Purchase Experience and International Shipping with B&O Sheffield

19 replies
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svinaik (archived2)
Bronze
Posted October 4, 2017 at 12:50 GMT
#2094541

Folks

I am starting a new thread to share our collective purchase / shipping experiences for B&O purchases. 

I personally purchased a pair of BL 50 from B&O Sheffield and the purchase experience was top notch. From my first contact with them to actually receiving the speakers was 3 weeks in all and majority of that time was B&O Sheffield waiting for B&O Denmark to ship the speakers. 

B&O Sheffield also helped in arranging the shipping from UK to US via Fedex and I was surprised to see how reasonable the costs were. Speakers were delivered directly inside my apartment and though the packaging came a bit damaged, Speakers came in perfect. B&O does a great job in developing the packaging solutions.

There was a bit of additional process with Fedex (A custom form was required to identify the importer) but was absolutely easy. In Future, Now since I know this is a requirement, I will pre fill the form and provide this to shipper so that Fedex has it with them from the start.

This was my very first experience in purchasing a large item (Both size wise and money wise) and dealing with B&O Sheffield, whom, I had only met via Beo world and cannot say enough good things about them. Nick from B&O Sheffield was available at all times to guide and help and has become a personal friend in the process. If you are planning anything, do not hesitate to go this route. It has been absolutely worthwhile for me and I hope for you all as well.

FO
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folkdeejay
Bronze
Posted October 4, 2017 at 13:53 GMT
#2094542

Unless things have changed since my dealer days, I'm not sure they will thank you for flagging up " shipping from UK to US" of brand new boxed products.

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StUrrock (archived2)
Bronze
Posted October 4, 2017 at 20:29 GMT
#2094543

Did you personally visit the Sheffield showroom or even the UK during the sales process?

P(
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Puncher (archived2)
Bronze
Posted October 4, 2017 at 21:18 GMT
#2094544

So how does the import/export duty thing work for one off private sales?

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svinaik (archived2)
Bronze
Posted October 4, 2017 at 21:53 GMT
#2094545

Puncher wrote:

So how does the import/export duty thing work for one off private sales?

The US custom duty was directly charged by Fedex to me. Total custom duty was only 2.4% of the commercial invoice. Not bad at all.

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StUrrock (archived2)
Bronze
Posted October 4, 2017 at 23:34 GMT
#2094546

svinaik wrote:

Puncher wrote:

So how does the import/export duty thing work for one off private sales?

The US custom duty was directly charged by Fedex to me. Total custom duty was only 2.4% of the commercial invoice. Not bad at all.

More importantly if the worst should happen, will the dealer from Sheffield come and service the speakers? Or are they relying on some idiot who made no profit on the original purchase to repair them under international warranty?

On a more positive note, enjoy your new purchase, truly superb!

kallasr
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kallasr
BronzeFounder
Posted October 5, 2017 at 20:34 GMT
#2094547
I assume a B&O service center/repair guy is paid by B&O....

My B&O Icons:

BeoCenter-9500.png BeoCenter-9500.png
Beoremote-Beo4.png Beoremote-Beo4.png
Beovision-11.png Beovision-11.png
Beosound.png Beosound.png
Beoplay-V1.png Beoplay-V1.png
Beoplay-H95.png Beoplay-H95.png
Beoplay-E8.png Beoplay-E8.png
Beoplay-A1.png Beoplay-A1.png
Living Room: Beosystem 4, Beolab 7-2 (Center), Beolab 9 (Fronts), Beolab 8000 (Rears), Screen: Sony KD-85XH9096
Home Cinema: Beosystem 4, Beolab 7-4 (Center), Beolab 9 (Fronts), Beolab 4000 (Rears). Projector: Sony VPL-HW55
Home Office: BeoVision 11-46, 4 x Beolab 3, BeoCenter 9300 (BLC 1611/ML/NL)
Bedroom: Sony KD-65XH9077, Beosound Essence MK II with Beolab 6002 and Beolab 11 (all white, wall-mounted)
Dart Room: BeoPlay V1-40 on floor stand
Guest Room: BeoVision 7-40 MK IV, Beolab 7-2, BeoSound Ouverture
L(
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linder (archived2)
Bronze
Posted October 5, 2017 at 20:36 GMT
#2094548

folkdeejay wrote:

Unless things have changed since my dealer days, I'm not sure they will thank you for flagging up " shipping from UK to US" of brand new boxed products.

There are only 11 dealers in the US.  I don't think anybody cares what a dealer thinks because for many the dealer could be 1000 miles from one's home.

Also because the price of the Beolab 50 is so much lower in the UK, the US purchaser could afford to pay the UK dealer to fly a service person to the US and still be money ahead.  The Beolab 50 is $39000 before taxes.  I think the UK price without VAT is  about £19000,  I might be wrong on that price but it is close.

If I were to purchase Beolab 50 from a US dealer, the price including taxes would be £34000.  As much as I would like the Beolab 50, I refuse to pay the B&O US price.

 

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Sal (archived2)
Bronze
Posted October 5, 2017 at 21:21 GMT
#2094549

linder wrote:
 As much as I would like the Beolab 50, I refuse to pay the B&O US price.

I'm curious how many potential US buyers B&O has given up on with this pricing difference...

Was there a price difference between US and exUS for BL90 / BL5? If so, how much?

S(
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StUrrock (archived2)
Bronze
Posted October 5, 2017 at 21:24 GMT
#2094550
kallasr wrote:

I assume a B&O service center/repair guy is paid by B&O....

Not very much, and in the uk afaik recently the third party national service centre went bust having been paid by B&O but leaving some poor engineers out of pocket.

Also, unless the dealer distribution contract has been changed recently it specifically forbids a dealer to sell out of country. In the US service agents could refuse to repair the items if the knew they were purchased elsewhere.

I would like be clarification on these points as we have some South African clients pestering us to have B&O shipped there through our dealer contacts in the u.k.
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