The Bose Store

I accidentally broke the stereo connecting cable on my Bose headphones. I called in at the Regent St premises of Bose to check on the availability of a replacement. I was most impressed with the service I received from the very helpful assistant — a complete contrast to that apparently received by others. I didn’t notice if she was wearing name tag. I left feeling very satisfied with the outcome.

A number of years ago I switched from buying cheap headphones that broke often, to ONLY buying durable quality headphones. I chose to do this at Bose Regent Street, and over 4 years of purchases I have never, ever looked back. Not just because of the hugely improved sound of my music, but also in no small part because of the service in Bose Regent Street. The staff (at least the ones I have interacted with) have always been so fantastic, giving as much flexibility as absolutely possible (without even being pushed to do so), and always making sure I walk out as happy as possible when experiencing issues. Fantastic to find a global business that still places a genuine focus on putting the customer first. Would highly recommend Bose and their Regent Street store in particular.

I have bought very little from these guys I’m afraid to say.
But the customer service in this Bose shop was really bad.
Staff here have no sense of humour, lack of social skills, and a serious lack of courtesy. I would never purchase a Bose product from these guys whatsoever.
I went in here with my friend, Mark on Saturday afternoon and we was going to spend over £800.00-£1,000.00 on a sound system for his living room at home and so a staff member asked him and I to leave the actual demonstration room (for customers use as well you know) where they have the device he was looking for.
The staff member didn’t even say, someone will be with you in a moment, they just asked him and I to leave whilst they were showing a demo to another customer.
As if he was going to purchased the dam thing. But I doubt it very much.
At the end of the day, I am not a Bose fan, at all. I find it way too common.
As I’ve said in all my previous reviews, customer service is the be all and end all.

I have great respect for this brand and I’ve been a customer for a long time. I purchased a set of speakers in the US and I moved to London. I tried to use them here with a poor quality voltage converter and unfortunately I ruined them. I decided to bring them to this store for repair, an I was ‘helped’ by one of their staff Ama.
I didn’t like her attitude, she was very rude and unfriendly. Made me feel dumb by saying something like ‘Sir, we’re now in Europe not in the US any more’. I don’t know, I was really bothered by her attitude. Hard to explain but you get the picture.
I think the store manager should have a talk with her on how to treat customers.

Ever wonder why Bose is never reviewed? Answer — they sued a hifi magazine after a bad review.
The shop is bright and shiny, and the kit is all very new and self-​contained (not many wires to connect). But when you listen to the actual sound, you discover that it’s about the same quality as you’d get from a mainstream hifi maker for a third of the price. Go up the road to Selfridges and get something from Sony, or buy a hifi magazine and get something from their recommended list online. You’ll send half as much and get a much better result…

Is it just me who gets irritated by the Bose adverts you see in magazines which refuse to tell you how much their equipment costs and invite to contact them to find out? I don’t think they’ve figured out how consumers think — we like convenience.
When I saw this Bose shop on Regent Street, I therefore took the opportunity to pop in and see how much their sound systems cost. Well, I can now understand why. The systems are pricey
Bose’s main selling point seems to be that their machines are smaller than traditional sound systems. This is true and the sound is fairly good for something this size but I still prefer the sound from a good set of separates and speakers.

SHAMEFUL service staff. In the States I’ve purchased speakers and headphones from Bose and always had top-​notch service — but I had a wretched experience with the staff here.
I brought a new pair of Bose speakers with me when I moved to London from the US, and when I started have problems with them I went to the Bose store on Regents Street to see if there was anything that could possibly be done — being the high-​end international brand that Bose is, I thought surely they’d offer *some* customer assistance.
No. Not at all… they didn’t even say, «there’s nothing we can do» with a smile. I was made to feel like some beggar off the street for daring to enter their store about this matter. The man behind the counter barely looked at me after I explained why I was there, merely replied with a chilly «it’s your own problem for buying them in the States,» then, «next customer.» He may as well have spit on me, he spoke to me with such disdain.
When I relayed the experience to my boyfriend, he was so incredulous that a place like *Bose* wouldn’t have offered me *anything* that he insisted we go back together… thinking that he might have more success if he spoke with them «man to man.» They were not a smite more receptive to him… they treated him with the same level of scorn and contempt that I had experienced.
Nonplused, he asked to speak with the manager. «I am the manager,» said the scowling clerk shooting knives at us with his eyes.
«Come on,» the boyfriend said, «there must be something you can do!»
The atrocious manager finally relented (mostly, it seemed, so that he wouldn’t have to look at us anymore) and gave us a card with the number for the Bose HQ in Britain — then insisted we get out of his way. His conduct was so appalling, my boyfriend *finally* believed that I wasn’t exaggerating about my first trip.
(Gracious! You stupid Bose people on Regents Street! We’re still Bose patrons for heaven’s sake… just because we bought *one* set of speakers in the States doesn’t mean we might not ever want to shop in *your* store!)
I didn’t get very far with the card either… but fortunately my engineer father paid me a visit not long after this and had a look at the speakers. He determined that they just needed a new power plug (no, not like a international electricity converter, a power plug and cord — just so that we’re clear about my intelligence). We found what we needed with the assistance of an extremely helpful staff member at Maplin — and now they work fine.
This Bose store is lucky that they sell such a superior product… otherwise I’d never buy another thing from Bose in the UK again.