A little background. My a4 is on a big turbo and currently maxed out on fueling. I'm lusting for more power so the only path is return fuel conversion, cams, built AEB head, and icing on the cake is a large port mani.
I contacted 3zero3 motorsports because I purchased my turbo back exhaust from them and was very satisfied with their customer service and the speed in which it was received, so I thought I would give them another shot. I was in contact with Nik who is a very cool guy. We talked about my purchase as well as other things. All in all a very pleasant conversation. I had questions about the manifold in which he was very accommodating in talking to Apikol to get all the answers I needed. Happy I decided to pull the trigger.
1/2/18 the manifold was shipped out directly from me to Apikol and tracking was sent to Nik at 3zero3. It was received by Apikol on 1/4/18 and promptly I got a email from Nik confirming it had arrived. The next email I received was 1/11/18 from Nik stating that Apikol was starting on it and should be sent out early of the next week. I'm super excited knowing I'll get my piece of engine jewelry very soon. I asked Nik for photos from Apikol so I can admire the intake and see what I will be getting in a couple days. 1/16/18 Nik emails me letting me know it's being shipped today and here's the tracking info. He also did state that Apikol did not send him photos of the mani. I was disappointed but I didn't think much of it at the time.
1/23/18. Here's where my nightmare began.
The manifold arrives! I eagerly open the box like it's Christmas day and I'm hit with the disappointment when I first look at it. As far as the craftsmanship I thought it looked really well put together. I called Nik immediately and told him the state of the mani and sent him pictures. He was in contact with Apikol very quickly in which they were saying it had to be scratched up in shipping and wanted pictures of every angle of the box as it was received. I complied to every request. I was told by Nik that Apikol was denying that the box I had was the box they shipped the manifold in. Apikol was initially pointing the finger at UPS saying they had opened the box and repackaged it. I told Nik what I had thought about the situation which was there is absolutely no damage to the box and even found a USPS unused folded box at the bottom of the shipping box. I told Nik it seemed like they were trying whatever they can to get out of it. This went on for a few hours up to the end of the day and we called it a night, he stated he would get back to me tomorrow. I received an email the next day stating Apikol is taking no responsibility for this because they have had issues in the past of people deliberately "sabotaging" products. I was instructed I can go through UPS insurance but since there was no damage to the box they didn't think UPS would accept it (tried and UPS wouldn't accept it.) As a consolation prize I guess.. Nik did state if I ever bought something from Apikol again they could work some kind of deal. That's the only remedy that was given to me. I went back and forth with Nik pleading my case that I didn't damage this manifold or "sabotage" it in any way. I went as far as to tell him I have time stamps from the time of the delivery to the time I called Nik at 3zero3 was 10-12 minutes (I have phone records to prove.)
What makes this whole situation fishy to me is, a conversation I had with Nik before my purchase is he told me the owner of Apikol used to work for 3zero3 (didn't know they were within driving distance from each other) and considered each other "family". Now I have a scratched up manifold and from Nik stated his hands are tied because Apikol says it wasn't sent like that when it clearly was. Nik can't do anything because he's just a online sales guy but I feel like the 3zero3 as a company failed me. This all could been avoided had Apikol sent photos to Nik like I requested to begin with. I'm stuck paying someone to take all the scratches out of a newly made manifold, roughly a couple hundred bucks. Wish I just bought a IE manifold before it was discontinued. I hope this helps someone in the future. I really can't recommend either of these companies, although Nik was awesome to deal with. I hate to even post what happened because I do like the guy. Anyways that's the end of my rant.
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Originally Posted by Wet0willy01
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