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
I just received this email:
We would like to inform you that Kennedy Luxury Group will no longer hold distribution of Bang & Olufsen. Bang & Olufsen has with immediate effect appointed MJ Invest Pte Ltd as master dealer of the Australian and New Zealand network. Kindly note that with this change, there will be changes in current store locations that may have an impact on you and your existing Bang & Olufsen product. For an updated listing of Bang & Olufsen retailers closest to you, please visit https://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/find-store.
So I checked the store locations and it appears that only the Melbourne stores are listed. Does this mean B&O are closing in Sydney?
BV6-26, BV7-40, BL7.4, BL3, BL5, BS9000, BC1, ES1, Beo4, BeoPort
Yes, seems all stores in Australia are closing and may/ will reopen/ relaunch at some point.
I think its fair to say it has been a bit of a mess for Bang & Olufsen in Australia. I feel sorry for some the very good staff who have been less than supported.
You would think Melbourne as a city of 5 million and Sydney a city of 5.6 million would be able to support a store or two!
Regards
David
Beovision 8-40, Beocentre 6-26, Beocentre 2, Beolab 9's, Beogram 7000, Beogram 9500, Beo 5, Beolit 1000, 800, 700, 600, 400, Beocom 6's, Beotalk 1200
Wow, indeed what a surprise considering how much money Kennedy would have put in to create the Melbourne "experience" store. It's a shame you can't see the store from the outside because the majority of windows have advertising on them which you actually miss.
Kennedy would have also spent a lot on the sponsorship of the Richmond Tigers (AFL) and the Sharks (NRL)
I would have thought Melbourne and Sydney would have been large enough to support both stores.
I do wonder why the agreement came to an end? I thought B&O was profitable in Australia.
It's a troubling time for the many staff who have the experience of the customer base and the products that may not transfer to the new "agent". I wish them luck.
Also troubling is what happens to any warranty claims in this time?
the end of the e-mail does state we look forward to the relaunch of Bang & Olufsen in Australia and New Zealand and look forward to serving you at our new locations
It is indeed a mess. And possibly why change was needed.
When you can find a pair of Beolab 50's in a David Jones store, and yet cannot find any staff who know anything about them, and when so Called Premium Sound - which used to be the Bose store - is now selling B&O alongside Bose and Sonos, something is very wrong re marketing and image perception.
James and Terry at Richmond had decades of real world HiFi and video experience behind them - both professionally and in their own personal lives as keen AV enthusiasts, and represented a wealth of technical knowledge and support to any prospective B&O customer, as well as providing the very best in customer service and support.
That the Kennedy luxury goods empire then started selling to Premium sound, who also started discounting, cut the legs out from under the Richmond Store, and for a long time James and Terry, both keen B&O aficionados and owners, were losing sales dramatically as a consequence.
James drifted off to follow his own photography business, and I have no idea what happened to Terry.
Both are a very substantial loss of highly skilled staff to B&O head office in Melbourne, and will be sorely missed.
I have no regrets seeing the Kennedy empire departing the scene, as a mess is pretty much what they made of it IMV.
One can only hope that things improve - for the time being Tivoli has TV's, and Premium sound has TV's and speakers.
And that's it.
Such a shame and not good at all.
Here's hoping something good comes out of it.
Cheers
John...
Looks like that for New Zealand as well -- though perhaps something good will
come up. I love my B&O gear and want to keep it serviced.
Hi John
I appreciate your sentiments re Kennedy - they launched the Melbourne store and never invited the (us) customers. Everyone knows you don't forget the people that actually buy your products.
Well a quick look at the company that is taking over MJ Invest Pte Ltd, i thought signified Singapore.
So https://beostore.com/company-profile shows that they are a huge distributor already, so that's a positive.
My previous experience in the Singapore store 2 weeks ago was quite vague, so let's hope the existing talent can be retained when some other new stores open.
I mean the existing staff know the customers. They have been to our houses. They know our layouts, our products, etc. Fingers and toes.
I suppose another speed hump us Aussie B&O customers must endure. Plus a u-turn if I am not wrong in heading back to Singapore.
Perhaps Singapore will pickup some staff members moving forward, its tough for them.
How MJ will manage Australia remains unknown. Just hope they end up with a working model as now the last two Australian Master Agents have failed badly.
I noticed Emerald Group Investments website is suspended www.eginvestments.com.au. Wonder why?
Store are still noted below for now. Though with the AFL season ending no doubt the Richmond sponsorship will cease.
http://www.beostore.com.au/
mmmm...
Beoaus.
BeoNut since '75
Aussie Michael:I also went in to Premium Sound at St Kilda this morning to have a goosey gander. Highly impressed with the customer service. I thought it was going to be some chop shop. But it was marvellous and high end. One person bought something and they walked out to the car with him to help. I thought I only did that. Although I won’t buy Bose anymore for home audio. They had a good setup of that too. But it’s B&O as soon as you enter and it’s not stuffy. It’s welcoming.
Highly impressed with the customer service.
I thought it was going to be some chop shop. But it was marvellous and high end.
One person bought something and they walked out to the car with him to help. I thought I only did that.
Although I won’t buy Bose anymore for home audio. They had a good setup of that too. But it’s B&O as soon as you enter and it’s not stuffy. It’s welcoming.
Good to hear - that store has been around for decades.
At one point, back when I had my Sony Trinitron TV which I bought from the then Sony One Store in the city; when that store closed one of the sales guys ended up at the now Premium Sound store selling Bose and Sony ES kit.
As I best recall, back in those days it was Denman HiFi, and later became a Bose 'premium' store.
Good to hear that their customer service skills are what they should be and that the store exudes a high end feel.
It will be interesting to see how things pan out with the relaunch of the dedicated B&O stores - if it happens of course!
John..
StephenJCW:They must be keen,
I was 5th in line and thought I'd jump in and let everyone know how it went (I got up really really early)
The entire line was the young crowd going for Kenzo Paris and other fashion brands to my great relief. The B&O range was rarely touched when I was there at the start (this could've changed as I was the first group let in). They had only the BeoPlay range up the back with BeoSound 1 being the exception so unfortunately no BeoLab products there
I managed to get an aluminium beosound 1 and some new headphones for my partner which were 30% off. The discount might increase but I doubt it (so unlikely to be 80% off)
Unfortunately they did not have the H9i headphones but they did have the H4, H6 and H8i. A few H2's were there and some other colourful options. There were also quiet a few portable options like BeoLit and M3/5. I would say it's worth checking out if you are looking for something from the BeoPlay range
Best of luck
Aussie Michael:It’s very confessions of a shopaholic
I can actually see myself in that photo (just my hair though I'm hiding) haha
And I reckon you're right, we'll surely see a few things up on ebay/gumtree shortly
BeoSound1 surely is a shiny one, and especially in that photo Aussie Michael!
Daniel:I can actually see myself in that photo (just my hair though I'm hiding) haha And I reckon you're right, we'll surely see a few things up on ebay/gumtree shortly BeoSound1 surely is a shiny one, and especially in that photo Aussie Michael!
Daniel: I managed to get an aluminium beosound 1 and some new headphones for my partner which were 30% off.
All Beoplay products were 30% off. There were some products 80% off, which were old Form2 headphones, $20 each..
Brass Tone BS1, A6 in both colors, Beolit 17 in both colors, H8i in both colors, M3 in both colors, a few M5 Harmonies, some A1's and a stack of P2's were there.
a couple other odd items, much the same price they were in stores prior to closing.
The crowds were huge, i managed to get in at a reasonable time, It was funny as people were asking, "where are the 80% off TV's and speakers".. amazing how shitty people get when there isn't a $22k tv for $4k..
If anyone local is after the same Play products at 30% off, drop me a message
Rob.B: All Beoplay products were 30% off.
All Beoplay products were 30% off.
You can buy most BeoPlay products for less than this from various sources without having to queue: eBay (BeoPlay has a 'refurb' store for returns), Groupon and Amazon around Black Friday.
For our Aussie mates, you should have no issues with warranty. If anyone mentions to you that the new company will not honour the warranty that is against the law.
Even B&O warranty booklet doesn't mention this. If you have purchased from an authorised retailer, you are covered. period.
Bang & Olufsen products purchased from an authorised Bang & Olufsen retailer are covered by a warranty. The company giving the warranty (the warrantor) is the national Bang & Olufsen company within the country in which the product was purchased. Further information about the warrantor’s name, address and telephone number may be found on the last pages of this booklet. Note: The warranty is provided in addition to the rights and remedies granted to you by your seller or granted to you under applicable legislation. Therefore, any remedy (e.g. rectification, claim for damages, right to terminate the contract) granted by the seller of the Bang & Olufsen product or by the law applicable remain unaffected.
The old distributor (EGI, Kennedy) will cover warranty. It's against the law to not offer it.
$6 million Australian dollars, that's like what, 1000 euros? Just pulling your leg, that's serious money. Any more details on the B&O suit, who allegedly did what to who?
I've seen so many B&O dealers fail, all over the world, I wonder if it's more akin to a ponzi scheme than an electronics brand.
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
Jeff:$6 million Australian dollars, that's like what, 1000 euros? Just pulling your leg, that's serious money. Any more details on the B&O suit, who allegedly did what to who? I've seen so many B&O dealers fail, all over the world, I wonder if it's more akin to a ponzi scheme than an electronics brand. Jeff Beovirus victim, it's gotten to be too much to list!
Aussie Michael:For our Melbourne audience the dirty laundry is aired in the column “page 13” in today’s Herald Sun. Big double page Special Investigation
This link may get you through the paywall - from the HS twitter feed: trib.al/rMmvTvY
StephenJCW:This link may get you through the paywall - from the HS twitter feed: trib.al/rMmvTvY
Aussie Michael: $6m is a lot of money but considering the outfit and sales I wonder if that really is just small fries.
$6m is a lot of money but considering the outfit and sales I wonder if that really is just small fries.
Just to be clear, is B&O claiming the distributor in AU/NZ owes it $6 million? But the distro is claiming B&O didn't honour the agreement my distributing directly through ALDI? Could be interesting.
But, yes, does nothing to benefit the brand in a key market.
Not sure where ALDI came from, that's an error.
EGI/Kennedy are dirty because they wanted sole distribution to Australia, and there is another wholesaler that sells B&O Play products, undercutting stores.
Driving through Fortitude Valley this morning, noticed a printed A4 sign on the door of the the (closed) B&O Store—
"VideoPro is the new home of Bang & Olufsen in Brisbane"
Anyone know anything about this?
Nothing on the B&O website about a new store.
Scott...
The sign on the (old) Melbourne showroom was a sign on the inside saying Please contact B&O service department (which was a separate company).
If it is a sign on the outside, i daresay that VideoPro stuck it up on there to capitalise. A read of their website shows they were a BeoPlay reseller. There is no mention of the Bang & Olufsen premium line of products.
In Melb there are 2 other premium resellers.