So many Clones these days

[ch1z64]

Just typed into a very well known Media outlet Clone Vcd's and was totally amazed at how many posts i seen selling them UK , now i know RT do everything possible to stop these cables and now i fully understand how pissed of a Business can get . Just a small Rant boils my blood how these social media sites get away with it .if shoe was on other foot i bet they would be closing these posts straight away .RT i totally feel ur Pain

 

[Crasher]

It winds me up too, just like people openly, brazenly, advertising DPF removal and AdBlue delete.

 

[Uwe]

i know RT do everything possible to stop these

It's like playing whack-a-mole. You get one listing taken down and another pops up. You get a clone-sellers account killed and they just open a new one. Short of hiring the Russian Mafia to handle this stuff extrajudicially, I don't think it will ever go away.

-Uwe-

 

[ch1z64]

It's like playing whack-a-mole. You get one listing taken down and another pops up. You get a clone-sellers account killed and they just open a new one. Short of hiring the Russian Mafia to handle this stuff extrajudicially, I don't think it will ever go away.

-Uwe-

I fully get that , noticed a well known internet selling group blatantly selling them , when i read there policy about counterfeits there explanation is because they are so world wide they can't stop every1 from advertising counterfeits . I just can't get my head around how these massive sites can get away with it so easily . They even mention in advert headings Clone Vcd's

 

[stefdds]

noticed a well known internet selling group blatantly selling them , when i read there policy about counterfeits there explanation is because they are so world wide

Who was that? Can you post a link.

 

[SaVAGeSoot]

It's like playing whack-a-mole. You get one listing taken down and another pops up. You get a clone-sellers account killed and they just open a new one. Short of hiring the Russian Mafia to handle this stuff extrajudicially, I don't think it will ever go away.

-Uwe-

IMO
It's just like drugs.... as long as there's a market or demand for it out there, it will never go away.
People & Society cause it.... yes, we "feel" for RT because we are part of the community.... but if there's enough interest and a profit to be made, someone, somewhere, will clone and replicate whatever and rip someone else off.

 

[ch1z64]

Who was that? Can you post a link.

Who was that? Can you post a link.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FK5JDKGZ/

 

[Bruce]

It's like playing whack-a-mole. You get one listing taken down and another pops up. You get a clone-sellers account killed and they just open a new one. Short of hiring the Russian Mafia to handle this stuff extrajudicially, I don't think it will ever go away.

-Uwe-

IMO
It's just like drugs.... as long as there's a market or demand for it out there, it will never go away.
People & Society cause it.... yes, we "feel" for RT because we are part of the community.... but if there's enough interest and a profit to be made, someone, somewhere, will clone and replicate whatever and rip someone else off.

Allow me to add one other thought: As long as the government of the country where clones are produced refuses to control their people and eliminate the production by prosecuting the violation of other's rights, there is no chance to stop this.

We were nearly laughed out of the US Dept of Commerce in Shanghai and Guangzhou. They said there is nothing they can do to get the Chinese government to stop the manufacture and marketing of illegal clones and they were not going to attempt to help us.

The clone sellers have the market for China, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and any countries speaking the languages of these countries. Our sales in those languages are paltry. There is no way now to fix things.

We play the Whack-a-Mole game daily. We do what we can. People make the choice and will buy on price. It does not matter to most. Many have said that RT chooses to sell at high price via some market channels - another company screwing the masses. Yeah, we have heard it all. RT is to blame for our marketing ways.

We enforce with our partners that price wars do not help us and we ask them to consistently sell at unified pricing. We cannot force unified pricing. But we ask their cooperation so that we have a chance to differentiate between the clone sellers and ourselves. It is not easy.

Our goal has always been to provide the best product we can make and do so at a price that is affordable for the enthusiast and for the professional. In the main, I hope our actions have delivered that product at a fair price for all.

 

[ch1z64]

Allow me to add one other thought: As long as the government of the country where clones are produced refuses to control their people and eliminate the production by prosecuting the violation of other's rights, there is no chance to stop this.

We were nearly laughed out of the US Dept of Commerce in Shanghai and Guangzhou. They said there is nothing they can do to get the Chinese government to stop the manufacture and marketing of illegal clones and they were not going to attempt to help us.

The clone sellers have the market for China, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and any countries speaking the languages of these countries. Our sales in those languages are paltry. There is no way now to fix things.

We play the Whack-a-Mole game daily. We do what we can. People make the choice and will buy on price. It does not matter to most. Many have said that RT chooses to sell at high price via some market channels - another company screwing the masses. Yeah, we have heard it all. RT is to blame for our marketing ways.

We enforce with our partners that price wars do not help us and we ask them to consistently sell at unified pricing. We cannot force unified pricing. But we ask their cooperation so that we have a chance to differentiate between the clone sellers and ourselves. It is not easy.

Our goal has always been to provide the best product we can make and do so at a price that is affordable for the enthusiast and for the professional. In the main, I hope our actions have delivered that product at a fair price for all.

I totally agree with all you av said , it just boils my blood that the UK government are happy for customs stopping certain things entering the UK , but they can't press these massive companies who make millions a year to crack down on counterfeits .

 

[ch1z64]

Allow me to add one other thought: As long as the government of the country where clones are produced refuses to control their people and eliminate the production by prosecuting the violation of other's rights, there is no chance to stop this.

We were nearly laughed out of the US Dept of Commerce in Shanghai and Guangzhou. They said there is nothing they can do to get the Chinese government to stop the manufacture and marketing of illegal clones and they were not going to attempt to help us.

The clone sellers have the market for China, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and any countries speaking the languages of these countries. Our sales in those languages are paltry. There is no way now to fix things.

We play the Whack-a-Mole game daily. We do what we can. People make the choice and will buy on price. It does not matter to most. Many have said that RT chooses to sell at high price via some market channels - another company screwing the masses. Yeah, we have heard it all. RT is to blame for our marketing ways.

We enforce with our partners that price wars do not help us and we ask them to consistently sell at unified pricing. We cannot force unified pricing. But we ask their cooperation so that we have a chance to differentiate between the clone sellers and ourselves. It is not easy.

Our goal has always been to provide the best product we can make and do so at a price that is affordable for the enthusiast and for the professional. In the main, I hope our actions have delivered that product at a fair price for all.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FK5JDKGZ/

 

[The WolfMan]

@Bruce if you remember, in one or two weeks makes a year that a “curious guy” sent you an e-mail with some questions and in the end bought a HEX-NET with english and portuguese

Regarding clones, the mentality of people also needs to change. In Portugal, an HEX-V2 with unlimited VINs costs 500€ + VAT which is 23%. I know that are cheaper options with 3 and 10 VINs, but we need to make an apples to apples comparision. Clones have unlimited VINs. A clone can be bought in Portugal on average for 50€, ten times less, more with VAT.

For many people, enthusiast ones (professionals usually don’t buy clones), the ones that buy the clone are the smart ones. The ones who prefer to buy the genuine are dumb because for 10 times less money you can have the same thing… I don’t have to justify to anyone how I spend my money, but I confess that sometimes I prefer to be quiet instead of saying that I have a genuine scan tool because I feel that others judge me.

 

[RGH0]

The issue is many / most clones will not work reliably with many /Most VAG cars. so suddenly your 50 Euro starts to look very expensive

 

[Crasher]

I run a VW forum and I watch out for clones and don't allow any help. Some try to evade it by clipping the data but that is easy to spot.

 

[nugentp]

I totally agree with all you av said , it just boils my blood that the UK government are happy for customs stopping certain things entering the UK , but they can't press these massive companies who make millions a year to crack down on counterfeits .

Yep 100% - pity that RT products and other car tech devices being cloned from China are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the massive amount of counterfeit stuff coming into the country with seemingly no willingness to properly crack down on it. Most people don't realise the risk they are putting themselves at even with such OBD device clones - the software could be riddled with all sorts of horrendous viruses (never mind all the bugs and 0% support).

 

[Santos]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FK5JDKGZ/

I've not been in the forum much this week, and i just saw this thread. I've reported the offending listing and expect it should be removed in a day or so.

 

[Bruce]

For many people, enthusiast ones (professionals usually don’t buy clones), the ones that buy the clone are the smart ones. The ones who prefer to buy the genuine are dumb because for 10 times less money you can have the same thing… I don’t have to justify to anyone how I spend my money, but I confess that sometimes I prefer to be quiet instead of saying that I have a genuine scan tool because I feel that others judge me.

Those that choose the risk, have only themselves to blame when things go sideways.

We hear the price issue. You would have us attempt to do all we have done at the price of the clone? Great. We close the doors and leave all to the clone makers. There is no way the economics can work at the clone price except to steal the data from the guys who go out, mine it, test it, and apply it. To compare what we do to what the clone guys do is to trivialize the entire effort of our team - a 25 year effort at collecting and testing information.

Have you asked yourself, if it is so easy to do, why are there so few legit companies doing it? And why are there so few doing it at a price such as Ross-Tech sells? The big box boys buy data from VAG... we do too. You think the clone makers do that? Do you think they would be willing to buy data, mine data, and all that?

@The WolfMan I think you want cheap... I hear you. We offer low priced quality. They offer cheap stolen garbage...

 

[Ronaldo]

Just typed into a very well known Media outlet Clone Vcd's and was totally amazed at how many posts i seen selling them UK , now i know RT do everything possible to stop these cables and now i fully understand how pissed of a Business can get . Just a small Rant boils my blood how these social media sites get away with it .if shoe was on other foot i bet they would be closing these posts straight away .RT i totally feel ur Pain

I've just seen that on a known Chinese website, one of the listings says they have 10000+ of those clones sold, and that was only one among many similar listings. That means RT could have sold 10000 units but didn't because of clones (how much does it mean? $6M? I don't think that would mean really that much because some people only buy the clones because they are so cheap, but that should really make anybody's blood to boil),

 

[Dr Sheldon]

It is theft and it is wrong !

I did read someplace that the support from RT in itself is worth the purchase price of the cable !! I agree !

However, those with the Genuine article do buy it thinking it can fix the car for them and we see so many not do so even with good guidance. Other than VCDS and a PC they have no knowledge of how automotive systems function, how to test them, the tools to test with.

FFS !! they dont have a clue where to buy components from and where not !

It is a shite rumour that tells the world to go buy a diag tool and seek the answer in a forum.

 

[Uwe]

some people only buy the clones because they are so cheap,

Exactly. People will buy cheap clones who would not be willing to spend the money on a legitimate ones.

Based on what we see on our update server, the number of clones sold world-wide over the last 20 years is a seven digit number, not a five digit one.

-Uwe-

 

[Uwe]

It is a shite rumour that tells the world to go buy a diag tool and seek the answer in a forum.

Put it in perspective: A legitimate VCDS system for "enthusiast" use costs the same as 1-2 hours of time in a shop and it's a one-time purchase. If it saves the owner one or two shop visits during the time he owns the car, he comes out ahead.

-Uwe-