Sonos five dies out after 2.5 years

Hi Sonnno, sorry to hear that. It scares me. I don’t think a buyer of two Sonos 5 is a kind of customer that a brand wants to throw away. If you already spoke with the retailer, try directly with Sonos, I don’t think they try to solve it with a 30% voucher.

I’ll follow this thread, because is interesting to know how repairable these speakers are. We cannot survive many decades with the “buy-a-new-one” philosophy. 

In my country we’ve 3 years of warranty, since a couple of years, still not enough for this kind of devices. 

Also, ask your neighbours, perhaps a power surge fried some others’ equipments and you can claim to the electric company. 

Thanks Tritcale, I appreciate it. 

Unfortunately I’m writing here after long chats with both Sonos support and the reseller (i have the chats saved). They do seem determined to “throw me away as a customer” as you say.. I own two 5’s, two 1’s and one Move. They don’t seem to care, maybe they think i am too invested and will cave. disappointing.

But the real disappointment is how unfixable the thing is.   

About a power surge - something caused it so i guess it’s possible. All i know is that the speaker was behind a surge protection device. Plus, nothing else happened to any of my other appliances on that same device (TV, another Five, a soundbar, a subwoofer, a MacBook etc) so it’s unlikely caused by a network spike or a guard malfunction… 

I’m in the US and there are no commercial repair options for any Sonos speaker. If you can diagnose the failed components you may find a YouTube video on how to effect a repair.

I’ve had my Fives for over two years and having no issues. As far as the chatter about two years of life span being normal I personally think that a false statement. Sonos has had its share of bad publicity of late regarding the app but there are Sonos speakers from 10 years ago still operating. So again I find the two year claim of expected failure for a Five to be rubbish.

To say that the speaker failed overnight IMO points to an external cause. Maybe a power surge as suggested by ​@Triticale . On the other hand electronics do fail sometimes for no known reason most likely due to a faulty component that took a couple of years to manifest.

I don’t know what country you live as you mentioned the failure occurred just out of warranty. In the US the warranty is only one year. My point being maybe you might try pleading your case again for a replacement. If successful the replacement would most likely be a refurbished unit.

30% off a new Five is more than any manufacturer I know of would offer. One more question… when you spoke to Sonos tech support did they run a remote diagnostic to determine a failed component? Doing so may help your case for a replacement unit.

Edit: Our posts crossed as you were the faster typer.

​@AjTrek1 thanks,

1. I made no claim about the the life expectancy of Five. On the contrary, i think its uncommon which is why i’m surprised they don’t offer any solution. I have another Five (and other Sonos speakers) that’s working well. I just said that it happens - one out of two Fives died on me after two years - and it seems to be a known issue (meaning, Sonos know this happens from time to time, they know how often, and probably know exactly what breaks and why) - IF the reports online are correct - i cannot know that for a fact this could have been a random thing. That is not to say it’s the common case. But still likely a known issue. Regardless, and especially if it’s not a common malfunction, I’d expect a good expensive brand to own up to their faulty designs and take responsibility for it: both for the fact that it broke after 2 years (and likely due to a known issue), and for the fact that it’s build to be unrepairable.
2. In my country there are laws that require the importer to provide reasonable fixing services for any appliance over 100$ for 7 years from purchase, these are clearly violated here. 
3. Yes, I sent the app diagnostics data to Sonos, but since the Speaker is completely dead it cannot run diagnostics. I also sent it to the importer’s lab for evaluation - they simply returned it saying that some electrical board is bad and it cannot be fixed.
4. I’d gladly take a working refurbished unit. One wasn’t offered.

You say there are no commercial repair options - and that the warranty is for 1 year. Are American consumers happy to buy a 600$ disposable appliance? or do Sonos offer lab services?

1 year is the standard warranty in the US, and Sonos is the only manufacturer I know of that offers 30% towards a replacement for an out of warranty unit.  Warranties are just one way the US culture differs from UK/EU.  We don’t have the consumer protection other countries have, and this has conditioned us to accept that sometimes things fail, a 1 year warranty only lasts 1 year, and a 30% off replacement is better than nothing (especially when “nothing” is what 99.9% of the other companies offer). 

​@Ronnno 

If as you say in your country importers are required to provide 7 years of repair service for goods over $100 dollars then you may have a legal claim to purse. How does your country define “importer”? Is it the reseller or manufacturer? Also, do you reside in your country or in the US. 

Yes, I know - if it comes to it i can bring it up - but big companies know private people have better things to do than battle with windmills. and No, I’m not in the US

Of course things fail sometimes. That’s why you plan for what happens when they do.

If a 600$ appliance is designed so that if some small thing in it break it must be thrown away and bought anew, it’s not right.

Why would i buy it again? It’s highly unlikely that the thing that broke cost 400$ to replace. If they don’t allow me to repair it for a fair cost it means that i’m just not rich enough to be buying Sonos, at best, or, plain disrespectful at worst. 

You asked “Are American consumers happy to buy a 600$ disposable appliance?”  So I was just explaining the cultural differences vis warranties between the US and other countries.  As your reply aptly demonstrates, the culture in other places is to get irate over something the US just shrugs off as business as usual.  No judgment either way was intended. 

American brands set the standard for good service and customer experience worldwide. this isn’t about America vs EU. My expectations are set by other leading brands which are all American.