Purchasing Sennheiser Headphones In Genova Italy, Good or Bad???

Ok, I'm going to throw this out there and hopefully someone will answer that has purchased from this company and can speak from first hand knowledge. This company has, hands down, the very best price on premium Sennheiser Headphones. They are on EBay and they have like a 100% rating, the best of the best. When you reference the company on the Internet, they appear to be huge! There is NO negative feedback on the company sales at all, I can find nothing and I hope someone else can dig like I have and hopefully find something positive or negative, just something. They claim the headphones are new, and come with an "Official Warranty" whatever that is?? I know, I know, scam written all over it, and yes I know, if it's too good to be true it's probably not true, but then you have a company that obviously exists, obviously has a perfect rating with EBay since 2002, it's not like they have been around for 6 months, and stocks a zillion dollars worth of audio stuff, and I can't find one single complaint, but did find one or two endorsements. I have heard all the dealers stuff such as, they can't ship to the United States, they have no warranty with Sennheiser, they are selling counterfeit, bootleg headphones, but hey, they are selling them like hotcakes!! So, what is the truth, as I need to be set free. If you have some first hand knowledge of this company it would be great to hear your input, as I have mentioned, I have already heard many of the US dealers input with all their negativity, I'm just seeking the truth, and the truth "could be" that they are just kicking butt and taking names on the Sennheiser pricing??? Bottom line, I don't want to do something stupid, and I don't want to GIVE AWAY $200.00 either! And yes I do know that the UPS man is going to collect an additional $58.00 or so dollars for Customs, which is fine.

The company is:

HI-FI PRESTIGE
68/N VIA FERRETTO ARTURO 16143 GENOVA (GENOVA)
ITALY

I hope someone will share some first hand information, and thanks so much for your input!

 

It does sound too good to be true, but if they have a perfect rating for the past 13 years, it seems unlikely they are scamming people... that being said, I have not dealt with them so I know nothing first hand.

Good luck if you pull the trigger.

 

My finger is firmly on that trigger, I'm just so afraid to shoot, but I really want to, it's a big savings!

 

If you do, be sure to let us know how it goes.

 

This doesn't address your OP, Litejazz53, but I thought it might be interesting.

I gave in to a "too good to be true" offer once.

This has been a while, since it was back when I had internet only at work. So sometime before 2001. I received an unsolicited email from a company called "zzzzoom" or something close to that. They were having a going out of business sale. I clicked on the link to their website and saw some good deals and some not particularly good deals.

I saw new Grado RS-1 headphones for $280. They were Grado's top of the line at the time and went for $900. Against my better judgement, I ordered them.

Several weeks went by and I was about to email zzzzoom (no phone number) when my package arrived. It contained Grado SR-60 headphones which were going for $80. I was disappointed but not surprised. I emailed zzzzoom about this and they acted like they could not understand the problem. By the third email, they said to send the Grado SR-60 headphones back to them (at my expense) and they would mail out the Grado RS-1 headphones. I did it, although I thought that after I mailed the SR-60 back I would receive nothing.

A few weeks past and I received a package from zzzzoom. After I opened the outer package there was a Grado SR-60 box. I felt more stupid than I already had. I opened the box and inside were a (like?) new pair of Grado RS-1 headphones.

I lucked out. (I never did something like that before or since.)

 

I have no idea, but it sounds like a textbook case of counterfeit product if the price is just too good to be true:

http://en-us.sennheiser.com/about-sennheiser-at-a-glance-counterfeit



http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/19/man-sentenced-for-selling-counterfeit-headphones/

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8392

http://www.amazon.com/forum/sennheiser/Tx3NAODVYQY0A6J

I mean, at a certain point, it basically sounds like you've already answered your question.

 

Could you please be more specific? The only Sennheiser I see advertised on their site is the HD800 at €990, which is the same price as, say, amazon Italy. Also, I don't find any reference to them on ebay...

 

I agree that if the price is "too good to be true" that it likely is a scam -- probably counterfeit headphones. It does seem odd that the seller would have 100% positive feedback over a long period of time, but I also was unable to find them on eBay.

 

You should email Sennheiser to see if they are an authorized reseller. As for a serial number on the unit they are selling on eBay.

A concern I have is it may be stolen/lost goods. A few months ago I purchased a Meridian Explorer2 DAC/amp on eBay for $50 less than retail. It turned out to be stolen goods. Meridian had an entire shipment to CES stolen in transit. Meridian was kind enough to replace my unit with a legit one with full warranty. They ROCK!

Audeze headphones recently had a break-in and lost over 300 headphones. They now have a serial number verification system on their website.

http://www.audeze.com/verify/consumer-alert

 

These fakes are all over the place - $40 w/free shipping:
http://www.ioffer.com/i/sennheiser-hd-598-hifi-headphones-headset-608598160?i=274228246

 

Hi Jimi: It's the HD-800 Sennheiser and it's on ebay, it's the first one, I think it's $1,029.00 with free shipping and Customs is about $60.00.

 

Hi Litejazz,

I did check on many italian sites, and the price quoted by Hi-Fi Prestige is nothing strange, but it is indeed the common italian street price for the HD800. I even found another site selling it for €50 less than Hi-Fi Prestige: http://www.mercatinomusicale.com/mm/a_sennheiser-hd800_id3779230.html. Don't know if they ship to US though.

Anyway, if it would be me I would trust them.

 

Meier Audio in Germany has good prices for the HD800. Meier Audio is legit and an authorized Sennheiser dealer. They've been in the headphone and headphone amp business for a long time. One of the very early headphone amp companies. I know a couple of local people who bought their HD800 from Meier. He ships to the US.

I wouldn't buy a really good deal price on eBay for the HD800. Too much risk. Too much trickery and scams on gear like that on eBay.

 

I'd ask myself what your recourse would be, from Music City USA, against an Italian dealer if you get scammed.
FWIW, I got a pair of 650s earlier this year by watching the Amazon prices fluctuate and, when the price was down, getting a local Best Buy to match Amazon. They weren't particularly thrilled, as the Amazon price was over $100 less than that charged by the ironically named Best Buy. But I digress. Great 'phones, by the way.
I'm at the point in life where I'd rather spend a bit of money that have to extricate myself from a scam, but you could luck out.
Whatever you do, good luck!

 

Just remember that you will not get a USA warranty. Any problem they have to go back to Italy and you have to hope the dealer will take care of it.

 

Are you familiar with Hi-Fi Prestige, is it a name that rings a bell or have you possibly been in their store?? The thing that really got my attention is their length of time on EBay. One thing is for sure, if they were selling fake HD-800's, people would be going crazy, and yet, nothing on the Internet. Can you elaborate on the store, long time business, trusted business, etc????

 

I can get them for $1,300.00 here from a Sennheiser dealer, but that $1,029.00 was really speaking to me, but you are so right, from Music City to Italy is a long way to have a dispute. They have a 14 return policy, but I pay for the return, another $70 or so bucks!

 

The $60 customs fee results in you saving about $100. If it were me, I'd wait until after the holidays and approach my local dealer for a deal. I'll bet his/her profit greatly exceeds $100 and, if stuck with inventory, might make you a no-risk deal. More fun, less hassle.

 

Thanks so much for your response, I appreciate it. If I were to guess, I would say the headphones are probably the real deal, I would bet they are not fakes, however one thing is for sure, if I wanted any warranty at all, Sennheiser would never honor any warranty if I imported from Italy and they confirmed that. They went on to say yes, people can acquire their products, however Hi-FI Prestige is not a Sennheiser dealer and I would be on my own on anything shipped from out of the United States. Well, I kept begging people to help me with the pricing and finally got one dealer to reduce to $1,275.00, delivered, for a new pair, but that was the very best I could do, without calling the dozens of Sennheiser dealers in the United States. Now I have the warranty, probably paid too much, but I did my best to get the best deal I could.

 

I'm going to have you negotiate for me when I go headphone shopping.
That's a good price for the HD800 from a US dealer with a Sennheiser USA warranty.

 

Litejazz53, sorry I didn't see your thread before. Hi-Fi Prestige is actually a renowned and serious shop in Genova. The big if is, during a transoceanic travel anything can happen and I wouldn't buy something so valuable and fragile from a store in another continent, even if highly discounted as it will likely be a source of problems.

I only did it twice; first time when I bought via ebay a first Columbia pressing of the "Shine On" boxset from a USA seller. Heavy item, the seller packed it the best that he could but the outer box was slightly damaged in transit. I knew it might have happened, I wanted it mainly for the music. Second time, I bought several LPs from the SH.tv classifieds and all arrived in pristine conditions inside a big cardboard box from the USA. Nothing could have happened because they were packed like a tank. But these were exceptions.
In your case, I don't know the way Hi-Fi prestige sends and package stuff but rest assured that they sell only the real deal, no counterfeit and occasionally have sales indeed, so the Sennheiser headphones could be part of a recent series of discounts.

I'm aware there are people that buy even turntables from abroad, but if not 100% sure and if you have no guarantee that the seller is going to carefully pack your purchase, look for this kind of stuff locally or at least in the USA is going to save you a lot of hassle. And, as somebody already said, you would be without a valid guarantee...so no regrets.

 

Well, it was the absolute best I could do with mainstream dealers, when it comes to these headphones, they hold on to that money, tight!

 

Keep talking, I'm feeling better about loosing that $86.00 with every word! My problems with a dual purchase, a set of Sennheiser HD-800's and a Woo WA2, I got confused, and mistook myself for Santa Claus.

 

well, i live in Genova, do you guys want me to check the store? i can take my own headphones to compare, but whatever is too good to be true, usually is not there.