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Re-Branded Product Often Not Up To Par

Caveat emptor! Let the buyer beware! - especially when buying re-branded product, or products of a brand not directly represented in South Africa.

This is the warning that emerged from recent comment by José Ruivo, Moeller Electric's director of sales and marketing, on the availability of moulded circuit-breakers that are at first glance identical to the Moeller product.

"If the product doesn't carry the Moeller brand, then it simply does not have the depth associated with our capabilities in problem-solving and applications design," said Ruivo.

"This applies not only to Moeller products, but to the products of any leading multinational. It is also true even when the product carries the approval of the SABS, because this is a statement solely of a certain operational quality standard," Ruivo added.

Ruivo pointed to four intangibles that buyers should examine before making a purchase decision on any circuit-breaker, earth leakage protection unit, isolator or relay. These are: quality, service back-up, applications solutions and access to manufacturer.

"Most buyers naturally investigate the product quality," said Ruivo, "and they are aware of the flood of Chinese imports that look the part, but which are of less than satisfactory quality. It's horses for courses, and some buyers are prepared to put up with inferior quality for certain applications.

"But service back-up is often superficial, and confined solely to the exchange of a faulty product with a replacement," he said, "and it's here that the question of access to manufacturer becomes important.

"By how many steps is the distributor removed from the manufacturer?" asked Ruivo.

"If more than one, then what recourse does the customer have when the product that has been replaced during service back-up continues to fail or underperform? What product training has the distributor undergone? Does he know the product well enough to diagnose the problem and ask the right question of the manufacturer? How quickly will the manufacturer respond, and what will be the cost to the end-user in downtime or lost productivity if the distributor doesn't measure up?"

Ruivo pointed to Moeller's advantages over comparable circuit breakers in all of these areas.

"Moeller Electric is the direct representative of Moeller in South Africa," he said, "with direct and real time links to the factory, to design staff and to any and all engineers that can help with both the product and its application.

"We are trained and qualified to help with design and with all aspects of diagnostics and problem-solving," continued Ruivo.

"This is not the case with several high-profile distributors, who are two or more levels removed from the manufacturer, and who are selling product from a 'push' perspective rather than from Moeller's perspective of solutions and customer satisfaction," Ruivo concluded.

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