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There is a Crack in Hafele’s Festool Monopoly in Canada

Frank Pellow

Frank Pellow

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2,332
Location
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
Moderators, please move this thread if I put it in the wrong place.

As many of you know, Hafele has had a monopoly in the sales of Festool in Canada for the last two or three years. :( Many people have expressed dissatisfaction concerning Hafele’s lack of knowledge and support of Festool.

Now there is a crack in that monopoly. :) :) :) A start-up company in British Columbia has been given permission to import Festool from the USA into Canada and to sell the tools. The price being charged is US price plus GST (but not PST if you live outside BC). There is also free shipping on all orders over $250. All tools have a three year warranty honoured by Festool USA.

Dan Clermont owns this company –Clermont’s Ultimate Tool Supply Inc. He definitely knows a lot about the Festool product line. I have placed two orders with him and have returned one item and he has been very responsive.
The email for the company is dan@ultimatetools.ca and Dan is in the process of building a web site at www.ultimatetools.ca

Please contact me with any questions you might have about Dan’s service and, for those in the Toronto area, I have many Festool tools and would be happy to demonstrate them for you in my shop. I am not connected with Dan’s business; rather I am a happy customer grateful to him for persevering and ultimately overcoming the Hafele stranglehold.
 
Thank you Frank
I've been curious about the Festool line for awhile and wondered whether they were worth all the buzz:)
Stu gave me a mini demo in his shop a few weeks ago, so now I'm impressed.
The sanding/dust collection options are especially interesting after reading your other thread on the cottage exterior work. There'd be no lead in that 150+ year old paint on my house would there?
All the best
Peter
 
Having a monopoly isn't good. Can you send them to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200? Or make them live in the slums of St. James Place.
 
This is good news; at the very least it might make Hafele do their job better. Although the actual *people* I've spoken with there are pleasant and helpful their website is carefully designed to put you off having any dealings with them (try even finding Festool stuff) and their 'open an account before we'll talk to you' business model is stupid beyond belief.

Of course, the ultimatetools.ca website isn't exactly inspiring yet but let's give the guy a chance. There *are* a few well done websites around despite the concerted efforts of the world's dedicated website mis-designers. Of course, I can't actually think of a good example now I've put myself on the spot...
 
Thanks for the intro Frank!!

I must apologize as this is my first post here and I am gonna have to snoop around and contribute where it is appropriate.

You are right about the website. Not very inspiring as of yet. It has been a very busy month and I've had allot on my plate just trying to get product ordered, received and shipped out.

In the not to distant future I'll start to clean up the website but don't expect it to go e-commerce anytime too soon as it is more important to just have some useful content up on the site first.

Thanks
Dan Clermont
 
Dan, I'd suggest that you add a link to the US felder site along with an explanation of what info you'd need (part number, delivery address, whatever) to be able to order and deliver it and a 'mail me' button. That way you can at least make it as simple as possible for us to order from you with minimal website fiddling. Help us spend our money :)
 
tim Rowledge said:
Dan, I'd suggest that you add a link to the US felder site along with an explanation of what info you'd need (part number, delivery address, whatever) to be able to order and deliver it and a 'mail me' button. That way you can at least make it as simple as possible for us to order from you with minimal website fiddling. Help us spend our money :)
Click to expand...

Hi Tim

I don't think Chris Knudson from Felder in Naniamo would be too appreciative of me selling Felder saws and accessories although I've offered to demo my Hammer Planer / Jointer for him if he ever has people in Vancouver who would want to see such a machine

I need to get some professional help with website design ( I am willing to pay somebody).

For now, I'll gladly send people catalogs to help spend their money!
 
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