Lack Luster After Sales Service
The salesperson was knowledgeable and friendly, but unfortunately that’s where the good experience ended. I bought a smaller Stihl chainsaw because my larger felling saw is heavy, and I wanted something lightweight for limbing. They sold me the floor model and spent about 15 minutes registering the “warranty” and testing the saw. That registration has also resulted in 1–2 Stihl marketing emails a day. About a week later, I used the saw for roughly an hour. The chain started randomly losing traction while cutting limbs and seemed to alternate between being tight and excessively loose. I loosened the bar/chain cover to inspect it, and when I removed the cover, a small metal pin fell out. The pin appeared to connect the bar to the PLASTIC chain tensioner. I guess making this critical part out of plastic saved a few grams of weight. I sent the saw back to the store with my son to see if they could fix it. They called and told me it would NOT be covered under warranty because the plastic piece holding the metal pin had most likely broken due to “misuse.” No amount of discussion could convince them that a nearly new saw—with about an hour of use, which they had sold as a floor model—might simply have a defective part. Instead, they told me I would have to buy the replacement part. I called Stihl directly. Stihl apparently disagreed with their assessment and sent me the replacement part at no charge. They were nice and helpful when making the sale, but when it came time to stand behind the product they sold me, the experience was completely different. I’ll make the trip across town or go to Northern Tool from now on rather than deal with this again.
By Michael H.