DeVilbiss advising customers to look out for counterfeit guns

Toronto, Ontario — February 22, 2018 — In a recent social media post from Carlisle Fluid Technologies, the abundance of counterfeit DeVilbiss paint guns was revealed. The company warned consumers to ensure they are purchasing their guns from a verified DeVilbiss retailer, otherwise risking receiving a lower quality knock-off. 

 

“We have seen counterfeit DeVilbiss spray guns in the marketplace for quite some time now; however in the last 2 to 3 years there has been a significant increase in the number of companies producing fakes,” says Tarek Husain, marketing manager, DeVilbiss. “These companies have also ‘upped the ante’ and started using more aggressive sales tactics by offering our authorized distributors the counterfeits as well. There has also been a sizable rise in postings on eBay and Alibaba.”

 

Husain commented on the company’s legal procedures for dealing with the fakes: “Naturally we are pursuing the appropriate legal procedures to close these companies down. We have successfully closed one facility and fined another company $157,000, and we take down the online postings once we become aware of them. We are also tapping in to our network of many loyal customers around the world, using the power of social media to spread the word, raising awareness of the fakes and encouraging customers not to buy them.” 

 

In Carlisle’s post the company lists a number of performance flaws the fake guns are known for, including contamination inside the gun, oil in the paint-fluid passages, misalignment of the fluid tip and needle, defective spray patterns, poor atomisation, loose, faulty and missing components, no guarantee of warranty or safety compliance and holes in the gun body. 

 

“Obviously from our standpoint, it’s incredibly frustrating to see these very poor-quality, substandard products trading off the back of 130 years of research and development in atomisation and precision engineering. The biggest insult, though, is seeing innocent sprayers who think they are purchasing the genuine article experience problems while making a repair. Having to repeat a repair job is not only an inconvenience but a heavy liability to profits and customer experience, as repeat work delays a customer’s vehicle leaving the repair shop,” Husain told Collision Repair magazine. 

 

The company has asked its customers to advise them of any dupes they come across and to spread the word so others can avoid making the same mistake. Husain concluded in saying, “It’s not only DeVilbiss that has this problem. Although we have a healthy rivalry, our nearest competitors also face the same concerns. Thus, we stand united regarding this issue and are all keen to put an end to fake spray guns on the market globally.”