Sonos five dies out after 2.5 years

It’s a simple one but it’s still there… like i said, could be it - but that does not change the big picture.

Thank all for your input. I wanted to share this with the community. I appreciate your comments.

Imho, In Israel, the importer is in clear violation of the law - (to guarantee the option for payed repairs outside the warranty). They have not done what is required of them - at least to give me a quote for a repair - partly because of Sonos policies - because i do believe its most probably a 10$ fix rather than 400$...

A bit disappointed in Sonos for rolling their eyes at something like this. but probably my fault for expecting the same level of service and pride in their quality as I’d expect from a major industry leader… but it’s ok. only a speaker in the end. and i do have two, stereo is overrated anyway :)

As litigious as the US is, nobody is going to launch a class action suit over a piece of electronics failing outside the warranty period.  It would get laughed out of court.

maybe they are not as big in the US as i imagine… it’s only a question of the damage done in terms of dollars… but i’m not a lawyer and not American so i really don’t know..

In my country, i think, if thousands of these devices would have been replaced for a 30% voucher while  there was a good case for a well known cheap fix for the problem it would be in the headlines as fraud. But again - i don’t know that anybody did anything with bad intent.. im just responding to “it would get laughed out of court”… 

Again, it would get laughed out of court.  Sonos sells 10’s of millions of units per year in the US.  1000 of them having a problem isn’t even a blip on the radar, never mind lawsuit worthy.  Also, you have absolutely no idea how many of these units actually fail outside of warranty.  Your “thousands” being replaced numbers are made up out of whole cloth. 

A class action in the US  is a very distinct type of action with pretty complicated rules. Usually lawyers will make a decision to participate based on the expected value of the settlement and the percentage of it they will be paid versus the effort involved. It is rare to see such an action funded by the victim so interesting an advocate is key.

An alternative here is small claims court where the damaged party can present evidence, without needing a lawyer. The amounts and causes are limited and it may take escalation to actually get paid the amount you are awarded. Still if you have a similar option pursuing the importer may be productive.

of course this is all hypothetical. But if, for example, 15,000 of these speakers were “upgraded” due to this problem over several years of selling Five family products - and if each such replacement represents about 400$  collected from the customer for no reason - it adds up to ~6 Mill - all hypothetically, and its not a terrible sum too - but maybe it wouldn’t be laughed at… anyway, your country.. maybe you would laugh.. 

I’m not going to argue over silly made up numbers.  There is no lawsuit, nor any huge threads here at the Sonos forum complaining about 15,000 Five models failing out of warranty.  

there are a few threads actually, two are mentioned in this one, and i saw some some others..

but in full disclosure i was encouraged to come here to complain -  by both others in the Israeli Sonos consumers facebook group (who had the same mysterious malfunction) - and - by someone affiliated to the reseller here - that is why i am a little over confident that its not just me… 

but i agree - the point here is not a made up law suits or numbers. it’s just to bring attention to the fact that manufacturers have responsibility to the quality of their products - only if we demand it of them. 

I expect an expensive proud brand to replace faulty products that fail to deliver on their most basic function - to just stay on for longer than two years. anything less is unacceptable and should spark a debate here among customers. 

Here is probably one of the least effective places to complain as this is allmost all user to user with a very light participation by a few moderators.

The Sonos Reddit appears to have a much better chance of an official, or at least semi-official response.

Calling in may not get as much direct response but the contact is more likely to be forwarded up the support chain.