Sonos has screwed up again, this time they have thrown the towel in with their questionable management team forced to give away tens of thousands of dollars’ worth, of Sonos gear after initially trying to force consumers to return products they had not ordered.
The customers were also billed thousands for the products they had not ordered, with their latest action appearing to be more about US legal requirements that allows customers to keep unordered goods, which Sonos staff did not refer to when trying to get the goods returned.
This is not the first time that Sonos has been forced to backtrack on a decision.
Back in 2020 Sonos moved to cut off customers from future software updates entirely unless they replace their old equipment for newer models.
They even demanded that the products were purchased directly from the Companies own online retail store.
Over the weekend Sonos made a management decision that reversed an earlier decision with customers who received extra, unordered devices as a result of a recent software glitch being told they don’t need to return the speakers.
One customer got 30 pieces of additional gear worth over $25,000.
“Sonos does not require the return of extra equipment and respects the decision of each impacted customer,” said spokesperson Madeline Krebs.
“We have and will continue to be in full compliance with FTC requirements.”
It appears that the move was more about the fact that in the USA consumers don’t have to pay for goods they did not order.
A summary of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) requirements relating to unordered goods are outlined on the US agency’s website.
“You never have to pay for things you get but didn’t order,” the website reads.
“You also don’t have to return unordered merchandise.
You’re legally entitled to keep it as a free gift.”
“We have and will continue to be in full compliance with FTC requirements” Sonos later claimed after initially threatening customers that they would withhold the repayment of money they had charged for the unwanted goods.
Early last week Sonos’s customers started receiving between two to thirty extra devices after placing an order for just one product.
They were also charged for these unwanted extras.
One particularly example saw a customer receive 30 shipments of unwanted Sonos’s products, which freight Company UPS also refused to return because they did not have space in their truck.
In customer support emails seen by The Verge, support agents weren’t forthcoming about the fact that customers are technically allowed to keep these additional devices.
One customer tried to cite the FTC’s website as evidence that they didn’t need to return the three additional Sonos Roam speakers they received after ordering just one.
Ther company’s support agent seemingly ignored these comments and sent returns labels anyway.
The customer who received roughly 30 Sonos shipments said that the situation was impacting their relationship with their property manager, after the sheer quantity of deliveries meant, they were having to leave the packages in their building’s lobby.
The customer said their property managers were “being patient” about the situation but were ultimately “not happy about the boxes in the lobby.”
