Perfect example of passing the buck

Customer No Service
1

I love Stihl products and was looking into replacing my old mower with a battery powered mower of theirs. All 3 dealers in my town said they can’t get the product…no biggie, I understand we’re dealing with supply chain issues & it might take months, maybe more. Googling dealers in & around my state yielded none. Thought I could write Stihl to ask for a timeline or anything they could tell me as to when more might be available.

1>I tried asking via their Facebook page and got a canned reply redirecting me to check with my local dealers
2>So I tried asking via Facebook Messenger-got a canned reply of (what I assumed to be a corporate) phone # and an email link.
3>So I tried the above phone number which only got me some random dealer in another state…WTH?
4>So I tried the above email link & got this reply “Thank you for contacting STIHL customer service. Regarding your inquiry, unfortunately, product availability is not at our disposal, here at STIHL Customer Service. We therefore recommend that you contact your local STIHL dealers for information on availability, as you have mentioned.” OMG…no suggestions, no forwarding to anyone to help, just a canned response!

This is Comcast-level customer no-service. THIS is how you lose a loyal customer.

2

The bottom line: nobody knows when that mower will be available. At least they did not pick a date out of the air and lie to you.

3

An honest reply would have been, “We have no idea.”

4

Tesla using up all the battery metals.

5

That’s been my experience contacting any company electronically about anything. Usually if I call, I can get a useful response, so I don’t even bother with the other options. Sounds like that wasn’t helpful either though.

6

A little update…gave up the chase and began searching for a new (gas powered) mower until stumbling on a Facebook posting for this elusive mower used only an hour’s drive away as part of an estate sale. The thing looked almost new and they were only asking about half price of new. I convinced my wife about the quick purchase by saying if the thing disappointed us we could resell it ourselves for about the same or more. I consider this a Clark approved outcome lol.