Have to say that unfortunately your problem is with a dealer, not B&O. B&O HQ have never, ever said not to repair vintage - in fact they are very proud of the longevity of their products. It seems you have a dealer who is lying to you and being unhelpful - very sad to hear that. Time to find a new, better dealer :)

Wings wrote:

Additionally, would not the tonearm carriage help to hold the cylindrical rail in place?  Finally, can I not probably jury-rig a replacement to hold the rail in place?

All the rail needs to do is to stay in place. I would drill a couple of holes through the frame plate around the end support and tie it down...

I have never tried carring a Beogram on a bus but mainly trains and a taxi or two.

I did use the bus when I got my Attyca 1 furniture some moths ago.

I am lucky to be in Denmark but Dillen is stil a 4 hour one way travel from me. The B&O stores charges a small fee and will tell you after some time that no parts are available. They keep the fee.

 

MartinW wrote:

Have to say that unfortunately your problem is with a dealer, not B&O. B&O HQ have never, ever said not to repair vintage - in fact they are very proud of the longevity of their products. It seems you have a dealer who is lying to you and being unhelpful - very sad to hear that. Time to find a new, better dealer :)

I'm glad to hear that B&O HQ have never said not to repair vintage...But one could get the thought that they have said so...🤔

As we can see here on Beoworld, a lot of people have had the experience with B&O dealers, that they do not want to repair older items.
Seems like the standard reply is: No spare parts longer available...And then they don't even want to take a look at it 🙁

The good thing is, that there are other possibilities...non-B&O repair shops, private persons, etc... 🤒

Dear All,

Thanks for your comments.  For your information, I have scheduled an appointment on Thursday afternoon with the manager of B&O Service for a discussion. 

Just quickly to respond to some of the posted comments:

1.  Unfortunately, there are no other B&O dealers in Hong Kong.  There is only one (with four shops, IIRC) in the territory.  Both Macau and Guangzhou are at least 1 hour away by public transport.  I do not drive in Hong Kong.

2.  The B&O operation in Hong Kong was taken over by B&O.  It is no longer a franchisee's operation.  I do not know the relationship between the sales and the repairs/services divisions.  I do know the repairs/services is a separate limited company.  In any event, B&O HQ's attitude towards repair/maintenance of its classic/vintage products has not extended to the front-line operations.  Yes, I know I am paying a premium when I purchase B&O products, in part for its prestige.  As another part of that premium, I also expect quality (so far, no complaints from me in this regard) AND customer service.  "Customer service" is taken to include satisfying the customer in after sale repair, i.e., standing behind its products.  In my case, its seems that I am being offered excuses NOT to repair the Beogram 7000:  the part no longer available (this problem solved by Dillen providing me with the part); the work does not generate a profit (illogical argument in that I am supplying the part and I am paying for the labour, the only "lost" profit is the markup on the replacement part); the plastic clip holding the cylindrical rail in place is broken, etc.  This type of attitude does nothing for the company's prestige or for customer/brand loyalty.

2.  Unfortunately, people like Dillan and Frede are literally half a world away.  Perhaps I should invite them to Hong Kong to fix my B&O.  Ha, ha, ha.  I simply do not trust the post or delivery services to transport my B&O safely.

3.  I agree that there are non-B&O repair shops but these are of unknown quality.  I want things done properly.  Unfortunately, there is the slap-dash attitude by some in this area of just getting things done quickly, collect the money and move on to the next job.  There is no sense of pride in one's profession or trade, or in the quality of one's work.

Again, thank you all for your comments.  If there are any more thoughts, please post them.  I hope to send a link to this thread to B&O in Denmark for its consideration/action.

The curse of good quality products, and treasured vintage.

I used to have an enthusiast garage take care of my Jaguar E-Type, as I knew they were better at it than the Jaguar dealership.

Same with my B&O from the 1960s-1980s. We are speaking of items that in some instances were manufactured before the CEO of B&O was conceived ...

I was amazed that I could connect my Beovision 8 to my Beosystem 6500 and BeoSound 2000 without any trouble at all, using the Beo4 to control all the units from different rooms. Maybe cut the company a little slack for making that possible?

To defend B&O a bit how much demand is there to keep stock of parts for obsolete products older than 20 odd years or more?

When looking at forums including Beoworld there is a demand but is it really going to be able to run on financial terms?

With the digital Iphone age we are now in I don't think it can be successfull even if B&O decided to repair old products.

Friedmett wrote:

To defend B&O a bit how much demand is there to keep stock of parts for obsolete products older than 20 odd years or more?

When looking at forums including Beoworld there is a demand but is it really going to be able to run on financial terms?

With the digital Iphone age we are now in I don't think it can be successfull even if B&O decided to repair old products.

I guess, nobody expects B&O to keep stock of parts for 20 year+ products.

But one could expect the dealers repair shops to - at least - try to repair older items...
Often original spareparts are not needed - sometimes it's just some solderings, caps etc.
Most B&O workshops don't even try...

Just think about car workshops...Whether it's Mercedes, Opel, Toyota or whatever. The will repair your car even if it's 10, 15 or 20 years old.

I understand this and I agree with you that it might not make financial sense for B&O to keep parts for 20 years.  However, I agree with Steffen's point that this should not prevent B&O from providing the service/labour to keep such an iconic piece of the company in good running order.  I had provided the service/repair centre with the service manual.  If I recall correctly, I believe I stated that I could provide the photographs before and after I disassembled the machine.

The impression I received when speaking with the manager on the phone was that B&O did not want to service the Beogram because it was beyond repair:  no replacement part for the tonearm carriage; fastening screws were missing (I had the screws at home.  Moreover, if the Beogram is in place and working, the fastening screws's presence or absence would make no difference to the operation of the record deck.); the clip/fastener for the cylindrical rail is broken.  I got the sense that he was suggesting I should place the Beogram in the trash!  Perhaps if this were another brand, the replacement by a new model would be financially viable rather than repairing the existing machine; but this is a Beogram 7000.

In any event, I met with the service manager late yesterday afternoon.  After explaining my point of view, he agreed to have another look at the Beogram with a view to installing the replacement tonearm carriage.  I will tend to the broken fastening clip when the record deck is returned to me.

Thanks for all your comments.