FELCO pledges to swap fake pruners with genuine – for free

Swiss garden tool company FELCO has said it will offer genuine pruners to an estimated 3,000 customers who inadvertently bought counterfeits.

The reputation-saving exercise – being operated via a new www.realFELCO.com website – is targeting customers who bought low-quality fakes via online retailers like Amazon, says the company, which also explains how to distinguish legitimate pruners (also known as secateurs) from the knock-offs.

“A counterfeit FELCO can look like the real thing but does not provide the quality and reliability of a real FELCO tool,” says the manufacturer.

“If you tried to invest in a FELCO, you deserve the real thing and we don’t want you to be disappointed,” it continues. “Getting you a real FELCO is just part of how we serve our customers and earn their loyalty.”

The company’s largesse means duped purchasers won’t even have to pay shipping to get their tool, but the offer isn’t being extended to counterfeits that mimic its products but don’t infringe FELCO branding.

Speaking to US horticulture magazine Nursery Management, FELCO’s chef commercial officer Stephan Kopietzki said that after hearing from long-time customers about counterfeits last year “we immediately reached out to Amazon to attempt to resolve the issue but have been unable to settle it satisfactorily.”

“Counterfeit tools continue to be sold on Amazon…and some customers have returned counterfeits only to receive a replacement counterfeit product from Amazon,” he asserted. “That just doesn’t live up to our customer expectations.”