Stihl GB Avis 

Virtually new battery hedgetrimmer stopped working. Apparently, I have to pay MY money to take it for 'assessment' to their NEAREST dealer, who is more than 40 minutes drive away. I then have to leave it there whilst they 'assess' it for warranty. Then wait for a reply. Then another visit to collect it. If it's NOT accepted for warranty, their hourly charges are so high that it would not be worth repairing. This product is an example of what has gone wrong with German companies. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!

Update 21 Jan. The special oil they sent me had NO EFFECT. This company does not deserve to be in business. They make demands, based on the internal processes THEY have decided to introduce. They refuse to take responsibility for the failure of THEIR product and try to palm off their failures onto anyone but themselves. DO NOT BUY STIHL PRODUCTS. They are badly designed, badly manufactured and they have NO CUSTOMER SERVICE!

Oh well, here we go
Leaf blower faulty
Hedge trimmer faulty
Strimmer faulty
Chainsaw faulty

I don’t need to go into detail, but all of the above I just wished I never purchased all for private use nothing heavy
Very poor quality
We all make mistakes and this one was mine.
Atrocious products

been badly let down. waiting for batteries from battery promotion in may , had money returned by dealer and now won’t be getting free battery . promotion was a con . disgusting behaviour by stihl uk .

Purchased my 1st Cordless Stihl (also first purchase of stihl equipment) the stihl HLA86 telescopic hedge trimmer, being a gardener it looked very practical for bigger hedges. Proved to be practical until 12 weeks in, it failed, 08th Aug, bearings and gear assembly plate, after being told parts were on back order and arrival date being moved 3 times, I had to source the parts myself from another stihl dealer in the UK. Stihl customer service is well below expectations, 2 weeks ago complaint logged, yet still no reply. Local dealer has now fixed equipment using parts that I sourced. So, poor quality product, poor after sales and poor customer services. Just hoping it lasts well and beyond the 2 year warranty. Will stick with Echo and put this one in the shed for domestic use.

In reply to Sthil: Thank you for your reply , however 2 weeks late getting back to me, seems to be a pattern. Sourced parts through another dealer and made arrangements myself. Thanks for......um, nothing I suppose.

Stihl refused to replace the strimmer head on my FSA86 strimmer. Absolutely terrible design, used a handful of times and broke. I ordered a Stihl replacement head and it did the same thing! Raised the issue with Stihl and they didn’t want to know. The previous model - FSA 85 was a much better tool.
I’ve now gone to EGO for my battery garden tools. They may not have the big name yet but they are miles ahead in design and most importantly AFTERSALES CARE.

I bought a hedge trimmer Hla66 it now stops working after 15mins, I’ve used it for a total of about 8hrs from new, as I bought it under a garden company name I was told it’s 2months out of 12month warranty , I bought it in July 2024 £300 cutter now useless unless I pay to get it fixed myself , so disappointed ,update stihl confirm I have a 2year warranty so hopefully my local dealer will get it fixed

The OLDER MODEL of the RM248 Grasscatcher is either designed so terribly that the designer should be flayed and boiled or it's designed with such little consideration for longevity and efficacy that the designer needs to be flayed and boiled. Appalling design. It just pops out on anything other than a tennis lawn. Flayed and boiled, you get my point 🌄 I hope they've fixed it in the new version.

After Stihl getting involved they have replaced faulty robotic mower.

Purchased a Stilh 130 PLUS pressure washer as my old Nilfisk was playing up. Now the Stilh may be more expensive but I have found it to be good value for money. Features are great and the rubber high pressure hose is brilliant (no more fighting kinks) and is connected directly into the machine so really easy to rewind. Powerful spray and great storage for attachment. Really pleased with this machine.

Ok,just so stihl understand my issue properly!!!had lawnmower for 9 weeks/wheel bar(metal bar on side of wheels) lift came off/repaired after 3 weeks/happened again now in with grasshoppers again to see what they will do..£450 for a faulty machine that is not fit for purpose/the bar came totally off making the machine unusable..so to clarify mower cannot move along the ground as the wheels and metal bar are unplaced..now my lawn is flat and no hills or rough areas..so this makes the product faulty???,as all I did was stabilised as its a self propelled and the bar comes off..grasshoppers marks tey very accommodating and have for a second time mended the mower..this is why i am advising people to be careful buying a Stihl..this really should of been replaced after just 10 weeks/but im not in this for refunds or new mowers every month,i just want what I purchased to work!thankyou grasshoppers of marks tey..but will not be buying a stihl again..inconvenience!!

Concerned that maybe not buying genuine blades for
Some suppliers have stihl box with all details of contents others supply stihl blank details boxes and write by hand main details both cannot be right
FURTHER THE LATTER SAY THEY BUY IN BULK CUT TO SIZE

ARE BOTH RIGHT FOR CUSTOMERS IE

GENUINE

Stihl Hla66. As a gardener I expect some wear and tear on tools but this product is absolutely terrible. In the first year I had it the hedge cutter spent about 3 months in the workshop being constantly repaired. (Luckily it was still under warranty) Machine has recently stopped working yet again. Build quality is so poor, both gearbox housing cases have broken, one of self tapping screws was always loose and never secured the cover from the moment it arrived. I take good care of the machine but it is simply not sturdy enough. Going to cut my losses and purchase a machine from another company.

In my experience and opinion there’s one serious flaw in this otherwise good tool. The problem is the scabbard. It’s not a full and safe cover for the blade; it’s a semi rigid sleeve with a split down its length. It took the dealer and I some time to get it off because it fitted so tightly but then we discovered the sleeve is narrower than the blade tip protector so we couldn’t slide it back on. We could only do so by prising the edges of the split apart but in doing so the blade sliced the top of my middle finger leaving me with a deep cut which bled freely.
The dealers staff were excellent. They helped me staunch the flow of blood and bandaged my finger so thank you to them but not to Stihl for producing such a dangerous cover which failed to do its job.
I have two other Stihl trimmers/cutters which have very good complete rigid scabbards so I fear there’s some short sighted cost cutting behind the inadequate protection on the HSA 40. In my view Stihl must go back to these old style scabbards to avoid more injuries like mine, or worse.

I'm going to be fair and give stihl 3 stars overall I've owned many stihl kombi systems over the years at first I was very impressed with the longevity of them but the last few I've had issues with them just not lasting as long struggling to be a reliable work tool but I'm reasonably happy with them however on the other hand there's the stihl 448 petrol version sorry but I'm not impressed I had the viking version 5 years wow 5 years without a problem until it sprung a oil leak I was so impressed I dare not choose another brand so I thought... last February I replaced it for the 448 stihl version but after just over a year using it it randomly jumps cutting hights this is so bad it has happened on some very high end lawns that now have gouging in them coursed by this problem anyway I know another gardening firm that use the 448 exclusively and when I asked them if they are having any problems with them the first words out there mouth was it slipping cutting hights and they have to replace them every couple of months because of this, my engines are always good on these mowers and it's a terrible WAST to replace a machine that would usually still have many years of use left in it and yes these mowers collect wet grass far better than any comparable mower on the market in this price range so stihl please put this right just a basic cutting hight selection that is reliable would fix this design floor until then I'm switching to atessia

Buyer beware!!!!!

We decided to take the plunge from petrol to battery garden machinery, and Charlies was our first choice because we trusted them, and the 3 year warranty they supplied with their Stihl machines.

After buying the mower, we then decided to buy the HLA 56 hedge trimmer last August. When it started making an unhealthy noise a couple of months ago, we took it back to Charlies, confident that they would get the issue sorted under the warranty.

How wrong we were. They informed us that they were sending it away to have it looked at, and there was a £35 workshop charge that we had to agree to pay, even though it was under warranty. We weren't happy about that, but didn't have a choice if we wanted it repaired.

We had a phone call from the workshop in Welshpool a few days ago, informing us that one of the cog teeth had broken and it wasn't covered under the warranty. They wanted to charge us over £200 for a new cog. I declined the offer as it's not much less buying a brand new machine.

The trimmer was only used to cut the same hedges that have been cut for years with cheaper brand machines, with no issues whatsoever. We buy a supposedly better brand, and this happens. Confusing is an understatement.

We have just collected our trimmer from the store, and are very disappointed with the condition of it. It was filthy and badly scratched, nowhere near the well looked after condition we dropped it off in.

The staff member in Charlies Carmarthen was very apologetic, but it's not his fault.
However, we feel very disillusioned with Charlies and Stihl after this experience. It's time to look elsewhere.

I bought a Stihl RME235 lawn mower and it's terrible. Grass cuttings come out of the side which means I need to sweep up the patio after each mow and on the other side where there is decorative bark, some of the cuttings have rooted. Emailed customer service who told me to take it back to the dealer I bought it from. They can't find anything wrong so it must be a design fault. Never had this issue before with previous, non-Stihl lawn mowers. It's still under warranty but doesn't look as if there is any solution so extra work for me, or I swallow the loss which I can ill afford to do.

Buyer Beware: My Stihl blower started malfunctioning shortly after only 10 hours of use failing to start. While the product initially seemed good, the lack of upfront diagnosis from authorized dealers and limited support from Stihl customer service made diagnosis and repairs inconveniently very expensive and time-consuming.

Recently bought a stihl SE 33 vacuum cleaner because of its good online reviews. The people who used this thing must have done so for one minute only. The pipe is to short, i,m only 5" 7" but i have to bend over quite a bit to use it and soon get a bad back from doing so, it needs to be 6 inches longer. There is no small brush attachment for the stairs, had to adapt one from and old machine. It is very difficult to push along a carpet but i knew this would be the case. It is quite light and powerful enough for our carpets. Comes with only one bag and replacements are very expensive.

We have two Stihl IMows both MI 632P models. One has had a replacement battery kit fitted and the other one also now needs a new battery replacement kit. The problem is that Stihl do not have a ready supply of these parts in the UK and this means that I will have to wait at least 3 weeks for a replacement. I phoned the UK customer care team this afternoon and spoke to a very nice man in Greece ( yes Greece) but unfortunately he was unable to access any stock levels in the UK. You can only imagine how frustrating this is becoming.
Also for some strange reason Stihl will only supply spare parts to dealerships and not members of the public who are the ones who are actually using and buying there products.
Consequently I am now looking at other makes of Robotic mower and I am sure that I will find one that actually cares about customer service unlike Stihl.

If you are thinking of buying into the Stihl battery range of garden products (as you are under the impression that they are a premium product that will last), I urge you to consider a different brand.
Having purchased a range of products, all but one have failed and have had to be replaced (at my expense) or repaired (also at my own expense).
My favourite is the strimmer which was - and I kid you not - damaged by grass cuttings (having only been used a handful of times!). Apparently this is normal and so not covered under the warranty.
While the local Stihl repairer has been helpful, Stihl’s own customer service have shown no interest.
Save your money, look for an alternative brand!