Is this normal experience with Sonos Support?


Hello,

So I was moving and during shipping my Play 5 got a slight puncture on it's super thin grill and I was like well maybe support can help me out with this i am very OCD and this bothers me a lot...

Here's the damage


So I write them a message and they are like we will see what we can do for you and it turned out what they can do is charge me 389$ (Price of the refurbished model on Sonos store is 399) and replace the unit. I am like speechless is this the level of support we can expect?

I guess don't ever damage your front grill friends or you will be faced with a choice to surrender your speaker and get 30$ discount.

Thanks Sonos Support Team.

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30 replies

Userlevel 7
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So you want them to send you a free replacement speaker?
If not free how much off the list price would have made you happy?

Now if YOU want it fixed you can certainly fix it yourself but will void any remaining Sonos warranty or courtesy price reduction like what they offered you. First pop off the cover and try tapping the dent out, if that isn't good enough then buy a "parts only" Play 5 off ebay or the like and swap speaker covers. Not rocket science and you can find several places that talk about doing it.
This isn't about what I want this is about what Sonos wants? I personally don't want them to replace my speaker I want the grill replaced.

But the grill is not meant to be removed and there are no replacements parts like say a spare grill sold anywhere so it seems like the only options to fix a tiny dent is full on speaker replacement. Which is what in my opinion sucks. I mean think think about it I can get a used speaker without a scratch at the same price and I am not losing my speaker.

If this seems alright to you then don't mind me.
Userlevel 7
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You may not like it and many other folks agree with you but Sonos doesn't do repairs of customer's speakers or other devices. All you can get is a warranty exchange or maybe a bit of a courtesy price drop on an out of warranty swap.

Power cords seem to be the only repair/replacement part Sonos sells.

I don't know what Sonos does with devices returned to them that have failed components or physical damage.

Self repair, with little or no Sonos support is the only other option. They do allow it to be discussed here though which is nice of them.

You really shouldn't have been blind-sided by this policy, even a quick review of the Sonos site, articles and forum posts would have warned you of this policy.
You are saying many people may not like it and I assume you absolutely ok with this?

In your opinion is this an adequate support from a company of premium speakers that a small dent in the grill warrants full replacement of the speaker to fix and a charge of 389$?
Userlevel 7
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I'm OK with it because I did my homework and knew what I was buying, many other Sonos owners did the same. I knew what I was getting with Sonos and am satisfied with the deal I made. Lots of other folks decide on something other than Sonos for this or other reasons.

I can understand you being upset about the policy now that you found it, but the surprise is your fault for not educating yourself about a product you were going to buy.

Whether I see it as adequate or not really doesn't matter, it is the way Sonos runs things and you either accept it and buy Sonos, buy something else, or as you have done buy Sonos, discover it too late and be unhappy.

I'd love to see better repair support but there is no way Sonos is going to rebuild their entire support department (after doing it this way for so many years) to include a repair and return service.
I don't really understand are you affiliated with the company or something?

No repair support, well it's just how they do things. I'd love to see better support but there is no way they can do this.

Why are you making excuses for them? Sorry I am just having a hard time connecting the dots on why would someone defend this willingly. I get that you might be satisfied with your speakers but who would be against basic support?

I have created this topic to point out horrible support and this is horrible support if ask any annfiliated person. There is no real need to defend them here. It's a fact.

This is not rocket science here this is just about replacing a grill.
This is how the world of consumer appliances works today. Try getting a better solution for an iPhone for which you broke the glass, for example.
This is how the world of consumer appliances works today. Try getting a better solution for an iPhone for which you broke the glass, for example.

They have something called screen repair as the screen is something most prone to be damaged exactly like the grill is on Play 5 and the prices are on average 25% of the unit (which is a lot but way less then Sonos) and let me also point out that it's way harder to do and requires specially trained person.



And this is the official option there are way cheaper options out there I honestly have no idea what are you talking about the world of consumer appliances does not work like this.
Obviously you didn't pack the speaker carefully enough. You're 100% at fault here. Sonos doesn't supply spare parts. Deal with it, or repair it yourself. Really not a difficult fix, just time consuming. Might even be able to pull it out without removing the grille, with the right tools.
I am happy to be corrected about the iPhone; perhaps the glass breakages are so common that something like this had to be done.
But in general, mass market consumer goods aren't serviced as they were in the past in a use and throw away world - not that I like the change or am defending it.
In the world of home audio, service of the kind you refer to is not offered except at higher price points.
Yes, breaking the glass on your phone is FAR more common that puncturing the grille on a speaker. This is the very first instance I've ever heard of. There's no way Sonos is going to keep an inventory of something that simply doesn't break more than 0.01% of the time. Do you have any idea how expensive maintaining a spare parts inventory is? Triple the cost of your speakers for them to maintain a parts store...
. Do you have any idea how expensive maintaining a spare parts inventory is? Triple the cost of your speakers for them to maintain a parts store...
Which is why makers of audio kit that want to maintain one have to price their products a lot higher than Sonos does - not that all of them maintain one even then! For those that do, with Quad a great example, this also goes along with product design and manufacturing that lets service life be measured in multiple decades. But products like those from Quad and those from Sonos cannot be compared, it isn't apples to apples. Except on sound quality, where Sonos comes surprisingly close, though I would not expect my Sonos kit to have anywhere near the kind of service life that I would expect from Quad products.
Yes, breaking the glass on your phone is FAR more common that puncturing the grille on a speaker. This is the very first instance I've ever heard of. There's no way Sonos is going to keep an inventory of something that simply doesn't break more than 0.01% of the time. Do you have any idea how expensive maintaining a spare parts inventory is? Triple the cost of your speakers for them to maintain a parts store...

I am astonished by how educated you are on the numbers now where do you get that 0.01% I have no idea this is just out of the air words presented as facts. We have no way of knowing how often that happens. It might happen very often... but people aren't bothered by that and so no one actually comes to the forum to talk about it.

Now lets talk real numbers here. Sonos Inc is a publicly traded company with a market cap of 1.09 Billion founded in 2002. Now lets use your magic number here and say this issue happens 0.01% of the time. Are you saying with a market cap of greater then a billion dollars and 17 years Sonos is unable to afford maintaining a basic spare parts inventory and I am talking things like the grill here! I am fine with replacement if the actual speaker is broken now That! Is a common practice but a Grill? No Sir.

Because this would again be something I will find very hard to believe and yes I don't think it would be very expansive at all taking into account market cap. Support needs to do way better this is unacceptable. I honestly don't know how you can think otherwise.


Now lets talk real numbers here. Sonos Inc is a publicly traded company with a market cap of 1.09 Billion founded in 2002.

The market cap has nothing to do with 2002, it is entirely to do with expectation of future sustainable cash flows. Which are based on a business model, that, among other things, includes the existing support policies and product price points. It is very difficult to change just one part of the model.
And the fact that it is a billion dollar annual sales business built using that business model would suggest that there are enough people that do not see their practices as unacceptable.
Lol. You need to go set yourself up with gear from one of those old school British Hi-fi companies that still does things the way they were done in the '60s. It'll cost you an arm and a leg, and forget about any modern niceties, but there are still one or two of them left. Good luck!


Now lets talk real numbers here. Sonos Inc is a publicly traded company with a market cap of 1.09 Billion founded in 2002.
The market cap has nothing to do with 2002, it is entirely to do with expectation of future sustainable cash flows. Which are based on a business model, that, among other things, includes the existing support policies and product price points. It is very difficult to change just one part of the model.
And the fact that it is a billion dollar annual sales business built using that business model would suggest that there are enough people that do not see their practices as unacceptable.


I mean how would you know what's difficult and what's not? As far as I know you are not working at Sonos. So far all your responses were not backed by any real world data and don't take this personally but such responses are worthless and go no where.

Lol. You need to go set yourself up with gear from one of those old school British Hi-fi companies that still does things the way they were done in the '60s. It'll cost you an arm and a leg, and forget about any modern niceties, but there are still one or two of them left. Good luck!

I don't see how this is relevent... but Thanks!
It seems to me that the only response you want is an agreement with all you say. And if all you want is a response from Sonos, write directly to them.
Oh, I forgot...you have done that already.
It seems to me that the only response you want is an agreement with all you say. And if all you want is a response from Sonos, write directly to them.
Oh, I forgot...you have done that already.


I mean I want real data behind points sad here.

1) Sonos cannot afford to maintain inventrory of spare parts.
Well, how do you guys know this? Nothing...
2) It's difficult to change one part of the model
Well, how do you guys know this? Nothing...

Seriously, https://youtu.be/G3f6j3N1RuU?t=161
"We want to make product that last 10 years" Seriously Sonos 10 years and I can't even replace a grill that's seems clearly removable and I found one on eBay here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sonos-Play-5-Front-Grill-White-New/173924607135?hash=item287eb6e49f:g:EnAAAOSwx2Bck8HO

I wonder how he got a brand new grill! Maybe there is still hope here.

Consumers don't have to shop parts on eBay 7 month after they bought the product for a basic part.
Userlevel 7
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I'm loving his topic over on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/bxqbvv/sonos_support_need_community_opinion_on_this/
Lol. Essentially the same responses, but they seem more real to OP for a reason I can't fathom.
Maybe just stick a little tiny 'ouch' sticker (or similar) over its 'HUGE GINORMOUS CRATER'.

OCD, or no OCD, there are far more important things to be concerned about in this world, especially as the speaker still works okay.



I mean how would you know what's difficult and what's not? As far as I know you are not working at Sonos. So far all your responses were not backed by any real world data and don't take this personally but such responses are worthless and go no where.


No one is coming up with actually data in this discussion, including yourself. If you're going to discount others view on the topic due to lack of supporting data, wouldn't you need to discount your own arguments as well?

From what I've seen with modern electronics, the repair model is pretty much gone. The costs usually are very near the cost of full replacement, when you factor in maintaining inventory, shipment, personnel, and administering the program itself. People generally don't even like the process very much since they will be without their electronics while it's away for repairs (I can't stand it anyway).

The only spare parts you really seen now a days is for one of two reasons. The first is that the part is going to be under heavy wear and quite likely to fail before the rest of the unit does. Wheels are a good example of this, for lawn mowers, vacuums, etc.. Speaking of vacuums, the brushes will fail frequently. And of course, phone screens. In many of these cases, spare parts are provided and the equipment is designed so that the owner can replace the part themselves without much knowledge.

The other example I see is the spare part is actually designed with customization in mind. There are different colors and designs of the part available so that users will be tempted to buy the part, even when their current part isn't broken, just to customize their product. This is what I'd like to see Sonos do for the grills. Create a speaker where the grill is easily replaced and over different versions of the grill so users can change the color and look of the speaker at will. Or perhaps just some minor wear and tear, like OP's case, can be remedied with a $30-$50 (random guessing at the price) change if it bothers them enough.

btw, you may want to try googling 3rd party options, like this.
Userlevel 7
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I found a Play 5 Gen 1 grill on ebay for a great price. It was $9.00 last night, $53.00 today so the un-dented one for $100 is a steal.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sonos-Play-5-Wireless-Multi-Room-Speaker-Black-Gen-1/163723221230?epid=4024808155&hash=item261eaa18ee:g:~FYAAOSwssRc-brG
Userlevel 5
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sonos-Play-5-Front-Grill-White-New/173924607135?hash=item287eb6e49f:g:EnAAAOSwx2Bck8HO
I wonder how he got a brand new grill! Maybe there is still hope here.

Consumers don't have to shop parts on eBay 7 month after they bought the product for a basic part.



Wow. $100 just for a grill?

But $300 for a full new speaker, with perfect grill is too much. Okay.
Maybe just stick a little tiny 'ouch' sticker
Full marks for lateral thinking! A customised unit - unless the OCD is acute.