Stihl, Stihl, Stihl - why do you insist of making the lives of professional contractors difficult ?
We need a replacement Kombo attachment urgently to continue a job on Friday.
A Dealer has them, but I have no one that can get there tomorrow to 'collect' and you would not let me order from the Dealer today for next day delivery.
Why do you persist with this stupid (I can think of no better word) practice when dealing with contractors?
Can someone from Stihl stand up and explain EXACTLY what the perceived problem is?
FOR GOODNESS SAKE, IT'S AN ATTACHMENT, WE HAVE 2 ALREADY (plus £KK's of equipment).
WHY DO WE NEED A HAND OVER, WHAT NEEDS TO BE PDI'd THAT IS SO SO UNIQUE TO STIHL?????
NO OTHER MANUFACTURER DOES THIS.
MAYBE IT IS TIME TO JUMP SHIP TO HUSKY OR HONDA AS WE RENEW OUR KIT?
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It is very poor customer service forcing customers to spend time and money collecting products they are more than familiar with, indeed I guess you and most of your guys have more experience with some of the Stihl products than the people from the distributors who will give the tool box talk.
Andy
http://www.itwcp.co.uk/en/support-services/training-certification/
Andy
Update:
I had long and cordial conversation with Stihl GB this morning discussing the restrictive online sales policy.
It's clear it's a directive from A. Stihl & Co. AG to prohibit online sales of certain items (basically anything that can injure a person !).
Stihl GB have no leeway and have to follow this directive and any Dealer found flouting this will have their account closed (is there not some level of "restraint of trade" here ?). The policy originally applied to ALL Stihl online sales (inc spares) but has been loosened over the years.
One of the main reasons stated for the restrictive policy was that Customer Services state they get a large number of calls where the machine has "problems" or the wrong machine has been purchased or where there is potentially an inexperienced user involved.
This also suggest to me that Stihl do not 100% believe in their equipment - many have seen a lowering of quality in recent years and would suggest they are more flaky now?
Ironically, it does not apply to Viking equipment which is mainly mid-high end domestic (mmhhh sounds more like Sales led directive the more I think about this...).
The Stihl Sales process (which has to be done face to face) determines;
Ok, I can see this to a point with Joe Public. but I find it condescending and arrogant that they believe a 5 - 10 min handover will resolve all this when given by a 'Dealer Sales Person' when professional contractors could probably runs rings around them regarding using in the real world.
Stihl Dealerships know absolutely who has what machine as, if they follow the rules, record the serial number. So why can't Stihl operate some form of approved 'Professional Contractor' Online Training with a checkable status at the point of purchase ( and even include a limited release of liability ) ?
Stihl GB tell me all issues, comments and feedback gets logged in the UK & goes straight back to HQ in Germany review. Short term, I can see only one solution - Make you views known via Stihl GB Customer Services and/or vote with your money when choosing what Manufacture's kit to use.
All this came about as a long reach(Kombi) hedge trimmer played up on a key / time sensitive business park job that had to be finished by that weekend. Our Dealer did not have spares in stock, could not get them until the following week, nor did they have a replacement unit to purchase. We had no one available to go on a long trip to other Dealers who had them in stock.
So I looked around online, found a Dealer who had unit stock, but could not ship the Stihl item due to the online sales policy. However, I was offered a solution by the quick thinking Dealer - a Husky equivalent at a good price.
The outcome? We had a Husky unit with us by mid-morning the next day which I would never have considered before being a predominantly Stihl 'House'.
Stihl's loss, was our gain - the Husky already has a few fans in my business, so is now a viable cost effective future choice.
End game ?: Stihl 0 Husky 1 aet
There is no decent long reach hedgecutter on the market anymore since Echo swapped over to the LW head.
We've got one Stihl, one Komatsu Zenoah, two Husqvarna's and about ten or twelve Echo's. Only the Echo's get picked up every morning, the other makes just sit there collecting dust. I'm now forced into buying up second hand Echo's whenever i see them in decent condition as the new style head (LW) which i think is a Shindaiwa is made of cheese,
Gary I have run huskies for years and prefer them to stihl. had a lad helping at the beginning of the year that was used to using stihl hedge cutters and he could not believe how much better the husky was in cutting,
No, I got a 'deal' on a dedicated 325 model (I think !), but suspect the 'head' is the same.....
Nice to use....no comment yet on durability etc
Not a supply issue, but I am fast losing faith in Sthil. They currently have our hedge cutter back for the second time with the same problem. It starts by losing power when used sideways, which gradually gets worse until it won't run however you have it. Our dealer tried all of the usual remedies, but in the end it went back under warranty for a strip down result 'a damaged seal'. Ran fine for 3 weeks and exactly the same problem and they have it back again.
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