Bang & Olufsen Reviews 29

I expected a smooth and premium experience from Bang & Olufsen — but it was anything but. I tried multiple times to order a speaker through their official website using both my Windows PC and Android phone, but the site either froze or failed at checkout. In the end, I gave up and bought the speaker from a different retailer.

After that, I tried to register the product but couldn’t find the serial number anywhere — not on the speaker, the packaging, or the manual. I contacted support, but received vague and unhelpful responses. To make matters worse, even the feedback system was poorly implemented — I submitted a detailed response and nearly missed the confirmation because the “update” button and success banner were so small and unclear.

The speaker itself is decent, but the overall customer experience — from purchase to registration to support — was clunky and frustrating. I expected much better from a brand that claims to be high-end.

I have just had a fabulous experience at B&O Harrogate; David was my host ; A lovely cup of Coffee to start ! We had a long chat Re; Beolab 8's & beosound Theatre sound bar ! The listening experience was how should I put it "Epic" amazing, mind blown, the detail, was truly breathtaking, customer service, attention to detail was outstanding from David.
All in all a thoroughly wonderful few hours spent.

I went to bang and Olufsen
In march of this year
To purchase some h95 headphones
For my birthday I went to the harrogate
Shop extremely helpful staff
I will not hesitate to return agen
Thay went the extra mile to help buy I whos looking for

Please be aware that Bang & Olufsen (B&O) is scamming UK shoppers by selling defective US spec devices which do not work in the UK.
Avoid buying B&O products in the UK.
I bought a Beosound speaker serial number 32426808 from a B&O store in the UK in May 2022. However, the speaker would not sync with my home WiFi and has not been usable since the date of purchase.

After close to 15 months of stressful interaction with B&O folks, including:
 
(i)                having sent the speaker to their German service centre for repairs,
(ii)              having taken it in to their Manchester city centre store for remedial action,
(iii)             spending time on countless phone calls with their customer service team, and
(iv)             sending e-mails that I would be compelled to take action,
 
I finally heard back from their Regional Service Manager, Mr. Simon Bastholm.
 
As is the wont of many large global businesses, Mr. Simon Bastholm pretty much brushed aside my claims.  He ignored the fact that B&O was misleading customers in the UK by selling US spec products which may or may not work in the UK.
 
He failed to acknowledge the immense stress caused to me and the value of my time (I am a senior anaesthetist with the NHS) lost in the hours of phone calls, e-mails, sending the piece to the service centre, and visiting the local B&O store in Manchester.
 
In fact, to make things worse, Mr Simon Bastholm continues to justify it was okay to sell US spec product in the UK.  He has ignored the local B&O Manchester store manager’s e-mail actually recording that the device is defective, and that a US spec product is not fit for purpose to be sold in the UK market.
 
My request for a refund and reasonable damages for lost time and inability to use the speaker has been negated.  Needless to say, I am going to take action against B&O.
 
However, please steer clear of B&O products in the UK and save yourself from unnecessary stress and waste of time dealing with a company like Bang and Olufsen, which clearly does not value your business.

They use UPS to deliver products in the UK that are ordered online!
So rather than the 2 to 3 days delivery stated on their website it can take several weeks!
Really poor from B&O who claim to have high standards yet they employ the worst rated carrier in the UK to deliver their products....or not as the case may be!

Companies should respect and value their customers and stand behind their products. Ever heard of a company that charges hundreds of pounds to repair one of their faulty products under warranty?!? Me neither, but let me introduce you to Bang and Olufsen. Not only do they expect you pay a premium for their products (perhaps justified) but to pay them when the go wrong. I’ll let you judge whether you think that is justified?

It is sad to see a company in decline that seems to have cut back on customer service and support and resorted to deflecting/monetizing legitimate warranty claims in the interest of short term gains. They are trashing their brand and I fear their days are numbered. Just having good looking and sounding products is no longer enough. Bang and Olufsen need to start valuing their customers and treating them fairly and respectfully before it’s too late.

Don't buy B&O
Hello,
I would advise you against choosing Bang Olufsen equipment!
Why not?
I purchased multiple pieces of B&O equipment in 2016 (total cost 35000€! Yes, I enjoyed myself): Beovision TV with motorised stand, Beosound Moment, Beolab speakers etc.
For two years now, I've been having image problems with my TV: vertical bars appear all over the screen (for a top of the range TV at 18000€!). I also have problems with my Beosound Moment crashing, so it's hard to listen to music!
They recognised that there was a problem with the TV's screen (Samsung origin, I looked on the internet, I'm not the only one) and as the warranty period is over, they offered me to either replace my TV with a new one for 12000€, or exchange it for the same one for 6500€. Not cool at all for a 5 year old TV and a brand like B&O! And for the Beosound Moment, they acknowledged that there was a problem (apparently I'm not the only one either) and that they would replace it if I replace my TV.
Anyway, obviously I didn't spend several thousand euros again to get what I should have had. So today.
I've made several attempts at amicable conciliation (I've called in a mediator) and they don't even reply to me anymore!

Winchester Store.

There was only one guy in store but this product is a different level to that you find in your standard John Lewis. His product knowledge and pride in their product was made me ignore the price, the product quality is second to none. Best start saving for a TV

Complete TV unit Failure
I have owned B&O televisions and accompanying accessories for around 35 years; therefore, you can imagine my immense disappointment that my most recent smart television has developed a fault and has since rendered it useless. I shall go on to describe the issues shortly, however, firstly I wish to make a couple of very topical and relevant points:
I am not in the least surprised that this company was known to be ‘struggling’ given the apparent quality of product we are faced with in very recent times. Complete failure of a unit, which supposedly is the essence of sophistication and quality is NOT ACCEPTABLE – particularly at the average B&O price point;

The fact that items are designed so badly they can no longer have a successful repair following failure, absolutely highlights their lack of vision with regards to sustainability and environmental issues. A topic which needs to be highlighted to the wider public if this is the case. In the best interests of sustainability and environment parts should be built to last, and if this is not possible, should be repairable. We should not have to dispose of the TV unit (and all accessories which are now useless) due to one bad part. I would be most interested to hear the company policy on this. It would appear they are not stepping up to the standards of some of the other companies, which before today and what I’ve experienced, would have come as a surprise to me.

My unit in question that now has a complete failure is a BV11 52inch Mk 4, and was purchased just over 5 years ago. Initially the picture started to flicker on and off intermittently and gradually got worse to the point of not useable. The engineer I spoke to confirmed to me that the LCD panel had malfunctioned and unfortunately cannot be replaced or repaired. This renders the TV unit completely useless.
Do this company accept goods should be completely disposable after a relatively short time? (I do not welcome the sheer inconvenience of upgrading a system every 3-5 years, nor do I have the time or welcome the disruption). Given the facts I have outlined to you – this company have absolutely no unique selling point whatsoever – they certainly cannot ‘sell’ themselves to me as having quality or robustness of product as key deliverables, and without those two essential elements, the goods are not fit for purpose in my opinion.
I am extremely disappointed and shall not be looking to consider B&O products again after such a failure that is barely believable. I (wrongly) thought these products were superior and as previously said, given the average price point, I would expect this to be the case. It seems I am wrong. Please also note this TV has relatively low screen hours – it is not in constant use.
over £7000 for a TV (not including all the extra items and accessories that go with it) that on the face of it didn’t last nearly as long as any of the others I’ve had over the years. This is a definite show of degrading of standards, quality and sure enough, credentials for B&O. This is an example of completely inferior product that has far from met my expectations. I didn’t go out with the intent of purchasing the inferior – I went to the B&O brand! So far the company has not responded to my complaint or helped in anyway at all. Despite trying to contact the CEO they are not interested. Be warned!

I own a system which was damaged by a removal company. It has taken weeks for B& O to provide an estimate for a replacement . I wanted it repaired B& O stated that it cannot repair the system which I understand was one of the most popular ones it ever made. The customer service was non existent. If I could award no stars I would .B& O even requested a fee to look at the system.I would not buy a B& O ever

I bought two balance speakers during the annual sale. Cost close to £3600. When I received them both boxes had previously been opened. One security sticker had been removed and stuck inside the box by the previous owner. The other had so much dust on the security seals they were no longer sticky. One speaker came without a power cable, I guess the previous owner left it plugged into their socket. These were sold as new. Having looked forward to owning B&O for many years I was left feeling I had been taken fore a fool. Returned and refunded.

Excellent quality and perfectly functioning, with great customer service in my experience. I have many B&O products all of which have always worked fine. I did have an issue where I wanted to change one of my Beosound 8's which didn't have Airplay, to use Bluetooth, and called and spoke to Customer Services and they explained everything I needed, and then sent me the links to the cables on Amazon and the I called them back the next day and they talked me through it to ensure it was set up correctly. Very impressive customer service.

UPDATE: Following threats to throw the set off a 30-foot high seawall, I got action: A £150 call out to tell me the remote was at fault. I now use a new one. Problem seems to have ended. But I coulkd have been instructed to check the remote by nphone without the £150.

EARLIER: After previous disappointing use from one of their £15,000 televisions, I reviewed some ago about the problems, which still exist.
And now for an update: It can take up to THREE minutes to obtain the selected station, each time reverting to Planning/record.
It does not browse from one channel to another, but goes again to planner, but not always; sometimes it just shows the ID for the new station and then reverts to the one being used, but unwanted.
And now it starts up all by itself, anytime, during the middle of the night, for instance.
Checking with my Bristol supplier I was advised to re-set the SKY box which I did according to instructions; it seemed to resolve some of the problems, but was likely coincidental because ot the random erratic behaviour.
With more antics, I was told I needed a new SKY box, that it was not the television. This may be so, but I don't know. I checked with SKY and they indicated it was not the box. In any case, I have no idea how to install a new box. And what if it isn't?
Reasonably, I asked Bristol some time ago to have their technical side resolve the problem with a service call, bringing with them a new box.
Still waiting for an answer.
This is a real shame and not the way to give backup for the amount we spent. In my previous TP review, I said I would not buy another B&O, and that still stands.
Meanwhile, a set bought at Curries for a fraction of the price works well.

I had multiple messages with customer care, where one is simply fed polite messages, all the while they completely ignore the issues that you have. It is company policy to not repair any speaker less than £500 in value and instead offer a replacement of an inferior product. The 'contact the CEO' link on their website is a sham, as it is simply picked up by the same customer service team. When I asked whether my message would actually be read by anyone in higher management, the reply ignored the question.

I’m not surprised to see that I’m not the only one complaining about their post sale service.
I had a speaker that was not working. When I realized it, the guarantee was expired by a month, what they offered was a 20% discount on my next purchase. ridiculous!

I purchased E8 earphones from the Bicester Village outlet. Staff were friendly which now makes sense as they were selling me a product. I was purchasing the E8 for my son as I Christmas present but he has issues with earphones staying in. I was told by the member of staff any issues I could bring them back. They did not fit regardless of what foam my son used. I took them back today and was dealt with by the manger who was extremely rude and patronising, when tried to explain that I was told I could bring them back she implied I was lying as her team would not have said that. She kept telling me she had a pair and she found them fine but would not accept that anyone else may have an issue with them.The customer service was shocking. Not a shop I would use again or buy their products again. To reinforce the appalling Customer service, as we left one of the members of staff who had heard the exchange and knew we were upset gleefully told us “to have a great day”. Not appropriate when a customer was leaving the extremely unhappy.

A £5000 TV that requires two remote controls if you want to use Sky. If you want to use one control, you can use an LG remote but not the Bang & Olufsen one. When I pointed this out I was told I should have asked before I bought the TV. Silly me. Thought it was my fault. That must have been when I was having a conversation with a trainee from whom his manager snatched the phone away because he was unable to answer any questions. TV looks nice.

Readers of my reviews of Bang & Olufsen, please do not be persuaded by their "answer" to my review. They will do nothing...

Forty years’ ago Bang & Olufsen was the brand to beat. Not only that, its second-to-none customer service was also very difficult to surpass.

So, in these past four decades, based upon my recent sore experience with the brand, just what’s gone wrong?

Bang & Olufsen is expensive (VERY expensive if one looks at their current range of TVs & WISA speakers) which is one reason why ApprovedusedBang-Olufsen.com exists. A broad range of products is offered for purchase with most being of a good quality second-life standard and with an included warranty.

With this in mind, I chose and paid for on 12 July 2018 a BeoPlay A9 MkI “5-star” model priced at £750. While this was not the later second-generation version, it gave me, I believed, what I needed in an up-to-date, ‘streaming’ modern active speaker.

After courier problems (according to the vendor: Bang & Olufsen of Brighton & Hove, UK) the speaker was eventually delivered to me on 22 July. However, it was immediately apparent that this was not the BeoPlay A9 as originally described: “5 Star ***** - this product is “as new”, with no cosmetic damage, no missing parts/accessories” as I saw that the rear cover was missing, there was a scratch on the rim and scratches and usage marks within the connections’ compartment. The black elasticated front ‘Lycra’ cover had also seen better days.

I immediately reported all of this to Bang & Olufsen, Brighton & Hove. I also found out that AirPlay was horribly affected by drop-outs. It was in fact unusable as I only managed to play but a handful of streaming tunes.

I’d really lost interest and given up getting the technology to work by the time I received a reply from AE at Brighton & Hove on 26 July after I had asked them to collect the item from my home address and to immediately refund me. However, not before Mr AE at Brighton & Hove saw at chance at selling me an additional £595 BeoSound Core (graciously discounted by him to £500) in an attempt to ‘put right’ the affected BeoPlay A9.

With not wanting to spend a further £500 on the failed speaker - after Mr AE at Brighton & Hove had apparently ’absolved’ himself by stating that he had “… offered a solution at a very reasonable price” the speaker was collected by courier on 6 August.

However, more than two weeks’ later I am STILL awaiting a refund of my £750. I was told by Mr JW at ApprovedBang-Olufsen.com that a cheque had been sent to my home address in Plymouth on 15 August. I followed up this information by contacting Brighton & Hove who seemingly now do not wish to speak with me. The last contact I had with them was on 4 August concerning the 6 August courier collection - despite me sending several emails to their store since. Their telephone apparently is engaged at the times that I telephone them.

It’s so very easy to buy something over the Internet. But it’s not so easy to get the item delivered or to return it. Certainly not with Bang & Olufsen, based upon this sad experience.

However, Mr JW at ApprovedBang-Olufsen.com has been generally very good: courteous in replying to my many messages promptly and with valid information. The bug-bear in this very trying and frustrating saga seems to be Bang & Olufsen of Brighton & Hove. I can only speak about my own personal experience of them, but their attitude and customer support is a world away from what I found the brand to stand for way back in 1978 - and what it still should be in 2018. Of course my own £750 is a pittance as compared to even one half of a new TV or WISA speaker; products of which I would be now very cautious of purchasing from them. Once bitten, twice shy, as they knowingly say.

BeoPlay.com has also been very poor with their customer service. Contacting them through their site contact form on 17 August asking for a name/address/telephone number of someone with whom I could express my dissatisfaction, again I am still awaiting a full response - a full five days’ later.

I have to say that with this unfortunate saga (not even yet being closed, as with the non-receipt of my £750 the case is still very much an open affair) - I am very, very disappointed with Bang & Olufsen overall.

I am not one for ‘hanging out dirty washing’ in public, but TrustPilot is precisely set up to do just this: to advise, inform and generally educate potential purchasers away from unscrupulous and unethical vendors, especially those who trade on the Internet, where almost any ploy and unethical tactic is possible and seemingly got away with. This is why I have had to express myself on TrustPilot today: in the hope that my own bad experience will help others who may find themselves in a similar future situation.