you can get your old speaker back, but that may be more of an issue that you need to connect with Richer Sounds on. It would depend more on their policies than Sonos’. If they’ve already recycled the product, then it might be harder than average to ‘get it back’. If they haven’t done anything to it, they may be able to help you. 

Your best bet would be to contact the store manager as quickly as possible, and see what opportunities you may or may not have. The longer you wait, the more likely it is that the store has already recycled the device you turned in. 


So completely frustrating, didnt want/need to upgrade in the first place. Think Sonos handling of the whole affair has been terrible. Although they have finally come to the right conclusion, unfortunately too late in regards to myself. What you get for being a loyal customer. Will escalate further with both parties. 


There certainly was no requirement to do so, your PLAY:5 would have continued to work as it always has, it just would have stopped receiving new features.

If it makes you feel better, I’m in the same boat, although I recycled mine directly with Sonos, so I’ve got zero chance of recovering, as it was bricked via software, and I dropped it off with a local electronics recycle facility. On the plus side, I’ve got a 30% discount on my account waiting for the next time I purchase a new device. I knew going in to the decision that it was a one way process. 

Sure, I’m annoyed by this reversal in position, but I took my choice with the facts that were in place at the time. If I purchase a car this month, and next month they offer it at 2000 off, it’s exactly the same thing. At the moment I made the choice, that’s when I decided the cost was worth it. Makes me wish I had better foresight, but it is the choice I made.


Fair point. But still doesnt takeaway the frustration of the moved goalposts 


No, it sure doesn’t. 


You could try getting the unit back from the store, whether or not they have marked it for recycling with Sonos. In theory, they have nothing to lose and you may gain by having the unit unblocked by Sonos as and when they find themselves a way out of this new extension to a maze of their own making.


rachelmcnern22

Not wishing to put a dampener on this matter but, according to this online news article…

Engadget News

It does mention the following…

“If you've already set some products to recycle mode, you can't reverse it”.

So it is not yet clear if the device deactivation can be easily reversed, in such cases, aswell as trying to retrieve your device from ‘Richer Sounds’. 

There is mention however that you can also speak to the Sonos customer service team, so maybe do that on Monday, or at the earliest opportunity.


I perhaps should also add here, that we don’t yet know about the accuracy of some of these ‘emerging’ media reports about these changes to the Sonos trade-up scheme.

Hopefully we will see some official comment on the matter from Staff here next week, that may help to clarify things.


This, from the BBC:

Sonos said people could now apply for the upgrade discount just by registering the serial number of their existing speaker.

"We also respect the customer's right to decide for themselves when a product has reached the end of its useful life. So, while we are fully committed to supporting customers that wish to recycle their old hardware, we removed the Recycle Mode requirement from the program," the company said in a statement.

Where this reported/alleged Sonos statement is and why it is not to be found on this site is a mystery. There probably isn't anything more to the delay in official announcements than corporate inertia.


The story did only break late on Friday evening and we all know that weekends can sometimes delay things. I guess we may hear from Sonos during the coming week. The trade-up programme appears to have been suspended for the moment, looking at my online account ‘system’ and ‘trade-up' tabs, so I doubt that any small delay will have any bearing on whatever it is that’s to be 'officially' announced.

It’s not entirely clear if some of the media may have jumped the gun here too and released the story early, perhaps in order to get the 'scoop’. It’s therefore slightly difficult to establish if there maybe any inaccuracies in the press articles, but I guess any forthcoming official Sonos announcement will clearly state the changes to the trade-up scheme.

Hopefully the next few days will reveal the precise detail, but on the face of it, it looks to me like the 30% discount is applicable to those who have the older legacy products and that fact in itself, is being 'rewarded’ without having to now deactivate any of them.