Dear Makita USA,
I emailed your communications manager about this yesterday, assuming it was something they’d want to talk about privately, but they never replied. Maybe this post will be a better way of reaching someone who cares?
In response to one of my recent Makita XGT posts, it seems that one of your (other) managers left a comment under a fake name, saying:
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personally i have noticed a big difference in performance of the XGT products even though the specs are the same in LXT. MAKITA has always been conservative, never to brag, about their products. My local store sold out of XGT and they are waiting for more to come in. Seems sales in market are good
This comment was found to be associated with an IP address owned by Makita USA’s corporate headquarters.
Reminder: It’s never okay for any tool brand managers, affiliates, or employees to promote their products using fake names or without proper disclosures.
If you really want to talk about the new XGT cordless power tool lineup on ToolGuyd, there are more effective approaches, such as press/media communications.
We should also talk about some of the other public comments your manager(s) left under fake names, including those involving competing brands.
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Dave
Don’t tell them how you caught them!
Stuart
The individual went to great lengths to cover their tracks. That’s not how I caught them, that’s just one piece of the incontrovertible evidence.
Skye A Cohen
You know this reminds me of a post a long time ago. In the comments section somone posted under a name that was something like “middle manager for bosch” or some association with a powertool company(actually i dont think it was bosch) and then a few comments later there was something like “middle manager for dewalt” or something making another comment.. I dont think the names were “middle manager” but i dont remember what they actually were. I just remember they were representing their self as being from one of the power tool companies and having multiple posters with names identical except for the tool company..
It was a bit odd, i assumed it was just a single person sort of trolling with the names but this does make me think of that
JD Santos
Makita is dead to me because I bought quite a bit of 18v gear right before this disaster launch and I have no idea what the future of my expensive battery platform is.
Tom
Same
Tom D
It’s honestly quite sad because a post that was openly a corporate posted saying effectively the same thing would be interesting and probably be grounds for some discussion – testing shows it’s similar? Actual stocking issues discussion?
But a half-hearted attempt like that is just embarrassing. I’m entirely on team red (children are even running around with “Nothing Butt Heavy Doody” onesies) but I’d never post something like that. It just sounds unnatural.
PJB
I read the other post earlier about the “planted” comments. Not surprised at all in the world we live in these days. I appreciate this blog/site/forum because of the “up to date” nature of the things you post. It also gives a really good balance of content, user input, internet awareness, and light-hearted banter. One of my favorite parts of the internet to be honest. I say… to quote my quasi… local gal… Haters gonna hate…. #ShakeItOff #RedTeam #SomeOrangeTeam #TinyBitOfYellowTeam #BlessTheTurguoIseTeam #T-Swizzle #NashvilleTN
DC
Why does anyone associated with Makita feel the need to do this?? They are typically well regarded but this behavior has the effect of diminishing that belief. I just don’t get it?
MM
This is speculation on my part, but I think Makita USA’s management is in a pinch. There was a lot of confusion with the XGT launch as Stuart addressed in earlier posts–marketing materials provided confusing, contradictory, information and when he asked for clarification Makita USA was silent on the topic. I’m sure that what’s happening here is that the head office in Japan is really who is calling the shots for the XGT launch. The launch didn’t go so well, Makita USA knows this and probably wants to change things to try to fix it, but due to how Japanese corporate culture works they have no say in the matter. So they’re kind of lashing out and trying every sort of marketing they can out of desperation to help the XGT launch, as these Makita USA managers will likely be blamed for the success or failure of the product line in the US by the head office even though they were handed the playbook *by* the head office.
Note I don’t have any insider information here, this is just my speculation based on what I’ve read here, and my experience working with Japanese corporations in the past. I suspect that Makita USA has very little decision-making ability and is essentially just a marketing and service arm of Makita Japan, and that even for those roles the script comes from corporate HQ in Japan.
Jim Felt
Completely agree. Weird to us and sad for them individually but that’s what they’ve signed up for.
And I know they’ve made some wonderfully unique tools in the past but this overall marketing debacle won’t enhance anything for them. Sad.
Rob
It’s Makita, not 1990’s Sega.
MM
The reason I wrote what I wrote is because if the XGT marketing had originated from Makita USA then it would have been no problem for them to address the confusion and the questions Stuart had after the virtual presentation he was shown. The fact that they were unable to address any of that confusion suggests that it is not Makita USA who is calling the shots–either the whole thing was orchestrated by the Japanese head office, or any sort of answers to questions or follow-up requires approval by the head office.
Stuart
Note: We believe this comment was left by a manager at Makita USA.
MM
@Stuart
Yes, I understand.
I think this manager is lashing out in desperation trying to salvage the botched XGT launch any way he can because he’s not getting any proper support (quite the opposite) from the head office in Japan.
Or perhaps it will be more clear if I stated this a different way: I think Makita Japan botched the XGT Launch in the US, and now Makita USA is doing whatever they can to salvage it.
Rob
I dunno, I get the impression they’re pretty good about allowing each region to develop it’s own identity. Understand that in Japan, Makita ain’t got no track saws, systainers, biscuit joiners, nor any 10-1/4” 40v framer jobbers. The catalogs are way different. The websites are way different. The packaging is way different.
I’m not sure what’s so botched about XGT? It’s been available for a year and half before it came to market in the US. It’s pretty clear to me where/how they’re positioning the product. They’re treating it as an “also” and it’s definitely not their primary focus. I’m not entirely convinced they even really wanted to bring it to the US. They’re all about LXT. Most importantly, according to Makita, North America accounts for a TINY fraction of their revenue.
MM
@Rob
When I was talking about the “Botched XGT Launch” I was referring to this debacle:
https://toolguyd.com/makita-xgt-unanswered-questions/
My theory is that it went something like this:
1) Japanese head office produces a marketing plan & materials for the XGT launch and provides them to the US office.
2) US side gives the presentation like they were instructed.
3) People such as Stuart found the information confusing at best and misleading at worst and ask Makita USA for clarification.
4) Makita USA *can’t* clarify because that’s the official script they are stuck with.
5) I assume it was somewhere around this point that the unnamed Mystery Manager started shilling XGT on forums such as this one out of desperation because he/she could clearly see that the official marketing strategy didn’t make sense.
Obviously they have different lines for different countries, the packaging is different, etc, but I’m still guessing that all of that is originating from the head office in Japan. If Makita USA had been the one developing the marketing strategy then I see no reason why they couldn’t have clarified what they meant when Stuart asked.
Kunkel
Makita should have followed Metabo w an 18/36V multivolt, preferably running 21700’s to get off on the right foot (rather than having early batteries be incapable w later equipment, like were obviously seeing w Milwaukee)…
I don’t see how entering late *and* with a small/inflexible line serves them.
MichaelHammer
Thanks for keeping it real!
Andy
Nice work Stuart. Not that you’re asking for this, but now Makita is officially dead to me.
Stuart
I can appreciate the sentiment, but that might be an overreaction.
Andy
Probably. But overreactive bad karma boy is kind of my thing. And I have a big mouth. End of the day, I get marketing, but this is just sleazy and unacceptable. If Makita had promptly disowned the behavior, I’d be fine. But their silence equals support in my view, and this just crosses a line.
Gordon
As Stuart said in the other post, Makita is not the only, just the latest to do this.
Places with less regulation like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook are particularly rife with shill or paid comments.
Lyle
Don’t forget Amazon too, but it looks like they are starting to take action. Ask Aukey
svtrader
Andy,
Who are you trying to kid? You’re a Dewalt fanboy through and through.
Paramount
I’m not sure what to make of all of it. I have a remodeling company that has pretty well invested deeply in makita cordless. We don’t have many problems with the tools (or customer service, when it was needed), so I don’t understand why makita corporate is trying to pull shanigans like this.
The product is good, as far as I can tell, so its difficult to understand the self-destructive behavior of Makita USA.
Maybe they’re acting Bosch-ish, being so fat and happy on global markets that they can give the US the old one- finger salute?
X lu
My corporate BS detector must be more finely tuned than I thought. I remember reading that comment or a very similar one, in fact rereading it a few times because it screamed delusional fanboi.
Makita had been getting roughed up a bit here which is what made the comment stand out. Great tools, poor batteries, irrelevant brand.
I appreciate you leading on this stuff. Honesty and integrity in media grows poorer by the day. I find it hard to believe that with all words on the internet, buyers know little more than they did in the magazine pay for print days. When I read your competitors and other reviews I always laugh that every product is 4.5 stars. Yes product quality is generally very good. But A will almost always tops B under a given set of conditions. Change the conditions and every product will win. My favorite is the tool competition with so many categories, every manufacturer gets a prize. The best drill for holes made at midnight on July 2nd under a full moon when July 2 falls on a Saturday in even numbered years goes to…. We’ll you get the point. Keep up the great work.
Jeremiah Ducate
I find it easier, yet time consuming, to find honest answers about tools and such these days. You can get direct access to end-user experiences from people around the world and across the country. Reviews and particularly video reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt and some skepticism but they are readily available.
This example gives no useful information so wouldnt have influenced me personally. It only claims people are buying them. I dont trust people for most things but I do trust some individual persons, particularly taken in perspective.
Warriorblaze
99.4% of online reviews are copy/pasted trash with affiliate links. Idiots broke the internet and turned an ocean of knowledge into a cesspool of shi… shill sites (yeah let’s just go with that), it’s disgusting.
Stuart
They’re always been there, it’s just that Google gave up on filtering them out.
Abner Diaz
Honestly, that is horribly shady on their part. I get that they want consumers to buy their tools, but that is the worst way posible, especially if they have gotten caught doing the same things various times. The truth of the matter is that most people will base their purchases on video reviews from recognized channels, or blog reviews from popular sites such as this one. Just a few random comments here and there wont really affect sales. And when they get caught doing something shady like this, it only backfires horribly. Thats why, unless i need a specialty tool that no other brand sells, Im not buying Makita again. Im going to stick with team red and team yellow. Its a shame, because i was considering buying an x-lock corded grinder, but if i have to, i will buy the bosch one. Bye bye makita
Stuart
There’s no reason to swear off Makita tools just because someone at Makita USA left a shill comment.
joseph
Stuart,
It’s not the original comment that is a problem. It’s the lack of response or remorse. That screams the lesson they’ve learned is ‘don’t get caught being deceitful’ not ‘don’t be deceitful.’
If they’ll lie about this I don’t really want to find out what else they’ll lie about or already have.
One of the biggest selling points in a company’s products for me is honesty about what I’m buying. It’s one of the biggest reasons I come to your site is you are very transparent. Imagine it came out that you had been raving about a product line and said you had purchased them but really it was sponsored. That would put in doubt every review you’d ever done. That’s how I feel about Makita right now.
Keep up the good work!
Jim Felt
Yes. To all of it. It’s just common sense. Rare as the concept might always be.
Andy
I also want to commend Stuart for giving them a chance to make things right. If it were me, I would have gone nuclear as soon as I identified this issue. You’re a better man then me, Stuart.
Dillon Corr
+1,000
Jeremiah Ducate
Totally agree!
I’m here because Stuart repeatedly shows himself to have integrity only seen in a minority of people and organizations in the public sphere do these days. This despite many systems being set-up to reward behavior otherwise.
A few on here claim otherwise and with the way things are I dont totally blame them, but I feel he objectively shines through and sets a good example of ethical behavior to be emulated.
duke5572
Ugh, I’m so disappointed. I’ve been a hardcore Makita guy for 25 years. Hate to see this kind of behavior on my most trusted tool blog.
John
Good looking out Stuart.
fred
Shameful on their part. It makes you wonder how a company that introduced many of us to our first cordless tools in the late 1970’s and early ’80s has perhaps lost its way. They really need to reexamine the sort of corporate culture that promotes underhanded behavior and how they have allowed it – or worse yet endorsed it. They should re-read their Corporate Code of Conduct.
https://www.makita.biz/company/policy.html
Maybe whoever posted a batch of fake comments should read item #1:
“Am I acting in accordance with ethical guidelines? (Would I be unashamed in front of anyone?)”
Jeremiah Ducate
Well said Fred
Jim Felt
My first cordless too. Black Ni-cad stick batteries. I donated a bunch to Habitat for Humanity in the early 2000’s and everything still worked.
Adam
I don’t have any Makita, though like the idea of 2 batteries and the battery backpack, but I have to hope it is just one bad apple. The unfortunate part is the hope is diminished when the failed to respond to you.
Rob
Media relations won’t respond to you, but their marketing department’s cubicle jockey’s will happily sabotage your journalism with this astroturf crap. The majority of the Makita tools I own cannot be purchased at a Home Depot. I’m not a sucker and I don’t have time for games. If they bothered to acknowledge your requests, maybe they would have learned about your audience before making such a dumb decision?
Jim Felt
Exactly.
But how many retail buyers have access to a full line (non big box) tool retailer in the first place? Obviously most pros or serious tool users do but that’s not the biggest marketplace.
Boy are they looking dozy.
Rob
I’m so used to the companies I deal with hiring experienced reps directly from their pool of customers that the marketing departments of TTI/Makita/SBD/Chervon should patently throw me off. 😂.
Diego
Let’s face it, all the big companies have people to do this kind of thing. You’re a fool if you don’t think DeWalt and Milwaukee do this also. It just happened to be that Makita got caught on this one.
Not a Makita fanboy at all, just telling it as I know it.
Andy
Sure. I know most companies do this, tool or otherwise. The problem is that when they got caught they didn’t mia culpa right away. They acted like an ostrich, burying their head in the ground and hoping nobody would see them. That pisses me off to no end. Just own it, apologize, and move on. Ignoring it and pretending it didn’t happen is just ridiculous, and for that matter inexcusable.
Stuart
I’ve discovered a lot of shills over the years and like to think I’ve become very good at it.
If Makita’s competitors were doing anything like this here, I would have caught them.
Besides which, I don’t believe for a second that any Dewalt or Milwaukee managers would EVER do something like this.
I wouldn’t have thought any Makita manager would do this *again*, but I also know other brands’ managers a lot better.
Other brands would have also addressed this swiftly, or at least pretended to care with an “I’m sorry, we’ll make sure it never happens again.”
I’m sure a lot happens on social media and elsewhere – I’ve heard rumors about certain brands – but that’s not my problem. What happens HERE is my concern.
Tim
I’m a rep for a couple of industrial machine companies (brand partners) from Germany, as well as an independent representative for an industrial equipment company here in the US.
I’d not like to name brands here but feel free to ask me should you need to know.
I do not ever see this being relative to what you dk here unless you start reviewing factory equipment, concrete grinders/rigging equipment, or more vacuums but you can mark me in case I overstep, which I would consider an oversight/accident.
Transparency is the best approach.
Stuart
You posted maybe one comment where I remember wondering where your particularly astute insight was coming from, but it was fully appropriate “applied knowledge” type of statement about tariffs.
Sharing your insights is very different from promoting your own brand and products or bashing competitors’.
Transparency is important, when promotion is involved. As mentioned in the other post, there’s rarely a problem if a partial party answers questions or otherwise aims to help other readers and commentors.
Jim Felt
I for one wouldn’t mind more industry players commenting in a transparent way.
That’s why I’ve made friends over the years with various vendor importer’s and manufacturer’s reps and techs. Why not?
Serendipity
I’m a big Makita fan. But this has to be called out whenever it happens. I also know that some employees in any level do stupid things when they think they won’t be caught.
Andy
True. But when the company doesn’t disown what was said, that speaks to the overall culture at that company. And apparently the culture at Makita is not in keeping with my personal values. And trust me, I intend to let my customers know about that, for whatever it’s worth.
Stuart
Well… I’ve discovered similar posts in the past, but didn’t call Makita out, at least not beyond adding disclosures to the comments, as I considered them to be isolated incidents.
The comment quoted above is actually their third one this year, and so this one wasn’t an isolated incident.
Serendipity
Considering how makita responds on Instagram, I don’t think there is a human running their marketing, or at least one that knows how to do something more than ctrl+z.
But, literally every corporation does this, like watching practice video of opposing teams. Your not supposed to get caught.
Rob
Three times? No wonder you’re upset with Makita. The bottom line is this: same branch/department (not really, but ultimately) that refuses to acknowledge your existence also keeps spamming your hard work. How whack is that? Wiggedy wiggedy wiggedy whack.
Lucky for them that we’re clever enough to realise they do $500 billion in revenue and are 99% parts not the idiots in their US marketing/media relations cubicles.
That said, I banned them from my life for so many years thanks solely to their out of touch US marketing team. I made good on my promise to buy from them as soon as they pulled their heads out of of their respective booty holes. And now this….
Maps Bam
How do you know it’s a manager? It could be a regular employee. Either way it’s sad and untruthful. If it does indeed come from a manager then it is pathetic.
Jim Felt
If their local/US company policy precludes even responding to site owners like Stuart I doubt their corporate culture involves particularly high ethics.
John Blair
My background is from the computer industry. I always post under my true name and I always say how something relates to me. It started with tradeshows long, long ago. People would come up to me and want me to compare my product to another brands. What I found worked best is “What I like about our product is….”, “I really appreciate how….”. That was always more effective than my product is X% faster and Y% cheaper than product B.
Every tool brand has something they can say that’s positive about their own tools. Milwaukee can say, “I really like that our 12 volt tool line is enormous and has specialty tools for different trades and our 18 volt tool line uses the same batteries across a huge eco system of tools.” A person at Ryobi can confidently say, “I appreciate that I can use the batteries from today in the tools I bought 10 years ago.” If you work for Dewalt, “I find it amazing how Flexvolt has not only brought plug in power to cordless too but surpassed it.”
The only time I ever went “head to head” was to have actual head to head matches. I used to make and sell flatbed scanners. We came out with a technology that was so much faster I would have races between products at events. Someone would yell start and the other team would start scanning. I would calmly give my talking points talking really slowly and someone would say “The other team has started!” I’d go, “okay,” then I should start. I’d hit the start button and still beat them. It was way more effective than saying we were 300% faster because people could feel how much faster it was. It put a humanizing factor on a performance metric. By the way seven seconds feels like forever to an audience when you’re talking slow and the other team has a head start.
Commenting on an article and being dishonest only has the potential to backfire. Real relationships are just that. If you love your products, explain why you love your products and success will follow. When customers buy your product, if you’ve done a good job communicating what makes you special, they will notice and become repeat customers. If you lied to them, they will only buy one and tell everyone how much they hate it. My advice to companies, be in it for the long game.
Jim Felt
That’s exactly the best way to do business. Rare at it might be. Especially in this mostly online age.
Some of my national brand reps have done very well with this kind of approach. Of course it always helps to be a technology leader as opposed to a follower.
Steve
I threw all my Makita in a volcano as soon as I saw this post. In fact, I’m giving up drilling and sawing for the rest of my like. …I can’t eat, …I can’t sleep–my wife is worried about me.
Makita’s job is to sell tools. They protect their interests, you protect your interests. I wish it were a different way, but this is the USA and let the buyer (of tools and content) beware.
The only person who should have real beef with Makita is Stuart because they compromised the mechanism he uses to sell you (the reader) to the advertisers and merchants. [This is how most of the internet works] If you do not find this blog trustworthy, you will move on to a different source and that affects Stuart’s livelihood.
I like this site. I read it. I trust it. Thanks Stuart for keeping it up!
John Blair
I for one am offended that you would punish the volcano for the behavior of a single bad apple. What did the volcano do to you?
Christopher T Haley
My garage is mostly teal, and I (obviously) think very highly of their tools. But the whole XGT thing has got me concerned (my last couple tool purchases have been red); and stuff like this isn’t helping. I still have a lot of respect for Makita, and I think their tools are well engineered in subtle and important ways (not who-wins-the-shoot-out sort of ways), but it certainly seems to me that there’s some major confusion at corporate and evidently in marketing too. I hope they get this figured out.
Serendipity
Seriously though, free Gmail account and free VPN and a Starbucks.
Blocky
Makita, that’s so lame.
HandyDan
I very highly doubt this sort of behavior is corporate policy, written or unwritten. It sounds like somebody going rogue on their own authority.
How much time did you give Makita to respond? I can appreciate your concerns with addressing the integrity of your website, but they may be looking into it (a leader should never respond to accusations without investigating on their own). Of course, the proper thing for them to do would have been to respond to your inquiry with a message saying they were doing so, but as someone who is in a position where I would be responsible for investigating this kind of claim, I know that sometimes things like a response can fall through the cracks.
Maps Bam
Do you work for Makita? I know you didn’t read the story because the very first line states that he emailed Makita yesterday.
Jim Felt
Exactly. Fortunately I’ve forced myself to find time to read these long threads before commenting. Hence I’m usually late to the party.
HandyDan
I do not work for Makita. I did read the post, but I was trying to give the maximum benefit of the doubt. I did not want to stick my foot (like you did by outright accusing me of not reading the post, and framing the rest of your response around that incorrect assumption) in my mouth for assuming that only one day of response time was given, and tried to convey a rebuke in the most gentle way possible.
Stuart
About a day and a half.
This was only the latest of several comments this year that were left by higher level Makita USA associates.
If I still don’t have acknowledgement that the inappropriate commenting will stop, I’ll have to post the other comments so that readers will know what to look out for in the future.
JoeM
I know it’s inappropriate to giggle at this, but I am anyways. I never bought into Makita, and it’s this kind of “Not wrangling in the stragglers” situation that makes me positive I will never entertain the thought of Makita tools coming near me.
This is a move I would expect out of one of those “As Seen on TV” companies, like Ronco… Remember them? Pocket Fisherman folks… They had a food dehydrator, and a handful of other products… Then things got crazy, as Ron himself, the founder, and often “Inventor” of these products… Started balding bad enough that he created spray paint for bald spots… I’m not kidding… I’m not mocking the man… He created a line of spray cans that contained a type of dyed/painted powder… spray for 3 seconds on the spot, and what came out of the can effectively filled in the missing hair… He claimed the powder grains stuck to themselves to form the strands, and there was just a hint of actual hair colour coming out of the can to tint your scalp, and make the illusion more convincing…
…That was the point at which Ronco stopped being quirky, fun, and clever… That was the point when I had to say “…his days of inventing are over… he just spray painted his head on camera…” This is now the point when I say something Makita related here… “Makita has ended its time as a top tool brand… Now they’ve reverted to infantile playground tactics to compensate for their lack of ability to maintain the place they were before.”
Not to take away from what Makita achieved in their past, with so many followers devoted to them… But now I believe it’s time to back away, and let Ron at Makita spend his days spraying his bald spots, pretending what he’s doing is helping the company grow in any way.
I admire innovation, and I admire Makers of things… Especially big machine makers, like Machinists and Millwrights, Welders and Heavy Tool Operators… But one I feel sorry for now is Simone Giertz… one of a handful of famous Makers in the world, who swore by Makita where all her Mentors favoured DeWALT, Milwaukee, or all sorts of variations run off compressed air. When she spoke up about Makita’s use of “Miss Makita” being so blatantly sexist and insulting to Women… Makita didn’t listen to her… but the same year she published her complaint, nearly every Friend and Mentor she ever worked with openly discarded their Makita products, and swore to never buy them again. Though she has never replaced her Makita tools, and she still builds pretty random things in life using her tools… I can’t see the “Outing” of these irresponsible tactics by Makita as looking good for her in the future. It may flip to a point where, like many of us in this thread, the people around her will openly question her ethical beliefs by sticking with such an underhanded company, who has proved on many occasions now that they are very much an underhanded, and unruly bunch who are willing to cheat many ways to make a buck in the industry.
I know this is a ramble… but… I never thought of Makita… I always held DeWALT and Milwaukee as top-tier construction and trade tools, and many users on the site snapped back at me for not including Makita in the same level as these two, but rather on a lower rung of the ladder with Metabo HPT and Bosch. In the long run… I think I was right here… Just… saw something off about them and didn’t know what until now. They’ve fallen from grace quite a bit with this kind of behaviour, and I don’t think anyone could persuade me to think of Makita for anything, or any reason. You couldn’t pay me to use, or promote them, no matter who you were. Before I would be happy to concede they’re in a market with Bosch… But… They’ve lost that with me. I’d much rather drop them down with… I dunno… Skil? Ryobi? Kobalt? Mastercraft or Motomaster up North here? I would still pick up any of those before a Makita now. And I feel no shame in that decision to consider them Persona Non Grata in the tool world.
Julian Tracy
You sound like a someone who’s never actually used a Makita tool. I’m certainly not getting rid of (most) of my cordless tools because some dimwitted marketing rep tried to secretly post on a tool blog.
I also use Dewalt 20V and Milwaukee M12, and in general, I’ve found the Makita advantage to be fast charging batteries, inventive tools and an overall fit and finish and dare I say, build quality over the red and yellow brands. (And yes – I had a few bad batteries thru the years from before they started the star-rated packs)
For instance, the no-nonsense tool tear down review guy that makes up his own funny phrasing once compared a Dewalt cordless chainsaw to the Milwaukee version and pointed out the flaws in the engineering between the two and I got curious (and my saw needed to get cleaned out) so I tore down my own Makita LXT x2 36v chainsaw and in almost every spot, the Makita saw was heavier materials, more steel or a seemingly better design.
I’m no fanboy, I got rid of their cordless sander and cordless multitool in favor of the much better ergonomics of the Dewalt versions; started into the Dewalt 20V system as a 2nd platform when I got their excellent 20v 7.5” mitersaw (Makita’s version was about twice the price).
One thing Makita has always done is developed odd-ball tools that really expand the usability of the system beyond the job site. For instance, they were the first to the market with a small cordless blower, cordless stick vac, right angle impact driver, pin nailer, biscuit jointer, small cyclone house vac, etc.
Of course, Milwaukee has caught up and perhaps equaled their selection, there’s still some holes in the red system that couldn’t fill the teal tools I own.
Jim Felt
“Started balding bad enough that he created spray paint for bald spots… I’m not kidding… I’m not mocking the man… “
That concept was the funniest part of a film called “The Fabulous Baker Boys”! Maybe that where your TV ad guy got the idea?
JoeM. Disclaimer: we were long ago asked to do an advertising related job for them and even though I personally had a boatload of 9.6v Makita tools at the time thought their whole US based ad agency situation was kinda hinky and we passed.
Stuart
Despite my grievances, keep in mind that this is one individual’s comment.
It’s an exaggeration to say that “company is doing bad things.”
Rob
Man, I remember Simone’s public comments about Miss Makita. “The real Miss Makita”. I’m going to come across as sexist, myself, but I was taken aback by how many women commented (across the internet) that they were deeply offended, but would keep using Makita. Side note:I personally wouldn’t buy Makita back then because booth babes and whatnot always come across as a calculated insult to my intelligence. Anyway, I guess in a small way I can finally understand where some of those women were coming from. Makita is ticking me off again, but now I already have their tools. I’m not just going to throw them away.
Stuart
This is way too off-topic. There’s no reason to cross-cross so deeply into past marketing programs.
Plain grainy
I guess I’m totally blind. I don’t see anything wrong with the post. It just looked like the individual was giving his own personal opinion to me. I’m not aware of the proper protocol for tool reps here. But i don’t feel there was anything toxic about the post. The individual should have the right to give his personal opinion. We the readers can decide with our own minds if comments are biased or not. Just my opinion!
Jaycob P.
I think it was a little shady since they didn’t just say they worked for Makita. The response from some of the people here is way more embarrassing though. I don’t think Makita is going to feel much pain from a half dozen anonymous internet commenters swearing off their tools.
Plain grainy
Perhaps the individual was just sharing his inside information that he was privy to.
Jeff
If that’s the case, they were most likely breaking Makita’s rules about posting confidential sales info.
If they were just posting their own opinion, why go to the lengths they did to hide their identity/affiliation?
Jim Felt
Exactly.
MM
That’s possible, but if you ask me the whole comment smelled like a rat from the very beginning.
First off, to state that one line of tools consistently outperforms another line while the specifications suggest little if any difference is a very bold claim. Heck, it’s a bold claim to make for a single tool, but in this case it was being made for a *whole line of tools*. Bold claims aren’t necessarily incorrect, of course, but they demand some kind of elaboration to back them up. But there’s nothing. No anecdotes explaining the how-and-why. I could understand if someone said something like “The brand A sander isn’t any more powerful than brand B, but I feel that it vibrates a lot less, and the grip is a lot more comfortable so I can get more work done with it”…because then we’d have some kind of means of understanding the claim being made. But right now we have none of that, just someone making absurd claims which disagree with the official specifications and offering nothing to back up those claims.
And second, the claim of “the shops are all sold out” makes no sense either. If my experience with tool retailers is anything to go by the *employees* of these stores–and I’m including Lowes, Home Depot, Menard’s, McCoys, and Tractor Supply Co. here–have no clue which models are sold out and which models they have stock on, so I certainly wouldn’t expect someone we assume to be a random customer to somehow know better. Thus the statement is either a 100% fabrication (lie), or the person making it isn’t an average customer.
Personally I have nothing against Makita in general. I’ve owned their tools before, I own some now, and I’ve generally been happy with them. While I think the comment we’re all discussing here is 100% BS, I’m not going to let the surely outside-of-corporate-policy behavior of some idiot employee affect my perception of the brand.
A W
The fake name, and use of the third person to imply that he was a customer and not a paid employee is what makes it inappropriate.
As a reader, I hate it when fake reviews or paid shills pollute a discussion on anything that I might buy.
I appreciate Stuart’s pushback, and understand better now his frustrations with Makita that have been alluded to in previous posts.
Stuart
I usually don’t have a problem with anonymous brand affiliate remaining anonymous if they answer reader questions (or my own) with impartial information.
What I have problem is when they use fake names and don’t properly disclose their corporate involvement to promote their brand or product or criticize competing brands and products.
Do you really want people who work for tool brands coming here under the guise of being end users to promote their products?
Some brands might leave shill comment to manipulate end users, others might do it to manipulate tool buyers, retailers, or other corporate and industry readers.
It’s simply not permissible.
Maybe this was their personal opinion, but as it could strongly benefit them and their brand to promote their products or disparage competing products, it’s non-permitted behavior.
If they had used their real name or said “I work for Makita and…” there would have been no problem.
Stever
Thanks for keeping this site honest and transparent. I dont post much, as I feel I have little to contribute (except flashlights). I’m just a diy homeowner who appreciates good tools.
Steve
Stuart, quick question, did you delete my comments on this post and why?
So that everyone has a good sense of what is being censored in the comments, can you at least keep a placeholder with a note ad to why the comment was censored. Thanks -Steve
Stuart
No, it’s here.
First-time commentors, or when someone changes their name or email (and is treated as a first-time commentor), go to the moderation queue for manual approval. This has been anti-spam measure for a couple of years now.
fred
Stuff happens – I feel it is great that Stuart reads our comments and explains things.
Despite my having provided many comments over the years – I sometimes get caught up in the anti-spam queue. Sometimes it may be because my fat fingers mistype my email address – or perhaps some word gets misspelled or my verbiage is a bit esoteric/archaic triggering the spam filter. I always feel “que será será” – and don’t get paranoid or upset.
Steve
Thanks! I checked a couple times and didn’t see it, but see it now. Thanks again for the site it is useful (full disclosure, my system is 18v Makita)
Mike (the other one)
Kind of embarrassing and shameful for Makita to do that. If their tools are as good as they say, then they shouldn’t have to resort to tactics like this.
Their tools are good, but this is unprofessional at best, and makes the company look bad. It makes them seem unethical.
One of the reasons I like this site is that Stuart will call people out on things like this. He tries to be open and honest as possible, which is nice. If I wanted to see a bunch of shills pimping their own brands, I’d go to Youtube or Facebook for that.
Tom
Thank you for trying to keep your site and comments as genuine as possible. I will not “swear off” Makita products, but I will read comments about their products a little closer. Keep up the great work!
MikeIt
Thanks Stuart for calling out Makita on their awful marketing tactics. Fake comments supporting a business/product are all over the place- Facebook, Amazon, Yelp, etc. and part of a larger problem in our daily lives. Many moons ago I took a college course in logic and I learned about fallacies in advertising and have since detested the various ways we are marketed to. Some methods are worse than others. I don’t mind a humorous commercial about a product (such as Skittles ads) or even the Flex Seal guy telling me how well it stops leaks. However, ads that attempt to show the “common man” praising a product are bad. You can recognize some of them by the selfie video format. You’ve seen those “Hey, I’m just an average person talking about how much I like my new product X” videos. When we see these types of ads on tv/online, we recognize they are ads but when we read testimonials in forums/online we are unable to tell who is really speaking and often assume it’s just another person like ourselves and not a marketer. This just shows that the reputation of the speaker matters. If the poster has a history of providing valuable or constructive comments then maybe their opinion on a product is worth more than a first time poster or a poster that has previously been shown to provide low quality/ shill comments. Moving on, I didn’t read that Makita post until today but now that I’ve read it, it seems to me like they didn’t even put much effort in to it. I wonder if this was copy/pasted in to other forums as well. Its so generic they can’t even be bothered to name their “local store”. LOL! Anyway. I have some Makita tools and I’m not going to swear them off over some dumb marketing manager. Their marketing department probably needs an overhaul though. Shill comments are just bad business, especially when you get caught. Why risk that damage to your reputation? It would serve them better to identify themselves and provide factual information about their products. A smart rep could convert these online interactions in to sales, which I think was the original intention but it was just botched badly. By the way I didn’t know Miss Makita was a thing. I don’t know if they just didn’t push ads showing Miss Makita or maybe retailers like HD or Lowes didn’t want to put up Miss Makita T&A materials because its no longer the 80’s. This is another botched marketing opportunity. If they wanted to put a spotlight on women who use tools they could have located women makers/ trades/ mechanics /techs that use Makita tools and put them in their ads instead. That would probably go over much better with the retailers. I’d be happy to advise Makita on a new marketing campaign. I’m not an ad consultant but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
JR3 Home Performance
When first getting into power tools I considered the makita brand but wrote them off. First off they didn’t have an diverse product line or any single products to really sell me. On top of that the corporate sexism I perceived sealed the deal. I just ignore anything they put out including toolguyd posts about their products. Now they’re trying backwords shenanigans like this to make sure I not only ignore their offerings but will likely advise against their products to others now too
Rob
It’s only the America’s (excluding Canada) where Makita’s marketing department has historically been stupid is as stupid does. You won’t find that Miss Makita crap in the UK/Europe/Oz/NZ (or at least that I’m aware of). You’ll still find it in Mexico.
My local Makita dealer employees a handful of mega-butch lesbians. Take a wild guess why they buy Milwuakee for personal use instead of Makita.
Most of these companies do roadshows, where they stop at suppliers and tool stores and demonstrate their products. Makita would bring Miss Makita along. The cashier was telling me they ended up feeling so bad for the caked up waif in spandex because nobody would come within thirty feet of her and the roadshow ended up being a bust at that location all because the customers wanted nothing to do with that crap.
Anyway, what I’ve noticed about Makita is that when they make a mistake, they very quietly fix it without acknowledging it.
*I know I sound like a shill, myself, whenever I say “my dealer” instead of naming a store but I don’t think the owners would appreciate being attached to some of my salty/sassy comments on here.
JD
Stuart +100 integrity points.
Good for you taking a stand.
I’m not going to write off Makita, I know others do it to.
Soapbox: The low quality of information on the internet is destroying society. Brands, corporations, news orgs, influencers, and just about anyone else is will to twist the truth for a buck.
Tool news may not be the most important thing in the world, but I’m glad someone still believes in honesty and transparency!
DC
Good catch Stuart! These shameless plugs happens all the time in the reviews on Amazon.com for chinesium tools with weird brand names. But for a large company like Makita to try to pull this off is shameful.
Kane
Absolutely. With the no-name/odd-brand tools, I almost expect that most of the gushing “reviews” are from folks who were compensated (without disclosure). Established brands with a long track record resorting to such tactics makes me feel like they’re on the same sub-par level.
For the record, back when I was in the Amazon Vine program, I regularly received messages from folks wanting me to review their products “on the side” — which I promptly ignored. For the products I did receive through Vine, in which the companies have no influence over who could or could not be selected to review them, I had no problem telling it as it is. That meant most products did not receive 5 stars and some receiving very negative reviews when it was deserved — like when a padlock could be bypassed faster than using the combination, you bet I left scathing comments! Hand tools that made Pittsburgh look great were aptly reviewed too. Viners get a 1099 for the value of the items as income, so items are not truly free.
Koko The Talking Ape
“We should also talk about some of the other public comments your manager(s) left under fake names, including those involving competing brands.”
That strikes me as even more despicable, if they put down other brands.
It might also be libelous. Makita should be talking to their lawyers.
Stuart
Brand affiliates using fake names to make comments about other brands is a huge no-no, but there was no evidence of false statements.
The recent one wasn’t very severe, but it’s still a practice that is not permitted here for obvious reasons. The last thing anyone needs are managers and brand affiliates arguing with each other in the comments section under fake names.
Matt the Hoople
I am simply amazed that Makita is likely paying someone a six figure salary and that dumb comment was the best they could come up with.
Rob
For years, big boobs, big hair and small waist was the best they could come up with.
MikeIt
TBH that usually works on me 🙁
Don Julio
I think it’s a scandal that Miss Mikita has been posting here without revealing herself.
Jason
Thank you, Stuart!
RD
Seriously. As somebody invested in Makita LXT, this really doesn’t give me a good feeling at all.
Appreciate that these sort of comments are actively weeded out here, as somebody still relatively new to tools in general I can’t think of a single time I’ve been led astray by this site. Thanks Stuart.
Will
spicy
Jared
The comments section adds tremendous value to this website. You’ve done an excellent job cultivating, culling and curating them. In that context, the ire directed at this shill seems well merited. Tolerating that behavior would just undermine the reliability and utility of the comments section.
EmergencyCheck
They could at least give the courtesy of sending a bedbug letter.
Jim Felt
Can’t read any more. Dang.
Amazon just dinged this iPhone to go pick up a bunch barely needed but very cool Amazon Daze tool stuff Stuart posted about that’s just arrived. 10-4
Matt R
The grammatical errors are the biggest turn off for me. Or maybe he was trying to fit in with us “common folk.”
bwh
Makita is not responding because they’re busy reminding folks internally what the proper process and protocol is here.
I work in advertising and market research – directly with these types of brands and suppliers.
Every major brand, tool or otherwise, not only has a media team dedicated to advertising, but also a social media team dedicated to shaping opinion on tools. Years ago it was just SEO and trying to get into the bronze box on google. These days it’s trying to directly shape opinion. They will have multiple smurf accounts on FB, Reddit, and IG to provide good reviews and correct the record on the brand or products. Heck, there is a growing industry to sell your old Reddit or IG account so that these companies can appear “established.”
They hide behind shifting IPs via VPNs or dedicated machines. There’s some companies where an employee will have different laptops for each brand they serve and a single employee may service 10 brands a day.
To think Makita is the only one who may do this is absolutely hilarious, and for Stuart to think he’s good at detecting them is equally laughable. They spend millions to drive this astroturfing and complete eliminate the line between advertising and opinion.
Stuart
While it matters, it’s not my problem what brands do on Reddit, Facebook, or Instagram; they aren’t allowed to do that here.
Do some make it by me? Certainly, I’m sure, but that’s why there’s a need to remain vigilant.
Graham Z
I’m a Makita guy but I’m not going to give up on a whole line of good tools just because of these incidents you’ve listed. I’m really satisfied with all the products and particularly with the service up here in Ottawa. I am disappointed that they seem to have taken a backseat to Milwaukee and Dewalt but again that speaks to marketing promotion. They really need to get their act together for me to maintain my confidence in them.
candrews
As someone whose sum total of Makita equipment is the $30 Makita E-01644 Impact XPS 60 Piece Impact Bit Set, I must say:
I feel cheated!!
Makita is dead to me!!
Godzilla was the good guy!!
etc.
Stuart
You’re missing out! Their special buy impact socket sets (Makita still hasn’t responded as to whether they updated the sockets or only keep changing the name over the years) is about the cheapest brand-name no-frills sockets you can get. They’ve always been a good value.
I like the new Milwaukee Shockwave impact sockets a lot better, but you can’t get those for $10.
https://toolguyd.com/makita-impact-xps-socket-sets-deal-022021/
Rob
I gather that they keep changing the included bit adapter to match the aesthetic of whatever bit range they’re pushing. I’ve seen one for the Vessel “Impact Gold” bits, the black ones from last year and the new matte chrome ones this year.
taras
Just wanted to thank you Stuart for the time and effort that you not only out into your articles, but patrolling the comments as well. I’ve been coming to ToolGuyd for 9 years now, and keep coming back, because between the articles and comments, there is a very high signal to noise ratio that is hard to find elsewhere.
It’s an environment that you’ve cultivated very well, and the total package available here is something that is getting rarer and more diluted as people chase views and clicks.
Thanks again for the time and effort you invest in this site for everyone’s benefit.
Randy
Not to be overlooked is the fact that this lends a ton of credibility to Toolguyd for catching on and taking swift, public action. I don’t think a solely private discussion behind the scenes would have been the right approach. Those who follow this blog closely already saw some of what happened and I had wondered if there would be transparency in the aftermath. If this is a place for unbiased or at least transparent appraisals of tools and tool deals, letting us know what is going on sometimes behind the scenes is a good principle to follow. Thanks for the update!
Handymike
I will not throw out my makita tools as I like them. I had makita 20 years ago and the batteries sucked. Went to ridgid and found them very good but larger and heavier than what Milwaukee had.
Bought into M18 and a few m12 then sold the ridgid.
This past Holiday season Makita had some great buys on the 36v saws I bought both type and love them. Bought the drill and impact driver kit and really liked them.
Bought the blower and string trimmer and am happy with them.
I like the rapid chargers with the air cooling. I wish Milwaukee would put rapid chargers with more kits.
I will not buy the xgt line though. I think they should have went the way Milwaukee did with the high output batteries.
It is a shame that they haven’t given you the response you deserve. Although I don’t put much faith in any of them.
Charlie F
Am I the only one who thinks this website has
1) An anti Makita bias – yes I know the site is blacklisted by Makita social media but the bias intentional or not in the reviews of Makitas products leads me to see why they blacklisted this site
2) A pro Milwaukee bias – They are the king of shills with influence thru social media – they wined and dined this site a few years back you cant tell me that isnt a bribe – Almost everything reviewed by every site has tools from Milwaukee and they are “super good best color red great” Mke is the king of manipulating people thru social media and to me that is shilling
What Makita did was wrong – Shameful no doubt
I just wish this site and other sites could disclose all direct and indirect sponsorships – this means EVERYTHING even a free calander is disclosed
Sponsored content is not bad and this site does good at disclosing direct sponsorship but its the indirect stuff and micro level agression against one brand ans promotion of another that may have paid for dinner in Vegas that worries me
You aren’t a volunteer and deserve to be compeanated but I just wish the Makita war would end .. Cant they just unblacklist you and move on
NOT a shill I have no ties to Maktia other then owning a lot of their products and growing up in Georgia where they once had a US factory
Stuart
Just like very other brand, Makita tools get positive, neutral, and opinionated press when the tools deserve it. I have my preferences, and still try my best at being open-minded and objective.
Wined and dined? When attending a media event, everyone is fed and put in a room for the night. With how you’re shuffled around like a student on a school trip and under an extremely tight and structured schedule, there’s really no opportunity to bring a boxed lunch or seek alternate accommodations.
I make an effort to disclose everything – advertising, sponsorships, and samples – anything and everything that I would want disclosed in a review or post I might be reading somewhere.
Some influencers receive secret funding, others sell tool samples on craigslist after showering them with praise, pocketing the cash just in time to make their next request. This and other practices are highly inappropriate in my opinion, but I have accepted that it’s not my problem.
If a reviewer posts about a tool they demoed at a trade show, ask them if any brands sponsored their trip and see what they say.
Transparency and disclosure is a core tenet here, but I can only control my own behavior and policies.
At media events, the face-time with product managers is what I’m after, as this gives me opportunities to glean far deeper information and insights than regular communications would allow for. I have limited travel days each year, and I regretfully skip opportunities that don’t justify the travel time.
Of course there are perks, but how are a couple of shared meals and drinks going to make a difference?
I turned down an event a few years ago, and it would have involved getting familiar with a new tool at a NASCAR event pit area. A lot of smaller events focus on the wining and dining – and that’s okay – but I cannot justify 2 or 3 travel days for that. Another brand invited me to Europe for close to a week, but I turned it down. I am sure it would have been nice, but 5 days of travelling and maybe a 6th day for recovery wouldn’t have been proportional to what could be gleaned or the coverage opportunities that it might have created.
I have never been to Vegas on any brand’s dime. Should that change, you can be sure I’ll disclose it.
I went to a media event a few years ago, and 3 days of travelling resulted in at most 2 hours of tool introductions, demo time, and product manager interviews. I won’t be visiting that brand’s events again. I can see how “wining, dining, and entertaining” can impact some “influencers.” Sure, perks can be fun, but I can do without them.
10 years ago, at my first Dewalt event, we had a light dinner at an Orioles game and then meetings the whole next day. Whenever Dewalt hosts events in Maryland, they always order great BBQ for lunch, but that’s not exactly going to influence my opinion about the brand in any way – how can it? Even at the baseball game, the most memorable part for me was the product engineer excitedly describing improvements their team made to a recent new angle grinder, with specific differences in motor windings providing for greater performance.
None of this has anything to do with current… frictions with Makita USA. I sincerely hope that’s not why they left these comments. My response towards shill comments and fake reviews are independent of the companies involved.
scott taylor
My only comment would be around time frames. As someone who works for a fortune 20 company (AT&T) I would have liked for you to have give then more than 24 hours to respond. When I have had problems in the past from various companies I try the normal channels then I send an email to the investor relations team gleaned from the IR website. It has never been more than a few hours before I have gotten an answer back, and it have never been anything but what you would have expected. Their answers have been swift and I’m sure the behavior I was complaining about was stopped. As an individual (I had a large customer contact organization 3000+ folks across multiple states that I led) who has been on the receiving end of said emails from IR, I can assure you they don’t play, and want daily updates until the complainer is happy!) Sometimes in large corporations the social media team gets to run and do whatever they want, at least until upper management gets a complaint. 🙂
Stuart
I gave them more than 30 hours, which is more than enough time for at least a “that’s serious, what are you talking about?” response.
For all I know, this was sanctioned strategy, although I really hope it’s wasn’t.
It’s not like I sent the message Saturday night and gave up waiting Monday morning, these were business hours.
This was not a one-off comment by a Makita USA manager or managers…
William
my 2 cents…
Even though the comment (unofficially) came from Makita themselves, I can’t say it is a false claim… When I got my XPH14 I didn’t expect much compared to the dewalt 996 which had been my workhorse for years, but the power and compactness blew me away. I didn’t felt an actual increment in power but it did the same tasks as the 996 while being much smoother and better handling.
But to be honest the only reason I bought makita was because of the recent price drops, my first makita tool was the 36v saw with the batteries that was discounted recently. Ordered the drill for $93 with the hack so it was worth the try. their lay low marketing strategy and the ugly teal color never got my attention.
Perry
Stuart, you and I have sort of been at odds in the past over makita, but I completely agree with your actions and statement over these incidents, and i applaud you for shining a light on this.
Over the past couple of years I have been less enamored with the brand after 20+ years of exclusively using their portable power tools on jobs sites and in the shop/mill. The U.S. marketing/distribution arm of Makita really seems to be going the way of Bosch’s U.S. arm, and it is disheartening. I will say, I have been happily surprised with Metabo HPT’s responses and interactions since coming on board here as an advertising partner.
Brian M
Great job Stuart! I appreciate you keeping us informed and protected against these unethical comments and maintaining your reputation of an honest, unbiased reviewer. You continue to do a fantastic job here.
CarpenterOne3
I am heavily invested in all three platforms, Milwaukee, Dewalt , Makita and the Bosch 12v line.
Back when I first got into the trades in 2002 Makita was the only way to go for a Carpenter, most of their stuff was made in the USA or Japan but over the last decade they Send most of their Chinese junk to us and keep all the cool stuff in Japan, I’ve heard many instances where if you say something bad about them online as a tool reviewer they block you. One instance that I can speak of recently is there aluminum detent plate on all their 36 V miter saws are junk (I’ve owned 2) And everybody has been complaining about them on Instagram so much so that a guy named John Stene started making stainless steel ones for sale, Knowing this Makita released their 12 inch miter saw two years later with the same cheap aluminum detent plate. Meanwhile Milwaukee made some really bad first generation nail guns (don’t even get me started on makitas cordless guns 🤮) ,And after the bad reviews they stopped making them and now make the best cordless nail guns, Just like the Milwaukee 10 inch miter saw, it never got much love so they redid the design on the 7 1/4 and one that did really well they made the new 12 inch one just like the 7 1/4.
No tool company is perfect but I do feel like Makita is the one that cares the least…Well at least with their US and Canadian customers.
Frank
Leo B.
Are you the same CarpenterOne3 who sent the router bases to Scott Brown?
CarpenterOne3
👍🏼
Leo B.
Hey, that’s awesome! Those bases look like they’re highly functional, and nicely thought out. It was nice of you to send them out to him. Cheers!
CarpenterOne3
Thanks dude
David H
I have been a long time reader of toolguyd and this will be my first post. First I applaud Stuart and his integrity. There is not allot of that out there anymore. Second I agree with the poster that stated maybe waiting a bit longer before calling them out would be prudent? I have noticed much slower responses to requests for information, technical support etc in my job since all this work from home, split crews, pandemic stuff started. Case in point I have been trying for 3 weeks to get a manufacturer to respond to an inquiry to purchase their product. I kept trying different emails until this past week when I finally found a fellow to respond. He made no excuse or apologies for the head offices lack of a response. Other than to say everyone is still working from home. We’ll see if he follows up. Should you have waited 3 weeks, absolutely not. But maybe a week to 10 days, what if the person you emailed was on vacation last week and his email is not being monitored? Did you email more the one person? Maybe they are both thinking the other one is taking care of it? Should you have received an acknowledgement? As an old guy absolutely as an old guy working in this new world I’m not surprised you didn’t.
I must have missed or skipped over the original post that started all this but I find the comments quoted a bit odd. I would suspect that the comments made were by a newer employee and even possibly a regional rep. Our local HD has a regular presence of a rep for another tool line. I have talked to him a couple of times and find him to be unqualified to be a tool rep especially for a major brand. I actually think he could easily write something like that for that brand.
Finally for those of you that have tossed your blue tools I can only assume that you do not use them daily for your job or you are independently wealthy. I started working in 1979. I am an electrician by trade, construction as a side gig and woodworker as a hobby. I have used just about every brand of corded tool made and have used most of the cordless brands. Each and every brand has its strengths and weaknesses but at the end of the day for my money hands down Makita has continually proven itself over and over for me. But the story about that needs to be another day.
Stuart
Almost nothing makes me angrier than shill comments and fake reviews.
This was me being patient. The first draft of my post included ALL of the shill posts left by the Makita USA manager(s), and I had it ready shortly after verifying the evidence. It was because of my history with the brand, good and bad, that I gave them any time at all.
My response to shill comments is focused on ensuring it doesn’t happen again. Social media policies have led to fewer offenses in recent years, but it does still happen.
It was definitely a manager that left the comments, and I am giving Makita USA more time to respond about the others.
Caleb Allen
So, as someone who has worked in sales for a major, global manufacturing company for over 12 years,(NOT a tool manufacturer!!) I can tell you that receiving an email like the one Stuart sent that had evidence of shady actions by an employee would be replied to the same day. It would also have been forwarded to multiple managers, their marketing department and possible their legal team as well. Any international company now is required by law to have their employees take multiple classes a year on anti-bribery and corruption and it includes info on making posts like the one above.
That being said, it is entire possible Stuart that even though the IP address was from Makita’s HQ, that the post was made by an outside rep using the company’s VPN.
Either way, its inappropriate
Rob
Stu, has this still gone unresolved? I sent Makita a piece of my mind but I’m sure some poor staffer that has nothing to do with this had to read through it while having no idea how to respond.
Stuart
No apology or explanation, but they said a reminder has been issued to employees about not being authorized to leave comments like this.
I shared the additional comments with them privately, and haven’t decided whether to post them here or not.
MM
Wait, they replied to you but they never offered any sort of apology or explanation?
Sidd Finch
Former Milwaukee sales rep here. First time posting. Reading ToolGuyd was very common among both sales and corporate employees. I do know of others who did post on the comments without disclosing who they were. I remember one from the T&M product team that was caught and called out. I would think it would be hard to catch any field sales people posting from their own home or devices however. I know one guy in particular who would post and then ask several of us if we could pick out which post was his. I’m sure this happens with other brands as well. People just need to be aware that even on sites like this, many comments will have an agenda. No different than when you talk to someone working the counter at your local store. Many times their recommendation could be influenced by which brand is running a spiff at that time or which sales rep they simply like the best.
Stuart
The benefit of my anti-spam measures is that first-time commentors’ entries go into a manual moderation queue and thus they go through extra scrutiny. I also weed out any obvious soapbox comments where someone just copy-pastes an off-topic rant about a tool brand or retailer.
A lot of brand affiliates are proud and excited about their brands’ products, and some will be tempted to speak freely. If they share an opinion in a post, I might never realize it, or I might but opt to leave them be if I deem them to be harmless or motivated by good intent.
The ones where someone tries to influence and manipulate tend to throw up the big red flags and cause the most problems.
That’s also the point of posts like this one, to deter would-be bad behavior.
Ed Ski
I’m just catching up on emails since I took 4th week off.
I would ask, if a product company contacted you, and asked if their Communications person could post, would you allow them? and would you make it so it states: actual manufacturer spokesperson? I would not object to disclosure. But Makita’s rep needs to be outted. I still use Makita products, but ahem, Makita corporate, there is a process and being deceptive is not one that is welcome.
One thing now, you mentioned you tracted the IP… now the cat is out of the bag!
The Makita guy might next time opt to use a VPN service and hide their IP. Or anyone else for that matter. (Psst, Makita, send me stuff, and I’ll post nice things! LOL). No. that is /s aka sarcasm.
Stuart
Keep in mind that first time commentors always go through manual moderation and thus receive extra scrutiny. If someone uses a fake name, fake email, and uses a VPN, and they post overly enthusiastically about a single brand every time, they get watched closely.
I would allow disclosed communications on a limited basis, but I generally caution against it.