Hello All,
Long time reader, first time poster. I wanted to warn everyone of the underhanded tactics Farmertec utilizes. I like most other people, could not afford a big saw for the little work i was planning on using, and could not even afford a used big saw that i could find. So i was lured to the Clone saw, especially the G395XP. I watched video after video, read post after post, and review after review. I was sold, yeah, i knew it wasn't a pro saw but for the little milling work i planned to do, it would be perfect, or so i thought. (Learn more about the desparity between good and bad reviews later.)
I was drawn to their website, but needed the saw quickly, and with their insane shipping prices, it was almost a wash to buy it on Ebay or Amazon with ultra fast ship times. So I made my purchase, and counted the days until my beautiful new toy arrived. The day it finally arrived, the package was damaged, and it cracked a little bit of the recoil cover, but hey i bought a new saw, I will contact them about that. The next day off, i took the time to put everything together, look for debris in the intake, check it out with a fine tooth comb. The oiler immediately started to leak, i think i got it fixed, but who knows. Then i noticed as many stated, the tensioner wasn't right, so i unthreaded the tensioner, and as i suspected, it was cross threaded, once i fixed it, seemed to work good. I fueld that bad boy up, turned the kill switch on, put the choke on and then began the 3 hours of non stop pulling (Off an on as its a big saw and it was kicking my butt). I pulled the plug it was getting fuel, but during the day it was hard to check for spark, but thought i felt a zap when i held on to it (Old farm trick), but probably the reason i feel these things still as it caused nerve damage. I played around with the plug cap, and noticed it seemed loose, and the wire inside didn't seem right, so i pulled it apart and put it back together right. I also noticed the plug was a cheap piece of crap so i bought a new plug, and the next day i would for sure get it running. After about an hour, i was able to get the beast to roar to life, i was so excited, but I knew not to touch it, so i lightly feathered the throttle and got her nice and warm before i shut her down to cool. I had run out of time that day, so i would go back the next day and do a couple of thermal cycles to break her in some. The next day, i pulled for hours again, it appeared to be getting spark, but maybe it was intermittent. I was finally able to get it to run and couldn't resist, ran over to a stack of logs and lightly cut through a couple, man this thing was a beast, but 5 minutes in, it stalled, never to fire again.
I spent days looking everything over, but to no avail. I took the saw to my buddies, we spent hours looking everything over, he thought maybe it had a faulty kill switch, and could see the carb was dumping way too much fuel, but other then that we could not find anything wrong. A few weeks later, i took the saw to a friend who used to be a small engine technician. He immediately started pulling parts off the saw, checking everything. He told me the magneto was junk, the kill switch was probably bad as it didn't have a definitive break when he actuated it, the carb was shot, and upon inspection, stated the cylinder had too much wear for only being run 10-15 minutes tops. He stated back in the old days, saw manufacturers would take defective saws back, fix them up (Aka clean them), and resell as new. He said that what had probably happened is the magneto started out good, then crapped out on the original owner, went back they were able to get it to fire, cleaned it and resold it, and it worked intermittently for a short time before FAIL.
So now i have a NEW? saw with a bad cylinder, bad piston, bad kill switch, bad magneto, defective chain adjuster, defective chain brake (Oh yeah, forgot about that one, im not a little guy and can barely get this thing to release), a possibly bad oiler (Never got to really test it), and a damage recoil. I had already been contacting Hutzl regarding this saw and getting a warranty replacement, they kept saying they would send me the parts, and asking me inane questions, requesting odd photos, telling me to pull parts off, take videos, etc. etc. I kept requesting a replacement saw as i no longer trusted this one, had already dumped large amounts of time into the saw, spent some of my money on it, and was informed the inside was damage, i mean what else could be wrong down the road. Then it all quit, no responses, i went to click on something else in their listings and it told me i was not an authorized purchaser or somethign to that regard, they had blocked me. I tried to place a bad reveiw, i couldn't do that either. I contacted Ebay customer service, but they would do nothing as because of their underhanded tactics, they had drawn me out long enough to get past the Ebay guarantee.
I then started to contact the parent company, Farmertec in China. Same tactics, they would offer parts, i would say no i want a new saw or a refund, then they would block me. Several months, and 3 or 4 different email accounts, and i am done, every account is blocked, they won't even answer me in their little chat on the website anymore.
So a year an a half later, i am out my money, still have a saw that doesn't run, they wouldn't send me a single part, a replacement, or a refund. Ebay was absolutely no help even though they made me feel they were trying, their advice has been to contact outside help sources. FTC, BBB, etc. but none of these agencies have any authority to make a resolution. And i can't even write a review on Ebay to warn people about their saws.
So I post this as a warning to all who are contemplating purchasing a Chinese saw, be very very careful. Have all of your ducks in a row, test that thing extensively as soon as you get it so you don't avoid the Ebay or Amazon safety net. And if you do not, at least do what i read about a few weeks ago, purchase the Allstate warranty on Ebay or Amazon for your saw, its only i htink $18 for 2 years. At least form what i read on there, they are great about replacing the defective items.
Good luck,
Joe
Sorry about the long window response, but i wanted to show everyone that i did my due diligence trying to resolve this through the proper channels, but what i learned is the warranty is as Tommy boy described it in the movie, a piece of **** in box labeled with a warranty because the word warranty makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. And don't believe all the good reviews you see on Ebay, because before people can post a negative review, they block them so the numbers are very skewed in their favor.
Still cutting.. I'm only on my second chain on that one, so...still testing.. I bet those real zenoahs are a very, very nice saw.
