October 2012 - Trademax Publications

news
STIHL MD issues warning on fakes
The MD of STIHL SA, Hayden Hutton, has personally cautioned all South
Africans, especially those in the Gauteng region, to beware of criminals
posing as STIHL employees and selling counterfeit STIHL products.
A
spate of e-mail reports from Gauteng
residents in recent days have told similar
stories: a middle-aged man, posing as a
STIHL director from Germany, has approached
motorists and offered to sell them “STIHL”-
branded chainsaws from the back of his car.
One of the near-victims managed to take a
photograph of these chainsaws – and STIHL SA
has identified them as counterfeit goods.
“Counterfeit chainsaws resemble original STIHL
products, particularly because of their orange
and light-grey colour scheme, and sometimes
even carry forged ‘STIHL’ brand labels and STIHL
model designations,” Hutton says.
“People can be sure that no genuine STIHL
employee will ever sell our chainsaws from the
back of a vehicle on the side of the road. That is
simply not the way we do business,” Hutton
said.
He added – as a general warning – that
unrealistically low prices are almost always an
indication of forged, poor-quality, high-risk
power products.
STIHL sells its world-renowned products
exclusively through specialist dealers,
guaranteeing authenticity, technical service and
advice. Customers can be absolutely certain
they receive 100% STIHL quality and not cheap
copies.
Counterfeit, inferior quality chainsaws are a
worldwide problem, even in first-world
countries. In England, counterfeit chainsaw
hawkers have been arrested, while the German
CID has also been pursuing the matter.
Counterfeit chainsaws can resemble original STIHL products,
with their orange and light-grey colour scheme, and sometimes
even carry forged ‘STIHL’ brand labels and STIHL model
designations, but the genuine STIHL product (below in
photograph) will only ever be sold at authorised STIHL dealers.
STIHL’s network of authorised dealers stretches
throughout South Africa. Genuine STIHL
products come standard with a world-class and
dedicated backup service from these dealers. A
full list of these authorised dealers is available
on the STIHL website at www.stihl.co.za
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