Stacey of Vertical Leisure/X-pole issued the following on the Vertical Dance forum regarding the fake X poles:
Fake X-poles As some may have heard there have been some Fake X-Poles on the market, these have come from EBay, We have one of these fake X-Poles here and they are very dangerous. We are in the process of dealing with this. We have had them removed from eBay and are now taking action to have this stopped and to help protect the safety of all the dancers. If your student has bought a pole from ebay for less than £159.99 the likeliness that this is fake is very high. The main ways to know if the pole is fake is : 1) The upper dome is made of plastic, it has black rubber around it and the silver section is very thin plastic. ( this will crack on pressure being applied) 2) The base is not articulating. 3) The base does not have our little X's on them. 4) The joints are not welded together therefore they will come out and the pole will just be a tube. 5) The instructions are a photo copy and the DVD is also a bad copy. 6) There are only 2 ball bearings - this means the pole will not spin under pressure. If your customer has bought one of these poles they will not be covered for any injuries caused to them selves or to their property, They can not exchange the pole and Vertical Leisure will not be able to replace any faulty parts. If you do have a customer complaint regarding an X-Pole which has been bought from eBay or not from yourselves please ask them for there serial number which will be on the upper dome. Ask them if the base has the X's on them ect and check the pole. If this is a Fake I would recommend that they get a full refund via PayPal and send the pole back to who they bought it from. If any school / company / person is found selling Fake X-poles we will not only take legal action (already pending with one company ) we will also not supply them with Real X-poles, X-stages or any product from Vertical Leisure. Should one of these fake poles fail and someone is hurt this will reflect on the whole pole dance industry. Remember the negative reaction to dance poles in Tesco's imagine what would happen if someone was to harm them selves on one of these. Everyone's hard work over the past few years would be lost. We are not just concerned for our product but as a dancer myself am concerned for the future of pole dancing itself with rubbish such as this on the market. X-POLE is a quality brand and we do not want our customers confusing this rip-off version with the quality and safety associated with genuine X-POLE products If you have already been approached by a company offering CHEAP X-poles please be aware of the above information. To help us have this stopped please try and get as much information as possible regarding the company/person trying to sell these to you. The more information we get the better. If you are approached to commence selling the new imitations, please gather as much information about the poles and the distributors as possible. Written or emailed information is best. Be very suspicious if the distributor wont leave you with a sample to test, if they wont let you personally assemble & play with the product/parts, or if they don't leave you with any tangible information (e.g. brochures detailing the product and / or its assembly). Ask about replacement parts, warranties and insurance.
There is a new danger other than Peekaboo!
So I hear there's a knockoff of the X-Pole being sold on Ebay (& who knows where else). It appears as though they were previously sold using the X-Pole name but the most recent auctions refer to the pole as the XTreme.
It looks a LOT like the X-Pole. However, authentic X-Poles have 2 small X's on the base.
XTreme pole also does not fit together like it should & therefore, is not safe! One unfortunate buyer had to tape the 2 main portions of the pole for them to stay together! Looks like Peekaboo has some new competition. Yuck!
KT Coates of Vertical Leisure issed the following statement on the Vertical Dance forum:
"X-Pole do not sell their poles cheap so if you have found an x-pole that is cheap it is a fake. the fakes are very bad copies of the pole, they do not fit together properly, the DVDs do not come with it and they are dangerous. You will get no customer service and your pole will be unuseable. X-pole have nothing to do with this and sadly can not help any one who buys these rip offs, so my advice to you is make sure you purchase your pole from a reputable suplier, not a cheap one off ebay, you will regret it in the long run and end up paying more money than you should have. BUY CHEAP BUY TWICE!" <---Damn straight!
How disappointing....I know we girls are impatient when it comes to waiting for our pole accessories....but
I ordered my shoes on March 26th. Their website clearly states that shoe orders will be processed within 2 business days. They finally responded to my email requests for a status update on April 7th. Their response was that my shoes would not be shipped out until April 11th (without explanation, apology, or notification). I asked for a refund & after sending several emails (again) I finally received a response on April 21st advising that I would be receiving a credit invoice on April 24th......It is now April 25th & I have yet to receive it.
I want your comments! Have you had similar experiences? Which companies would you recommend? Are there any you now know to avoid?
