Who is Adept Tools and how did they get my address?

[gkeas]

I am trying to not be a curmudgeon about this but we are all somebody's customers here alsready. Bob Marino's, for example. I'm not speaking for Bob here but if I was him, I would be more than a little annoyed at someone else trying to move in on my hard won territory in this manner. If someone grows their business the way Bob did I have absolutely no problem with it.

I also don't speak for Bob, but I think he is comfortable with the fact that he "Will not be undersold", or over-sold for that matter.  Price protection on the tools makes the decision become based solely on customer service.  I doubt too many folks who've done business with Bob Marino are likely to jump ship so easily.  For those that do,  Bob may be better off without them.

That's my THREE cents worth.

 

[mastercabman]

I am trying to not be a curmudgeon about this but we are all somebody's customers here alsready. Bob Marino's, for example. I'm not speaking for Bob here but if I was him, I would be more than a little annoyed at someone else trying to move in on my hard won territory in this manner. If someone grows their business the way Bob did I have absolutely no problem with it.

what territory?    all festool dealers are welcome to this forum according to matthew.  bob doesn't own this forum.he just happen to be a dealer that got smart by coming to this site and try to help anyone with questions/problem with festool and in the same time,somewhat advertising himself .very smart!(nothing against bob)if you like to deal with bob,then stick with him.doesn't really matter where you buy,everybody has the same price! 
one more thing:is everybody on this forum a customer of bob Marino?

 

[enderw88]

My crack dealer is a local store that carries the line, and has good service.  I pay the sales tax so that I can make sure the sore stays open.  Given that I bought a TS-75, RO-150, CT-22, MFT 1080, several clamps, and a load of abrasives there in the last month, I may have single handedly made their monthly sales goals!

 

[Eli]

I'm obviously not one of Bob's customers. And I wouldn't likely be one of Adept's either, unless somebody starts teleporting Festool accessories to Australia for free. Everyone has an equal right to the forum, dealers included. I don't think you're being curmudgeonly, I think you're pissed you got a piece of junk mail, but alienating a Festool dealer is not going to change the amount of junk in the mail in America in 2008 IMAO. Face it, you have a spending profile. You are a quantifiable demographic. They probably sent some flyers to somebody who has the money and doesn't own festools.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

I got the Adept mailing, too, and wondered how my name showed up on their list since my Festools were bought from Hartville Tool (one of the first stocking dealers in USA) and Bob Marino.  My hunch is that  Bob "got smart" and developed his innate excellent customer service standards long ago, probably before Festool.  I'd be delighted to visit Festool's factory and to have some hands on training in use of their tools, and hopefully an opportunity to show them "my little knit picks."

Dave R.

 

[Bob Marino]

Greg, Garry,

Thanks for the very kind words, but let me offer a few thoughts on this thread as I seem to be "involved" and the whole subject is near and dear to me.
Yes, I have been with Festool for over 5 years. At that time, many of the dealers, called  Isa's, were small stores, contractors, carpenters, flooring installers, etc. Hell, I just "lucked" in - I was a Respiratory Therapist. There were about 50 or so Isa's at that time and Festool was almost banging on doors to get people to sell, but even at that time Festool was pretty selective.

Not many contractors had ever heard of Festool. It was a much harder sell for us at that time, at least until they bought their first tool!  The ww magazines were not reviewing the tools; the editors hardly were familiar with the line.
But Festool tools were/are unique. Word started spreading, the tools were featured on ww/home shows, reviewers with their own websites (John Lucas, Phil Bumbalough, Jack Loganbill, etc) were wowed and started reviewing/demoing the tools. In March of 03, the editors of some of the ww mags were invited (along with about 10 Isa's, myself included, to tour Festool's factory and meet the top management.
At that meeting, Festool's management's "strategy" was presented. In a sentence or two, one of the cornerstones  was that Festool's commitment is to build the highest quality tools; that price not be the determining factor; quality was. This commitment to quality, creating unique, not "me too tools" as well as Christian Oltzscher's steady hand at Festool's helm is responsible for Festool USA's success. Festool's way of selling was quite a bit different (though not alone in this) than the typical American Company's. Festool wished to ensure the integrity of the tool, and "disallowed" ISA/Dealer discounting. Their model was to have Isa's/Dealers compete on service, not on price. I am fairly sure this was a sticking point with some of the larger retailers who were just plain not used to this type of marketing.
But Festool was growing (and I along with them) and with Festool's increasing presence and sales, others were desiring to become dealers also. It's a business decision pure and simple and a wise one at that. So now, business are coming on board - there must be over 300 dealers now and growing every week. Why shouldn't they want to sell the tools? As was said in The Godfather, "it's business, not personal". If a company feels it's in their interest to sign on and become a dealer, they will sign on. Why shouldn't they?
I do feel bad, truly bad, about your dealer losing out to Rockler, some dealers with total Festool commitment can and will get hurt. I do have a large customer base, (Festool has never had any territorial restrictions on their dealers) and I think most of my customers are satisfied with me, but I have also lost customers because of mistakes/missteps, etc. Being a one man band I have no one to blame but myself for those mistakes.
Festool is growing and can't go back to having 50 dealers anymore. New dealers will come in and perhaps try and generate interest with prizes. This has been ok'ed by Festool, I don't have a problem with that. Maybe I will have some such prizes/prizes myself. Apparently, companies can buy customer lists; I haven't, but don't see anything wrong with it either.
Sure, Id' like everyone in the USA to buy from me, I'd like to be the biggest dealer in the country. What dealer wouldn't? Yes, sometimes I get a bit concerned when a company like Woodcraft or Rockler start selling the tools, (and honestly a bit of "where were they 5 years ago"?  has passed my mind ...and my lips) but there is  a saying "a high tide lifts all boats" and I guess that's true too, at least I hope it holds true as I would like to continue to be a dealer and not lose sales/customers.
If I may say so, I don't think Adept did anything wrong at all, except maybe not explain themselves as well as they could have.

Bob

 

[Fred West]

Bob, Really well said and thank you for this and your extraordinary service. Fred

 

[Qwas]

I agree, well said Bob. We all have competitors and new competitors coming around the corner. You can spend all your time worrying about present/future competitors or you can just go and get the job done. Bob has done such an excellent job with Festool and has set such a high standard, how would YOU compete against Bob?

As for Adept, and Kevin, I too received the flyer. I was concerned since I never heard of Adept but the flyer made it appear that they ARE Festool. I visited the website but only saw Festool and nothing else. That scared me. I didn't even sign up for the free trip. I had to question who Adept was, where did they come from (besides out of nowhere), what is their history, what experience do they have, what will they do for me, and (unfortunately) what scam might they be running.

The web site answered none of this. Sure you have Privacy Statement that promises not to sell our data but so have many other websites that seem to release our names anyway.

Nothing against Adept, especially if it is a start-up operation. It was marketing concept that could work but I think with this group it was a flop. You might want to rethink some of the concept and fine tune. It is interesting that everyone "bought into" the idea you are Festool, without ever saying it.

 

[Woodenfish]

I'm more than a little miffed with Adept Tools too. 

I never received the advertisement you all got and now feel slighted?

Damn them! ;D

 

[greg mann]

Just to clarify a point. At no time did I indicate Adept should not become part of the FOG community. I have never criticized any ISA for doing so and Bob certainly knows that I don't consider this his personal domain. Indeed, I would have been completely comfortable with that type of business approach as there are, I am sure, folks who view the goings on here that might want to buy from Adept purely on geographical reason. No problem. It seems that some have interpreted my comments in a manner that I somehow believe Adept has no business in the Festool business. Not at all. I was criticizing the aquisition of names and addresses of established users and the attempt to lure them away from their present ISAs, especially by crafting the brochure to look like a Festool document. To me, this is a hit and run type tactic and anathema to Festool's overall business model. I am encouraging Adept to embrace the original Festool business model of packaging service and expertise with every tool they sell.

Bob, I appreciate your comments about my ISA and his unfortunate situation vis-a-vis Rockler. I am, however, an optimist and do see a silver lining in it. It seems a few weeks ago a fellow bought a Linear Sander from Rockler. Only problem was they had virtually no paper for it and he was a little miffed. So Rockler calls my guy and he has virtually every grit and type available. They were astonished and so was the customer. A two mile trip down the road and he is happy and my guy now has an opportunity to win on service and expertise, which is as it should be. I expect this may happen far more often as time goes on.

 

[srmumz]

My only concern is the "no sales tax".....

If a representative from our wonderful State of New York was to get their hands on one of these fliers, Adept would be reminded that is against New York state law for any resident not to pay sales tax on any item purchased from a computer or telephone in the State of New York and shipped to an address in the State of New York. Adept is not required to collect...though I may be wrong....but the consumer is required to pay it.

Other than that I would love to take a trip to Germany!  ;D

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Excellent service together with a quality and complete product line will always be a winner.  Few, if any bigger box operations can match that.

Dave R.

 

[Ned]

...I put mine in the can too after signing up for the contest, so I expect to get more adverts from them. I don't mind that but I would like to know where they got my address.

Just what I did, although I promise to review my decision if I win the trip. 

I don't understand why people thought the mailing misleading.  I never for a moment thought that Adept was the same as Festool.

Worst thing I can say about Adept:  It's sending one person to Germany.  There may be enough frequent flyer miles around our house to cover my wife, but some winners would probably have to shell out for their better half's airfare.

For what it's worth, Adept says they wouldn't pass on our info, "We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information....This policy was last modified on August 6, 2003." So, it's odd that they got someone else to do what they wouldn't.

Nah.  As long as the mailing list supplier was conforming to their own Privacy Policy, I don't see any problem.

 

[Dave Rudy]

I'm more than a little miffed with Adept Tools too. 

I never received the advertisement you all got and now feel slighted?

Damn them! ;D

Send me a SASE and I'll send you mine. 

 

[jbsawdust]

Hi ya'll, and thank you for the great forum, Matthew! I've spent some time looking around and am very impressed with the depth of knowledge represented here. I only hope I will be able to add something to the mix! In reading this thread, I was compelled to make my first post. I am a Woodcraft store manager, have been an ISA since 2003, and was one of the first "stocking dealers". Bob, I'm glad to hear you're doing well as a dealer, but I felt a bit slighted by one line in your post. We've been representing Festool to the best of our ability for 4 years now, maybe not 5 years, but we took on the Festool line long before Woodcraft corporate. My only point is that some of us have been with Festool for a long time, have a lot invested in it, and hope to continue.

 

[Matthew Schenker]

...I am a Woodcraft store manager, have been an ISA since 2003, and was one of the first "stocking dealers"...

Welcome to the forum.
You should update your profile to specify yourself as a dealer (include your Web site).  Then I'll change the look of your name so you appear in Festool green!
Matthew

 

[brandon.nickel]

When I started with my Festool habit in 2005, I made my initial order directly from Festool.  Then I became acquainted with my local Woodcraft who also carried Festool.  I've since moved and am near a different Woodcraft.  At both of these stores, the employees have zero knowledge of the tools, their usefulness, their uniqueness, or their value.  In fact, most of the time they seem to be somewhat miffed by the fact that these things that don't sell too well take up so much space in the store.  I find myself explaining the tools to other customers, so it's not a lack of interest on the customers' part.  Because of this, I do not buy Festool from Woodcraft unless I'm out of paper or vacuum bags in the middle of a project.  I'd rather place an order with Bob, McFeelys or Festool USA. 

My DTS400 was ordered from Bob late Wed evening and showed up this afternoon.  Speed like that is hard to argue with.  I also ordered a Sortainer package from McFeely's because they added value to the proposition.

My local Woodcraft has no fewer than 10 spare Sys/Sortainers stacked up next to their display and I suspect there will be the same number sitting there the next time I go in.  If you can't make a commitment to the line and educate yourself in order to assist the customer, why bother?