Stihl GB Reviews 

I bought a Stihl strimmer purely on the strength of the company reputation.
There is no problem with the motor and body, but the new strimmer head and spool are a disaster.
The strimmer came with a C5 Autocut head.
It worked well but was a so and so to fit new line to it.
The new C6 head is completely the opposite - easy to refill with line, once you've negotiated the excruciating instructions and watched the Stihl (USA) YouTube video.
Now, the cutting head lasts a few minutes on grass and wild flowers, before it stops cutting.
Every time, there is no line showing.
Either it has rewound itself, or the Stihl genuine line isn't up to the job.
The unhelpful response from Stihl UK was to go back to the distributor and let them have a look at it.
Drive 26 miles in the middle of a job, for what?
A solution to the problem?
I doubt it.
There have been reports from other users of the same problem which Stihl needs to address.
Personally, I would not recommend anyone buying a strimmer from Stihl if it has this head fitted.
Another example of a company improving something that worked and now doesn't.
Poor customer service from the manufacturer who should be fixing this fault and a feeling that they don't believe you, aren't interested.
I expect if I were a local grass-cutting contractor in the market for a dozen strimmers, it might be different.
They certainly wouldn't put up with this sort of service.

I bought a new GHE 105 shredder, from Oakleys near Shrewsbury, it is supposed to gut a branch 35mm thick, it wouldn’t, its the worst shredder I have ever tried.
I have took it back to the retailer and he wouldn’t refund me, or give me proof that they have the machine back. We only bought it on July 6th and I took it back today on July 6th. I wouldn’t recommend the retailer or the product.

Stihl FSA 56 cordless strimmer.

Some of these tools have a adesign defect, whereby grass gets above the cutting head, which is impossible to clean as it requires the removal of the the head and on this model it’s a workshop job to do this.
The grass slowly builds up and causes resistance on the spindle which in turn causes the aluminium drive cog on the motor to strip the teeth from the plastic/nylon drive cog on the spindle.

Update: A big thank you to Dan at Stihl.

My machine has now been repaired with a modified motor assembly. After confirming that there had been other instances of this problem and a that the new FSA 56 has been modified mine was repaired and upgraded under warranty. It’s worth noting that due to the modifications any recent ones should now be ok.

I have therefore upgraded my rating to three stars. I have not gone for any higher yet as I want to see what the future holds. I don’t know how the motor assembly has been modified or if the modification has done the trick, my concerns are that I might have had more confidence if the head had also been modified to make it easily removable for cleaning.

It should not have been so difficult to get to this point but I am confident that stihl have taken something away from my experience and I thank them for doing so.

Absolutely excellent service could not give these a better score if I tried there was 100 I’ll give 100 I have to settle for five stars anyone thinking of buying any equipment to do with gardening or light building work look no further these guys and know what they’re doing

Had a petrol hedge trimmer RRP £279 that has never been right form purchase but has only dome 10 hours work. Now its useless and Stihl simply don't answer the phone - no doubt overwhelmed by complaints. Exactly the same with a £700 chainsaw. Have been going to Husqvarna for their professional petrol tools and been delighted with 100% reliability and good value for money. It does seem to me that Stihl put their efforts into promoting their tools as 'professional' ones and thus create an impressive brand but in reality, they have sacrificed quality and service. Their business model is to sell an over priced product and uses their marketing budget to gain new customers rather than maintain existing ones. I have had Stihl chainsaws for 40 years but no more. My Aldi petrol chainsaw has given me no problems, lots of use and was half the price of a Stihl equivalent. Well after an hour on hold, waiting to speak to Customer Relations Team, I have realized that it is pointless - Stihl just don't care when you have a problem because they know you won't ever use them again. Over priced junk.
UPDATE. The Customer Services Manager has failed to call back as promised and that is because I have given a negative Trust Pilot review. Doesn't really matter because Stihl were never going to help anyway. It has been confirmed that they do not operate a Good-will policy so if your tool packs up 1-day after warranty end, despite low use, Stihl say 'tough luck' which seems to be a common thread on this review site.
Update 2: Speaking to Stuart White, who it seems only called because of this review, but he was extremely evasive and refused to answer simply Yes or No questions. After 10 minutes he stated that good will is available after warranty. However he refused to answer yes or no to whether or not Stihl offer good will when its dealer has caused the damage to a tool during a warranty repair (that comes to light after warranty). It seems the answer is no and he has been asked to call back when he has a better understanding. He has said that Stihl do not offer phone assistance in these matters. He wants me to email the facts however, he has access to the warranty repair records and the information provided by a second authorised dealer who has confirmed the damage (the saw is beyond economical repair). So the answer must be that Stihl does not offer post-warranty good will in any circumstances that I can see.
Update 3; I have just spoken to customer services who have confirmed that Stihl offer no good will in any circumstances. So that's that.
Update 4; Apparently Stuart White is the manager and there is no one more senior in Customer Services and he now want me to tell him the whole thing in an email, however, Stihl have already failed to reeply by email, despite being told that they have sent me one, since they read Trust Pilot, I will explain here;
Chainsaw went in for a repair under warranty which they have a record of. The after warranty expired, it turned out that the repair had damaged the chainsaw beyond economical repair and this was confirmed by a second authorised dealer. Clearly the selling dealer is not going to refund a £700 saw so the question is does Stihl operate good-will in these circumstances and it seems the answer is NO. Be warned, Stihl will not support a customer when its authorised dealer fails. If I am wrong then there is nothing stopping Stihl responding to this post and explaining when they will be resolving this matter as good-will. I look forward to Stuart White public response to address this issue that he has forced to be addressed in a public forum.
Update 5: Apparently Stuart White is new in the job as Customer Services Manager however Claire, equally evasive seems to be saying that Stihl does not offer any good-will when its authorised repairer causes damage (carrying out a warranty repair) that can only be discovered after the warranty has expired. Stihl are quite capable of correcting that by way of a reply to this review and they are aware of this review.
I have emailed Kay Green, Managing Director to see if she will give me the courtesy of a reply.

Having gone onto this website, I see that there are a number of negative reviews regarding Stihl and it seems that they are unconcerned as they don't respond. I should have looked on Trustpilot before buying!

Anyway, I bought a Stihl RME 235 lawn mower and this has been in use for about 1 year. I got it out just over 4 weeks ago for the first mow of the season and after 2 minutes it stopped working. I took it to the dealer and 4 weeks later I still don't have the mower back. After being chased, the dealer said that the part was not in stock with Stihl. I chased Stihl and it transpires that they don't have the spare part in stock. They have suggested to the dealer that a spare part of another product should be tried.
I suggested to Stihl that they should replace the product. They have not responded to my suggestion.
The first rule of customer service is to always keep the customer informed without being chased. Neither Stihl or their dealer seem aware of this rule. I have only got this information as a result of my chasing them.

have tried to telephone stihl to enquire about a lawnmower. there are only 2 options neither appropriate but if you press option 2 (if you are a Stihl customer) then option 1 (if you have any questions about ordering from the Stihl online store) the line goes quiet then disconnects i have tried 3 times so i guess i will be buying a different product

I don’t normally make comment! But! Having just cut down a 12” dia. 60ft plus larch tree and cut the trunk into 1ft long rounds also the branches with my 4 year old MS 170 12” bar using 1.5 fills of fuel and chain oil k in 1 hour and 35 mins ! I feel the need to share this info ... remarkable ! Well done ! Stihl !!!

Reasonable service but a few questionable issues with product designs. Every tool has one obvious niggle that comes to light the first time you use it. Still compared to the alternatives I will stick with them till they sell themselves out and make DIY rubbish like Bosch does now.

Worse customer service ever! Their dealers don’t have nothing in stock and if you want to order something it takes 1 month to deliver! 👎👎👎

Big Brand = Awful Product & Customer Care!!

Why, well here's my pain......
After a bad reliability experience with a middle of the road Garden Multi/Kombi unit & attachments, I decided to throw money at a new Stihl Kombi unit & attachments as as it turned out stupidly assumed would be a premium built product & customer care support team in place.

WOW, what a mistake!!
After 53 weeks of owning the product being used for basic duties the Power Unit driveshaft snapped, but wasn't worried as it was Stihl & expected the unit to be exchanged or repaired at their expense, with a 52 week warranty in place. I was horribly wrong!!!

I was told to take it to an approved Stihl supplier for evaluation/repair which I did in Nov 19 and left it with them assuming everything would be OK. When I returned a week later I was handed a repair bill which was almost as much as I paid for my Power Unit & told that Stihl had refused to cover the costs for claimed over use!!!! I had no choice but to pay the money as they took a week to repair it & I needed the unit back. I then complained to Stihl who told me to send the snapped driveshaft to them for inspection, but conveniently their expensive approved supplier had lost my damaged part...Although they admitted that their Dealer should of retained parts for 3 months, but they hadn't, but again nothing from them.

I continued to persue my issue with Stihls customer service, but was constantly dismissive without any indication of a fair solution.

Then in July 2020, after the driveshaft was replaced & minimal use over the Winter & Covid lockdown it snapped again. Again, dismissed out of hand again !!

And then, unbelievably in Sept 2020 the Clutch failed & guess what?? Yep, dismissed out of hand.

Would you throw big money at Stihl? Easy - NO WAY

After my 20 year old Black and Decker shredder chewed up a bearing I decided to buy a new shredder. Given my super experience in past with Stihl petrol chainsaws I decided to spend out on an expensive garden shredder Stihl's GHE105. This device is more a triumph of design over functionality. Motor is great, quiet and powerful. If one can get the twigs/branches into the right spot it shreds reasonably efficiently for a while although, I found I had to push them down hard. After 2 off 2 hour sessions with soft material like Hollyhocks, Paeony, Thistles, Roses, and some green beech twigs the blade was already blunt. I decided to reverse the blade but could not and was still furious this was necessary after a few hours operation. Changed mind and used a flat diamond file I keep for ceramic blades to touch it up.
Results were good and make me believe the blade was blunt when fitted.
The main problem is the feed system especially the 4 leaf clover inlet. Thorns and leaves just foul up on the prongs of the cloverleaf.
If the blade is blunt a straight rigid semi soft stem (e.g. Hollyhock) is fine until you cannot apply any more downward pressure. For harder 10-15mm twigs they just sit in the feed area bouncing around like a demented ferret. They DO NOT automatically feed and the only way to try and push them further in is to use a larger stick to try and thrust it down (NOT SAFE). Hence you tend to end up with a large number of 40cm sticks. When shredding stems/twigs with leaves unless the blade is very sharp these just block up the cloverleaf and you have to push them in (again with a stick). The soft materials chute does not work well because the inlet is not vertical to encourage soft stems to push down on the flap so you have to use the cloverleaf. When you do push twigs into the cutting area you have to push them deep (with a stick) before the upright blades catch them, the twig's springiness holds the flap open so if a piece of wood moves to the upstream side of the cutting disc it launches itself out of the gap like an exocet missile. The book says stand to the side to operate the shredder but the soft feed slot is at the back so unless you are a contortionist you have to stand there. On the discharge side the chute against all particulate discharge design criteria actually narrows leading to bridging. When shredding Hollyhocks, green bamboo and other fibrous materials it blocks up and you have to tip the unit over and dig around with a stick to clear it. The back of the discharge shield is curved so you cannot get a box fully under the unit and the gap fills up with cuttings which you have to pick up by hand. Why they could not use a simple flexible heavy duty skirt I do not know.
In all the poor design of the feed system encourages unsafe working practices to get it to function but with the blade sharpened every 2-3 hours it self feeds long branches and very quickly chews through full sized material like butter. This machine is not safe to operate, and how it achieved the scores by professional reviewers I do not know!!

They advertised one for £29. I thought brilliant. They sent a chain and 2 handles. I asked where does the battery go. I had an invoice for GTA 26 battery Wood cutter. It would vost more to send it back. They offered £10 compensation. It is a con.

I really wish I'd read the reviews here before investing over £1000 on cordless chainsaw (MSA200C), hedge-cutter (HLA65) and grass-trimmer (FSA85) in addition to battery (AP200) and charger (AL300). After 4 years of light residential use (3-4 uses per year) the hedge-cutter and grass-trimmer have failed completely and the chainsaw is next to useless in terms of power and run-time.
Stihl's response: Failed products are out of warranty and you should have bought a bigger battery for that chainsaw.
Their main dealer sold us all the kit along with their recommended battery!
If I'd spent £300 in total I'd be disappointed. For a premium price German manufacturer the product reliability and customer service is completely unacceptable.

MS 291
Guaranty service book requires IMMEDIATE servis if chain oil lubrication is less than nearly 1 tank of oil to 1 tank of fuel.
In practice, the MS291 pumps half the amount of oil to tha chin. It pumps nearly 1 tank of oil to 2 tanks of fuel. This was tested on 4 tanks of fuel.

The chain heats up far more than, the hitachi tanaka ecv4501 (i have). I couldn't even touch the chin to check correct tension...

The chain heats up so much, it requires re tensioning after first few minutes of work.
It also requires slackening when finished, els when cooling overnight, it will contract and may cause damage crankshaft and bearings... The tanaka requires one tension setting before starting machine (i have one).

Tha chainsaw "bites" powerfully into wet wood, so you must "hold it back". This adds negatively to its comparatively (ecv4501) high weight...

The MS291 starts first go when hot and will do it time and again reliably.

I bought a stihl 248 lawnmower about 2 months ago and the front axle retainer clip snapped within the first 2 weeks , I then had to buy one online as stihl has had a big order for the part , I am now 2 months into having the machine and the back axle retainer clip has snapped and I have had to replace that , this is obviously a design fault and shouldn't be a plastic clip on a lawnmower priced at 300 pounds , I have spoke to stihl but I'm being told to go through the company that sold me the machine even thro it's a stihl lawnmower👎👎👎

I bought the very expensive HLA56 Hedgetrimmer in April 2018. In May 2019 it began to be faulty when the shaft was bent (as it had to be for use) - I thought (incorrectly) that they did the same as Bosch ie I call, Fedex come next day and it comes back in a week or so. Nooooo...I had to take it to Ernest Doe in Dartford who looked down their nose a bit at it (as it wasn't a tractor I think!) and took 10 weeks (Yes 10 weeks!) to repair it. It's been OK since then but after the excellence of Bosch, and considering that Stihl think themselves as the 'Rolls Royce' of garden machinery and certainly very very expensive, I was disappointed. The blades are getting a bit blunt and I'm dreading putting it in for sharpening...(June 2020)..

I bought the Stihl MS160C battery chainsaw a few months ago and I am amazed and delighted by it. It is really easy to use, well balanced and comfortable to hold. Also incredibly powerful and easily cuts large logs even up to the diameter of the 12" bar, and the battery lasts as long as I can go on - it gets very hot in the cut-proof trousers! NB You have to watch the chain oil dispenser and top up regularly. I have never used a chainsaw before, but the trees in our garden have grown beyond my handsaw, and this machine makes it so easy to thin them and cut them up for splitting for firewood. I would recommend this without hesitation.

During the first use of my Stihl HLA65 hedgetrimmer the machine jammed and the cutting head stopped moving. I brought the machine into the dealer who said that one of the teeth had bent and needed straightening. They said it was not covered under warranty and I had to pay £22 for a repair. I queried this with Stihl who said that blade wear was not covered by warranty and indeed I had to pay. I do not believe I misused the machine and so can only conclude that there is a design defect. I suspect that Stihl have tried to cut the weight and cost of the components and perhaps gone too far.