Sonos five dies out after 2.5 years

Sorry to contradict you, but the labour cost alone is going to be well over 10$. Then there’s the cost of the part (which may only be 10$), and the time-and-labour to fully test the repaired unit. Add on postage (both ways) and the whole admin time-and-labour costs, and the total cost is moving far closer to your 400$ figure. 

Don't forget to add on the "bench charges" that cover the costs of the test and repair equipment plus the shop where it is done. Lots of other overhead to cover. I'd be surprised to see hourly rates totalling under $200.00 an hour.

An auto repair shop, not doing book-rate work is looking around $150.00 an hour here.

How much would your company charge a customer for two hours of your time?

No offense but you are really getting into a black hole with no light at the end. Warranties are just what they are…protection against failure for a specified period which is typically 1 year. After the warranty expires all bets are off. Sometimes companies may make an exception but rarely.

One of the first things they will site is did “did you consider purchasing the extended warranty”.  Here in the US there are very few companies that offer repairs of the electronics they sell. That is typically farmed out to a third party. Those repair facilities also handle repairs for multiple companies. Handling repairs for one electronics company would be fruitless. Simply because most electronics don’t fail often enough for sustainability.

Your situation is unfortunate as I would be miffed as well. However in the end I’ve been where you are and basically had to move on.

If as you say there are very strong consumer protections where you live then I strongly suggest you pursue them. At this juncture that appears to be your best course of action.

That may be - but consider:

1. i’d gladly pay 400$ for a fair repair, rather than a flat “this thing is disposable - nobody cares to fix it”.
2. No postage fees - in fact, they told me to drop it off at a service station to have it looked at for a cost - which i did - but when i came back after one week they told me they changed their minds and now are not willing to check what the problem was even for a fee. 

I happen to be an engineer fixing problems in products. The usual charge for to a customer for fixing a problem which prevents them from using what they bought is exactly 0$

Moreover, about 30% of my full time job is fixing problems and the customer clearly isn’t charged. If we care about the customer a lot, we sometimes loose sleep over it. 

That said, it’s not consumer electronics - there are lower margins there and the costs of fixing are way higher - and of course it’s not practical to fix ANY problem. I’m not naive.

But before this company I also worked for a company making consumer electronics as well and - across the board - when there was a problem that prevented a user from getting the value they already payed for - and if we know it’s related to the design and could - we would always ship a free replacement and take the time to make sure the new one works.

This is hardly true. there are many industries where lifetime warranty is customary for certain breaks that are known to happen. For example, the stitching on a North Face backpack… To give a different example, the last time my smartphone broke it was from an inflated battery: The deformed battery damaged the screen. I took it to the lab - they said they had no Screen replacement in stock - their solution was to give me a brand new phone replacement (it was a relatively old model not sold as much) at the cost of just a new battery. 

At the very least - if the power supplier in Five tends to break (as we see from the thread above, and from the responses to my post in the Hebrew Sonos community page on Facebook - AND - the 12 thread on the matter i found now in 10 minutes here) - it doesn’t mean that the company Must own up to it or do anything about it. But it does mean that its not a great company/product if they don’t. This is not a new product - they can anticipate the rate at which these breaks occur - it’s up to them to own up to their design flaws, and make sure I get what i payed for - and it’s up to me to call them on it when they don’t - so that you will make an informed decision before buying..

Other threads about identical problems (a 10 minute search with only the words “Dead Play:5 Five” - albeit most of the threads are for older models but they are all spot on the same issue):

A Play:5 is not a Five.  There were some known problems with the Play:5 Gen 1 wireless card, but that has nothing to do with the Five, which came out almost a decade later.  Nice try, though!

I’m beginning to think this thread is an attempt to pummel Sonos with negative posts so they cave and give the OP a free replacement.  If it is, good for them on trying.  However, we don’t have to feed it.  I suggest we leave this topic alone, it’s been truly done for a while now.