My Experience With CPE and their long-tube headers

[xtmesisx]

I've had some reoccurring customer service drama with CPE for quite some time now and it seems that the longer it continues the harder it is to get a hold of them.

Here's my situation... I hope that posting in here might help this situation get resolved.
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I purchased a set of long-tube headers from CPE back in December 2009 through a mazda6club group buy. I've had reoccurring issues with the catted y-pipe since the initial purchase of exhaust system. Here's my story... it's a long one.

Initial installation

By the end of April 2010 I had saved enough money to get the headers and catted y-pipe installed by my mechanic. During the installation I got two calls from my mechanic. The first was that we were missing parts (CPE got them promptly shipped out) and the second was the y-pipe was too short. The mechanic said that he need to pull on the exhaust and use extra gaskets to get everything lined up.

As an aside the mechanic noted the EGR bung on the Bank 1 (rear) manifold was off by a few inches as well, but this ended up not being that big of a deal because he was able to heat and bend the EGR tube to fit. CanyonRider had the same problem with his install.

The first failure

Within the first six months of the installation I noticed that my exhaust note was getting progressively louder (November 2010). Turns out this was the issue:




As you can see the bracing failed. We assumed this was due to the excessive strain placed on the y-pipe from the length discrepancy.

I emailed CPE in March 2011 and told them about the issues. They performed the necessary warranty repairs on the y-pipe by making it a bit longer and removing the bracing so the pipe could "move more freely."

When my mechanic received the repaired y-pipe he noted that the pipe was, in fact, longer, but still wasn't quite long enough, and said that I'd probably have issues again.

The second failure

One month later (April 2011) I heard the exhaust leak coming back so I took the car back to the mechanic. This time some welds had failed and the pipes were starting to pull out of the collector (union). This is what the pipe looked like off of the car before we send it in for the second repair (note the arrows and lack of bracing):





So I shipped the y-pipe back down to Maryland a second time, had it repaired, re-installed by my mechanic, and by the beginning of May 2011 I had the car back on the road in time for my 550 miles adventure to North Carolina for my internship. You'll be able to see the repair job in the next couple sets of pictures; they basically tack welded bits of metal to collector for support (I guess).

The third failure

It was almost one month to the day that my y-pipe failed a THIRD time in June 2011 (the second time in 2 months), and this failure was the worst yet. This time the Bank 1 pipe had PULLED COMPLETELY OUT OF THE COLLECTOR.



I contacted CPE yet again about this and asked if there'd be anyway for me to drive up to Maryland and have them repair the pipe on the car since something was clearly not working. I threw out a couple of dates to come up, but only one date worked for them and there was a caveat; I'd have to do the work myself since they wouldn't have anyone available to wrench on the car. Yes. You read that correctly.

When I declined that offer they told me to mail it in again, but I declined that was well. I explained to them I no longer had the luxury of borrowing my parent's car while mine was down and that I couldn't afford to rent a car on an intern's salary. They threatened to void my warranty if I took the car somewhere else to get repaired, but I opted to take that route anyway since getting the pipe repaired on the car cost less than half of what it did to file a "free" warranty claim.

The fourth failure

This time the y-pipe held up for 6 months before it failed again in December 2011.




You can see the repair weld from the shop in NC in the upper left corner of the first picture; it's totally fine. Right beneath it, however, you can see the welds on the collector (CPE's repair job) had failed again.

I contacted CPE about this in January 2012 and asked for a partial refund for the price of the y-pipe so I could get a new one made elsewhere. This is the chain of events that transpired from this point on (this is mostly paraphrased for brevity):

• Josh: Send it on it and we will try to give it another combination for you.
• Me: That's not really going to work for me man.... I'd like a partial refund.
• One month goes by with no response
• Me: Josh. Did you get my last response? It's quoted below.
• Josh: No I will look at it.
• One more week goes by
• Me: It's been a little over a week so I was just wondering what the status was on this.
• Josh: I can send you an off-road pipe. We don not give refunds on used parts.
• Me: (novella explaining my situation AGAIN and asking for either a new catted pipe or a refund)
• One more month goes by with no response. It's late April 2012 now.
• Me: Just wondering if you read my last response. I sent it over a month ago.
• Josh: we cannot offer you money back. only repairs or replacement for the orginal owner.
• Me: (long response reiterating that I'd like a new catted pipe or a refund)
• Josh: Okay. I'll send you an offroad pipe.
• Me: I DON'T WANT AN OFFROAD PIPE. I PAID FOR A CATTED PIPE.
• Josh: There's something wrong with your car. I do not have any catted pipes in stock and don’t know when the next time we are running them, but I do have an offroad pipe. Even if I did have catted pipe I feel that the same thing will happen again.
• Me: That. Or maybe... MAYBE there's something wrong with the y-pipe you sold me. You know, since it hasn't fit from day 1.
• End of correspondence

Conclusion
At the end of May 2012 I ended up getting a local exhaust shop to fab me up a brand new y-pipe for the $300.

The reason I'm posting this is because CPE is always singing about their quality, American-made parts with a lifetime warranty, and they've always been known for having good customer service. These are the reasons I purchased their headers over cheaper options, but I'm here saying I've had the absolute opposite experience with them. Yeah they warrantied the pipe each time, but it cost me $100 a pop to get it fixed (shipping and labor for my mechanic) to get it done. At this point the total amount of money I've spent repairing this y-pipe comes in around $550. The total amount I've on this exhaust system all together is nearly $1800.

I'm just really disappointed that CPE doesn't really stand behind their products like they claim to. I’ve sent Josh one final email (beginning of June 2012) asking for reimbursement for the cost to fab the y-pipe OR a refund for the cost of the catted y-pipe, but I hardly expect a response.

Thanks for listening.

[Grumpyjap]

You modified the pipe twice, any other company would not warranty a product that has been modified.
please PM me your full name and contact info and I will put you in contact with the correct people.

[Easter Bunny]

I fail to see what was wrong, you receved an exhaust part which was too short, at this time you shoud have returned it for the correct piece. Installing a part in the exhaust which is too short will always result in the damage you have shown here.

How you returned it and they were able to lengthen it without making it the correct length is beyond me though.

[xtmesisx]

Originally Posted by Grumpyjap You modified the pipe twice, any other company would not warranty a product that has been modified. please PM me your full name and contact info and I will put you in contact with the correct people.

I never modified anything on the exhaust system. The only "modification" made to the pipe was the third time it failed, and all I did was have the Bank 1 pipe welded back into the collector after it pulled clean out. This was cheaper than getting it fixed under warranty, resulted in less down time for my car, and seemed to make the most sense at the time. Every time I got the pipe fixed by CPE it would fail worse than the previous time.

Sorry if I was unclear about that.

Originally Posted by Easter Bunny I fail to see what was wrong, you receved an exhaust part which was too short, at this time you shoud have returned it for the correct piece. Installing a part in the exhaust which is too short will always result in the damage you have shown here. How you returned it and they were able to lengthen it without making it the correct length is beyond me though.

It wasn't substantially short. My mechanic added an extra gasket or two to make up the difference since it was only short by ~0.50" IIRC. If it failed once and never happened again it wouldn't have been a big deal... but it failed 4 times and cost me 100s of dollars in the process.

The main issue here is that it's cost me of a lot of my own money to be fixed and it was pretty obvious that Josh didn't GAF. His responses alternated between "It's gotta be your fault" to "We can't send you a new catted pipe, but we do have offroad pipes," and it would take anywhere from 2 weeks to a month to even hear that.

I tried my best to work with them the whole time, but after a while it just got ridiculous. I've been happy with the rest of the exhaust system, but the y-pipe has been a nightmare. That's why I asked for a refund for just the original cost of the y-pipe (it was an add-on option at checkout). I figured we could just pretend like I never bought the y-pipe in the first place.

[Celestspeed3]

Wow, and I thought I was the only one who had these on my 6.

The only issue with mine was it sounded horrible between 2500-3000rpm it has a weird buzz.

[xtmesisx]

Originally Posted by Celestspeed3 Wow, and I thought I was the only one who had these on my 6. The only issue with mine was it sounded horrible between 2500-3000rpm it has a weird buzz.

LOL. Yeah there are a few of us out there still... IIRC the buzz is the VVT kicking in.

[xtmesisx]

So here's an update.

A few hours after posting up on MSF I received an email from Josh about sending my y-pipe in for repair. I figured posting up on MSF did what I intended and reopened the lines of communication. I told him (like I had months earlier via email) that I ended up getting a brand new y-pipe fabricated at a local shop.

I brought up the cost of repairs again ($600) and mentioned I thought reimbursement might be appropriate. Josh said (again) that a refund wouldn't happen, but that he could offer me parts. His initial offer was a motor mount, filter, or a pre-filter. Since I already owned all those parts he asked me what else I'd like. I asked about a couple different things they sold for the Speeds, but I was told I could only pick from the 4 things they sell for the my car (regular 6) or generic parts like filters, exhaust flanges, mufflers, bent pipes, etc.

Over the next two weeks we worked out what parts I would take in lieu of a refund and finally decided on a motor mount, an intake filter, and 4 of the Vibrant o2 sensor tuning kits they resell. The next morning I received this email:

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I responded that I was fully planning on posting up that CPE ended up trying to make it right by sending me parts I could resell. His response was:

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I messaged back asking why they'd rather cover the situation up than hit it head on and turn it into a positive PR move. Josh responded:

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I messaged back saying that my integrity was not for sale and that even if I could delete the thread I wouldn't. Josh's response was:

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At this point I'm fairly certain that constructive communication is unlikely. I'm also fairly certain that any manufacturer with a modicum of customer service would provide an adequate replacement or a refund if one of their customers experienced 4 massive defects a product within 2 years of purchase (assuming the product carried a lifetime warranty like CPE's parts do). CPE has offered neither of these, but instead continues to only offer repair of an obviously defective product as the only option, which results in out-of-pocket expenses for me every time.

Also, I have no idea how this thread is considered threatening. The story itself might be a threat to their operating income, but CPE/Josh wrote that story... I just told it.

[Voltron]

@Grumpyjap

Contact Storm, let him handle situations like this, cp-e barely checks the forums. Storm is a good dude.

[Tokay444]

How many headers?

[xtmesisx]

Originally Posted by voltron @Grumpyjap Contact Storm, let him handle situations like this, cp-e barely checks the forums. Storm is a good dude.

Is that Grumpyjap? I don't think I can send PMs yet because my post count is low.

Originally Posted by rfinkle2 Who is Josh Adams? @Grumpyjap...

According to the website he's one of founders and CFO. He's the dude I've been talking to from the beginning.

Originally Posted by Tokay444 How many headers?

Whatdaya mean?

[BoominChu]

All most of the facts here about ownership and the way this is playing out are wrong. PS there is a confidential notice on all emails sent from CP-E. I usually don't post here but this is not right.

[xtmesisx]

Originally Posted by BoominChu All most of the facts here about ownership and the way this is playing out are wrong. PS there is a confidential notice on all emails sent from CP-E. I usually don't post here but this is not right.

Josh just emailed me about that actually. AFAIK email footer disclaimers aren't legally binding, but out of respect to him I've redacted his name from the emails.

[doubleflusher]

+1 on those emails being confidential.

OP is fucking his own couch here.

[Voltron]

Look up grumpyjap's name....send him an email. You have a gripe, pretty justifiable, no question, but dropping emails before all avenues got resolved may not have been the best move on your part, especially if you need stuff fixed.

[Tokay444]

You said headers. Plural. How many headers did you have a problem with?

[xtmesisx]

Originally Posted by voltron Look up grumpyjap's name....send him an email. You have a gripe, pretty justifiable, no question, but dropping emails before all avenues got resolved may not have been the best move on your part, especially if you need stuff fixed.

OIC. Good call.

As for exploring all avenues, this problem has been going on since 2010 so I think that I've done my due diligence.

At this point I don't need anything fixed since I just went ahead and had a new y-pipe made locally, but I think that partially reimbursing me for the faulty part is more than reasonable given the amount of money I've had to put into it in the short time I've owned it.

Originally Posted by Tokay444 You said headers. Plural. How many headers did you have a problem with?

Yes said headers because I have two of them (V6), but I really meant the y-pipe that came with them. I used the word 'headers' to refer to the entire exhaust system I purchased from CP-E. Sorry for the confusion.

[Darksun280]

So you're just here to cry?

Why shouldn't I delete this thread again? Better be one hell of a reason.....

[Dano]

Lol at more bad CS stories when dealing with CPE and ESP Josh.

Good luck OP.


Tappin

[xtmesisx]

Originally Posted by Darksun280 So you're just here to cry? Why shouldn't I delete this thread again? Better be one hell of a reason.....

Not here to cry, just to try and get this resolved. Josh stopped responding to my emails for a quite some time so I figured posting in the CPE boards might help. We don't have those where I come from.

Also if I you need another reason not to delete this thread.... I too have gold wheels.

Originally Posted by Dano Lol at more bad CS stories when dealing with CPE and ESP Josh. Good luck OP. Tappin

Thanks man.

[Darksun280]

Well Grump is your contact for this. You aren't going to get anywhere making a thread and trying to bully them into a resolution 2 years after the initial contact. If they work with you or not it's going to come down to their discretion at this point.

I've been through the same issue with MAP and know what I did, I sent in the bad down pipe and got a replacement. Sure it cost me money but map gave me a store credit I was glad to use with them at a later date.

Thread closed

@Grumpyjap He's all yours.

[RichieRichness]

Originally Posted by rfinkle2 Who is Josh Adams? @Grumpyjap...

Josh and Lou were the owners but Lou pz'ed out from CP-E making Josh the only owner afaik.