A while back (about 10 weeks to be exact) I decided I would get myself a CP-E exhaust for the Ralliart, as while I liked the HKS one, it was a bit too quiet for me. I found online a shop called MPS Garage, that was right here in Sydney, who was the Australian stockist for CP-E. Their website said they had the exhaust in stock, and at $999 it was probably about the same price that I would have paid for it landed here if I had ordered from the US.
So wanting to support the local car modding industry I called up the shop to place my order. The guy on the phone was friendly enough, but told me they had none in stock, but checked on the computer and said that they could have one from the states within 2 weeks. Sweet. So using their online checkout I wired away some of my hard earned $$$.
Now the 2 week thing was no issue for me as I was going to be away with work, so would return a week after the promised delivery date. Perfect, I'll get back, pick it up and be able to put it on the weekend I get back
I decided to call while i was away on work a few days before I got back just to make sure it had arrived. I was told that 'It looks like CP-E didnt actually have stock, and was waiting for us to put money in their account so they could fabricate the system. Yeah they do that sometimes. We aren't sure when it will be in. Probably the next shipment in 4 weeks.'
Hmmm ok pretty bummed about this, but hey these things happen. I call up several weeks later to see how things are going. Still getting a similar response. More excuses. I should also mention that I tried to email MPS Garage and got no response, and it was very difficult to actually get them on the phone. I started getting quite annoyed at this stage and decided to email CP-E myself.
I emailed CP-E in the US and got a response the next day. The guy told me he couldn't help himself, but was passing the message onto someone who could. He also told me they were going to Sema and it would probably be a few days to get a reply. No worries, thats fair enough, thanks for letting me know.
1 week later I emailed CP-E to see what was going on, only to be informed that 'It appears that MPS Garage haven't got a Ralliart exhaust in their last order'. WHAT THE F#*K ?!?! Ok so now I'm really not happy
I call up MPS Garage and tell them what I've heard. The guy there says a delivery has just cleared customs and my exhaust is probably in that shipment, and its from a previous order so CP-E may have got it wrong. Ok ok. I'm a trusting guy, I like to think that people are inherently good. It's all been a mix up in communication. I call back a few days later (last week) and they tell me they are still unpacking the shipment. Ok cool so its there at least, I'll pick it up when I'm back in Sydney.
So I get back to Sydney on Wednesday and decide to call and see whats going on. No answer. No answer. Maybe they are really busy? I go for a drive out there. Hmmm. There is no one there. On Thursday, at 11am. Ahhh I think a business should be open during these hours. There is a hand written note on the door that says 'drop deliveries to unit 1 or unit 5'. Ok so maybe those guys in those units know what is going on. Maybe they are away at a car show or something. I go down to unit 5 but no one is there. I drop into unit 1 and ask if they know where the guys from MPS Garage are. No one has any idea what I'm talking about when I mention the delivery note.
As I said before, I'm probably too trusting. I probably should have clicked earlier that something was wrong. Maybe the guy running the show is away at a car show, or a race, or has a family emergency. I'd like to believe that. But looking at the evidence, it seems like I've been ripped.
I called my bank and explained the situation, and have asked to have the transfer reversed. However, as I paid for it using my VISA debit, it was my actual money, so not sure how successful its going to be. I'm not holding my breath. Anyway the bank is doing a formal investigation, whatever that means.
So this is what happens when I try to do the right thing, and buy from the Australian distributor. Now I'm not saying this is applicable to all shops in Australia, far from it, this is just one experience, with one shop. I'm sure that the majority of shops in Australia are not like this. However, I have to say, in general I have found that the customer service I've received from the guys in the US has been great. And that begs the question - why would I buy locally if its going to cost me more? It's the customer service. Something these guys didn't do well from day 1. Each time I called they tole me they would call back, but never did. They didn't reply to my email. They made up excuse after excuse when I actually got them on the phone.
The whole experience has left me very bitter, and as a result I probably won't be doing any more mods on the car. What makes it worse is that I could have ordered it myself from the US, probably got it cheaper and faster, and with less headaches. I tried to do the right thing, and it appears I've been burnt. If there is one lesson to be taken from this then maybe its this - use Paypal to buy things! At least you have some protection then.
