I just sat through the webinar and got all the details on the Sonos trade up program. Here are our two options:

1. If my client goes to Sonos.com and orders the new unit, I get a $25 commission per device if I originally sold it. If I do the insulation I obviously charge for labor.

2. If my client wants me to handle everything, I purchase the gear at my cost, pay for shipping, the client gets the equipment at the advertised 30% discount but as a gold dealer, Sonos only reimburses me 70% of that 30%. As a silver dealer, you would only get 60% back. I also no longer get the $25 commission. I would still charge for labor but I would lose money on the gear for every trade up I perform.

What genius came up with this plan, it is ridiculous and unacceptable. I'm sure with enough feedback they will modify this and make it right. I can't believe after the clusterf*#@ of last week that they compounded it by creating this ridiculous plan. If you are a Sonos dealer please let your rep know this is unacceptable.

HomeBoy

It sounds like the same genius that made customers give their bank account number to provide credits when the Play1 units were on sale a few years ago. If you bought it direct through Sonos, they just discounted the units. If you got it through us, they made the customer give their bank account number to direct deposit money to them.

To add insult to injury, they then didn't deposit the funds!

SONOS is not a custom integration product and should not be offered from custom integration dealers.

They are not friends of the CI channel and actively want to replace you.

Shhhhh - don't tell their marketing team that, they'll put you on their mailing list and will SPAM you to death!

Do you think ATV, Denon receivers, Samsung TV's, BluRay players, iPads, or anything else you work with on a daily basis as "custom" integration product? Sonos is a tool in ones toolbox and commonly used by those companies who aren't working in the 1% market for every single job. If you think that MusicCast, Heos, or similar system are custom then I believe you are totally mistaken. It's literally the same consumer BS as Sonos. You could make the argument that Russound, Nuvo, etc is custom but they are steaming (not streaming) piles of goo compared to Sonos IMO. Again, if every job you do is only C4, Crestron, Savant, etc. then good for you but you are still installing consumer equipment every day. And the bigger point to my argument is that I wouldn't hang my hat on custom gear going into this upcoming decade because we are more than likely to be installing consumer gear and our knowledge on that consumer gear will be how we get paid....

Regarding the Sonos deal, yes it is not a win for the dealer and I'm sure the CI side of Sonos sales will take a long term hit. Hopefully they realize that integration is the key to their future and they work aggressively with other partners to allow their audio to be controlled by other manufacturers/apps.

One of my favorite quotes:

"It's all junk." - Russ Herschelmann

Don't hang your hat on the product, because that amazing cool new widget that you're so proud of selling today, you're going to have to explain in a few years why now it's time to replace it, and why it's not worth anything.

When I first heard the quote at CEDIA 20 years ago, I didn't quite grasp it. But through the years it certainly has rung true. And as to vendor loyalty to our industry, those are truly rare.

Sell better wiring, speakers and amps, they're going to survive though the upgrades. Focus on separating amps from brains, so it's more cost effective to switch systems later.

Aside from this BS, Did they mention any update to inputting the trailing credits for the holiday promotions?

My rep said its on hold until further notice, I emailed her again a few days ago but received no response.

How are they handling the "commission" ? I assume they have to enter a dealer code or something?

Whoa! They are not even planning to pay? Are they financially strapped and in trouble?

Their net income has been negative since 2016 but their losses are narrowing. They don't have much debt on the balance sheet. They are going to have to reduce costs or sell more product or both to be profitable (as a public stock, it's profitable for the execs, LOL!).

To get reimbursed you have to "opt in" to the trade up program then with every device you have to input the old serial number and the new serial number, your invoice number and submit, they reimburse you as a credit for future purchases.

HomeBoy