Being that I previously worked for Bang & Olufsen for years, I have found that #3 applies to me the most, but another factor is poor customer service. I ordered items from a store and was promised a phone call when those items would become available for pickup. No call. I just had to come in much later only to discover that my ordered (and paid for) items were sitting in the back storage room. Now I buy only from my "insider" contacts. I get dealer pricing and no run-around.

Looks like a poll B&O should have made years ago!

For my part, I don't even have a B&O dealer around anymore on the island, I went to see B&O France to apply as a dealer, and their conditions were so stringent that I chose another path.

I'd say 1/3/7 are the main reasons why I don't buy B&O anymore, the TVs are too expensive, audio systems are disappearing, I already have all the speakers I need, the dealers know less than I do technically, and second hand prices (and items) are more attractive now. 

My next TV will probably be a second hand BV9, and not a BV11, even if if has all the features I'm looking for (= connectivity & auto updates), I would need the 55 inch version and this one is still too expensive for me..

9 LEE wrote:

4) The stores are all out of date and not attractive enough to tempt you in

No 4 in one regard: Outside the shop you get the impression: That's a shop for wealthy ears and eyes. But inside you are welcome. The staff is very helpful, takes every visitor seriously, not only those who have it written on their brow: I am a wealthy guy and potential customer.

Therefore I am not stopping to enter and to dream about a pair of BL9s. To my great luck the dealer knows to wait, as he did in the years I entered the shop without buying anything. And then it started with a pair of Form 2 headphones ...

... and continued with a BeoSound 2, a pair of BeoVox Penta, a BeoTalk 1200, a Serenata, a BeoCom 5, a BeoVision 8-40 (later adding a non B&O bluray player and Technisat Recever), a BeoSound 8, a pair of used BeoLab 4000, a BeoPlay A3, a pair of floorstands for my BeoLab 4000s ...

That looks like an infection with the well dreaded virus ...

Peter the Biker wrote:

No 4 in one regard: Outside the shop you get the impression: That's a shop for wealthy ears and eyes. But inside you are welcome. The staff is very helpful, takes every visitor seriously, not only those who have it written on their brow: I am a wealthy guy and potential customer.

True, but I kid you not, the Bath store suffers badly from vagrants camping outside the store after it closes. Seriously. People sit outside, beg for money and even sleep in the door way.

So, during the day it's aiming itself at these wealthy shoppers, but from 6pm onwards, you get homeless people camping in the doorway. You couldn't make it up.

For me it was 7 first of all. The local dealer was so snooty and intransigent that I would go instead, twenty or even forty miles to more welcoming details. More recently it's been a bit of point 4: I just don't recognise the value in the RRP. 

Overall, though, dealers experiences seem to echo the 'Woolworths effect'. When Woolworths closed down so many people said what a shame it was and how it was an essential part of the high street but then many of those, when pressed as to when they last went in a store and what they bought were left scratching their heads. We take the stores for granted and expect them to be there for that rare and perhaps distant occasion when we decide we want to go in and shop

Hearing getting worse, TVs too expensive for the difference and everything I want is done by my present system!

Would love BL5s, I think but would be too expensive to consider - getting hall decorated instead!!

I did not stop - the money stopped me!

Greets MM

Millemissen wrote:

I did not stop - the money stopped me!

That's the same as my number 8, I guess: they don't carry anything that I both a) need b) can afford.

I still drop in every now and then to buy the occasional spare part or cable, and I have always felt welcome. Especially when the store owner is there.

For me it's

1) You're happy to do your research online and buy direct from B&O. In this day and age:  YES

3) The shop assistants actually know LESS about the product than you do. Maybe they don't know less, but the times they can't tell me anything I already know are numerous. In fact, this is true not only for B&O stores. Must have something to do with point 1.

5) You don't buy new any more, it's just not good enough value for money to you.

7) You don't actually like your local store! I once asked them about a new product. They had it in store, but it wasn't on display, it was still boxed somewhere in the storage. I did get to see it, but it wasn't connected which is only half the experience. I found out that they've had it for two days... Not how you run a business IMHO. At another point I asked them if it was possible for me to compare two TV's head to head. Yes of course it was, they would call me back the next day. Nothing happened. So after a while I asked them again. The very friendly guy in the shop(not the same as the first one) told me it was no problem and he would call me back tomorrow. This happened ages ago and I'm still waiting. 

8) My interests have shifted a bit. I hardly watch TV, maximum of 3 hours a week. In fact I haven't switched on the TV for over a week now as we speak. I thought about replacing my MX 7000, but when it breaks down, the first option would be not to replace it at all. More or less the same for listening to the radio or music. Still I'm loyal to the brand.

tournedos wrote:

I still drop in every now and then to buy the occasional spare part or cable, and I have always felt welcome. Especially when the store owner is there.

Good. I've been to several B&O stores in Denmark, the ones in Helsinki, Espoo and recently two shops in New York. Had a good experience there. 🤒