Just want to round out the picture a bit - and in the spirit of transparency, Apex is a paying advertiser in the honda305 marketplace - that said, I have several points to make, in no particular order:
- Parts should be of good quality - that's what people expect
- Customer interraction should be respectful - that's what people deserve
- Price can mitigate the divide between quality and expectations; price can do that, but I have no way of judging to what degree (as many opinions as individuals, I suppose)
- Tom (Apex) has spent vast amounts of time, energy and expense - as many business owners must do - to make a wide array of products available (for the VJ hobby).
- It is a huge operation to spec, source and finance the production of reproduction parts
- Apex deserves due credit for doing that
- Let's not paint with too broad a brush, even though
- Some of the products might be of better quality, some lower
- Everyone can relate to the frustration of receiving a poor quality item and less that happy customer service
- It becomes too easy to disregard the other parts to the equation
.. MS
Apex Cycle quality exhaust???? (NOT)
Very well said Michael. A fellow into restoring Alfas wisely said that when he gets a bad repro part from a vendor he notes not to buy that part from them. If that vendor supplies a few bad parts across the board he doesn't buy anything from them unless it is the only source for a part.
I bought a part from Apex and it was fine. Has been several years and it was for a CA95... All said, those exhausts in the pictures Paul posted are pretty lousy looking! Matt
Also into Alfa Romeo Giuliettas and Giulias! Looking for a Giulia Super.
Michael I totally agree with your statment. when I contacted Tom I expressed my dislike for the quality of the items I received. I figured I may have received one that slipped through "quality control" and that he would offer a replacment but It didn't make things any better with the ststment I received back from him "the mufflers on my website are the exact mufflers you received...I would hate to tarnish your lovely project with my terrible product".
Look, I'm a small business owner but we deal with many many customers on a daily basis and never did I put out a product as bad as the one I received or have I ever replied to one of my customers concerns in that tone. As for a paying advertizer. Well If this site has to rely on that type of vendor putting out that type of quality and dealing with the problem as he did the visitors to this site deserve to know about it. I'm out over $300. I would think if Tom was a good business man he would send out a better looking exhaust to me and I send the old set back (On his dime) It's not my fault I got this terable looking product! I doubt very much that there's anyone on this site that would be happy with the product I paid for in good faith and received. I don't like being in this position but Tom put me in it and he should do the right thing. I sent him a link to view the pictures but he didn't reply. The set was paid for via PayPal so we're contacting them to make a formal complaint and see if something can be done about this mess. Paul
I totally agree with Paul; Tom could have made this right but he chose not to.
He could have earned himself and his business high praise if he would simply have made the offer to exchange the products, he chose not to. Instead he chose to rightly earn criticism for his extremely poor customer service. Sure it would have cost him a few bucks, but what has the bad publicity cost him? I would guess that the result he has earned by his offensive response to Paul has cost him quite a bit more than would have a simple exchange. I am sure that the business that Tom is in is tough and that attempting to offer a quality product at a good price for these old bikes is a hard mission to accomplish, but alienating your customer base is not a good way succeed in that mission.
While I didn't have a customer service issue with Apex Cycle, I also experienced quality control problems with these pipes. The finish was exactly like these ones (lousy), not to mention the fact that the were not the most free-flowing pipes around, performance-wise. I then saw the light and bought a pair of EMGO Dunstall Decibel replica mufflers (pictured here), and for the money they are awesome. The only difference I see between them and original Dunstalls is the welded seam at the business end of the muffler (and of course they aren't imprinted with the Dunstall name). I think the finish is great, they are more free-flowing than stock, and they sound great. I've purchased at least four of these mufflers and the EMGO quality is consistently good -- heck, even JC Whitney sells 'em!
David Silver's ReprosHi - thought I'd add my experiences to this.
Bought a pair of reproduction CB72/77 silencers from David Silver here in the UK over a year ago and the time has come to replace the current rechromed ones that are falling apart internally. Accuracy of shape etc., ... pretty good, right shape, length etc. Quality of Manufacture & Finish ... OK, obvious bits well chromed but bits around the brackets less so and the surface finish on the out of sight parts is a bit rough, there were a couple of bits of metal sticking out. Fit - R/H silencer went on with no problems, but having some problem with the L/H one. All the bolt holes line up but the upper weld ( just in front of the bolt that goes into the engine ) digs into the underside of the chaincase. There is not enough movement/slack to adjust the silencer so it doesn't hit the case, and I am concerned that being in contact on the weld rather than on a reinforced mounting might cause damage in the long term. I am considering making an alloy plug to screw into the engine that takes a smaller bolt holding the silencer on; that way I may be able to tilt it enough to clear the chaincase. Also think they may sit a bit further in than the originals . which would be an advantage if I ever thought I was going to lean it over that far !! Header to Silencer/Muffler fit - the mouth of the silencer seems bigger than the originals. I had one genuine gasket that swapped OK but on the other I had an O-ring that did the job. Putting this into the new silencer doesn't work .. its too loose; messing about trying to make a new gasket with silencer packing. Baffles - I'd bought a set of repro baffles on Ebay from Apex and they look like good reproductions of the originals; however, they won't go into these silencers. The silencers are not internally the same as the originals but are of the absorbtion type and the "tube" containing the exhaust packing has a smaller ID than the baffle OD and comes much closer to the end of the silencer. I've read a comment from LM on another thread about there being different baffles for the CLs, so maybe those would fit but these are definitely CB silencers. Overall the David Silver repros look pretty good, shame not in stainless and definitely not cheap at @£160 + tax a piece ( @$350 + ) but if you want something that looks original there doesn't seem to be much choice. PS - I have a couple of sets of dented/bent stainless silencers; anyone ever cut them open to straighten them out and beat out the dents ? is it a DIY job ? cheers Phil ( Sussex, England ... where we we've had, sun, rain and hailstones all in the same day .. )
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