[chadbang]

So a seller on ebay is purportedly an authorized Sennheiser dealer. The company was selling "refurbished" Sennheisers on Amazon(with box) and "New, open box" Momentums on ebay (without box). I paid a little extra for a "new" set without box, but received a pair in the box.  Now they certainly looked and smelled new, but there was this sticker on the box. The box was sealed with a white label that says "Sennheiser QC"  I don't see these on new boxes. Does anyone know if this means it is a refurbished headphone? I mean I'm happy with the phones, but I also don't like being given a runaround. As a paid for a "new" open-box set, I'm just curious what the meaning of this label is.
 

 

 

[JK1]

Refurbished often means new open box, when it has gone back to the manufacturer, although sometimes it might also mean a defective item that was repaired. In the case of headphones though, if someone thinks it is defective, then it probably is. With something like an mp3 player or other electronics, it might not be defective, it might just need a format and reloading of the firmware. Assuming your headphone might have been defective and was fixed and tested by Sennheiser, it is probably okay.
 
I usually avoid refurbished or open box items as they are a gamble, unless the item is priced at less than half the lowest new price I can find. If it is that cheap, then I might be willing to take a gamble on it. When a store is going out of business, or discontinuing a line of merchandise, they are sometimes willing  to get rid of it at very low prices, especially if they haven't had luck selling it at higher prices, and it has been sitting around for quite a while.

 

[Sennheiser]

Hi chadbang,

I've just checked with my Sennheiser USA colleagues and it is indeed a refurbished unit. Our refurbisher does put these stickers on the headphone packages after completion of quality checks. Hope this helps!

 

[chadbang]

That's a bit of a shame as the seller Adgtron specifically told me they were new and sealed headphones. I could see that someone tried to peel off the refurbished label and then thought better of it. That's a shame. So I got overcharged and scammed a bit. I couldn't find this guy on the list of authorized Sennheiser dealers despite his claim on Amazon and ebay. I would say beware of this seller.