B&W Fires President Doug Henderson
 

I think this is a good move for them. They need to move into the information age with their sales/pricing policies. Many customers are turned off by the strict pricing policy of B&W whereby dealers can't discuss sale prices over the phone with potential customers. If I can fully negotiate the price of luxury cars or high end watches over the phone/email then there is no reason I shouldn't be able to for a pair of speakers. Making customers jump through hoops to find out the sale price of products is no longer a sustainable practice.

Hi malba2366,

We don't have any restrictions on our dealers discussing retail prices of products. In fact, they are available for everyone to see online if that would assist.

Regards,

Patrick Butler
B&W Group North America

Patrick,

What about the restrictive sales policies B&W places on dealers?

For example, I can't call up a high-volume dealer in NYC and have speakers drop shipped to me in California. Instead I have to use a local dealer with terrible pricing and pay sales tax. This forces a lot of people to buy off the classified sites and get a substantial discount. For example, right now anyone can buy a pair of new 802 D3 speakers for $15,999 (retail is $22K) by browsing the classifieds. I've called up several B&W dealers in California and they can't even touch that price; and most of them do not want to discuss price over the phone and insist discounted pricing is face-to-face, even though it maybe a 200 mile drive.

Every B&W dealer I have called to get the actual sale price (not MSRP) told me they can't discuss any prices besides MSRP on the phone. As you know (like with cars and watches) high end audio equipment is typically sold at a discount and not at MSRP. The last four vehicles I purchased I only went to the dealership to pick up the vehicle, everything else was handled over the phone/email. There is no reason I should have to drive all over the place to compare prices on a pair of speakers.

Doug... we don't discuss publicly pricing discounts on any brand here on AA.

I for one like that BW protects pricing so the resale value is protected.

You looking for the best deal? Either go to the dealer's actual store or buy something else.

I guess that was my point. The resale value isn't even protected. Someone can buy a brand new pair of 802 D3s today for $22K + tax, and tomorrow they're worth $16K according to the current market.

I feel sympathetic. It's a tough problem to solve.

I think that's a good second hand value. Not many other brands can come that close.

Best new you can get is probably 19k. A depreciation of 3k is not bad.

If you started putting dealers against each other via phone bids... Guess what? The second hand value drops to maybe 13k or lower.

BW price protects and protects their dealers regions by not allowing interstate sales.

I think it's genius.

Just like Wilson. You think you can call up a Wilson dealer and haggle over the phone? No way.

This is BW. There's a reason theyve been around for half a century.

Are you the Patrick Butler that used to be with Vienna Acoustics?