Why deflect? If you are a business the problem is you are not acting like one. You complain here we need context. One man kills another man so he should go to jail. If the context is the dead guy broke into other guy's house armed at 10pm. Homicide is justifed.
So, to again summarize: the factory didn't SCAM! you out of $5K, but might owe you the difference between what you did order and what you did receive. If they didn't send anything at all, then you could justify the SCAM! language, but this seems like a simple error in packing and delivery. And if I were the seller, I'd want to make sure I got back what I sent before sending on another part. So yes, you have the right to be irritated about the $2K or so difference between products, but you're still way out of line (IMHO) about how you're managing this, especially when you were spamming a completely separate company's threads about it. You must understand unwanted influence on a company's reputation -- otherwise, why hide the dealership you're associated with?
Out for blood is what you did. I can't believe that you are so dense as to not see that you completely missed the approach. Then went on to make a big mess and ***** about it everywhere you could. YOU went out for blood. And when you were caught... You got called out... Then when you got called out... You completely mishandled it .. then... You play the victim card. All the while not a sponsor. Not a contributor. Not even a paid subscription. From an authorized dealer at that. You want empathy? Ok. I'll play empathy... Maybe... Kresiegg wants you to buy the non valved system first and then a valved system... And then let's have you buy a system for some Lamborghinis... Ohh what's this? You don't want Lamborghini exhausts because you are a Ferrari dealer? Well... If you want to get what you want... You will need to make some other purchases. Then once you get enough exhausts in your profile... We will run your interests up the flagpole and see if you are worthy to received the 348 exhaust you wanted to begin with. **** sound familiar? Ohh and how many deposits have dealerships not refunded? How many 430s with cracked manifolds or **** clutches have snaked through different dealerships? Undisclosed paint work... Believe it or not there are dealer principles on this website ... And even they know better than to ask for empathy for themselves or other dealers. You can be 100% in the right but it's going to be an uphill battle on a forum... Too many dealers have screwed people for people to even consider giving out an ounce of empathy. Again... Right or wrong that's just the nature of the forum beast. Had you come to the community and asked for help instead of hurling accusations this all would have gone completely differently. If you would have acted in a professional manner... This would have gone differently.
What a whiner. Hopefully Kreissieg learned a lesson about going direct bypassing their dealer network. Nothing worse to deal with than a whiner who can't follow a simple instruction to return the part.