My Horrible Invida purchase from http://topspeedautosport.com/ (TopSpeedAutoSport)
My Horrible Invida purchase from http://topspeedautosport.com/ (TopSpeedAutoSport)
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 https://my350z.com/forum/engine/4698...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@cks. 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 ***. 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..
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 https://my350z.com/forum/engine/4698...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@cks. 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 ***. 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..
I think tryin to rush the vendor probably didnt help either? Was the exhaust so bad that you couldnt have a welder/ muffler shop fix it for you? That doesnt change the fact that the customer service/manager was being a dick. very unprofessional
OP should have checked the product (including welds) prior to disassembling the vehicle/installation of the part. The product should be replaced under warrantee, but getting anybody to pay for installation/storage is going to be tough. I would get the mechanic/installer to eat it, if they didn't catch it prior to installation.
Last edited by mrblah; Jul 14, 2010 at 04:49 PM.
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From: Vancouver BC
straight up lol
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**** happens. you cant expect your vendor to pay for the $35.00 for your crappy tech to hold your car. its like taco bell forgot to put hot sauce in your bag and you drive back to get it, do you demand they compensate you for gas? there is a line you cant expect the vendor to cross. the only thing they should do is apologize and get you the replacement part as soon as possible and no more. it would be different if your vendor made the exhaust themselves but all they are doing is selling another manufacturers part. i dont blame walmart if i get a toaster oven made by black and decker. all i expect them to do is to replace the part or refund my money. i dont expect walmart to compensate me for my time, troubles or gas. in your case you chose to take your car to that tech. that tech has a shitty policy unfortunately. you pay for picking that particular shop to do the work.
Last edited by Nexx; Jul 14, 2010 at 05:24 PM.
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 422
Likes: 0
From: Warren, NJ/Boston, MA
Situation sucks but its one of those eat your foot deals. Either you paid 45$ to have your stock exhaust taken off and put back on and another 45 to have the invidia installed when all the right pieces are there. OR get the part overnighted. This is what forums are for. Good letting others know.
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 339
Likes: 0
From: Bellevue, WA
First, it sounds like you paid for the exhaust with Pay Pal? If you had used a credit card, you can file a chargeback and drop the exhaust off at TopSpeed. Lesson #1: NEVER USE PAYPAL TO BUY ITEMS ONLINE. Visa provides fraud protection and will handle vendors who ship the wrong items - take advantage of this. Get a dedicated visa card just for online purchasing.
Second, it doesn't matter what TopSpeed says, since they sold you faulty merchandise they are responsible for providing the properly welded parts, or refunding your money. You can revoke acceptance upon inspection and detection of a fault within a certain time window. Your agreement is with TopSpeed, not Invidia. If TopSpeed doesn't like that, they shouldn't sell it. Lesson #2: don't keep faulty merchandise - return it as soon as possible.
Third, you can return the exhaust to TopSpeed in person and leave it there. You do not need to ship it back to Invidia. TopSpeed failed to provide what they were advertising, and thus they are responsible for fulfilling the defective order. If your purchase agreement states that you agreed to pay for warranty shipping, then you may have to pay it. Lesson #3: Always inspect the goods upon receipt and check the purchase and sale contract for any language that governs warranty and refunds.
Finally, no matter what the agreement says, merchants are required to provide what they advertise and what you agreed to. You did not agree to buy a partially-welded exhaust, and thus they are on the hook for the completed goods.
Second, it doesn't matter what TopSpeed says, since they sold you faulty merchandise they are responsible for providing the properly welded parts, or refunding your money. You can revoke acceptance upon inspection and detection of a fault within a certain time window. Your agreement is with TopSpeed, not Invidia. If TopSpeed doesn't like that, they shouldn't sell it. Lesson #2: don't keep faulty merchandise - return it as soon as possible.
Third, you can return the exhaust to TopSpeed in person and leave it there. You do not need to ship it back to Invidia. TopSpeed failed to provide what they were advertising, and thus they are responsible for fulfilling the defective order. If your purchase agreement states that you agreed to pay for warranty shipping, then you may have to pay it. Lesson #3: Always inspect the goods upon receipt and check the purchase and sale contract for any language that governs warranty and refunds.
Finally, no matter what the agreement says, merchants are required to provide what they advertise and what you agreed to. You did not agree to buy a partially-welded exhaust, and thus they are on the hook for the completed goods.
Always check out your parts no matter what vendor ships it to you (for missing parts, dents, cracks etc, **** happens). Since they were in El Monte, I would of drove over there and show them that their QC sucks, and they need to check what they send out the door. Just my 2 cents.
When im purchasing something, I always prefer to pick it up myself. I get to save money for shopping, and i also get the part faster, because I can't contain my excitement waiting for shipping haha. That being said, you should have just put the stock back on in the beginning and taken the exhaust the next day yourself.
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Joined: Sep 2007
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From: Anaheim, CA
To some of the guys, I think the point is being missed here. Topspeed Autoparts is trying to avoid taking responsibility for parts they selling. They are the retail seller. They should do what they can to make sure that the manufacturer is selling the correct part. This is part of customer service. Say you buy your PS3 at Target. Your PS3 has a broken blu-ray drive out of the box. Now when you go to Target, they don't tell you, "Too bad, too sad, go contact Sony." They accept the item back and they return it to the manufacturer themselves.
No legit shop should ever recommend driving on that incomplete. It could warp the flange. And especially when it comes to parts you guys spend lots of hard earned money on. Seriously? Topspeed Autoparts? Please, please, please, I hope for your sake that you work on your customer service.
Good Weld..........................Tack Weld/Incomplete
No legit shop should ever recommend driving on that incomplete. It could warp the flange. And especially when it comes to parts you guys spend lots of hard earned money on. Seriously? Topspeed Autoparts? Please, please, please, I hope for your sake that you work on your customer service.
Good Weld..........................Tack Weld/Incomplete
Last edited by driftintoacurb; Jul 14, 2010 at 11:46 PM.