S-Line Exhaust Dispute (resolved)

Moderator edit: direct link to the resolution post in this thread.

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This is a long detailed account of my situation

Essentially, I bought S-Line Valves for my 458 X Pipe and have had nothing but issues since day one. Now, after 6/7 weeks, the item is broken. S-Line has shown a total lack of customer care and ignored me time and time again in a very time-sensitive situation. I do not trust them to help me without occurring extra costs and stress, as well as ruining a planned driving holiday that I need my car for this weekend coming.

I am no longer prepared to sit here like a clown and wait for S-Line to eventually reply to me when they feel like it. I have also been verbally abused by the owner of S-Line and I am sick of the way I have been treated.

I am seeking what is around 50% of my initial payment to repair a broken item, the labour cost of removing the item/refitting it, once fixed and $500 compensation for the hassle & stress that this has caused me. My car will have been off the road for 4 weeks in the height of the UK summer. This is not acceptable.

Full report below for those that want to know more. My advice, do not buy from this company!!

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S-Line PayPal Dispute


First off, I would like to state that my experience with Teague (the owner of S-Line) has been nothing short of an absolute nightmare. Secondly, I will try to keep this report all about the facts. I am sure Teague will try and reply and paint me in a bad light, but these are the facts and there is nothing more to it. I have decided the best course of action is to let PayPal handle this. But I wanted to let you guys know how S-Line and Teague treat their customers.

I first had a dispute with Teague regarding the shipping of my item, and he got extremely aggressive and personal. He verbally abused me several times and talked to me like a piece of crap on his workshop floor. I was absolutely disgusted that a company could treat me this way after I had sent over $3000 and waited for months for an item that was constantly delayed.

My aim is to simply get my money back for the repairs needed of my item and compensation for the fact that I have to repair a brand new item, the stress this situation has caused me, and the time my car has had off the road, not to mention the damage that this poor workmanship could have caused my extremely valuable supercar.

This is around 50% of what I paid S-Line and I deem it to be more than a fair sum I am seeking.

This all started in March of 2021. I purchased a second-hand X Pipe made by S-Line for my 2014 Ferrari 458. I had watched every single video possible and absolutely loved the S-Line sound. I also liked the fact that their parts were handcrafted, not machine ran. This should have ensured that the quality was perfect. The pricing was fair too.

I only wanted to install an Xpipe exhaust on my 458 IF I could have valves that controlled the X Pipe, and thankfully, S-Line made these valves separately. Perfect!! So I bought a second hand Xpipe (S-Line) at a great price and proceeded to try and buy the valves from S-Line.

I first started noticing that getting a reply from S-Line would take days, sometimes weeks. This was when I was trying to buy the item. I would have to chase and chase to get answers about shipping and fitment. Often my questions would be ignored, and I felt a sense of attitude. The issue was, I was screwed as I had my heart set on the S-Line sound and had purchased the second-hand main exhaust for a great price. I never thought getting the valves ordered would take so long. So, I persisted and eventually, after literally weeks, managed to place an order on the 29th of March.

If I could not have the valves, which control the X pipe Exhaust, I would not be able to fit the X pIpe. Alarm bells were ringing here, but hey, I had the part ordered, what could go wrong.

Long story short, it took over 2 months for my item to be delivered, when I was promised it would be two weeks. Covid was always their get-out clause, and to some extent, I understood this. The issue was the sheer lack of communication and customer care. Teague did not give one single dam about keeping me updated. Not ONE single time did he update me without me chasing him.

To top all of this off, I finally got a date and was absolute, positivity guaranteed that it would be here by that date. This was of the utmost importance as it was the last date that the fitters could install the exhaust before they took an extended break. This meant that if the item was late, I would have to wait another 3 weeks for fitting the item. This was unacceptable and Teague assured me that it would be here on time. I had also cancelled two fitment dates with the shop as the item was delayed and I had to put a deposit down, which I would lose if the item, was yet again delayed.

Low and behold, I got a notification from the shipping company that the delivery date would be one day later than we had agreed. There was no ‘late’ or ‘delay’ notice, I believe that Teague had just sent it knowing full well it would be a day late. He did not inform me of this, and he did not give a single dam about this. When I confronted him I sent a thorough message that was firm but fair. I did not hurl abuse, and I did not call him names. I simply asked for a partial refund or I would cancel the item. I played a bluff, and unfortunately for me, he called it.

I was shocked at what I got back. He first verbally abused me for messaging him out of hours, even though I am in the UK and he is in the US, and he sells to international countries (lol). I am not sure if he expected me to stay up until 4am to match his time zone or something?. Teague then went on a tirade and continued to abuse me and told me he was cancelling the item and that ‘I did not ****ing deserve an S-Line product’.

I tried my best to resolve this as like I mentioned before, with the valves, the x pipe was useless for me. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and eventually, I had to back down and do what I could to get Teague to agree to un cancel the order.

I felt so stupid and like I had been mistreated and taken advantage of, but there was nothing I could do. It was suck it up and take this on the chin, or not get this exhaust system on my vehicle and lose either way.

Another issue was the Import tax. I was assured that he would ship the item at a low value as he could. He did not do this and the import tax was over £450. Again, a massive issue that he did not care about.

In the end, as I said, I sucked all of this up to get the item and in the end, the import tax was knocked down a little.


Skip forward 6/7 weeks and the exhaust all of a sudden started making a horrible sound. It was not drivable. The car was in the shop for 2 weeks due to them being so busy, and when they looked at the car, they could see part of the Valves that S-Line had supplied had broken off. Issues happen and it was a shame, but I think the welding was rushed due to the delays. This would explain how a brand-new part, that was handcrafted could fail after only 300 miles and 7 weeks. I sent pictures to Teague and he denied that this was anything to do with S-Line and that the broken part was not an S-Line Part. It was not until I used some basic graphic lines on Microsoft Paint that I could prove that the part was indeed an S-Line part and it had broken off the valves, causing the exhaust to have a gaping hole in the side, and of course, make a horrible loud sound.

Teague begrudgery accepted reasonability and said he would make up a new part and send it for me. This is when things went wrong again.

1 – I asked for help with the cost of refitting the item (6 hours of labour at a cost of £450)

2 – I let Teague know I had a very important driving holiday booked and paid for (non-refundable) and that I would need the part by no later than Friday the 23rd. This would give S-Line 10 days to make the part and send it (Shipping is only 2 days if they did it Express by UPS or DHL, so they had 5-7 days to make the part up)


3 – I made it clear I would not be paying any import costs.



This was clearly a time-dependant situation and action needed taking fast. If I did not get the parts in time, I would not be able to go on my driving holiday and it would cost me thousands of pounds as the hotels and driving experience I had booked was not refundable.

Initially, Teague waited a FULL 24 hours before replying to me and he ignored my question about helping with the fitting costs and he ignored my mention of import tax. (I highly suspect he would have made me pay these fees and tell me to go screw myself if not).

He told me he would need to make up the part and that was the last I heard from him. This was last Wednesday. I sent an email every single day asking for an update and I have been ignored each time. Once again, Teague is showed his total lack of understanding of my situation and or customer service.

After speaking with the shop I can get the item fixed for around £700. This includes 6 hours of labour for the removal and refitting/welding. This is the only way to ensure the car is fixed by the time my driving holiday comes around and that I do not lose thousands for cancelling.

I am so annoyed and upset that it has come to this, but I feel I have no other choice. Now I have to foot a repair bill because S-Line can't be bothered to help me out in a timely manner.

I am confident that PayPal sees things for what they are, how I have been treated and that I was sold a faulty product. The sheer lack of customer service is an absolute joke here by S-Line and I want to let people know to avoid this downright awful company.

I have NO doubt that they make quality parts and that I was unlucky. But when a company treats their customers in this manner, they have to be avoided like the plague.

I run my own business and I can assure you that my customers needs and satisfaction is all that matters to me. Without that, I do not have a viable business. I do not know if Teague is suffering some personal issues or if something else is going on, but I cannot fathom how he lasted this long, running a business the way that he has.


This is S-Lines slogan


‘Quality, precision and high performance are our root values. Customer service is our goal’



Make of that what you will based on the facts that I have presented.


Hopefully, S-Line / Teague can finally show a bit of decency and accept my PayPal claim. It would be the very least he could do to try and save his companies reputation.

I am here, to be honest, upfront and just tell you the facts. No one should be treated the this way.

I work hard to earn the things I have in my life, and this is a big deal to me. I have been shat on every which way by Teague and as I said, I want to let you guys know how S-Line treat their customers.















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First world problems

You started with a 2nd hand exhaust?
No one forced you to put it on when you wanted it, car stuff takes time

The tone i get is you are hard to please

I used to modify my cars a lot, as i got older i minimize what i do as i find generally its not made to fit as well and often fails early

 

The second hand S-LINE exhaust is not the issue. The issue is the new exhaust, which was made to fit. Your point has absolutely zero relevance.

You clearly did not read my post properly, and I can assure you, if you had been treated the way I had, you would feel the same.


“The tone i get is you are hard to please”

If expecting a $3000 part not to break within 6 weeks and expecting a reply in a timely manner, as well as my questions being answered, is deemed as “ hard to please”

I guess you’re right.

 

No excuse for not communicating but you do seem to be making more of this than what it should be. Sometimes things break and these smaller (often large companies as well) companies always seem to be playing catch up. Yes, its annoying but I find if you are polite and understanding you tend to get better results rather than being demanding and over reacting to a situation. I bought an exhaust from S-Line years back and my experience was exceptional from start to finish so this is generally not how they roll which leads me to believe there is more to it from their perspective.

 

You said it best. No excuse for the communication issue. How can you justify this?

That is all I have ever wanted. But I got none, and here we are.

If Teague had handled this in the correct manner last week, we wouldn’t be in this situation. But as you can see, he has ignored me in a situation that needed handling due to my upcoming holiday.

Of course I appreciate that things happen. It’s how they are handled that matters. There really is no more to this.

Just because you had a positive experience doesn’t mean I did.

 

I tend not to buy second hand, but I’ve done a bunch of stuff to my 458 (cats, exhaust, tune, sticky buttons, radar and laser jammers). All my experiences and vendors on this site have been first rate.

I always pay by credit card - at least you’ve got a company to back you should you need it. I’ve had AMEX for 30 years and they’re great the few times I’ve had a dispute.

Whenever you start modding a car there’s always a roll of the dice. Sorry yours had such a bad outcome.

If it’s any consolation, my brother-in-law bought a horse trailer on line, and wired $5000 to buy it. Turned out to be a fraud and he’s out the money plus a lot of embarrassment.

 

Remember that the item in question has no fault. It’s the new item that’s got an issue.

I always insist on PayPal. I am confident I will get the fair outcome here.

Mode Carbon sold me a $2000 diffuser which didn’t fit my c63s. Clearly drop shipped. PayPal looked at the evidence and decided in my favour right away. They really do look after their buyers.


At the end of the day, communication has been poor from day 1 and I have been sold an item not fit for purpose. Drum it up all you want. Say I’m over reacting all you want. The facts speak for themselves and I would want to know how this company treat their clientele if it was me looking into buying from them.

This is entire experience with S-Line has being absolutely miserable from start to finish.

 

Not really. With all due respect (sincerely), that’s just silly. Sending $5000 upfront. No wonder scam artist are rife if people do send money upfront.

I bought an exhaust from an “apparent” reputable company that promote customer service and high quality products.

They don’t know what customer service is and the product, clearly wasn’t high quality.

The situation is a little different don’t you think!

 

What?! Issues installing an aftermarket Ferrari exhaust? My god shocking; someone alert the BBC!

I'm not sure you're going to get a lot of sympathy from those of us who do all their own work on cars, but I'll try to avoid being too much of a buzz kill here.

First, I will say that, in just looking at the one photo, it does appear to me that the quality of their welding is a little marginal. I'm only mediocre at TIG welding and even I can produce better looking SS beads. It also appears there is evidence of perhaps overheating the stainless around the welding area (but again, I'm no expert); this generally suggests a slightly inexperienced welder. I don't have any first hand knowledge of S-line, but not all exhausts are created equal and finding top quality welders for metals like Titanium or SS is no easy feat. There is also a lot to understand when welding SS and despite all these companies claiming to know what they are doing, it's always surprising to me how much variation I see with their welding quality. Even some of the top names in Ferrari exhausts sometimes have what I consider to be slightly questionable looking welds now and again on their exhausts. So, whether you realize it or not, you entered shark-infested waters the moment you decided to start modifying your Ferrari.

Moreover, anytime you start ripping apart factory cars and modifying things - I don't care if it's a Toyota or Datsun or Ferrari or whatever - this is often the type of stuff you run into. It's usually just par for the course. Frankly, in the automotive world, anytime you see the term "bolt-on" you should really just think "fabricate-on". There's rarely any such thing as just take it out of the box and bolt it on and everything works great or goes smoothly. I tell you man, I wish I had a nickel for every time some aftermarket part showed up needing further modification or something wouldn't bolt on without me needing to break out my welder and/or die grinder. What you're dealing with is not totally uncommon. Just take a deep breath and try not to have a heart attack; stress is a killer.

I'm actually sort of impressed this Teague guy hasn't blocked your # yet.

Oh and if they compensate you for lost time enjoying your Ferrari in the summer sun over there in the UK, then I want compensation for having to postpone enjoying my usual morning cappuccino on account of having to read your super long rant about failed stainless welds

Like I say, just par for the course when modifying cars. Either understand these things happen and roll w/ it the best you can or leave your car stock.

Good luck!

Ray

 

Come on Ray. This dispute isn’t about modifying a car. It’s about the quality and customer service that I have received. Plenty of people put aftermarket parts of cars. It’s nothing new.

I couldn’t care less about what anyone in here thinks. But it’s my responsibility to share my experience and to warn others off this company.

I paid a lot of money for this part. Regardless of your opinion on modifying my car, it bares no significance to the fact I find myself in this situation. This is a legally registered company and its within the law they have to sort this. They haven’t and now PayPal will take over.


They have no google review capacity. I wonder why that is?

 

So was the part that broke one of the components ordered as new, or part of the used exhaust ?

 

The new part is faulty. The overall quality of the welding is poor. Compare it with the used X Pipe and there is a substantial difference.

It is in my opinion and my garages opinion and the exhaust fabrication companies opinion (who is fixing it) that this unit was clearly rushed.

I would like to state that none of this would have been a major issue IF S-Line had simply communicated with me and done their best to help me in a timely fashion.

 

Yeah, hard to say. Unfortunately, customer service tends to be a mixed bag with some of these smaller companies all right. I had a similar run-in with a company that makes off-road parts for Toyota's. The owner was a jerk and customer service was awful. That should have been my first tip-off. I called asking when the part was scheduled to be made and shipped (after a month of waiting) and the guy just said, "Whenever I get around to it". Wow.

When the part did arrive, one of the critical tolerances was off and when I pointed all this out to the company they didn't even believe me. It took several emails and calls to convince them; after they finally took me serious and pulled up their old CNC/CAD file, they discovered the error. I ended up using their parts for practice welding & eventually tossed them; in the end, I just made my own hardware from scratch to complete the job.

So I definitely feel your pain and frustration and have been thought it myself. I think maybe you saw some of the warning signs when dealing with the company and didn't listen to that little voice telling you that maybe "poor customer service = poor people = poor product". Hopefully PayPal comes through for you and you can move on.

So what exactly broke in your case there? Did the edge of the muffler fracture and fall out where the exhaust pipe enters? It's a little hard to tell from that one marked up picture.

Ray

 

Fair enough.

I do think their weld quality in that one photo looks rather questionable.

Ray

 

I just want Teague to handle this dam piss take of a situation and settle my PayPal dispute. I’m done with that company and I’m done dealing with him.


It’s down to him now to sort this and save some face. I have every faith PP will back me with their A/Z buyer guarantee. The evidence is damming. Only one result here.

It’s whether he wants to risk further damage to his brand or not by taking that risk. The absolute best thing he can do now is finally show some customer service and settle this.

 

Well I would like to think a defective part that renders a car undriveable would still be a major issue regardless of the communication level.

Make sure the company is aware of this thread.

 

One good reminder coming out of this is never use PP friends and family for this kind of transaction.....the buyer gets no protection.

 

It would, but if he had handled it right, I would be much happier and his rep wouldn't be getting trashed online. I can assure you, anyone reseatchnig S line will come across this thread in the future.

If he was honest and said 'hey man, listen I cant make the replacement by your holiday, what shall we do', we could have had a conversation and come to an agreement. I would have been happy to settle for the repair cost.

Now I am seeking that + $500 USD compensation for the total lack of customer service and the stress this has caused me.

Who the heck in their right mind does not do their absolute best to sort this based on the situation I have found myself in. Only a complete fool would leave the customer to rot for nearly a week.

Thankfully the Supercar Center I am using have a very good fabrication unit on-site and this can be fixed within the next 2 days.

 

Thankfully I used Goods and Services

 

In looking at some of their welds here on their Instagram page ( https://instagram.com/slinesound ) vs. the welds seen in your one photo, it appears to me that you have two welders of radically different skill levels doing the work. Their welds pictured via IG are very high quality and suggests someone who has been TIG welding for a few years. The welds I see on what you posted suggest someone who basically doesn't know what the heck they are doing. Even in just that one photo, you can see where they must have adjusted the amp setting midway through in order to correct over penetration in one area of the weld. Also the lack of uniformity in the weld bead suggests to me that they had someone rather inexperienced doing the fabrication. My guess is they cooked the stainless and this resulted in the failure you had. Stainless doesn't like to be heat soaked. It causes the alloy to lose a lot of what makes stainless stainless and it can also harden the surrounding areas and result in points of failure due to stresses, etc.

After looking things over a bit further here, I'm tending to agree that S-line should stand behind their product and make things right. As far as compensating for loss of use on your car and labor for having to deal with defective parts, good luck.

Ray

 

Here is an older thread:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/s-line-exhaust-review.508864/

If you zoom in on their welds, they look "okay". Not amazing, not terrible. TIG welding is an art form and sadly, not everyone out there is an artist.

Is S-line basically a one man shop making exhausts or what?

Ray

 

Yeah, it’s been rushed.

Teague finally replied with some ******** story about not replying due to family being over. I’m not having it. I’ve seized communication with him and PayPal can handle it now.

I have made him aware that this thread won’t be used as blackmail to settle the case, but that I would make it people aware that he has done the right thing.

Based on his reply I don’t think he intends to make this right.

I suspect a big BS post incoming from him, but I’ve stated the facts with evidence to back it up.

There is nothing that can be said to make me the bad guy. Teague was well aware that I needed the car by this weekend and that this was a time sensitive issue. Instead of dealing with it, he chose to leave it me to stew for 4 days and made no attempt whatsoever to rectify the situation.

It is in PayPal’s hands now.

 

I think communication should have been better, but I do also agree that you could have handled things better.

1. You should not have removed your OE exhaust before you had all the parts ready. This one I simply cannot wrap my head around. That's putting yourself in a bind.

2. I get it, you wanted the cool exhaust for your trip. Well, sometimes things don't go as planned. Install the OE and go on your holiday.

3. It is fine demanding a reasonable degree of dialogue and answers. But you rarely get anywhere with anyone spamming them daily for updates. Patience is a virtue.

4. You may not know this, but lots of US manufacturing companies do currently have a 2-4 month delay due to Covid. You are in no position to claim his explanation was not correct.

5. As you do have an OE exhaust to fit on the car, I can understand why he might feel as if being forced by you. You basically forced him to rush, as you put all your plans on his shoulders. This could have been avoided - see point 1.

If he makes good on shipping you the new valves and pay the VAT etc. then leave it at that. You put yourself under a deadline, and doing things "express" are always costly. You have to pick that one up.

Definitely think Teague did his wrongs here, but you definitely did not make life easy for him or yourself.

Get it fixed and move on.

Sent from my SM-G930F using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

Wait, did you call the guy an ass because he disagreed with you?