Why don't Sonos offer a repair service?

I'm not sure I see the problem here. When out of warranty, Sonos most often offers a refurbished unit at a significantly reduced price in lieu of repairing. It then takes the returned unit and sends it out for refurbishing. Not exactly sure how keeping the customer's unit for repair, during which time the customer is without use of the unit, would be more beneficial than immediately issuing a replacement. I personally would be far more satisfied to receive a like-new unit at a reduced price than paying a significant repair bill and being without the unit for the time it takes to repair.

My sonos 5 broke when it was 2 days out of warranty. The best they can apparently offer is a £129 repair. Very frustrating and I feel I’ve been treated very unfairly, especially as it actually broke earlier, just that I didn’t know the exact dates so didn’t phone customer services on time.
My advice: don’t buy any sonos products. They’re expensive, not built to last, and poor customer service.

Again, see my post about the Sales of Goods / Consumer Rights Act - do not be fobbed off by them, they are legally obliged to comply with the law whether they want to or not. If they refuse to comply, report them to Trading Standards etc.

After 6 months from purchase *you* have to be the one who proves the unit had broken through no fault of your own, but provided you can do that, they have to provide a repair or replacement for free.

It's also worth taking screenshots and making notes of links to any posts where others are saying the same thing about both their product and their resulting customer service as evidence - should you need to take them to court.

Assuming Hgc123 is in the UK (which is fair enough as the price quoted is in pounds) then Sonos are obliged to offer a 2 year warranty. They have offered a replacement unit for £129 which is a significant discount on a new unit.

I sympathise with Hgc123's frustration but Sonos' offer is above and beyond and no court in England is going to accept it isn't a fair and reasonable offer.

SONOS' warranty is further backed up by the SOGA/CRA - which stipulates that legally, provided the user can prove the unit did not die because of something they did (being dropped, damaged etc.) then they have to provide a free repair or replacement for up to 6 years from the point of purchase.

Companies do get taken to court for these issues, and they do indeed lose these cases. It is not a case of whether it is a 'fair' offer: they have legal obligations to keep... the question boils down to whether or not the customer is prepared to go through with taking them to court without the *guarantee* of winning.

my Sonos Play 5 is broken within 3 years. There is no possibility for repair. I could exchange the old one for a new Play 5 gen 2, it cost me €409,00 and a new Play 5 cost €499,00. I was always promoting Sonos, but now I have a bad experience with the Sonos service. This a negative radiation from Sonos, I consider to stop with Sonos.

Thanks AndH81, I will check it!

My Connect Amp has also "just stopped working" and now that I think of it, it was after a firmware upgrade. like its bricked or something. I purchased it in summer 2015 used it to power outdoor patio speakers. unit is inside a cool clean and dry basement away from any heat/sun. used only during warm months so unit is plugged in for maybe 3 months a year after that I unplug it because theirs no reason to have this thing powered up. Now it wont boot up and only flashed the white light. $500 unit is a paperweight. SONOS reply buy a new one for a reduced rate of $350.......YEAH that's what I want to do after spending $500 for a unit used for a total of like 5 months of random use. I will NEVER buy SONOS or recommend them again for their lack of customer service AND all you defenders of sonos......your day like ours IS in your future and lets hear the tune you play then LOL.

UPDATE well after some perseverance it paid off. I called back and spoke to a new CS rep and he put me through to a supervisor who asked me a couple of questions and they can tell that the connect amp had not been updated with my other devices and agreed to send me a new one!! Amazing I had to jump through hoops for it. I understand you have to have policies in place to protect youraelf, but for such expensive items they should extend their warranty especially if they believe in the quality of it. So it ended well for me but I wasn't getting off the phone excepting anything else.. I was calm and polite I didnt hand them their tail and im sure that helped. Lol next one I buy (IF there's a next one) will be from someone I can purchase a extended warranty from.

I contacted Sonos support regarding a Connect ZP80 unit that won’t update. Their attitude was terrible. All they want to do it sell me a replacement unit for £249 exchange. A brand new one is only £309. This must be a real simple repair but they won’t tell me if it is. Sorry Sonos, but I won’t be paying that or buying anymore products from you. I have 3x Play 1’s, a Play 3, a Play 5 and a Connect Amp. Years of brand loyalty for nothing.

My other stereo equipments can be repaired at much lower cost.

Really? Can you provide sample numbers?

A tech generally will cost %100-$150 to open any box of electronics in 2019. Then they have to poke around inside, figure out what is up (hard to do for "unusual" items such as these), order the parts (some of which are hard to find) then fix it. In the US the labor rate means this basically isn't practical for cheap electronics such as most Sonos gear. If you could ship it to a low labor country (eg China) then repairs may be more cost effective, but then you need to add shipping costs.

If a longer warranty is desired for electronics, then buy one when you buy the device. Lots of companies offer extended warranties and so do many credit card companies.

My other stereo equipments can be repaired at much lower cost.

Really? Can you provide sample numbers?

A tech generally will cost %100-$150 to open any box of electronics in 2019. Then they have to poke around inside, figure out what is up (hard to do for "unusual" items such as these), order the parts (some of which are hard to find) then fix it. In the US the labor rate means this basically isn't practical for cheap electronics such as most Sonos gear. If you could ship it to a low labor country (eg China) then repairs may be more cost effective, but then you need to add shipping costs.

If a longer warranty is desired for electronics, then buy one when you buy the device. Lots of companies offer extended warranties and so do many credit card companies.

Here in Indonesia,where I live, if you bring out of warranty AV receivers from any major brands; Marantz, Onkyo, Denon and Yamaha to their service centres, they will charge around $30 for inspection. McIntosh service centre will charge around US$ 50 for inspection.
Just replaced the HDMI board on my Onkyo receiver and I paid US$200 including parts and service.

Maybe they could offer discounts depending on a users investment. I have spent thousands on Sonos, and if all I get is 4 years before I have to replace it, out of my own pocket, maybe it is time to look elsewhere. But, hard to do after you spend a fortune, they got you by the short a curlies. BTW, back in the old days, when I bought a nice amp, Sansui, Harmon, Radio Shack, they lasted FOREVER. I still have some of that stuff, but it is obsolete. Great for the cottage.
Cheers

The pre-owned market for Sonos products it quite healthy. I think in part that’s because any faulty units are most likely to have been fixed by Sonos because of the policy.

If potentially dodgy repairs could be carried out with owners potentially fitting the wrong parts, just to “fix” a fault and then sell the speaker to the unsuspecting public is not a good thing.

If Sonos establish repair centres, what countries and what cities should they be located in? Who pays delivery cost to get items to/from the repair centre? Should they offer fixed-price repairs? What if the speaker is unfixable? Who pays labour cost to examine and diagnose the repair cost? What if the owner doesn’t want to pay for the repair once quoted?

I’m not saying the existing system is ideal, but the alternatives introduce a whole new set of issues that will also draw comments - and complaints.

Buy new sonos stuff from richer sounds now with a 6year warranty 🆒
Shame sonos cannot match this when buying direct from their website!!...