I'm told B&O UK are to close. All repairs to be sent to Denmark... surely not !  If so, is this the end!?!

Hello Billy.

Do not be afraid. Bang & Olufsen UK will live on The UK is an important market for B&O. However the operation might shrink a bit.

It is the same in all markets.

KHN, the newly appointed CEO of Bang and successor of TBS, has introduced a new strategy to get the company back on track so to speak.

B&O is undergoing some serious restructuring to cope with the changes in turnover and to increase efficency, i.e. more frequent product releases, stay ahead technologically etc.

Several lesser functions that existed in every single regional market before will now be centralised in Denmark and Spain.

The regional branches will continue to exist of course because of the local differences in each market.

It is very exciting times for B&O and you can expect to see the results of the new strategy this year already.

Regards

Alex

I couldn't believe that all UK repairs would be sent back to Denmark. This would be totally impractical for repairing, say, a BV7 (their most popular TV). The transport costs alone, to and from the customer, would make it more worthwhile simply to replace the TV.

When a TV has to go back for major repair, it's a serious issue. If it had to be returned to Denmark, the cost would be immense. Worse, it would add serious transport time to/from the customer.

I think our B&O experience would quickly detiorate if this was the case. Already my local dealer seems far more sales focused. That's fine, but it's not all about selling goods to new customers. Old customers are, traditionally, are easier to convince to spend again, especially if they receive an excellent support experience.

B&O are just trimming the numbers and 'streamlining' like any business should in a recession!

Lee

I am not convinced this is going to be the case. Why should they stop repairing in the UK?

I can really only speak for Central Europe at the moment, but there are dozens of B&O-licenced repair shops around.

Those will hardly close because B&O is implementing a new strategy. Maybe your dealer is just feeling the economic downturn, moxxey.

I can't speak for other dealers, or for B&O UK, but in the North West, there will be little or no change to most customers experience of service - in fact, it will more than likely improve.

There will still be local (where they currently exist), regional and national service facilities, as far as I am aware - shipping back to Denmark isn't going to happen any more than it has in the past - the freight costs would be prohibitive.

The changes in the UK are "back-office" changes, and shouldn't impact on customers. 

I think.

The idea is to centralise knowledge. The technology has moved on faster in the last 5 years than in the 20 years before it, and in order to keep up, it's vitally important that B&O builds a 'centralised' knowledge base, which is essentially what they're doing.

Less convinced myself. I have seen the loss of proper service centres where almost anything could be fixed at a component level replaced by a module replacement scheme. Now anything which does not suit being repaired from a suitcase would seem to be sent away. It is not only the loss of local servicing , it is the loss of the skills associated. With that also goes some of the understanding and the ability to think around a problem rather than relying on a flow chart. The same is now seen in medicine - nurses are given protocols to follow with a step by step approach. In the past, you would see a doctor who could draw on experience and having been taught how to think logically through a differential diagnosis.

I am sure in the B&O case, it will have the same apparent advantage of being outwardly cheaper - I just hope it does not turn out to be more expensive in the long run in terms of customer satisfaction.

In Aus the B&O service centre shutdown some time ago. It is now a seperate contracted business run by those that worked for B&O before.  I hope there remains enough work for the service guys to keep their businesses and this service model going. I also hope that B&O offer the same or better levels of training and support in this model to keep these contracted businesses going...

Beoaus.

I called B&O to ask about the situation and was told that my nearest dealer (now 80 miles away) would service my out of guarantee products "at his discretion" and any guarantee work may well need to be sent to Denmark. They did'nt seem sure of the in's and out's at all. It was suggested that as I bought my TV's from another (now defunct) dealer I may need to take them to the dealer or pay for collection ! When I think how much I paid for them I cant believe I'm looking at Littlewoods catalogue type of service. I realise a dealer going bust is "unusual circumstances" but I would have thought a Top Dollar company would know how to cope. They certainly know how to charge!!!

Peter :

The same is now seen in medicine - nurses are given protocols to follow with a step by step approach. In the past, you would see a doctor who could draw on experience and having been taught how to think logically through a differential diagnosis.

Peter - have you been following some of the 'noctor' threads on DNUK? Certainly some strong opinions have been roused!

Quick update...

My new (local !?!) dealer expressed his own worries to me when I introduced myself this week. He tell's me that all  B&O's UK sales rep's have just been made redundant. This is another big worry, more so to the dealer, and I cant see how such wholesale dessimation of the UK network is anything other than a sure sign of a total pullout of the UK...   If so who do we turn to for service, let alone sales?  

Interesting - I walk past my local B&O dealer (Brompton Rd, Knightsbridge) most days and up until Christmas there was usually one or two people browsing - for Jan and first part of Feb, I have not seen a single person in the store.  I wonder, given how many stores there are in London, whether a consolidation may take place.

Bizarrely, I was told the other day that the London stores are now owned by.....B&O USA!! Only the London stores. The reason? They have more experience handling retail stores than B&O UK.

Has anyone heard anything similar?

BTW there's absolutely no way that the B&O stores are going to disappear. They are some of the most profitable in the B&O portfolio. However, perhaps B&O Struer have lost some faith in the way they've handled the UK market, which is why the London stores are managed by another territory, 1000's of miles away...

Some of the London store are privately owned.

PhilLondon:

Some of the London store are privately owned.

Yes, but they have to be 'managed' by someone above the shop owners and that job is B&O USA. ie. they handle the franchised/owned shop direction.

Wait...

  B&O UK seems to be disappearing and B&O USA own the London stores ?!? What's going on...

My new dealer has just informed me that any new products I order will take 4 - 6 weeks instead of the usual 7 - 10 day's. A pain for me but a real worry to the dealer. 

      Does anyone know if this is across all the UK and if it's because B&O have REALLY slowed down production ?

    He also mentioned that B&O had called an emergency meeting. Not sure if he ment ''had'' or ''are''.

  I want to order a set of speakers for my 3200 but cant help but feel I should either not bother or wait for the ''fire sale''...? 

It was said that B&O will stop producing too much stock, but will produce at the moment you order.

That'll be "Just-in-(6 weeks)-Time", then

beobilly1:

My new dealer has just informed me that any new products I order will take 4 - 6 weeks instead of the usual 7 - 10 day's. A pain for me but a real worry to the dealer. 

I'm not sure how that works. In order to bring costs down, manufacturers have to mass-produce some products. Ok, B&O only produce a small number of products, but if they are going to produce them 'on demand', this is going to prove very expensive and time consuming. 6 weeks is a long time to wait for a pair of speakers.

The second hard market is going to be far more 'profitable' in future. At least you can walk away with your B&O products..

Also, according to a post elsewhere, the gold stuff which is produced to order has a premium attached for that very reason.

beobilly1:

My new dealer has just informed me that any new products I order will take 4 - 6 weeks instead of the usual 7 - 10 day's. A pain for me but a real worry to the dealer. 

      Does anyone know if this is across all the UK and if it's because B&O have REALLY slowed down production ?

    He also mentioned that B&O had called an emergency meeting. Not sure if he ment ''had'' or ''are''.

  I want to order a set of speakers for my 3200 but cant help but feel I should either not bother or wait for the ''fire sale''...? 

This is not exactly true, B&O were holding upto 4000 stock items at any one time, this will be reduced to around 400.  More stock costs money so the reason behind it is to not commit so much money at stock levels.  Delivery of regular products such as TV's, Audio, Speakers etc will be around 14 days, only low demand varients such as red or blue options or BV4 103" will take 4-6 weeks and the new gold colours are annodised to order so will take upto 12 weeks.