A reply from B&o cust.service on Facebook has confirmed that B&o has no influence whatsoever on what choice the third party (service partner = Arvato AG) makes when it comes to replacement:

"I am sorry to hear that you have not heard back on the e-mails you have sent to return-support@beoplay.com. As my colleague Kasper has previously informed you, we do not have any influence on the decisions made by the service partner. If you have received a defective replacement product, I kindly suggest creating a new RMA.

I am very sorry for the inconvenience you are experiencing. Kind regards, Ina - Customer Service"

Return-support appear to act on their own and keep referring to B&o cust.support - which refers to Return-support ?!?

I don't really know if I should proceed with RMA or just try to swap them at the B&o dealer locally. Anyway, a refurb-pre.owned is not a keeper option.

Anyone who successfully dealt with such situation?

:/

I don't understand why a high end / premium company would have a third party company for faulty products etc. Why is this? 

A refund is the best way and stay well away from the H8. Is the H7 is more reliable option?

I created a ticket on beoplay.com

My H8`s was picked up at home and shipped to Denmark. 

Got  a brand new pair a few weeks later. Looks like it`s much better but haven't used them so much yet 

@ Daniel:

May I ask what country you live in? Did you communicate with return.support@beoplay.com re: your RMA? What did you state as a reason for replacement? Thank you.

Best,

Mirzoni

Paul W wrote:

I don't understand why a high end / premium company would have a third party company for faulty products etc. Why is this? 

A refund is the best way and stay well away from the H8. Is the H7 is more reliable option?

The reason is to save money. B&O have outsourced all of their repair work in the UK (warranty and out of warranty). B&O no longer have responsibility for overheads and employing staff etc. The quality of the work has suffered (based on my own experience and other accounts) but presumably B&O have saved cash.

I find it incredible that B&O Play can try and avoid any responsibilty for the warranty for products that customers have bought from them and tell us to deal with a third party instead.

I agree that it it is difficult to undrstand how a high end company would be have like this.  Perhaps the final act of a previously high end company struggling to find a way to survive?

Thank you Mark for the explanation. That's very upsetting. These headphones are under one year old, surely under E.U. Law, it is illegal to give refurbished products to a customer when they have bought new. If someone has bought brand new, they expect to be given like for like. Refurbished is second hand hence why Apple sell Refurb products at 25% off. 

I think it's time that B&O or a dealer representative can make a statement about the H8 and it's continuing problems. Quite frankly, this product is doing the brand a lot of damage and it's costing them money through it's faults. I needs to be removed from the B&O portfolio at once. It's wrong and truly dishonest to sell something that doesn't deliver.

Created a ticket here http://return.beoplay.com/PrivateBookingInfo

Live in Norway.

Reason: 

Paul W wrote:

A refund is the best way and stay well away from the H8. Is the H7 is more reliable option?

That is exactly what I did. Returned H8 for a refund.

Bought H7. Delighted, no dropouts, wonderful sound (that you can even finetune now via Beoplay app).

Update:

Just when I was about to fill in another RMA-claim - the message from B&O Return Service (Arvato System in Germany):

"We will send out a new product to you - BeoPlay H8 Black.

 This will be shipped to you under reference: xxxxxxxx"

How surprizing is that? 

Fingers crossed now - black H8 should all be with new hardware and "right-sided" S/N...

To be continued....

I'm being sent a replacement pair "from Denmark". I just hope it won't be a refurbished one on the wrong SN side. I will keep you guys posted. Thanks Mirzoni for detailing the process I might have to go through.