Never buy from this company!!!
I just need to rant for a bit at how disrespected I feel by this company. When I bought my car in February, I asked the aftermarket guy at the stealership about exhaust options. He swore up and down that this company makes great exhausts, hand-made to order, here in Arizona, from American steel. He says they're all the rage in the Corvette community, which apparently they are. So I take delivery of my car and it does sound awesome...except for the frequent exhaust rattle that happens most times I set off from a stop. It's whatever, I find out through this forum that it's a result of the 3" pipes hitting the brace. I got a BMR brace, problem solved. Still, the cat-back was installed at Billy Boat, you think they could've tossed some washers on the original brace for clearance.
Eventually I get the desire for some LT headers, so I go to Billy Boat first to see if I can get a deal or anything as a returning customer. I got what I thought to be a pretty sweet deal on ceramic coated 1-7/8" headers and catted mid-pipes. A search of Maryland Speed's website shows me I should've waited for the current deal they have on their stepped Kooks.
Anyway, 2 months ago, they told me it would take 3 weeks to build some headers and get them to my door, 103 miles away from their facility (according to google maps' driving directions). I call them at the end of the third week to see what was what and the guy I spoke to, Mike, didn't know, promised to find out by day's end and that he'd call me back. I don't get a call back. I called on the following Monday and he said "uh, something's happened with your order, I'm trying to find out what it is and I'll call you back." This will mark the one and so far only time that they would actually call me back after saying they would do so. This guy Mike has repeatedly, not been a man of his word. So he does call me back that day to tell me that a shipping error happened and my exhaust got sent to the East Coast, they think Jersey. He gets super apologetic and tells me they'll do everything they can to have me a set of headers by the end of that week. This was three weeks ago now. I called that Friday to see what was happening and Mike was out to a trade show, and apparently he's the only one who can tell me anything about my order. I called again the following Monday, and was told my new set of headers was being sent back from the powder coaters and they would have it to me by that Friday and he would call me on Thursday to let me know what was happening. I didn't get a call on Thursday, so I called a few minutes before they closed, as I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt until then. At this point, Mike is becoming more and more dismissive of me and my attempts to find out where my product, that I paid for over a month ago, is. He tells me they showed up from the powder coater that day and they'll ship them out on Friday, to be delivered on Tuesday, due to Labor Day. I called yesterday to ask for a tracking number, because I got home in the evening and I had not received a delivery. Mike is ever more dismissive of me. He says they didn't get them out on Friday and that they were leaving that day. Today, same thing, I get home, no delivery. I call again and apparently they're still in their ****ing shop, but he swears they're actually leaving tonight and that he'll email me or call me with my tracking number. I called 15 minutes before they closed tonight, because I never got a call or an email (I'd say this is about a dozen empty promises of call backs). The secretary tells me Mike already left. With obvious frustration in my voice, I tell her I just want a tracking number for my order. She says okay and puts me on hold for 10 minutes. She picks up and asks, "oh, you're still holding? Hang on, I'll get Billy" whom I can only imagine is Billy Boat himself. Billy never answers. I stayed on hold for another 20 minutes, before trying to call back, but when I do, it goes straight to voicemail because it's after business hours at this point. You can imagine how happy this made me.
I'm royally pissed off at the way this company has treated me. I'm calling them the moment they open tomorrow morning, and if my headers are still in their shop tomorrow morning, I'm demanding my money back and filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. At this point, I don't care how finely crafted they are, I don't care how good they might sound, I don't care how much power they'll add, I don't even care about the added wait-time of going to one of their competitors. I will never be able to recommend Billy Boat Exhaust because of how they have treated a returning customer who has spent a smidge over $3,000 just for some damned steel tubing. Part of me wants them to have not shipped my headers, I don't even want their product on my car anymore. I would hesitate to answer someone if they ask what exhaust I'm running. I would be sure to make it clear that I am a dissatisfied customer and would never return to them, nor recommend them to anyone I meet.
At this point, I've already had to reschedule with the tuner I plan on using because of them. I have my rescheduled appointment for this Saturday, but my gut's screaming at me to cancel it until I actually have a set of headers on the car. The only problem is this guy is really well respected and fairly busy, and is usually booked out about a month in advance.
I just wanted some nice US made headers, and I've been given a complete runaround trying to get them. Honestly, now I just want my money back so I can buy from someone else. In summation, stay the hell away from this company, and if you ever have a friend ask you about them, tell them to stay the hell away too, and point them to this thread.
