Bang & Olufsen Retail East

I would not buy any product from the Bethesda location… The manager, the owner, neither gets it. Really bad customer service almost to the point that I considered writing a complaint to the Better Business Bureau. If you are interested in B+O I suggest heading out to the TYSON’S store — they are GREAT!

Very, Very poor customer service. Never do business with this company or location. Extending exemplary Customer Service is not their mission! Your not important anymore after you’ve made your expensive purchase. I purchased a CD system, that I later found out had been previously used. Not only was it previously used, but it had very high usage hours. That fact, was explained to me once the system had to come in for repairs. Of the tone of $ 600., and of course, I was made to pay. I placed my system in for service in July, and after calling and speaking with the Manager (Trosten) in December. He mentioned that he was out of the office, and my unit had been waiting for pickup. Whatever happened to someone calling you, just to say, «your item is available for pick up. While Trosten means well, he does this a business a total disservice, and is the exclusive reason why I will NEVER patronize this company again. My experience has been one I must regret, and one I want others to avoid experiencing.

The equipment in here is highly stylish and very expensive. The company always did have a strong focus on the visual aspect of equipment. I remember Bang and Olufsen from before they had these retail shops, and had access and use of some of their equipment, at the time they were mainly focused on turntables, phono cartridges and speakers. Their phono cartridges are considered collectible, but with a trend towards digital mediums, not many people play records these days. The company seems to be focused more on integrated systems which are space efficient and décor conscious, and also they have a super pricey high end line of big screen TV’s. I listened to a pair of speakers which also had the amplifier bulit in. The sound was open and dynamic. The full range of sound was reproduced well. The man in the shop was helpful and not «snooty», as some of the high end places can be. Their stuff is more expensive then I would spend on a stereo, but for those who want to spend well into the 5 or even 6 figures, the products and service of B&O are certainly an option, and you can go in and listen for yourself in a dedicated listening room. They do have more affordable products that I did not sample, but probably safe to say this place is not for the Bose wave crowd.