Dezod Catback Failure / Customer Service Issues
 

I purchased the catback via FT86SpeedFactory and had it installed in December of 2015. All was perfect: sound, fitment, welds. Or so i thought.....

Last week I began hearing a strange noise at the rear of the car. Turns out where the mid-pipe meets the axelback at the Y bends cracked in half. Keep in mind that the exhaust in only 6 months old. Adult owned and driven, never bottomed out and covered with a rear diffuser so no external damage can be a factor.

I do believe i am the first person with an issue with the Dezod Exhaust.

Contact Dezod directly, email Chis H. He replies promptly:

"Those have been replaced by V2 that are in production right now. I'll be happy to offer you 50 to have local welder zip that up for you"

Some may say this is not a bad deal, however after spending close to 1k on an exhaust to have the weld fail after 6 months is unacceptable. To then have the company solve the issue by throwing me $50, so someone else can fix the work is unacceptable.

I reply saying just that I would prefer a replacement, I would be happy to pay shipping costs to be able to get said replacement. I get replied with nothing but push back, excuses that the he has none left, that it makes no logistic sense for him..... Etc

At this point i am furious. Reputation is everything. Shows complete disregard to the consumer, who out of hundreds of options chose your product. To not stand behind ones work, shows the true character of Dezod. I feel like i was told to take the $50 and scram. ...

Now some may say that i should just weld it and deal with it, and yes that is most likely whats going to happen. Some would say that yes logistically and financially it doesn't make sense for the company. Yes i do understand this might be the case, but if so should be disclosed honestly. Ultimately i feel like i should have a right to expect more from a company i spent (wasted at this point) money on. I shouldn't have to go back and weld it. If that is what i wanted i would have had a local muffler shop make me something instead.

I may have gotten a dud, but buyer beware. If you do run into issues don't expect much help from them.

I am still in the middle of going back and forth and will keep this thread updated.

I have all emails, if anyone would like to see them.

Yeah, that kind of response is totally unacceptable from them. Sorry to hear.

Sorry to hear about your experience with this exhaust. When I saw the thread title I already head a feeling that that particular weld would be cracked, and then the pic confirmed my suspicion.

I believe this would fall under a manufacturing defect, the company should be willing to do the right thing and replace it. However, from the product information pages I'm looking at, it doesn't seem to carry any sort of warranty at all.

Wow. I must say I am shocked, generally because I currently have this exhaust AND this is my sixth month.

First impressions of Dezod Motorsports was that they, "Chris", appear to be about customer service. This meant a lot to me, as my other contender (GReddy) never replied to the email that I sent them about interest of the product. Dezod also payed for my shipping, after having a slight error with the payment.

I also REALLY liked the wields, that Y bend, and the tips. After reasearching the sound of it, I went ahead and pulled the trigger. When I ordered it the exhaust eventually got here. I found it strange that the package had no labeling inside or outside.

I found the install to be very easy, I had no trouble putting everything on. HOWEVER, one of the gaskets by Dezod was cracked (so I was just waiting to turn it on to see that lovely exhaust leak). Getting a gasket to me would have taken way longer than me just getting it from Subaru... Which I did and worked perfectly.

That is really the only problems I had with Dezod. I am happy with the sound (and for the love of god THAT IDLE), it's amazing in the cabin, and I'm able to control the sound. This being my sixth month having it, I will surely look under the car some time.

I would have been furious if this happened to me, knowing that I should have gone with the more recognized company, GReddy.

Being a smaller company with not many of those exhausts being manufactured, is it just me or does the offer to pay for a local person to fix the issue not out of line?

Personally, i would have gotten it welded up and then tried to contact them since it would be much faster for reimbursement than expect the wait and shipping of a replacement and then shipping the failed part back. Seems like more work for me then just getting it fixed and getting a check.

The problem I see with that is that it's kindof an attitude like "Here's $50, now go away" - they're not really standing behind the product.

He could take the $50, go to a muffler shop, have it welded and then in the future it could crack again in the same spot. But at that point, it's no longer Dezod's problem because in their eyes they paid out the $50 and now it's the muffler shop that welded it's problem.

Unfortunately in my mind the $50 payout just doesn't feel like they're standing behind their product in any way. They're just saying "Oh well, put a band aid on it."

My point exactly. If they handled it in a better way and in the end welding it was the absolute best option then for us both, i would have no problem with it. But i was just told to eat basically. I never even recieved an apology....

After going back and forth all day Chris ultimatley told me that his offer was "industry standard" and that he doesnt need to offer me any more than he did. He essentially said he was finished with our conversation and would go no further than to pay me $50.

Just really sad because i too love everything about the exhaust however this experience just makes me want to remove it entirely. In the meantime i contacted Ft86speedFactory whom i bought it from, and they said they would contact Dezod to try to get a better result.

Hopefully ill get this welded soon , as the back end of the car is starting to heat up.

The saga continues ....

"this experience just makes me want to remove it entirely"

^^ Completely understandable. I'm shocked that he didn't even apologize for the fact that you now have a failed product on your car after only six months. There is nothing "industry standard" about offering a 5% refund on a product that fails.

I would decline the $50, go to the best muffler shop in the city, and attempt to get it TIG welded to see if that would be a permanent fix.

If it cracks again I would remove it and go with another brand. There are a number of other dual canister designs that have not had any reported issues with cracked welds.

This is the first issue with a cracked weld I have heard from the Dezod exhaust as well.


Although, like I said, they are a smaller company and it doesn't seem to be an exhaust many people buy.

I wouldnt say having none left in stock is just an excuse tossed around, its a legit excuse for a smaller company. Their current exhaust stock for the FRS/BRZ makes no mention of the V1 anymore, only that the V2 is coming soon.

I would venture to say it sets a horrible precedent to give someone a replacement that is a newer model, because then all sorts of people start coming out of the woodwork "Hey my V1 broke i want the V2" etc etc. The fact that they offered you the money to have it fixed seems like a good move to me, they could have said sucks to suck sorry about it.

I understand your pain. The weld will help you yes, but what about the resell value?? That's not fair to you ! Especially with our cars the after market support for this car is huge so buying and selling parts is just what people do, I would be mad too.

I had to offer this recently for a guy who bought an exhaust from me. It was found after deliver that there was a hairline crack on the resonator topside.

I offered to take the exhaust back but since it was a one of a kind (in the US) titanium exhaust, the buyer decided to keep it.

I offered a refund that was more than what the local welder would charge to fix the issue, but the refund was only agreed upon after the buyer decided to keep it.

It may be a small company, but fixes like these are often not ideal and the weld can fail again, especially if the exhaust design is causing premature failure at that section.


That is not industry standard.

Industry standard is to replace your part that is defective with one that is properly working. There may be some initial resistance or hesitation but the proper method is to replace what is (clearly) broken, especially if there is no impact damage elsewhere on the exhaust.

-alex

Very surprised to hear about this. Especially since folks like @ATL_BRZ have been running this exhaust without issue.

That said, I'd be willing to purchase it from you, failure and all, if you want to get rid of it and cannot get a good result from Dezod.

That's crazy to me. My biggest thing is what is their warranty policy? Anything over 100$ to me I always check the warranty that comes with it lol. If there is no warranty policy stated then that's kind of on you man... Does it suck it's cracked after only 6 months? Heck yea. Is it crappy for them to be doing you like this? Yea it's very unprofessional from what you are saying here. But if they don't offer a warranty.... Well.... Buyer has taken the risk. NOW. If they offer a warranty (at least a year for all the exhausts I have been looking at) I would take it off and send it back. Their problem not yours. Just my 2c

You're not the only one, had mine for 9 months before I noticed this; not sure exactly when it split because I was assuming it was just a leaky exhaust gasket somewhere. And at least you got offered $50, he just told me to ship it to him (I'd have to pay shipping) and he'd weld it up.

I do autox the car about 3 times per month and a random Wednesday night each month, also daily driven, not tracked yet. Through previous experience with other cars, I've never had an exhaust crack anywhere like this in 4-6 years of similar use, so 8-9 months seems silly to me. And yes, I'm more than aware that parts fail more often on cars used for autox or track days.

I ended up having a friend weld it up since I was leaving for the Bristol tour the next morning. The other problem I had with this exhaust is that it hangs ridiculously low, I moved to a new house about a month after this and destroyed the resonator in about a week on the driveway. Ended up having that welded up as well and sold the exhaust cheap to get rid of it.

Both of these issues are supposedly being addressed in version 2, but its not worth it to me to deal with them again. I replaced it with the single exit version from Hooker and am pretty happy with it; doesn't scrape on the same driveway, is a little quieter inside the car, way cheaper and better built.

Quotes:
Me - Hi, so I found this little problem with my exhaust this morning. Is this a manufacturing defect or warranty issue?
Thanks
This was purchased around august of 2015

Dezod - It is not a defect it is a wear problem. I have one myself and a few others that track theirs and beat theirs up this happens. We simply zip them right back up and go about the day.

M - Seems it shouldnt "wear out" within a year though....

D - It's a weld, it was perfectly sealed when you got it. You installed it in and track the car. The wear is upon you. I agree it should not have worn in a year, however I have no responsibility of how you treat the car or the exhaust. If you would like it welded, that's what I offered you.

There's more to that conversation, but thats the gist of it.....

Wow unreal , glad to know im not the only person having had the issue. Its evident that there are more people who have had these issues, probably a reason for version 2.

Amazing how both our conversations with him are earily similar. I may look into the hooker exhaust then.

SUCH a fucking asshole response. Wow.

"The wear is upon you"?? Really? It's an exhaust, it shouldn't have welds that fail - period. Can't believe he tried to twist the situation around and claim it's your bad because of how you "treat the car". Insane.

Dezod should be ashamed of themselves, that's the shittiest response to try and fight counter quality issues. A proper weld should hold up for years on end even with vibration or "track use" especially when road vibrations are isolated out with the rubber hangers. They seriously need to own up.

I am ashamed to have been a customer of theirs. Never again.

I would recommend the Ultimate Racing Catback to you guys. I had bought it for my car before this Dezod came out... I won't say the Dezod is a ripoff but they look exactly the same and I never had a problem with the Ultimate Racing, I sold it after a year to a friend and its still in great shape structurally even though my friend and I had scrapped it multiple times. Their customer service is great too!

link is here: http://www.ultimate-racing.com/colle...atback-exhaust

After reading this thread I went to check my catback... low and behold:

http://i.imgur.com/DEfX9EO.jpg

Hey no problem, just ship that back to Dezod at your expense and they will zip that back up for you!

Well their poor customer service and lack of desire to stand behind their product, is now biting them in the ass. They forget these issues get spread quick over the internet. Most ppl understand defects happen, and are willing to accept it when a company shows desire to fix it. Looks like future buyers should look elsewhere.

V2, just in time for customers to not want to do business with them.

So just as an update to the thread. I did contact FT86SpeedFactory, and they did contact Dezod for me. They received the same response that i did , and it was all they could do. Interestingly the cat back is no longer for sale on their website.

Going to get it welded at this time and see how that works. I might add some reinforcement to prevent flexing and prevent another crack down the line. I have also never received another email from Chris @ Dezod.

I suggest for anyone that has this exhaust take a look.

We had to discontinue it quite some time ago due to them stopping the MFG process on the system at the end of 2015. If it was our system we could take more measures to solve this but just like with an HKS, Greddy, Invidia, Borla, and others we have to let the MFG handle their warranty claims when outside of normal return policy's. Sorry for the trouble on this. :(

I apologize for not being clear. You guys helped in the best way you could ! I asked for help just to contact and sure enough you did, and made sure to follow up. Could not ask for more , many thanks !

Guess ill just have to order soemthing new ;)

In for another failure. Was doing an frs brake job this weekend and sure enough. We go to check his dezod cat back. BOOM BABY!!!! It was cracked exhaust same place.... Wow

Wow , so now 4 cases all exact same issue.

His responses to your cases are almost sickening. I'm truly sad that you all got stuck with these kinds of problems.

its too bad that this is how its being resolved. knowing what you guys are experienced would turn me away from future purchase.

Damn! This thread is so painful to read... Spent good chunk of your hard working money and get slap across the face.

They're sending him money to get it re welded locally also. Didn't ask him if they offered to take it back and repair. I'm sure the cost for him to ship it to them would've been more then he was given though lol. Idk for me it's the point of the matter

I didn't take the $50 because if something happens again to the exhaust, he can just say you received the money go away. Technically speaking he now fulfilled his "industry standard warranty" and can tell you **** off.

Its just sickening that we now have 4 cases of the same issue and he still has not made any move to right an obvious wrong.

I ended up buying a new exhaust to mount up. Going to weld the Dezod and hopefully sell it off. At this point i want nothing on my car to be associated with that company.

Well hello there,

This is Chris from Dezod Motorsports.

I wanted to offer transparency to the thought processes so I can clear the air. I can attach the copy of the full email conversation. I want to be clear I have nothing to hide. I always deal with all the cards face up. Frankly, my time is valuable and from his position I can imagine that his is too, maybe I’m wrong. I too have the entirety of the email to share with you all if you'd like.

The warranty states as if the item can be repaired then it meets a repair warranty. If the section simply falls apart then of course yes Dezod would be happy to replace that item. This is a repair warranty and would be very easy to handle. The policies and warranty offered is exactly that, it is not so malleable to fit anyone’s agenda. Not having nor going to build more of the V1 units is not an excuse of any kind, it is a fact of which would not have changed the outcome of this situation. Of course we are aware of the situation and yes that’s why there’s a V2 now. To say that there is no care given to the product is ludicrous. Dezod has taken steps to remedy the issues from the past as well as strengthening the V2’s so that we can future proof our products.

Regarding the conversation I cut right to the point and in hopes of making it as painless as possible as this would be a difficult conversation to have for anyone. Dezod offered two value added options neither of which were very costly to the customer at all. Clearly there was no intention of shirking any responsibility or stonewalling anyone in this situation in any manner. The options I offered are in fact parallel with industry standard.

http://www.hks-power.co.jp/en/suppor...y/exhaust.html

http://www.greddy.com/warranty/


I hate that all the people are upset. I'll be happy to make things right with said repair warranties to those that have problems. Please let me know if I can help any of you, I am certainly aware of what's happening and more than happy to handle the situation under our policies and guide lines.

Chris

I am glad that you came to join the conversation and I am sure that the users of your exhaust in this thread appreciate it - it's good that a V2 is (or will be) available.

However, "cutting right to the point" like that in answers to issues and questions may not always "get to the point", as we noticed in some quoted conversations here. I know that if I got a response like the few posted in this thread, I would not be happy.

These are just my $0.02. I do not have this exhaust, nor do I sell them, so I cannot speak from experience.

Yes a V2 is going to be a much stronger unit with the same sound that's loved. We are proud to be releasing it and happy to deal with warranty units until then.

In my day to day I solve problems, my time is valuable, I treat your time the same way. If the customer doesn't appreciate the response, I'm sorry but frankly I was trying to be efficient and not make a hassle for them and this is the return. I can't control how it was perceived and I have no way to understand how it will be perceived. They weren't happy with their answer and there's nothing I can do about that. I was truthful, honest, and wanted nothing more than to solve his problem for them under Dezod stated policies. I attempted to do so. I lived up to my warranty. Here we are.

My phone number is very publicly posted. I'm happy to talk.

@DezodDevelopment Thank you for joining us. From a business standpoint I am sure everyone here fully understands that your time is valuable... You coming here is by no means making you any money and is most likely the last thing you want to be dealing with right now. In reality though this is, if not, the largest 86forums. People will read this and see the conversations about this exhaust and could very well be a selling point as to whether or not they purchase the V2. So its not like this is a complete loss for you when it comes to future sales. Thank you for making the account and coming here to talk about the issue.

My problem is I cannot find DEZOD's warranty page anywhere. Both links where to other manufacturer pages. Am i miss something? Why not have a page for manufacturer warranty information? I cant find it so if there is one please link it.

Before I comment on customer service can you just go on and post the email?

I mean one person posts this problem and within 2 weeks everyone is running out and checking their dezod catback system and 4 people alone in this thread have posted cracks. The product is failing on a "quality" $800+ exhaust in under a year. That just seems crazy to me

Imagine spending almost 1k on something and in under a year you see this....

@DezodDevelopment your warranty is not posted anywhere online. Is it included in documentation with the product?

Care to post the entire wording of your warranty?

Perhaps I'm reading it wrong, but this post came across to me as rather weaselly.

It doesn't really matter what your warranty states. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, which all US states have adopted to some extent, every new product sold in the US carries certain implied warranties unless expressly disclaimed in writing (and some states don't even allow them to be disclaimed at all). These implied warranties trump your written warranty and apply whether you have a formal warranty policy or not.

One of these warranties is the implied warranty of merchantability, which basically states that the product you sell will be suitable for its intended purpose. If it's not suitable for its intended purpose, you have to repair the item so that it's suitable for its intended purpose, replace it with an item that is suitable or refund the customer's money if you can't make the other two options work.

You appear to have a design flaw in your product. You have a TIG welded deep joint that's very difficult for even an expert welder to properly weld without bridging the sides of the joint rather than getting fusion all the way down into the root. You also have two curved pieces of stainless steel, which I assume are mandrel bent, which means that the outside of the curve (where your failing weld is) will be thinner than the inside. The metal deep in the crotch of that joint will also be thinner than the metal along the rest of the weld where you have a solid fit up and good fusion. This piece is being heated and cooled repeatedly during normal use, with the inside and outside of the curves expanding and contracting at different rates, so that the bends in the pipe are going to want to try to curl and straighten as they're heated and cooled. That means your already difficult weld will be under constant stress. And it's all subject to considerable vibration. I would be surprised if this design didn't crack.

So if your product is cracking after six months as a result of a design flaw or defect in workmanship, which is definitely NOT industry standard performance, your product is not suitable for its intended purpose. Therefore, under the implied warranty of merchantability, you have a responsibility to repair, replace or refund the product.

You have that responsibility, not the customer, and not some unknown muffler shop that the customer contacts. Unless you direct that customer to a repair facility that you have authorized to do the warranty work and whose work you intend to warranty also, giving him $50 and telling him to go get it fixed himself does not meet the requirements of the warranty. If the guy gets it fixed locally, when it cracks again because of the stress of heating and cooling you can always just say that it was his fault for choosing a bad welder.

It seems to me that any repair you attempt yourself is going to fail again because of the design flaw, which would not make it suitable for its intended purpose. Unless you can replace it with a new version that corrects the design flaws, the only truly acceptable solution here is for you to provide a refund. I realize that's a huge burden on you and not something any company would want to have to do, but that's part of the risk of doing business.

Keep in mind that if you get sued over this, it only takes six people to certify a class, and you already have four discussing the issue right here in this thread. You might want to take a more proactive approach toward making these folks happy rather than posting excuses.