My Horrible Invida purchase from http://topspeedautosport.com/ (TopSpeedAutoSport) - Zilvia.net Forums | Nissan 240SX (Silvia) and Z (Fairlady) Car Forum

drift into a curb · 07-15-2010, 01:49 AM

Posting this for a friend.. I figure some 240 guys can understand customer service makes all the difference in the world.

Not really sure where to post this warning. .Moderator, please move if necesary..

Hello,
Okay, I’m typically not the type to rant or complain about anything but this experience really forced me to voice my opinions about TopSpeedAutosport as well as the Invida Exhaust they sold me.
From some research, many forum members have had great experiences with the Invida Dual for our 350z. The exhaust received praises for both quality and sound. As for the dyno numbers they seem to be a mixed bag. Many sites sell this exhaust claiming a huge 21hp gain, which is a bit unbelievable to say the least.

Upon searching the market place, I saw this vendor selling this exhaust for $799 shipped which is definitely quite a deal when it comes to 350z exhausts. To be quite honest, the initial purchase went quite smoothly. With a simple PM, I was sent a pay pal invoice, which I paid instantly. To my surprise, the exhaust came in the next day. Reason being is that I lived in SoCal and Invida is in El Monte which was about 20 miles from where I had the exhaust delivered.

Link to their Post http://my350z.com/forum/engine/46984...9-shipped.html

I’ll give you feedback on the quality of the exhaust a bit later, but first comes the install. So the mechanic I took it to charged me 60 bucks to uninstall the old exhaust and install the new exhaust. I thought that was fairly reasonable since most mechanics charge roughly 60 – 80 dollars an hour. I figured this job may take 45min to 1+ depending how easy it was to remove the old cat backs..

So my mechanic suggested we first lay out the exhaust making sure all the parts and flanges are there we kept the plastic on so that we didn’t scrape the piping. After a quick check everything seems to be in order. So he begins the install. Taking the exhaust was fairly easy. Now begins the install starting from the cats back. He puts in the appropriate flanges and keeps the bolts loose since these types of exhaust typically installs from cat to the muffler first.

When he was ready to put on the last pipe, the driver-side pipe that attaches to the muffler, he noticed that the pipe was only tac welded and not completely welded. He suggests that I contact the TopSpeed to see what they can do.

At first I spoke to Angela, she was quite nice and apologetic. She stated that she will talk to Invidia to see if they can get a pipe there by tomorrow morning and she said if I could send her the pics. So I did. I asked the mechanic what are my options. He said, I can put back the stock exhausts now and take the car home. But since he was busy the next day, he stated, if I leave the car here he’ll need to charge me 45 dollars. I call back Angela and she agreed to cover the storage fee of 45 dollars and since Invidia was already closed, she will call the first thing tomorrow.

Here is where it turns bad. She asked if I can be put on hold. She puts me on the phone with another guy who’s suggestion is to just install all pipes I have now and take the car home with the bad pipe uninstalled. If you’ve been to socal you know cops are D[email protected] I told them hell no, unless they want to pay for all my tickets that I would get running a 350z without exhaust.. Not to mention I would be running way too lean. So he says, well Invidia does not do the same day shipping but he will call them fist thing tomorrow to see if they can get the pipe. Now its about 2 hours into this everything is closed. The all the guys have left the shop except for the owner who was willing to stay late. I asked what if they can’t they will charge me another day to store my car here will they cover the 90 dollars? Now they change their tune, they say they will not give me anything back, even though Angela had agreed on at least a 45 dollars for my troubles. I asked for my money back and I told them I will re-ship the exhaust at my own cost back to where it came from. They refuse and said I have to talk to Ividia about that. I said I bought the exhaust from you and not Invidia. The guy gets pissed and says we’re helping you out, that it that’s final. The only people that lost on this deal is you. So its basically a your SOL you sun of a gun..

If they would have said this in the beginning I would have saved 45 bucks. So in any case shops closed, guys have left. I was forced to leave my car there totaling cost of 105 bucks. The next morning at 10:30 pst the shop calls asking what I wanted to do. I call the shop and Angela isn’t there they said she’ll be in in 30 min. Call back still not there. I asked to speak to a manager and Joe says Invidia will call me and that I have to work things out with them. Since I didn’t hear back from them I said just put back the stocks.

11:30ish Invida calls, the guy is very apologetic unlike TopSpeed. I explain it to him, he apologizes and tells me he’s shipping the pipe now and it should be at the shop tomorrow. Good thing I put on my stocks or else there goes another 45 bucks. I asked if he can do anything for me. He said no because I didn’t buy the exhaust from him, which is understandable. He did say for me to call the shop I got it from and tell them you spoke to me. Tell them that their next Invidia purchase would be ½ off to see if they can credit you any type of money for your troubles.

It sounded fair to me. The vendor is willing to take a discount on their profit if the seller would just credit me even ½ of what I spent which is now at $105. So I called them spoke to the manger Joe. Total ass. Wouldn’t even listen to me on what his supplier was offering. Total jerk claiming this is my business I sell it to you cheap. No refunds what so ever. (Note no where in the site ever said no refunds). So he hangs up on me again. I say again cus that’s the guy I proly spoke to the day before.

Lesson Learned, even though some vendors claim be sponsors of my350z.com I guess its still buyer beware. I’m still thinking of going to Pay Pal and filling a claim. This shop sold me a defective product and instead of handling it, forced me to talk to the manufacturer directly. But Never Ever buy anything from this shop. Total jerks that are nice to you before they get your money. Now I’m down $105 bucks with a defective exhaust on the garage floor. Oh did I mention I had to freking catch a ride today? My subie was in the shop thus two cars down to 0.. what a day..

Good Weld..........................Tack Weld/Incomplete

**Cliff notes: Topspeed Autoparts is trying to avoid taking responsibility for parts they selling. Makes friend called the manufacturer. After that, will not re-imburse for faulty parts without hassle. Manufacturer fesses up and will ship part, but retail seller will not re-imburse time and money spent due to install and storage fee. Buyer says he will ship back the product for a refund on his own dollar, but seller will not take it back and make him ship to the manufacturer.

Sam_Well.13 · 07-15-2010, 02:00 AM

Bad customer service indeed.

i know it couldve been a simble fix.. while the exhaust was off, a simple weld could fix that. im sure your mechanic wouldve hooked you up.

but on their part... not very professional, hangin up on a customer.

sorry to hear,

drift into a curb · 07-15-2010, 02:10 AM

Hey Sam,

I understand that he could have had a welder finish up the work, but I doubt he would have even been reimbursed for that from the retailer. Buying a full exhaust system from a retailer, then you would expect no less but a complete system. Thanks for the comment.

drift freaq · 07-15-2010, 10:58 AM

I do see a problem with the retailer, though I do have one other question. What kind of shop that is doing work for a person charges them storage fee's while waiting for the parts due to problems? That is as shady as what the retailer did.

Any reputable shop will not charge a customer storage fee's on a car that is waiting for parts due to a wrong part or part issue, especially one or two days.

In my opinion your friend did not only got screwed by Top Speed, but got screwed by the shop that was charging him to install the exhaust as well.

drift into a curb · 07-15-2010, 12:35 PM

By the way, this was a part my friend brought into the shop. Unless it's a maintenance job or it was the shop's fault that the part problem occurred, then I wouldn't say it was out of line to charge the storage fee. Some shops just don't have the overhead to allow parking overnight. My friend could have had his stock exhaust installed back on the same day, but he'd still be charged for the installation. I don't consider that shady because the shop isn't making money allowing non running cars to sit around whether it's a day or week. I understand what you're pointing out though. Since the shop is already working on the car, then at the very least, they shouldn't charge for storage fees.

J3123MY · 07-15-2010, 01:02 PM

Damn, how did that weld even happen? Damn 105$ to install a exhaust?

drift into a curb · 07-15-2010, 01:29 PM

I'd say an accidental slip of Q(uality)C(ontrol) on part of the manufacturer. At least they were willing to fix the situation. Thumbs up to Invidia for trying to resolve the issue.

sw20>>s14 · 07-15-2010, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drift freaq

I do see a problem with the retailer, though I do have one other question. What kind of shop that is doing work for a person charges them storage fee's while waiting for the parts due to problems? That is as shady as what the retailer did.

Any reputable shop will not charge a customer storage fee's on a car that is waiting for parts due to a wrong part or part issue, especially one or two days.

In my opinion your friend did not only got screwed by Top Speed, but got screwed by the shop that was charging him to install the exhaust as well.

THANK YOU! a local shop (that will remain unnamed) constantly threatened to charge me storage fees...such BS, im glad there is another normal person that feels the same way

good thing i read this because i was going to order a set of wheels through topspeedautosport and kevin seemed really cool...although wheels usually arrive without many issues and the probability of me going though the same thing your friend did is small, i do not advocate such poor CS...

drift into a curb · 07-15-2010, 05:51 PM

Thank you for stopping by and supporting good shops sw20>>s14. There are plenty of legit online order stores and good local shops you can support that are willing to support you back in return!

07-15-2010, 01:49 AM	#1
drift into a curb Post Whore! Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Seoul, South Korea Posts: 2,870 Trader Rating: (5) Feedback Score: 5 reviews	My Horrible Invida purchase from http://topspeedautosport.com/ (TopSpeedAutoSport) Posting this for a friend.. I figure some 240 guys can understand customer service makes all the difference in the world. Not really sure where to post this warning. .Moderator, please move if necesary.. Hello, Okay, I’m typically not the type to rant or complain about anything but this experience really forced me to voice my opinions about TopSpeedAutosport as well as the Invida Exhaust they sold me. From some research, many forum members have had great experiences with the Invida Dual for our 350z. The exhaust received praises for both quality and sound. As for the dyno numbers they seem to be a mixed bag. Many sites sell this exhaust claiming a huge 21hp gain, which is a bit unbelievable to say the least. Upon searching the market place, I saw this vendor selling this exhaust for $799 shipped which is definitely quite a deal when it comes to 350z exhausts. To be quite honest, the initial purchase went quite smoothly. With a simple PM, I was sent a pay pal invoice, which I paid instantly. To my surprise, the exhaust came in the next day. Reason being is that I lived in SoCal and Invida is in El Monte which was about 20 miles from where I had the exhaust delivered. Link to their Post http://my350z.com/forum/engine/46984...9-shipped.html I’ll give you feedback on the quality of the exhaust a bit later, but first comes the install. So the mechanic I took it to charged me 60 bucks to uninstall the old exhaust and install the new exhaust. I thought that was fairly reasonable since most mechanics charge roughly 60 – 80 dollars an hour. I figured this job may take 45min to 1+ depending how easy it was to remove the old cat backs.. So my mechanic suggested we first lay out the exhaust making sure all the parts and flanges are there we kept the plastic on so that we didn’t scrape the piping. After a quick check everything seems to be in order. So he begins the install. Taking the exhaust was fairly easy. Now begins the install starting from the cats back. He puts in the appropriate flanges and keeps the bolts loose since these types of exhaust typically installs from cat to the muffler first. When he was ready to put on the last pipe, the driver-side pipe that attaches to the muffler, he noticed that the pipe was only tac welded and not completely welded. He suggests that I contact the TopSpeed to see what they can do. At first I spoke to Angela, she was quite nice and apologetic. She stated that she will talk to Invidia to see if they can get a pipe there by tomorrow morning and she said if I could send her the pics. So I did. I asked the mechanic what are my options. He said, I can put back the stock exhausts now and take the car home. But since he was busy the next day, he stated, if I leave the car here he’ll need to charge me 45 dollars. I call back Angela and she agreed to cover the storage fee of 45 dollars and since Invidia was already closed, she will call the first thing tomorrow. Here is where it turns bad. She asked if I can be put on hold. She puts me on the phone with another guy who’s suggestion is to just install all pipes I have now and take the car home with the bad pipe uninstalled. If you’ve been to socal you know cops are D[email protected] I told them hell no, unless they want to pay for all my tickets that I would get running a 350z without exhaust.. Not to mention I would be running way too lean. So he says, well Invidia does not do the same day shipping but he will call them fist thing tomorrow to see if they can get the pipe. Now its about 2 hours into this everything is closed. The all the guys have left the shop except for the owner who was willing to stay late. I asked what if they can’t they will charge me another day to store my car here will they cover the 90 dollars? Now they change their tune, they say they will not give me anything back, even though Angela had agreed on at least a 45 dollars for my troubles. I asked for my money back and I told them I will re-ship the exhaust at my own cost back to where it came from. They refuse and said I have to talk to Ividia about that. I said I bought the exhaust from you and not Invidia. The guy gets pissed and says we’re helping you out, that it that’s final. The only people that lost on this deal is you. So its basically a your SOL you sun of a gun.. If they would have said this in the beginning I would have saved 45 bucks. So in any case shops closed, guys have left. I was forced to leave my car there totaling cost of 105 bucks. The next morning at 10:30 pst the shop calls asking what I wanted to do. I call the shop and Angela isn’t there they said she’ll be in in 30 min. Call back still not there. I asked to speak to a manager and Joe says Invidia will call me and that I have to work things out with them. Since I didn’t hear back from them I said just put back the stocks. 11:30ish Invida calls, the guy is very apologetic unlike TopSpeed. I explain it to him, he apologizes and tells me he’s shipping the pipe now and it should be at the shop tomorrow. Good thing I put on my stocks or else there goes another 45 bucks. I asked if he can do anything for me. He said no because I didn’t buy the exhaust from him, which is understandable. He did say for me to call the shop I got it from and tell them you spoke to me. Tell them that their next Invidia purchase would be ½ off to see if they can credit you any type of money for your troubles. It sounded fair to me. The vendor is willing to take a discount on their profit if the seller would just credit me even ½ of what I spent which is now at $105. So I called them spoke to the manger Joe. Total ass. Wouldn’t even listen to me on what his supplier was offering. Total jerk claiming this is my business I sell it to you cheap. No refunds what so ever. (Note no where in the site ever said no refunds). So he hangs up on me again. I say again cus that’s the guy I proly spoke to the day before. Lesson Learned, even though some vendors claim be sponsors of my350z.com I guess its still buyer beware. I’m still thinking of going to Pay Pal and filling a claim. This shop sold me a defective product and instead of handling it, forced me to talk to the manufacturer directly. But Never Ever buy anything from this shop. Total jerks that are nice to you before they get your money. Now I’m down $105 bucks with a defective exhaust on the garage floor. Oh did I mention I had to freking catch a ride today? My subie was in the shop thus two cars down to 0.. what a day.. Good Weld..........................Tack Weld/Incomplete **Cliff notes: Topspeed Autoparts is trying to avoid taking responsibility for parts they selling. Makes friend called the manufacturer. After that, will not re-imburse for faulty parts without hassle. Manufacturer fesses up and will ship part, but retail seller will not re-imburse time and money spent due to install and storage fee. Buyer says he will ship back the product for a refund on his own dollar, but seller will not take it back and make him ship to the manufacturer. __________________ Go big or go home!

07-15-2010, 02:10 AM	#3
drift into a curb Post Whore! Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Seoul, South Korea Posts: 2,870 Trader Rating: (5) Feedback Score: 5 reviews	Hey Sam, I understand that he could have had a welder finish up the work, but I doubt he would have even been reimbursed for that from the retailer. Buying a full exhaust system from a retailer, then you would expect no less but a complete system. Thanks for the comment. __________________ Go big or go home!

07-15-2010, 10:58 AM	#4
drift freaq R.I.P. Aya, always love Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Los Feliz/Hollywood Posts: 18,558 Trader Rating: (215) Rides Gallery: drift freaq Feedback Score: 215 reviews	I do see a problem with the retailer, though I do have one other question. What kind of shop that is doing work for a person charges them storage fee's while waiting for the parts due to problems? That is as shady as what the retailer did. Any reputable shop will not charge a customer storage fee's on a car that is waiting for parts due to a wrong part or part issue, especially one or two days. In my opinion your friend did not only got screwed by Top Speed, but got screwed by the shop that was charging him to install the exhaust as well. __________________ "Having a lot of tracks on a song is like putting stickers on a car to get more horsepower" New Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uebV1OnbRsw Buy my mounts! http://zilvia.net/f/sale-items/51531...ns-mounts.html http://zilvia.net/f/tech-talk/317539...e-mouts-6.html

07-15-2010, 12:35 PM	#5
drift into a curb Post Whore! Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Seoul, South Korea Posts: 2,870 Trader Rating: (5) Feedback Score: 5 reviews	By the way, this was a part my friend brought into the shop. Unless it's a maintenance job or it was the shop's fault that the part problem occurred, then I wouldn't say it was out of line to charge the storage fee. Some shops just don't have the overhead to allow parking overnight. My friend could have had his stock exhaust installed back on the same day, but he'd still be charged for the installation. I don't consider that shady because the shop isn't making money allowing non running cars to sit around whether it's a day or week. I understand what you're pointing out though. Since the shop is already working on the car, then at the very least, they shouldn't charge for storage fees. __________________ Go big or go home!

07-15-2010, 01:29 PM	#7
drift into a curb Post Whore! Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Seoul, South Korea Posts: 2,870 Trader Rating: (5) Feedback Score: 5 reviews	I'd say an accidental slip of Q(uality)C(ontrol) on part of the manufacturer. At least they were willing to fix the situation. Thumbs up to Invidia for trying to resolve the issue. __________________ Go big or go home!

07-15-2010, 02:00 AM	#2
Sam_Well.13 BANNED Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Costa Mesa Posts: 855 Trader Rating: (5) Feedback Score: 5 reviews	Bad customer service indeed. i know it couldve been a simble fix.. while the exhaust was off, a simple weld could fix that. im sure your mechanic wouldve hooked you up. but on their part... not very professional, hangin up on a customer. sorry to hear,

07-15-2010, 01:02 PM	#6
J3123MY BANNED Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: California Age: 30 Posts: 235 Trader Rating: (2) Feedback Score: 2 reviews	Damn, how did that weld even happen? Damn 105$ to install a exhaust?

07-15-2010, 05:51 PM	#9
drift into a curb Post Whore! Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Seoul, South Korea Posts: 2,870 Trader Rating: (5) Feedback Score: 5 reviews	Thank you for stopping by and supporting good shops sw20>>s14. There are plenty of legit online order stores and good local shops you can support that are willing to support you back in return! __________________ Go big or go home!

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