It’s been a difficult year for popular whole-home audio company Sonos. An app update in May removed features and contained a huge number of bugs. To gain back trust, the Sonos CEO has just announced a new plan to help the company get back in the good grace of customers.
Extending Warranties and Promising Regular App Updates
The new plan was announced after an internal review of the updated Sonos app released in May:
“Our priority since its release has been—and continues to be—fixing the app. There were missteps, and we first went deep to understand how we got here, and then moved to convert those learnings into action,” said Sonos CEO Patrick Spence. “We are committed to making changes to get us back to being the brand people love by offering the best audio system for the home and beyond. We must always do right by our customers, and I am confident that, with these commitments, we will.”
Most importantly, Sonos says it plans to offer regular software updates, establish a customer advisory board, and extend the manufacturer’s warranty by one year for all home theater and plug-in speakers currently under warranty.
Internally, Sonos said another change includes appointing a quality ombudsperson so employees have a clear path to escalating concerns about quality experience. The company will also add more customers to any beta testing period.
Sonos also said no member of the executive leadership team will accept any annual bonus payout for the current fiscal year until the company succeeds in improving the quality of the app and rebuilding customer trust.
Can Sonos Right the Ship?
Sonos has always been known for its high-quality audio products. In our reviews, we liked both the Sonos Ace headphones and Sonos Roam 2 Bluetooth speaker, the two new products released by the company in 2024.
So it was a surprise when Sonos released its updated app that was obviously not ready for prime time. While it offered some nice features, the company obviously didn’t understand how existing customers used the app with its products. It’s good to see Sonos take a long, hard look at how the company operates and can hopefully improve in the long run.
