Bang & Olufsen Reviews 

Well since my last review I’m still getting nowhere so customer relations gave me a call yesterday spoke to them for about an hour got nowhere they put the phone down on me. I’m waiting for them to call me back. I spent £30,000 in this company.

Maybe great audio products but terrible software. The B&O Balance that I purchased was unable to connect to my app. After many emails back and forth with the customer service, they gave up and told me to return the product. Very disappointed. (Case #1356169)

Low quality chinese products.Avoid them. ps. nothing like old time B&O.

I purchased a Beosound A1 (3rd Generation) to be used in the shower after reading the Hi-fi reviews.

I can't help but think those who have reviewed this product never had to purchase or set it up.

Firstly, the delivery service they use is poor. Twice I had a half day off work and both times they did not deliver (multiple conversations with customer service on both B&O, and the delivery company). They then arrange delivery for a Friday, but decide to deliver on Thursday instead, then to a delivery location I can't access during working hours, but only at weekends.

Then there is the install and setup. The product is faulty and will not work directly from bluetooth (apparently a known issue). So there is no ability to play from Spotify directly until you have updated the software.

Here's the kicker

The app won't connect to the product after multiple attempts. You then quit the app to find the product there, only for the software not to install (again a known issue according to customer service). You are greeted with a spinning wheel or the one time it decided to provide an estimated time remaining; an hour stuck on the 1 minute mark.

The product is unusable out of the box, its software is not updatable, the general service has been poor (minus a few CS representatives), the delivery was a joke.

This is not the high end brand it is touted to be, this is a low end mass manufactured brand who use nice shops and sleek design to trick the layman and even someone like me who is into audio.

I will revert back to using Bowers and Wilkins, I think there are cheap products off amazon with better delivery and usability for a portable speaker.

Edit:
They offered a 20% discount on the next purchase which cannot be used in store as they are independent, so you can’t check the product works. They also said the next app update will fix it, but no date provided which will take me past the 30 day return window. Avoid

Edit 2:
Was meant to receive a call back from a supervisor to escalate and solve the issues. They requested a day and call time, they then never rang. Have closed the ticket. Will not buy from them again. Have returned the item.

I’m sure people will skip over this review and chalk it down to a one off, as I had with other reviews. I hope you don’t, and ignore any edits they make to the reply. It’s just someone ticking a box and doing damage control. There is no white glove approach but a corporate structure.

Edit 3:
Returned the item using their label. 4 weeks later and it still has not arrived. Was promised a refund by a manager (Gerhardt). No such thing. Have emailed and rang multiple times. Calls have been immediately hung up once connected. They have literally taken my money. Will be reaching out to trading standards and credit card company. Joke of a company

Edit 4:
5 weeks later, no replies or money back. Supervisor haven’t called. Who ever keeps replying to this thread, maybe use your time speaking to someone who can refund me, rather than scripted platitudes

Headphones app barely worked from purchase then the heaphones broke provided all the info to them for them to get me to send them to Germany because they dnt have a repair centre in the uk just to send them back saying they are unrepairable and out of warranty dnt waste your money they are overpriced rubbish. Ref: 1355223

The customer care team are now asking me to take a video of the issue among other questions iv already answered. I can't take a video because my headphones are in Germany and have already been deemed unrepairable why they dnt ask the repair centre is mind boggling

They are now using the excuse I have damaged them and repeatedly asking for proof of purchase and videos and pictures even after iv explained iv already proven purchase and they are in the post back from Germany very unhelpful

Again just asking for the same information but added when you get the product back

Now its my fault the earcup has been damaged during postage so it voids my warranty maybe there should be a trusted repair centre in the uk. The earcup would not cause the heaphones to continually turn on and off any excuse not to honour warranty

They are just sending them back broken and nothing else is done avoid anything they make its truly not worth the money and they will do anything to not honour warranty

Final verdict is that my headphones are being sent back in worse condition than were sent and they are not going to do anything about it stay away from anything these people make ! It's not the quality product they advertise

Horrible experience.
Earphones have ZERO noise cancellation.
There is also a crackling sound when I touch bud to fast forward or rewind.
Moreover, Adjusting volume in tge earphones does not work per instructions so I have to adjust volume on my phone.
One of buds is charged to 100% white tge other is charged to 45%
Customer service has BEEN HORRIBLE!! How many times do I need to email you to attach a shipping label???
Furthermore the company makes it very difficult to have the earphones exchanged past the 30 day cutoff.
I never had any issues with my Bose buds products.

After 20+ days of waiting, my order still has not arrived, and I keep waiting for a solution... On day one I immediately contacted the customer service to flag an issue with the shipping address, but they were totally unable to handle this very simple issue. When exhausted I requested a refund, they told me I need to wait some more to conduct an internal investigation... This was such an easy case to handle for any decent customer service. I am so deceived and so surprised for a leading company to treat customers like that. Such a bad story...

I bought a B&O Eclipse about 5 years ago. Recently I had to have a small repair so the B&O Technicians came out and did the repair under warranty. As ever the service I received was 1st ckass. The Technician came out at the agreed time slot and the repair was completed without delay. The Technician was very knowledgeable and professional. He respected my home and was very polite and respectful. 1st class service 1st class product- what more could anyone wish for. Thank you so much.
Chris Sellars

I purchased a Beosound A1 2nd get approximately three years ago. I’m somewhat of a collector so it literally sat on my shelf for most of the time. I probably used it 10 times at the most. All of a sudden it just stopped working. I did some research and found out that a lot of people had the same issue. So I contacted Bang & Olufsen just to be told mine was out of warranty so all they could do was give me a 20% off coupon. I ask if they could just repair this one and they said they don’t have the ability to repair this model! Bottom line: don’t purchase anything from this company! It is definitely not worth the money! I will be purchasing a JBL instead! They sound just as good and are about half the price!

Update: I received a request for more information (see below). I supplied the requested information just to get the same boilerplate response! I have also looked up reviews on the 3rd Gen and it has the same defect!

Response: it is evident that you produced a defective product and are unwilling to make it good. Which is certainly a very bad business practice. And if that was the only offer you had why ask me for further information in the first place!

Response Number Two: I’ve already tried that and like I said, I received the same response that you gave me from my initial inquiry! So, if you would like to offer a different solution you can respond from my open ticket.

I went to the Richmond store to get repairs for my ear buds and left after buying a Bang & Olufsen Beosound 2 and I could not be happier, even though I live in New Zealand and the speaker had to be shipped to me. Robert was fantastic. He listened to my requirements and came up with the ideal solution. The speaker arrived in perfect condition and the sound quality is impressing every visitor, and I am in heaven! From opera to folk to classic rock the sound is perfect. My apartment is 68 sq mtrs and the one Beosound is all I need.

A shameful customer care experience even with the service manager. A bad expensive product (one should avoid the not so cheap first prices of this brand) and the customer care team made the experience even worse. I was sent a broken product and I simply wanted to change the bad expensive HX (600€) for the great H100 (1700€) and pay the difference. It was forbidden by the customer care policy!!!!

Two sets of high price, luxury earbuds (E8 followed by EQ) and both have failed with only occasional use. B&O charge eye-watering prices for their wireless products but the quality and reliability is on the level of Far-East fake market junk.

B&O give every impression that they do not know how to design reliable wireless products like their competitors (see direct quote below). The sound quality is average (when they worked) and in my case twice over they have failed completely leaving me with expensive junk to be thrown away.

Their customer service is full of nice words (just read the reviews here), but they are hollow words to protect their image and do little for the benefit of the customer by fixing problems. Following is an actual quote (with context) from their Customer Care Group (confirming their wireless design inexperience) in response to the ticket I raised:

"We are, though, limited in what we can do by technological limitations in some form-factors currently. Ideally we would want fully repairable earphones and while technically they could be possible to do with current tech available it would be so expensive to do, even at scale (sic)".

My strong advice, based on the bitter experience of two failed products is to spend your money more wisely elsewhere. There are many quality vendors out there, most at a fraction of the cost of B&O, that know what they are doing and will provide a reliable, excellent product. Learn from my mistakes.

No delivery and then you must wait 30 days for them to decide if you can have a refund for their failure to deliver.

Excellent service and product knowledge 👌

From previous review I thought I might get a positive response best offer they made is supply new ones at cost of £330 less 30%
My earbuds failed with less than 2 hours use because I didnt keep them charged and effectively they are now completely useless and they cannot either repair or offer replacement buds other than at cost above
As they were a gift Christmas 2023 I dont have a receipt. No warnings in book supplied with buds this could happen . Of note my old apple ones and one other that had been left in smae place charged and worked without a problem .
I dont think this is reasonable for a product that will have cost at least £220 and is current model
I will leave you to judge if this is fair or not personally I will never buy or ask for a B&O product I think this is unfair and I suggested they supplied me with just a pair of buds at a discount that was declined

There is no question of the sound quality of B&O products, to which is added an always original design, which has turned some speakers into iconic objects.
Added to this is a top-level commercial network, both for the availability and kindness of the staff and for their professionalism (Orazi's B&O in Ponte Milvio Rome).

Outstanding professional support from Arnaud De Schuytter, Head of Service.

After quite some time without a solution to my issue, Arnaud personally intervened and within just a few hours fully resolved my case with a replacement for my Beosound A1 speaker. His approach was a true example of professionalism, kindness, empathy, and immediate effectiveness.

People like Arnaud truly elevate the value of a premium brand like Bang & Olufsen. My family and I have been customers for over 15 years, and thanks to his personal care, we continue with even greater trust.

Thank you so much, Arnaud, for your exceptional service and your human approach.

Dimitris Patsidis,
Sereti Archondia

Drama, Greece

I have always admired B&O products. I bought the Beoplay EX Earbuds 8 months ago. Problems began to surface recently with the earbuds, so I contacted the customer service to request for repairing. After a week of back and forth emailing, I finally received an instruction and a DHL shipping label to send my earbuds to the service department. However a couple hours after DHL picked up my device, they telephoned me to say that they cannot send my earbuds because of the batteries contained within. I was asked to collect the earbuds from DHL depot.

As the DHL Courier was arranged by B&O, I quickly got in touch with B&O to seek for advice. It has been over a week now, and each time I was informed by B&O that they are in the process of resolving the issue with DHL. I repeatedly asked if I need to collect my earbuds from DHL depot, and was told B&O is dealing the issue.

Out of frustration I reached out to B&O again today, asking for either a replacement or refund as the earbuds are still within the warranty time. Immediately I was told by B&O to collect the earbuds from DHL. No further advice given, except

‘ Feel free to relay your formal complaint; however, our servicing team and DHL aren't working during the weekend. We expect an update from their end at the start of next week.’

from B&O’s agent Nina.

I am shocked at how a company like B&O cannot resolve a simple logistics issue. How do hundreds and thousands of B&O products get shipped around the world?!

I am writing this review while waiting on the phone to speak with a B&O customer service representatives. It has been 48 minutes and am still waiting. Bravo to B&O quality product and services. Is this what you stand for?

Never ever again!!

Bought the B & O Beosound A5. The audio playback via bluetooth is unstable and music gets interrupted frequently. Tried reaching out to B & O for resolution but they ignored me. A very expensive let down.

Initial product purchased (Beoplay Portal) worked okay for about a year (although the app is terrible), then developed a fault with the active noise cancellation.

Warranty process has been poor, considering the cost of this luxury item.

After a number of emails, B&O stated these should be sent back to them for warranty repair. This was completed by DHL. There was inadequate/confusing instruction provided in regards the shipping process and customs requirements, causing stress on the day of shipment.

Headphones took over 2 weeks to be processed and B&O sent confusing information in regards to these no longer being in stock and having to wait for a replacement. A replacement package arrived from DHL 3 days earlier then indicated, again causing stress in regards to ensuring someone could receive the package due to the value.

On arrival, received replacement is not the same colour, which is disappointing - I would not have purchased the colour sent to me, but have no choice but to use as item required for my work - i feel like I'm now stuck with this unless I buy a second unit for £500. B&O seem to have now ignored my messages to ask if this is right

A couple of days later I had a follow up from DHL in regards to potential for import tax (scam?) quoting incorrect shipment details, although they had my telephone number and email address.

Replacement product refuses to connect to the B&O app, meaning I am missing out on some key features to get the best out of this product.

I'd advise anyone considering B&O headphones to look elsewhere, as they are significantly overpriced for the level of service, build quality and connectivity.