A while ago X-pole sent out an official e-mail to warn the public about fake X-poles.
This is what they wrote:
PLEASE PASS THIS ON........
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.
