ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Drove past yesterday - couldn't believe it. Ian and his team were always so helpful. Phone message on the store's number is Ian saying "The store is permanently closed" Maybe a Brexit casualty. Very sad whatever the reason.
Cheers
Nigel
Always a shame when the good stores close. I didn't deal with Nottingham much as they usually chose to sell their own pre-owned in store, but when I did they were honest, reliable and very professional. Nice people too.
I don't think it's been mentioned on here but Windsor closed a few weeks ago also... Again, nice people.
I don't know the reason Nottingham closed, but I can guess that they were under pressure to do the crazy-expensive "concept refit", sat down, looked at their profit margins, where the company was headed, how it's being run - and said "we've no choice.. let's just close the doors"
I get the distinct impression some dealers have been leaned on by B&O to do the new store concept when they couldn't really afford it. They'll be the ones having sleepless nights right now as they work 10-12 hours a day to service overdraft charges and so on.
I get the feeling also that B&O want only a handful of people with multiple stores. Cut down on effort and expense tending your 'flock' as numbers would be fewer and have greater control.
Trouble is, you give them a mile of rope to hang themselves by letting them over-expose themselves financially - which makes them weaker.
Is that the master plan which will end up with B&O having total control with almost all stores being company owned, thus getting rid of the annoying franchisees?
Who knows.....
Beosound Stage, Beovision 8-40, Beolit 20, Beosound Explore.
This can be deleted if necessary and I won't mention names.
I'm party to a local B&O franchise which was liquidated in 2015. As I'm a creditor, so I get to see all the accounts. Some staggering and rather worrying sums involved.
Everyone was owed money, customer's too. But B&O UK were owed £168,000 when the local store went in to liquidation. From the creditor notes, B&O UK challenged the stock which the liquidator's took from the store, failed, the liquidators used that cash to pay NatWest, who were owed £42,000.
Amazed that a store could owe B&O UK so much money and was stunned they didn't receive any money from liquidated stock which, effectively, was theirs (as they were never paid).
Lastly, I know we sometimes say it's B&O who put pressure on stores, but the above shows that B&O UK do give stores a lot of financial flexibility/credit if they can run up such a big bill.
h1npw: Drove past yesterday - couldn't believe it. Ian and his team were always so helpful. Phone message on the store's number is Ian saying "The store is permanently closed" Maybe a Brexit casualty. Very sad whatever the reason. Cheers Nigel
This is happening in many places. In the US, there have been many closings. Many of these closings happened in cities that are doing well. I am starting to wonder if I should continue to buy from Bang and Olufsen. If there is a strategy, it is not evident or they are a failing company. Beoplay is not going to work forever.
moxxey: I'm party to a local B&O franchise which was liquidated in 2015. As I'm a creditor, so I get to see all the accounts. Some staggering and rather worrying sums involved.
Very sorry to hear about Windsor and Nottingham, lovely and dedicated dealers.
Sorry if you lost money here, but have a look at this company that look like they were operating a B&O franchise;
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08364560/filing-history/MzEzODk5MjQ1OGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0
Quite astounding!
I am rather surprised that B&O do not put the names of the limited companies that are running franchised stores on the B&O store finder.
Before placing large deposits think it would be prudent (in the UK at least) to ask the question, what is the limited company name/structure behind the B&O frontage. Then the potential customer can check the financial standing before parting with their hard earned cash.
In fact I do this for any major purchase now, not just B&O.
Just because the sign says B&O, it does not necessarily mean that B&O have any financial responsibility to the customer if that particular independant business goes bust.
For the US, am a little worried about that myself.
I don't think B&O has a warehouse anymore, things are shipped straight from Denmark to the store or customer it seems.
Beoplay I think can work for a long time, no reason why not. But that leaves those that like "watching their TVs for hours then they turn it on" in the dust and not sure I am comfortable dropping a large amount on something without a local support network.
Am somehow hoping they step in and re-open a store in San Fran. Hard to understand how the one by Union Square did not work out.
JK
I would like to wish Ian and colleagues all the very best for the future and their next endeavours. I am so very sad to hear about Nottingham closing as I spoke to Ian many times on the phone and popped in a couple of times. He always had so much time for me without any pressure to buy anything and never unhappy when I didn't after lengthy conversation. Of course I inevitably did end up buying because its all about customer service to me and these guys demonstrated it first class, along with Lincoln, which is another store I hold in high regard.
I can't help but feel annoyed that these great stores that have taken a lot of time time through hard work, skilled expertise and by providing first class customer experiences are now disappearing. I don't know who to direct my anger at and it is frustrating. Perhaps as one of our USA poster suggests, this is the end of an era for B&O. I too feel really concerned about spending any more money with B&O. I am considering a brand new tv, new music system and speakers throughout, all networked, to kit out a new home in the coming months. This would be a fairly big outlay with all the wiring and labour costs chucked into the mix. What kind of guarantee or support would I get with knowing that whichever store I purchase from could potentially be closing the following day? Its really looking like a dwindling business more and more each day. Terrible times. Why has this happened? How did we get to this point
Simon.
B&O products are V1-32, BS2, H95, E8 and an Essence remote.11-46 now replaced with Sony A90J 65”, Sony HT-A9, Sony UBP-X800M2 and Sony SRS-NS7.
BAND'OH!: I don't know who to direct my anger at and it is frustrating. Perhaps as one of our USA poster suggests, this is the end of an era for B&O. I too feel really concerned about spending any more money with B&O.
I don't know who to direct my anger at and it is frustrating. Perhaps as one of our USA poster suggests, this is the end of an era for B&O. I too feel really concerned about spending any more money with B&O.
That's sort of how I feel. Still interested, but more reluctant/hesisitant. Bought a few BeoPlay products, but nothing major for the last year or so.
Not helped by the arrogance of our local B&O store who banned me from their social media channels when I told them they were acting arrogantly before they even opened!
That's really bad news and anyone considering buying B&O and reading this forum may well be put off with the prospect of the store closing and losing their money.
IMHO this is part of a much wider problem that I have moaned about before, our High Streets have changed and are no longer the inviting places they used to be. Nearly all in the South are the same - Costa, Womens Clothes, TKMax, Phone Shops etc. etc. Hardly any independents or music shops or antiques etc. Most consumers will travel out to as retail park and buy a TV or HiFi from Currys or whatever - and who can blame them? The cost of parking in cities is high, service is poor. Couple that with the fact that people only expect to keep a new TV or Hifi for a couple of years until something new comes out, the future doesnt look great.
Perhaps some thought should be given to the independent specialist HiFi retailers who make a journey worthwhile, it would do no harm to sell B&O alongside other brands, provide more choice and because of their turnover they could possibly prove more financially stable. I think the days of the dedicated brand store for B&O could possibly be over, at least here in the UK where the market and our high streets has been dumbed down too and given way to mass consumerism.
I agree with you on the comments about Nottingham, just following on from your further comments about franchised stores.
I purchased a Beolab 14 system with a third party amp (supplied from my local B&O dealer not Nottingham) a couple of years ago. The system was installed by the B&O retailer on the Thursday/Friday. I had technical issues with the system over the weekend, I contacted the store on the Monday to complain about the problems. After several weeks & a couple of visits the problems couldn't be resolved. At this point i wanted to return the system for a full refund only to be told that the original company that installed the system ceased trading two days after the original installation, even though the staff hadn't changed.
I contacted B&O who advised me that i had to take it up with the store that i purchased it from & they couldn't/wouldn't help. On all the quotes/emails there was no mention of a franchise. it was all B&O headed paper/emails.
I have since sold the system separately will a loss. The Beolab 14 speakers where not compatible to the amplifier according to an independent report i had done by a leading hifi store. i did loose money on this & feel i was misled.
I think B&O as a top end brand should make it crystal clear you are not buying from B&O and they have no financial responsibility.
CharlesB: I think B&O as a top end brand should make it crystal clear you are not buying from B&O and they have no financial responsibility.
True, but it's no different from buying from a car dealer. Nearly every car dealer is an independent company.
In the above case, your complaint was primarily about the fact you couldn't use your speakers with a third-party amplifier, which isn't really B&O's issue, so they shouldn't really have "financial responsibility" for that problem as they can't offer a guarantee it will work. Also very confused you purchased two years ago before making a complaint. Two years and you were expecting a full refund? Why wait two years?
If someone bought from one of our stores - after two years - claiming he wanted a full refund, I'm not even sure I'd even reply to the request!
The whole purpose of being a Limited Company is to have limited liability to others. It's a warning to anyone dealing with them. The strange thing is that most people read 'Ltd.' as being something good about a company's status!
Graham
I didn't complain after two years I complained after two days, after several months of getting nowhere I sold the kit. This incident happened two years ago. I was totally misled by the dealer.
CharlesB:I didn't complain after two years I complained after two days, after several months of getting nowhere I sold the kit. This incident happened two years ago. I was totally misled by the dealer.