B&W 800D or 802D Cosmetic Issues

Can anyone explain the economics of a dealer selling high end loudspeakers. What's the dollar cost to him/her of taking back two sets of high cost components and replacing them with a third set? Is it all out the dealer's pocket or is the distributor/manufacturer putting some money on the table?

"09-18-15: Onhwy61
Can anyone explain the economics of a dealer selling high end loudspeakers. What's the dollar cost to him/her of taking back two sets of high cost components and replacing them with a third set? Is it all out the dealer's pocket or is the distributor/manufacturer putting some money on the table?"

It depends. In this case we don't know the whole situation because there's a question as to weather the speakers are actually new or b stock or refurb. If its a defect from the factory on a new speaker, the factory makes good on the part in either a replace of fix scenario. The dealers usually eat the labor of maybe going out to the customers house, repack time, shipping drop off. But nothing really big. The markup on a typical high end speaker is usually pretty decent, and most manufactures don't allow you to discount the product, and your market is usually protected.

I believe this situation is a special case. As mentioned before, there's the question of the speakers not actually being new. I'm not sure what B&W would do in this case because they didn't really do anything wrong, but their dealer did. My guess is that if they get all the facts, they'll warranty the speaker. Its just the right thing to do.

If the speakers are legit new, this still is a special case in my opinion. By the looks of it, the dealer may have bitten off more than they can chew. Its one thing to sell a 25k speaker, but its something else to sell and service a sale like that properly. Most likely, this dealer doesn't have the funds to cover all things that can go wrong, and the customer is suffering as a result. My best guess is that the dealer would like to do the right thing, but he doesn't have the resources. Personally, I feel bad for the dealer, but he needs to make this right. He knew something like this could happen, yet he still chose to take the money. Its not the customers fault he chose to gamble.

Not to get off topic, but anyone that’s ever read my posts has probably seen my rants about how important it is to pick the right dealer. Or at least one that's capable of handling the sale. Several years ago when I bought a pair of 802's from Stereo Exchange, I asked them if they were in stock. They laughed and showed me the computer screen. They had 26 pairs in stock downstairs. The point is, a dealer like this can handle all aspects of a sale like this. Since then I've moved to Audio Connection for most of what I buy. John's in a different league entirely. If a manufacturer gives one of his customers a hard time he'll put his foot up their a**. I'm going on about this because I think those of us that have good dealers should get the word out to help others who may not. Too many people have to suffer with bad dealers.

Zd gives very good advice. With this much $$ involved this has gone way beyond the "my dealer is a good guy and I don't want to be a harda$$." There are places in the U.S. where you buy a house for that price and for lots of people that's a year's take home pay.

Zd, thanks. Great post!

Zd, great post. Like you said, you can't under estimate the importance of a 'sound' dealer.

I have asked my dealer to replace the Marlan head and tweeter tube on the 2nd pair in his warehouse. And made it very clear that after this replacement, if the pair doesn't look 'new' he should be prepared to issue us a refund. Guess what, I have not heard back from my dealer since and it's been 5 days.

Clearly, he doesn't want to refund the money. I think he is in same predicament as I am, he is not 100% confident that the speaker will look as new after the replacement.

I feel that speakers were B-stock's and he received a pretty good 'kick' from B&W to move these speakers. Like you said, he gambled with these speakers thinking that buyer won't inspect the speakers with fine tooth and comb.

I look back at this transaction and couple of things bothers me now, my dealer knew that the newer D3 series will be out in couple of month, cause he admitted to me that B&W ceased production of D2 series around June. He could have told me that you may wanna wait for the newer series or the 800D's in B&W distribution center may have some cosmetic issues due to being the last batch.

He also told me that these speakers were special order for me. And I said, if you don't stock any high $$ merchandise and order once customer pays you then it shouldn't be considered as 'special' order. I inquired for 802 and 800 along with Classe M600 with this dealer for about 6 months and they never seem to have any of these items in stock for a walk-in customer.

As a consumer, it shouldn't be my problem what my dealer needs to pull to get me a factory fresh mint pair of 800D's. I walked into dealership thinking I am buying a brand new pair and that's what I should get for my money.