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
Hello everyone !
I’m Yu-Chun, an intern in Bang & Olufsen, looking into installation and setup with the goal of improving our customer experience.
We would like hear your voice and learn from your experiences related to product delivery, professional installation and setting up the products.
Feel free to be critical and share all your ideas and opinions, since my goal is to figure out what expectations there is related to installation and setup and how we can provide the very best service!
Best wishes,
Yu-Chun
Further proof, ala Dilbert, that they always give the worst jobs to the interns.
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
Jeff: Further proof, ala Dilbert, that they always give the worst jobs to the interns.
Don't forget Tiananmen Square...
Beolab 28s Beolab 9s Beolab 12-3s Beolab 1s Beolab 6000s 2 pairs Beolab 4000s Beovision 7-55 Beovision 10-40 Beoplay V1 32 inch Beovision Avant 32 inch Beosound 1 (CD player) Beosound 3000 Beosound 5 Core Essence MKII Beoplay M5
poodleboy: Jeff: Further proof, ala Dilbert, that they always give the worst jobs to the interns. Don't forget Tiananmen Square...
Nyuk nyuk nyuk! Oh, wise guy eh?
yuchun: Hello everyone ! Feel free to be critical and share all your ideas and opinions, since my goal is to figure out what expectations there is related to installation and setup and how we can provide the very best service!
Welcome to the hornet’s nest.
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Millemissen: yuchun: Hello everyone ! Feel free to be critical and share all your ideas and opinions, since my goal is to figure out what expectations there is related to installation and setup and how we can provide the very best service! Welcome to the hornet’s nest. MM
To be fair, this is probably quite balanced, bordering on pro-B&O, compared to the social media pages!
Ban boring signatures!
Good point Puncher. Not a lot of fanbois or bobbleheads on social media from what I've seen.
Do you have any special story related to installation of Bang & Olufsen products in your home?
That the products look wonderful in your home, but that is only so good. They have to be functional and bulletproof in daily use, which is not always the case. I don't buy B&O for them to be statues.
Have you had a great interaction with your dealer or installer?
When i purchased the Avant, i received a quote for the installation and it was a new company installing and i was the first customer they had installed an Avant in. They didn't use skates to move the TV once on they were laying on the floor bracing themselves against my kitchen cupboards and ruined the line of the cupboards as they had their legs against them pushing the TV. They also left the cables on the floor connected to a powerboard. When they came to quote, i thought this would have been taken care of. They should have said this is what it will look like, do you wnat us to quote you on x
When i purchased the Avant, i received a quote for the installation and it was a new company installing and i was the first customer they had installed an Avant in. They didn't use skates to move the TV once on they were laying on the floor bracing themselves against my kitchen cupboards and ruined the line of the cupboards as they had their legs against them pushing the TV.
They also left the cables on the floor connected to a powerboard. When they came to quote, i thought this would have been taken care of. They should have said this is what it will look like, do you wnat us to quote you on x
Did something go wrong? What should we do to improve in the future?
The encore i purchased failed (intermittent restarts , had to turn off and back again etc) from day one and although my sales person was excellent and on my side , i had to make a case with "management" to get a refund, when that is against Australian Consumer Law. It took 40 interactions before I could get my money back for a product that was faulty. When i purchased the encore, i had to assemble the power supply by myself. All power supplies should come already wired together - that's just none sense Recently the Video engine in the Avant has gone and is to be replaced out side of warranty. I feel that a major part such as this should last longer than 3 years and that when i contacted BeoCare, i asked them for special consideration, which in the end, the person replied that they don't look after Australia, they look after Germany. Well why did you even answer the email in the first place. Get your act together. I mentioned in the correspondance that the stores in Australia has closed down to which they said after that "go to your store". And that in the consideration, he mentioned that i could contact a 3rd party seller who never sold me the product and who probably only sells BeoPlay for me to ask them for consideration. Just madness. It turned out to be BeoDontCare. This is the lesson you can learn in the future - B&O are happy to take your hard earned money, they should stand by the products. They pitch themselves as premium, but the experience is less than premium sometimes. It should be this all the time. To me it's appearing as a company in terminal decline.
The encore i purchased failed (intermittent restarts , had to turn off and back again etc) from day one and although my sales person was excellent and on my side , i had to make a case with "management" to get a refund, when that is against Australian Consumer Law. It took 40 interactions before I could get my money back for a product that was faulty.
When i purchased the encore, i had to assemble the power supply by myself. All power supplies should come already wired together - that's just none sense
Recently the Video engine in the Avant has gone and is to be replaced out side of warranty. I feel that a major part such as this should last longer than 3 years and that when i contacted BeoCare, i asked them for special consideration, which in the end, the person replied that they don't look after Australia, they look after Germany. Well why did you even answer the email in the first place. Get your act together. I mentioned in the correspondance that the stores in Australia has closed down to which they said after that "go to your store". And that in the consideration, he mentioned that i could contact a 3rd party seller who never sold me the product and who probably only sells BeoPlay for me to ask them for consideration. Just madness. It turned out to be BeoDontCare.
This is the lesson you can learn in the future - B&O are happy to take your hard earned money, they should stand by the products. They pitch themselves as premium, but the experience is less than premium sometimes. It should be this all the time.
To me it's appearing as a company in terminal decline.
Do you just want to talk about how your products were setup?
As above.
Beosound Stage, Beovision 8-40, Beolit 20, Beosound Explore.
Chris Townsend:Jesus, where do I start.....
To be fair, there aren't many people posting in this discussion considering how many 'negative' experiences some of us have had! B&O will get the impression from this we're a mostly content bunch!
Puncher is right though, the feedback on Facebook and other locations is awful. Almost relentless 1-star reviews. I know not everyone agrees with what the likes of Apple represent, but one thing they generally do right is spot-on customer service. The number of times I've seen people take a device - including me - to an Apple Store and they swap it out there and then.
My iPad Pro was 13 months old (and 1 month outside warranty) and the screen cracked for no reason whatsoever. Took it to the Apple Store, they pointed out that it was out of warranty and normally it would be a charge, but as the fault was deemed to be a fault of the device and not misuse, they swapped it out for a brand new iPad Pro. Incredible. With B&O it was fix after fix after fix after fix until despair, usually.
My M3 was recently ‘ill’ - about a year old.....one of the first ones.
I took it to my dealer, a B&O dealer, where it was bought.
Two weeks later - as I had the time to go there again - I was handed out a brand new one....could even decide, whether I wanted the black again or a grey one.
Admitted, I am not really a standart costumer, since I can and I do all my installing myself.
Nonetheless, I have had a good relation to my dealer for over two decades - it is now the son, who I have known since he was a kid helping his father in the shop.
I can’t remember any other dealer, with whom I had a relation, who disappointed me.....or maybe I was just good at spotting the right ones.
@Puncher
I don’t do ‘social media’ - so I have no idea what is going on there, and for what reasons.
But the results here - all things equal - will probably be different.........after all we are a bunch of enthusiasts (most of us) and share a love for the brand that is hard to destroy.
Would be nice to hear from people, who do have had personal experiences - I try to avoid the cocky comments from those, who are just refering to ‘what they have heard or read somewhere else’.
As for the question - ‘What should we improve for the future’
It seems very important to me that people can have a relation to a dealer, a dealer who must act responsible - after all a lot of people pay a lot of money for their gear.
When changes in the dealership are there (you can’t avoid such things), B&O as a company should act more actively.....and not let the (= their) costumers standing in the rain, if they have problems.
Also something to consider the more online sales (B&O plans there) will take over from the traditional channels.
This means not just thinking of it, but having a real people department to take care for it.
moxxey:To be fair, there aren't many people posting in this discussion considering how many 'negative' experiences some of us have had!
Millemissen: I can’t remember any other dealer, with whom I had a relation, who disappointed me.....or maybe I was just good at spotting the right ones.
You should have dealers go bust on you, you'd get a different opinion then. It's happened TWICE in Bath and this is an affluent city.
The second time was the worst. I'd just paid a small deposit on a TV and stupidly on a debit card. Granted, it was small (£400?), but when the dealer went bust, B&O didn't want to know. Customers were left to deal with the administrator and even go to meetings to discuss credit terms and so on. No sign of the TV, any order or any customer service. B&O's thoughts were: the store is owned separately by a Ltd company which isn't B&O, so if that goes bust, it's not B&O's fault, even though to the end user effectively they think it's a B&O store (as it's branded as such).
BeoNut since '75
moxxey: Millemissen: I can’t remember any other dealer, with whom I had a relation, who disappointed me.....or maybe I was just good at spotting the right ones. You should have dealers go bust on you, you'd get a different opinion then. It's happened TWICE in Bath and this is an affluent city.
I was supposed to tell about my experiences - not yours.
I inow them well, since you have written about them on the forum.
I guess that you noticed, what I wrote at the end of my previous post = B&O as a company should improve.....to avoid such desasters.
My dealer has always been great. However, BeoCare is HORRIBLE with support.
Millemissen: I inow them well, since you have written about them on the forum.
Sometimes you really ought to take a slice of humble pie - your reactions to your fellow forum members are often as cold as B&O's customer services.
You're a strange fella, Millemissen.
It's really good to hear this lovely story. Thank you so much for sharing it :)
moxxey: Millemissen: I inow them well, since you have written about them on the forum. Sometimes you really ought to take a slice of humble pie - your reactions to your fellow forum members are often as cold as B&O's customer services. You're a strange fella, Millemissen.
I wonder what (behaviour) pleases you?
I was trying to be polite and understanding - but nothing helps.
It is a challenging task... :p
We're taking care of this issue and would like to keep improving our customer experience with various department together.
If you have some stories and would like to share with me, it will be highly appreciated :)
CB:Hi Yu-Chun Thanks for asking To make a long story short, any experience prior to 1996 was enjoyable. Any experience after has been bad... Lack of knowledge, lack of serving attitude, dishonesty... I sent a (long) report to B&O support team about my last experience, but because of the status of the dealers, I’m afraid there’s not much to do on this side... On the other hand, if the central customer service of B&O accepted (sometimes) to intervene or take over, it would be appreciated!
Thanks for asking
To make a long story short, any experience prior to 1996 was enjoyable.
Any experience after has been bad...
Lack of knowledge, lack of serving attitude, dishonesty...
I sent a (long) report to B&O support team about my last experience, but because of the status of the dealers, I’m afraid there’s not much to do on this side...
On the other hand, if the central customer service of B&O accepted (sometimes) to intervene or take over, it would be appreciated!
Hi CB,
I'm sorry that you have to gone through these unpleasant experience...and thank you for understanding our difficulties : )
Could you share with me what kind of products that you bought in recent which disappointed you a lot? Where did you buy it? and a bit more about the process for how you deal with this issue?
beojeff: My dealer has always been great. However, BeoCare is HORRIBLE with support.
Hi beojeff,
Could you address a bit more which part that you feel is horrible and share about your previous experience?
yuchun: beojeff: My dealer has always been great. However, BeoCare is HORRIBLE with support. Hi beojeff, Could you address a bit more which part that you feel is horrible and share about your previous experience?
I was frustrated to find that Ina Bang Andersen at BeoCare had a complete lack of product knowledge and even worse desire to help a customer resolve technical issues. She should be removed from the company.
beojeff: I was frustrated to find that Ina Bang Andersen at BeoCare had a complete lack of product knowledge and even worse desire to help a customer resolve technical issues. She should be removed from the company.
This should not stand alone!
I am not wanting to question your experiences with Ina/BeoCare - no way.
My experiences are different. When I - which hasn’t been too often - was in contact with Ina, she reacted almost immidiately and tried to get my questions answered from ‘people in knowing in Struer’. I never expected Ina to answer these questions herself......but she helped.
Millemissen: beojeff: I was frustrated to find that Ina Bang Andersen at BeoCare had a complete lack of product knowledge and even worse desire to help a customer resolve technical issues. She should be removed from the company. This should not stand alone! I am not wanting to question your experiences with Ina/BeoCare - no way. My experiences are different. When I - which hasn’t been too often - was in contact with Ina, she reacted almost immidiately and tried to get my questions answered from ‘people in knowing in Struer’. I never expected Ina to answer these questions herself......but she helped. MM
MM-
The request was for feedback from my experience so I gave it. As I have asked you previously, kindly do not troll my posts.
beojeff: MM- The request was for feedback from my experience so I gave it. As I have asked you previously, kindly do not troll my posts.
Troll here and troll there.
Despite your bad experiences, a sentence like this ‘She should be removed from the company’ should definitely not stand alone.
Well, if anyone would know how to troll it's a Dane eh? Aren't trolls native to Scandinavia?
yuchun:Could you share with me what kind of products that you bought in recent which disappointed you a lot?
Millemissen:When I - which hasn’t been too often - was in contact with Ina, she reacted almost immidiately and tried to get my questions answered from ‘people in knowing in Struer’. I never expected Ina to answer these questions herself......but she helped.
No real complaints about the former Liverpool showroom. Nick, now manager at B&O Wilmslow, has always been very helpful. I did have one complaint (pre Nick!) when I took a faulty Serene in for a warranty repair and it came back with pliers marks all over the hinge. That issue was never properly resolved as I could not prove the condition of the phone from the time I handed it in! (I suspected that it had been handed to a local repairer instead of being returned to B&O for exchange). (Lesson here.... take photographs before returning anything!)
But I did have an odd B&O experience going back to pre B&O showroom days. My first purchase was in the 70's of a new Beomaster 1200 from an independent HiFi dealer who was an agent for B&O. A few years ago I decided that it was time to have the BM overhauled by Martin (Dillen). The first message I got back from Martin was that on opening the BM he found an unusually large non-standard capacitor on one of the primary circuits. So the new BM hadn't been new after all, and had presumably been returned faulty, repaired (incorrectly) and then sold again as new.
So whilst B&O can be criticised for not always standing behind products from B&O branded stores that have closed, they appear never to have been too good at always picking honest independents in the past.
Graham
I totally agree with Aussie Michael.B&O Play has pretty decent support but the expensive stuff you feel like you're being rude even daring to question the build quality.
I had issues with my Beosound Essence and having to send it in to get "checked" then them saying its working fine and it continuing to have intermittent issues was just a farce.
I bought a new pair of Beloab 18's last week and I am experienceing drop outs even after upgrading firmware. I have emailed my store and hoping they will just to a straight exchange seeing as the product has only been with me for 4 days. However I am not getting my hopes up as this franchise model seems to be terrible for customer service as the small stores have to carry the burden of being out of pocket for replacement units and I guess they have a headache dealing with Bang and Olufsen centrally.
Alright. An update to my experience.So I went to the store 4 days after buying them and was greeted by a gentleman that I had never dealt with. Upon telling him i have had 17's for years with out issue on the wireless and then the 18's would drop out after an hour or two of solid usage, he just said... "oh there's something wrong with your home setup or environment."
This I found extremely annoying and I told him I work in IT, so do not test my technical knowledge when it comes to finding wireless channels with out any traffic on them. Besides, my 17's and the 19 work solidly with out issue. The 18's would work solidly for about an hour then consistently drop off and back on until you restarted the system and it would stay solid for an hour or two again. Anyway, he said to try some cables and gave me a whole bunch of cables for free. Annoyed at him i decided not to even use them and go back the next day and deal with the store manager who I had a very pleasant interaction with when I bought the 18's and even when I bought the 19 from him 2 years before.So I when back the next day, nervous that I had to complain and say I had an issue. Worried that I would have to go through some terrible repair process on speakers I have bought only 5 days before.Anyway, Peter was busy with someone so I waited for him for almost an hour as I did not want to come back again.
He finally comes over and is very pleasant. I tell him that I had issues with the 18's staying connected but love them when they do stay on. I even explained that I went through and updated the firmware and checked the logs to ensure that everything was correct and in order. He was surprised to hear an end user was so eager as to actually update the firmware themselves. He then says "Alright... do you have the box and packaging? Yes?. Great. Box them up, bring them in and we will give you a new pair. No problem. Let's make sure you're happy"At this point I am so relieved that I could have hugged him haha. I was so prepared to start arguing an hear about a return process blah blah blah. instead he was very kind, offered a replacement and then we chatted for about 30 minutes about the Beloab 50's and 90's.
I came away so happy with the experience that I cannot wait to deal with the guy again. Champion :)
So it really does depend on who you get. The store manage in this case was a hero. His staff member on the other hand was an ass hat... trying to convince a customer that wireless is completely useless and cables is all they recommend. (yes yes, I know people have problems with wireless but I never ever have) which got me so annoyed at B&O trying to sell immaculate wireless then have this bloke bad mouth it the entire time because he couldn't be arsed taking care of a customer.
All sorted in the end and I will remain happy with B&O :)
The new 18's by the way have had no issue what so ever. :D
SneakyTomato:Alright. An update to my experience. So I went to the store 4 days after buying them and was greeted by a gentleman that I had never dealt with. Upon telling him i have had 17's for years with out issue on the wireless and then the 18's would drop out after an hour or two of solid usage, he just said... "oh there's something wrong with your home setup or environment." This I found extremely annoying and I told him I work in IT, so do not test my technical knowledge when it comes to finding wireless channels with out any traffic on them. Besides, my 17's and the 19 work solidly with out issue. The 18's would work solidly for about an hour then consistently drop off and back on until you restarted the system and it would stay solid for an hour or two again. Anyway, he said to try some cables and gave me a whole bunch of cables for free. Annoyed at him i decided not to even use them and go back the next day and deal with the store manager who I had a very pleasant interaction with when I bought the 18's and even when I bought the 19 from him 2 years before. So I when back the next day, nervous that I had to complain and say I had an issue. Worried that I would have to go through some terrible repair process on speakers I have bought only 5 days before. Anyway, Peter was busy with someone so I waited for him for almost an hour as I did not want to come back again. He finally comes over and is very pleasant. I tell him that I had issues with the 18's staying connected but love them when they do stay on. I even explained that I went through and updated the firmware and checked the logs to ensure that everything was correct and in order. He was surprised to hear an end user was so eager as to actually update the firmware themselves. He then says "Alright... do you have the box and packaging? Yes?. Great. Box them up, bring them in and we will give you a new pair. No problem. Let's make sure you're happy" At this point I am so relieved that I could have hugged him haha. I was so prepared to start arguing an hear about a return process blah blah blah. instead he was very kind, offered a replacement and then we chatted for about 30 minutes about the Beloab 50's and 90's. I came away so happy with the experience that I cannot wait to deal with the guy again. Champion :) So it really does depend on who you get. The store manage in this case was a hero. His staff member on the other hand was an ass hat... trying to convince a customer that wireless is completely useless and cables is all they recommend. (yes yes, I know people have problems with wireless but I never ever have) which got me so annoyed at B&O trying to sell immaculate wireless then have this bloke bad mouth it the entire time because he couldn't be arsed taking care of a customer. All sorted in the end and I will remain happy with B&O :) The new 18's by the way have had no issue what so ever. :D
Hello Yu-Chun,
On my side, as I'm installing everything myself, no special story.
I remeber that the last software update for my BV8-40 (done by my german dealer as I was living in Germany at this time) was very painfull and he had to struggle for hours before managing to have an updated and working Beovision.
Beocare on its side is totally cheap aftersale service : in january, I discovered that a software update on the Beoplay A9 and Essence mkII made my wife's favorite radio unavailable. We stopped discussion on the 20th of february (2018) with a guy saying that this bug should be resolved in the next update as it was not solved in the febrary update. We're now in december, 3 more updates have been pushed to the A9 and Essence, and my wife is still not able to listen to her favorite radio on those expensive speakers... This is just shocking from what should be a high end brand.
diisign.com