Festool South Africa

[sucramuk]

Hi

Who do I need to get in touch with regarding the distributor in South Africa.
Their service is disgusting.
Basically, I ordered and paid for 2 toolboxes, with the proviso from the retailer who called the distributor whilst I was there that the items would be with me in 10 days.
I was then told after the 10 days that because of a public holiday (in Germany) during this period the item was not shipped and now have to wait at least 6 weeks! I'm from the UK and know for a fact most operations are  not really affected by public holidays these days!
I have now been waiting over 6 weeks!
Frankly I think the distributor is talking rubbish and is not wanting to bring stock in on an adhoc basis rather ship a certain amount at a time, if anything
Believe me, we pay a big premium is South Africa on an already premium product. Can Festool offer a decent level of customer care in SA?

So forgive my rambling, I need a contact from Festool head office to make them aware of the slackness of their South African distributor.

Also on a side note where do I register my tools for the extended warranty based on the fact I am in South Africa.

Thanks for any help or guidance.

Marcus

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Marcus,

Very sorry to hear about this situation. Please accept my apologies on behalf of Festool.

Please send me an email with your contact information and I will have a colleague from Festool Germany reach you regarding this situation.

Shane Holland
sho@festoolusa.com

 

[sancho57]

Sick George on that dealer..

That'll show'em

 

[sucramuk]

UPDATE:

Thanks to Shane my issue has been sorted.
Shane ensured me that my details were passed onto Festool Germany.
There was a slight delay in receiving any contact from Germany but this was due to the person responsible being on vacation.
However, yesterday I had a phone call from Ole Held who listened to the problems and assured me that my items are being shipped direct from Germany direct to my retailer in Cape Town, will  receive in 2 weeks.
He also assured me that the current Festool issues in South Africa are being dealt with and a solution is on its way soon, which is very good to hear.

Thanks again to Shane, Ole and Festool. I for one will still support you in sunny South Africa!

 

[AlexThePalex]

Gotta love modern technology. An American solving a problem for a South African with a German.  Great service on Shane's part.

 

[mouppe]

Gotta love modern technology. An American solving a problem for a South African with a German.  Great service on Shane's part.

Correction  [tongue]:

An American solving a problem for a Brit in South Africa with a German.  Great service on Shane's part.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Gotta love modern technology. An American solving a problem for a South African with a German.  Great service on Shane's part.

Correction  [tongue]:

An American solving a problem for a Brit in South Africa with a German.  Great service on Shane's part.

Said the Canadian, correcting the Dutchman.  [smile]

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Pretty cool that we have a truly international cooperation between forum members and Festool in various countries. Proud to be a part of it.

Marcus, glad to hear resolution is near.

Thanks to Ole and my other colleagues for their assistance.

[thumbs up] [thumbs up]

 

[jacko9]

WOW, what a success story for the FOG! Worldly solutions at your fingertips!

Jack

 

[Pieter Nagel]

I can confirm that the Festool distributor in South Africa is in a sorry state.

Just now I phoned various dealers asking if they sell Festool accessories.

One of them almost swore upon hearing the name and said they don't carry "Festo" anymore, because they've sent tools for repair to the @#%& distributor in Johannesburg and they're still waiting on parts for months afterwards.

Another at first said yes, they can order stuff for me, but then thought the better of it and changed tack: "Look, to be honest, there seems to be some problem with the distributor, we wait months on parts, and if you were to order now I'd be very dubious about anything ever coming from it".

A third also mentioned "problems with the distributor" and some "transition".

I suppose all of this means that the issues mentioned up thread are still being worked on and that whatever Festool Germany is doing has not come to fruition yet.

 

[Pieter Nagel]

Can someone confirm the name of the old distributor that is causing the problems (or the new one brought in to solve them)?

Is the current supplier listed on https://www.festool.com/Service/Pages/Service.aspx as a partner for Africa / South Africa to be trusted?

The last thing I want to do right now is to place an order directly with the guys who are the problem in the first place.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Pieter,

Welcome to the forum and apologies for the delay in responding. We have a new importer in South Africa named Vermont Sales, http://vermontsales.co.za. Please contact them for assistance with your order.

Thank you,
Shane

 

[sancho57]

We got the UN here

 

[paulpaulis11]

Festool left a bitter taste from their dealers to customers in south africa Thanks I currently re purchasing Mirka Deros & Bosch

 

[Pieter Nagel]

Shane,

Thanks for the confirmation, that means I can go ahead and place my order.

I didn't expect that my query would unleash such a barrage of pent-up dissatisfaction!

I wish Festool all the best of success in repairing the damage their previous distributor evidently caused to their brand in this market.

 

[paulpaulis11]

Apologies if I offended in anyway I am still on the forum/ I hope the new distribution will go Much beter ; the previous distributor was cut off from festool germany 4 month ago; I only found out this week; the gave me the run around with the""stock is on order"

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Paul,

My apologies for the negative experience with the importer in South Africa.

I have removed a lot of your posts because you were spamming the forum, which is against our forum rules. You're welcome to express your dissatisfaction, but please do it in a concise way. Do not make dozens of posts back-to-back in the same thread.

Please understand that posting to the forum is not like texting, you can post more than one line at a time.

Thank you,
Shane

 

[paulpaulis11]

I been with festool products for more 10 years the product is good;when they still where under Festo, I was with mirka product's before I went over to festool; well ended up with a hybrid mirka/festool[emoji2] [emoji2] [emoji2] [emoji2] [emoji2] [emoji13] [emoji13] [emoji13]

 

[Pieter Nagel]

Seems like the distributor problems are indeed sorted out.

I got some quotes on Festool stuff from a dealer here in Pretoria called Powerdek. In the process I asked them about the situation with the distributor, and they told me that they'd already moved a few Festool orders, that the change in service delivery is astounding, and they're looking forward to selling more Festool stuff in future. The distributor does not yet have a lot of local stock on hand, so they still need to import a lot, but they do that in a timely manner.

I placed an order for a CTL 26 E, MFT/3 and some sundries a little over two weeks ago and was told it would take about two weeks. Sure enough, exactly two weeks later my stuff was at the dealer.

Two weeks might not be up to European of US standards, but for us here in the so-called Third World this is quite acceptable for import goods.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Pieter,

Thanks for taking the time to report back. I'm glad to hear that progress has been made and the situation is now much improved.

Shane