And sometimes, of course, we are all tempted by the 'Gucci' bag or 'Rolex' that we are offered in markets and bars around the world - it's hard these days to be able to tell the difference between what is real and what is fake just by looking at it.
Which may be okay if all you need is somewhere to stash your keys.
The problem is that fakers don't just make bags, they make counterfeit medicine, poisonous baby products and drinks that will blind and kill you. It doesn't matter to them what happens to the end user, as long as there is a profit in it for them.
SO WHAT HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH ANYTHING?
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| or perhaps not ... click here for .wmv or here for YouTube |
Nevertheless, we all occasionally opt for the generic brand or the cheaper version that claims to be the same - only to find that it is a complete waste of money.
Now I find myself on the other side of the fence.
Just as Gucci and Rolex have suffered through their customers being duped by inferior copies, we have found that the Enviropeel brand is being abused by a copycat company, using Enviropeel's success to boost its own reputation.
IT ALL STARTED SO WELL ...
In the beginning, this company became an Enviropeel distributor, bought our products and had personnel trained by Enviropeel engineers. Over the next couple of years it used our material and equipment to obtain accreditation from national companies and establish the credentials of sprayable thermoplastics as a high-performance alternative to standard coatings in the local oil and mining industries.
THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY?
Then, the owner of the company decided that he could do better without Enviropeel and set up his own organisation to provide a very similar service. Almost immediately, we began to hear stories of Enviropeel accreditations and projects that were being re-branded in the name of the new company. Soon, case histories showing Enviropeel applications were appearing on the company's website purporting to be the work of the new system and we had to take legal action to have a number of documents removed or amended that were using Enviropeel's own photographs and data in support of claims this company was making for its own products. It became so ridiculous that an Enviropeel technical data sheet was reproduced substituting the company's name for Enviropeel - but using the exact same wording, data and design, despite the new company's product having entirely different characteristics. If it wasn't so serious, it would be laughable.
Eventually, most of the material was changed to comply with our request, but some material has lingered on. Case histories with photographs of Enviropeel equipment, an application video showing Enviropeel, information directly cribbed from Enviropeel documentation provided as part of the distribution package. In a way, the fact that the new company could not produce sufficient material from its own resources to support its case became a joke within the Enviropeel community and, perhaps, we didn't take it as seriously as we should.
More recently, however, new lies have appeared. As readers will know, Enviropeel has enjoyed considerable success in the UK power generation sector, providing ingress and corrosion protection on high-voltage switchgear essential to the smooth running of the country's supply network. Not able to achieve the same results, but nevertheless wishing to boast about its own success, a case history was produced by the new company and headlined on its international website - using photographs of an Enviropeel project and claiming the project had been completed by its own personnel.
Presumably, we will be able to persuade them to remove the offending material, but the question remains, why would they do it?
Are they so ashamed of their own products that they have to hide behind the good work of others? Or, do they hope to create the impression that, by claiming all our work as their own, they might blind gullible customers into believing that they have something to offer?
Surely, if the product is as good as it is claimed to be, it can stand on its own two feet?
I don't know the answer to these questions, nor do I understand the motivation for such blatant dishonesty - I can only warn potential customers that they should make sure they get the real thing - Enviropeel!
Now I find myself on the other side of the fence.
Just as Gucci and Rolex have suffered through their customers being duped by inferior copies, we have found that the Enviropeel brand is being abused by a copycat company, using Enviropeel's success to boost its own reputation.
IT ALL STARTED SO WELL ...
In the beginning, this company became an Enviropeel distributor, bought our products and had personnel trained by Enviropeel engineers. Over the next couple of years it used our material and equipment to obtain accreditation from national companies and establish the credentials of sprayable thermoplastics as a high-performance alternative to standard coatings in the local oil and mining industries.
THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY?
Then, the owner of the company decided that he could do better without Enviropeel and set up his own organisation to provide a very similar service. Almost immediately, we began to hear stories of Enviropeel accreditations and projects that were being re-branded in the name of the new company. Soon, case histories showing Enviropeel applications were appearing on the company's website purporting to be the work of the new system and we had to take legal action to have a number of documents removed or amended that were using Enviropeel's own photographs and data in support of claims this company was making for its own products. It became so ridiculous that an Enviropeel technical data sheet was reproduced substituting the company's name for Enviropeel - but using the exact same wording, data and design, despite the new company's product having entirely different characteristics. If it wasn't so serious, it would be laughable.
Eventually, most of the material was changed to comply with our request, but some material has lingered on. Case histories with photographs of Enviropeel equipment, an application video showing Enviropeel, information directly cribbed from Enviropeel documentation provided as part of the distribution package. In a way, the fact that the new company could not produce sufficient material from its own resources to support its case became a joke within the Enviropeel community and, perhaps, we didn't take it as seriously as we should.
More recently, however, new lies have appeared. As readers will know, Enviropeel has enjoyed considerable success in the UK power generation sector, providing ingress and corrosion protection on high-voltage switchgear essential to the smooth running of the country's supply network. Not able to achieve the same results, but nevertheless wishing to boast about its own success, a case history was produced by the new company and headlined on its international website - using photographs of an Enviropeel project and claiming the project had been completed by its own personnel.
Presumably, we will be able to persuade them to remove the offending material, but the question remains, why would they do it?
Are they so ashamed of their own products that they have to hide behind the good work of others? Or, do they hope to create the impression that, by claiming all our work as their own, they might blind gullible customers into believing that they have something to offer?
Surely, if the product is as good as it is claimed to be, it can stand on its own two feet?
I don't know the answer to these questions, nor do I understand the motivation for such blatant dishonesty - I can only warn potential customers that they should make sure they get the real thing - Enviropeel!
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