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HomePod HomePod stopped working

francoc02o said:
Well, I’m glad to say that after insisting on the problem with Apple, they agreed on replacing it for free, even though it was out of warranty.
It depends on the senior adviser that is helping you.

When I called Apple the first time, the Adviser told me to follow some trouble shooting steps. Nothing worked. He set me an appointment to an apple store.
At the Apple Store, even though they tried to help me, they told me that this is an unfixable device, and since it is out of warranty, the replacement costs 279 (almost the full price).
I called them back and asked to be transferred with a senior adviser. This senior adviser was arrogant. He didn’t want to help.
He said: “I’m sorry but it is out of warranty, no matter what is the cause of the problem. There’s nothing you can do but paying the 279 USD if you want one. If it was a spread problem I would have heard from it. But I haven’t”.
I found that unacceptable.
Next day I called and asked to be transferred with another senior advicer, and after having him listen the whole story, he claimed that he’s seen a few cases like this with the HomePod, and for customer satisfaction, they would make an exception to replace it at no cost. That I should go to an apple store and give my case number and they would replace it there.
This time I went to another apple store and the genius that helped me told me that this was the 3rd OG HomePod that came with the same problem.

So if you have the same problem, I recommend you to call apple and notify them about this. Sooner or later they would have enough registries of this problem and probably would launch a recall program as they did with the Best XL speaker.
I have 4 OG HomePods and only 1 died after the last update (15.1.1), which caused the problem.
Click to expand...
I have had the exact same issues as you have described.

After the most recent firmware update (15.2), 1 of 4 OG HomePods developed the popping and crackling problem.
Went through all the trouble shooting steps and nothing could fix the issue.

Went into a Apple Store only to be told that it was out of warranty and I had to pay near full price for a refurbished one.
Spoke with both their Genius bar consultant and the Store Manager who both just refused to listen to all my previous issues after firmware updates.

Having owned over 30 Apple products, I told them of my dissatisfaction with their products and services ánd have found the whole process disgusting.

Paying AUD$500 for a product that only lasts 2yrs is NOT acceptable.

I have also had previous problems after firmware updates which lead to all 4 OG HomePods becoming bricked.
Luckily at that time they were all still under warranty.

Seems like if you have the OG HomePods, the only choice is to disable all automatic updates or expect them to die shortly after a firmware update.

Too many people are experiencing their OG HomePods breaking down now that they have discontinued the product.
Is this a coincidence?????
 
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Macawno said:
I have had the exact same issues as you have described.

After the most recent firmware update (15.2), 1 of 4 OG HomePods developed the popping and crackling problem.
Went through all the trouble shooting steps and nothing could fix the issue.

Went into a Apple Store only to be told that it was out of warranty and I had to pay near full price for a refurbished one.
Spoke with both their Genius bar consultant and the Store Manager who both just refused to listen to all my previous issues after firmware updates.

Having owned over 30 Apple products, I told them of my dissatisfaction with their products and services ánd have found the whole process disgusting.

Paying AUD$500 for a product that only lasts 2yrs is NOT acceptable.

I have also had previous problems after firmware updates which lead to all 4 OG HomePods becoming bricked.
Luckily at that time they were all still under warranty.

Seems like if you have the OG HomePods, the only choice is to disable all automatic updates or expect them to die shortly after a firmware update.

Too many people are experiencing their OG HomePods breaking down now that they have discontinued the product.
Is this a coincidence?????
Click to expand...
Yep..... one of our originals died just over a year after purchase (bought it in dec and it died in january). i had bought it at best buy for 199..... apple wanted almost full price for a replacement.... and that price was even more than the military store price.... which is a 10% savings! We have 5 more of the large ones..... hoping they hold out cuz as much as i like the cute little minis.... they don't have the same full sound i'm used to in the rooms I have the larger ones!
 
cheekyjeremy said:
There has to be more to this issue of HomePods dying all of a sudden. There is nothing significant in it to break them other than:

1. People are playing them on 10 all the time and somehow managed to blow a speaker
2. People physically breaking them

Just playing music through them should not be causing them to die. Therefore, is the software update actually to blame ?. I am current on all 5 HomePods and to this moment (thankfully) all of mine are working normally. Mine are up-to-date on software also, so it just seems strange that they are dying so much all of a sudden.

If (as above) there is problems with electronics failing, that is a design flaw that Apple should be held accountable for. While I realize it technically is out of warranty, Apple is usually making things that far exceed the warranty specs.

It cannot just be that all of a sudden they all die (for no reason) and Apple just gets to say "oh well" and move on.
Click to expand...
Im currently in discussion with Apple re this problem, from the research iv done its appearing to be a growing problem. i'm wondering if as you say its a design flaw, multiple units all exhibiting the same diode problem. Apple were not very helpful when I spoke to them and i'm currently getting legal advice re the UK Sale of Goods act which states an item should be of a reasonable durability and under the act this period is 6 years from purchase tho I may have to take out a small claim in the courts if apple don't play ball, and as you say Apple are a premium product with a history of robust build. Also, if you pay for a repair, they will simply give you a new homepod for the princely sum of £220 for the repair. So the units are non serviceable from apples point of view. I can see a class action suit in the offing.

UPDATE,
So, I spoke to a very helpful gentleman at apple support last Friday, I was looking to take out a small claim through the UK court. I outlined the problem to him and said I was looking to pursue it using the Durability clause in the UK Sale of Goods act 2015 which states an item purchased should be of suitable durability, especially if it is a premium item and cost accordingly for its quality. Within UK law I have a 6 year window from purchase date to pursue this through the seller, in this case Apple.
So Iv had to get a registered apple engineers report from my local reg Apple dealership to forward to Apple along with the orig Apple purchase receipt, stating the homepod is in excellent condition, has no outward signs of damage, and will require sending back to apple for service for a hardware fault. This cost me £25 for the report. Apple have arranged to have a box sent out to send the homepod back and will be replacing the faulty homepod with a new/working one, free of any charge.

I also mentioned to him that iv found info re an increasing number of reports of homepods having total power failures and it looking like a common hardware issue, which he was very interested to hear and said he'd pass the information on to Apple.

Thinking about this issue, the homepod I have that failed was the master homepod of a stereo pair, as I'm sure you know when paired one pod takes over a master roll re Siri connectivity, so Im wondering if this is related to the problem as this pod would be working harder 24/7 than the other. I'm interested to know how many other failures you folks have experienced have been through paired pods where the master pod had failed?

This is the link to the Apple page re the out of warranty UK consumer law.
www.apple.com

Legal - Apple Products and Consumer Laws in the United Kingdom - Apple

www.apple.com
 
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If you HomePod dies hold onto it. Apple has pushed out out of warranty repairs or compensation years later.

You'll find it here....

Apple Service Programs - Apple Support

This page lists all programs currently offered by Apple, including Replacement programs, Exchange programs, Repair Extension programs and Recalls.
support.apple.com
 
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sigh, mine died sometime in the last couple days... lasted over 4 yrs which is better than some 🥲.

I remember when Apple did exchanges for 1st Gen iPod Nanos (due to battery issues). I had one that died many years ago and got a free 7th Gen Nano just because I held onto the 1st Gen, lol. Maybe we'll see something like that, eventually (doubt it).
 
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Sorry to hear about all of the losses.

I have 4 in the house and have all worked great over the years.

Recently I reset one because it was unresponsive intermittently.
Now the setup is failing. It works fine at the beginning and sets up from iPhone but just gets stuck in the configuration step. The error code seems to be meaningless unless someone else knows more.

Any thoughts or help would be very much appreciated!
 
Yea mine died. Apple genius told me I can have it replaced with one that is ‘like new’ for 190 dollars. I hate to just have a dead HomePod but 190 with no further guarantee on a product that was already 350 to start sounds egregious so I turned it down. Was thinking of waiting for next HomePod to debut but also might switch to a more reliable product like Sonos.
 
Hii, I am a user of 2 original HomePods bought new from Apple Store in November 2020. One of my HomePod stopped working in August 2022, with "+ -" blinking lights. HomePod was not able to reset even at the Apple Store. Apple offered to replace the HomePod for $360CAD + tax. So I chose not to replace and get more HomePod minis or wait till next big speaker is launched. But somehow, when I tried to reset it after about a month, I was able to reset it. It was surprising to me that even apple store employee couldn't reset it and asked to replace it. but after working fine for about a month, It is again showing "+ -" blinking lights.

So I am just wondering if this same issue has happened to anyone else and they had the same experience or not ?
 
One of my OG HomePods started with the blinking + - about two months ago. It was running audioOS 16.2 BETA. Haven't been able to reset or do anything with it. I keep plugging it to power every now and then just to see as several people over at Reddit have similar stories with blinking + - and not being able to reset. But a few weeks later it will suddenly work again. I haven't had as much luck with mine sadly.

Really annoying to not have a Lightning or USB-C service port on these HomePods.. Would have made it much easier in terms of doing a DFU restore when it acts up like this. My remaining five OG HomePods are working just fine and they are all on audioOS 16.3 now.
 
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