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Your stance should be : Is the professional kit you bought 'Fit for Purpose' ?
If you feel it is not and you have Service Records etc, I would approach someone like Trading Standards and make it known to Stihl your intentions....
They may then respond in a more helpful manner to 'professional contractors'...
I, and others, have asked Stihl multiple times to participate on LJN, but have received 'blunt' responses from their customer services manager stating they are not interested nor do they want to participate on Social Media. This is completely at odds with Stihl USA who regularly participate & support their professional contractors via Twitter, sponsoring magazine articles aimed at 'us'.
You may not be the only one with these problems, so if anyone else has personally experienced similar...post it up, BUT whatever this should NOT become a 'Stihl-bashing' exercise...
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They should really up their game Gary. Customer service is a deal breaker as far as i am concerned. If only they took a leaf out of Etesia uk's book.
Only problems i have had with stihl equipment is poor starting - that is with all the machines i have. One blower seized up through no fault of my own - i am very careful with fuel and mixing oil.
Got to say that I've not had any issues with using Stihl exclusively for at least 15 years. As an example, the last strimmer and long-reach hedge cutter did 5 years, blowers do 2 years on average, and my lucky hedgecutter is smoking and rattling, but still starts and runs well despite it's 2005 label. I don't understand how they make money with equipment that's so reliable and long-lasting.
But, the combie I bought to replace the strimmer is horrible. The plastic inserts are rubbish, the tools twist around, the vibes are shocking, it's awful to start when hot and runs badly with the hedgecutter attachment (although fine with the strimmer, why is that??). I'd put it down to the particular tool, and planned to go back to seperate in the future, but if it's a sign that Stihl are built to a lower standard then it's time to look around at alternatives.
One local dealer to me warned me when I got my KM90R to expect 3 years with good care - I got a Honda brushcutter at the same time, and I was told to expect "10 years from the engine, these usually break when someone chucks something on them and bends the shaft in the van!" - not the tools fault their then!
From what I've heard (not experience anything yet mind you), New stihl tools are "finer" engined, and are less tollerant of being bumped about and rough handled that the old 2stroke engines - largely the valves and associated springs - However thats not an excuse, Honda have been doing 4-stroke Strimmer engines for 10 years or more now and dont have these issues.
I've never known what all the fuss about stihl is other than some high profile advertising, great calenders and fast spares availability.
I had nothing but trouble with the br600's i bought and won't touch them with a barge pole now, straight back to echo.