My experience with EPCO

A month or two ago I asked forum members for opinions on stainless mufflers, and following on from that thread I contacted EPCO and asked about a set of pipes and mufflers to suit my MkIII. They were very helpful and had a set of suitable pipes and mufflers in stock, so I asked them to invoice me through Paypal, which they did. I paid the $800 invoice the day it arrived (payment included shipping to Australia) and was told by EPCO the pipes and mufflers were on their way.

After three weeks nothing had turned up, so I contacted EPCO and was assured that the parts had been sent immediately after I paid, but another set would nonetheless be sent off the next day. EPCO said that they'd claim for the lost set.

Another three weeks went by and still nothing had turned up. I should say at this stage that I buy a lot of bike bits from the US and in the weeks since I'd initially paid EPCO I'd purchased about 20 items from other US sellers and all had arrived within a week to ten days of the sale - so slow mail wasn't the problem.

I was now only a day or two off the Paypal deadline for lodging a potential claim, so I emailed EPCO and asked again what was going on and offered to try and track down the lost parcels if they would send me a PDF of the shipping documents. I didn't get a reply from EPCO so I went ahead and lodged a potential claim with Paypal. A week later EPCO still hadn't replied to Paypal or to me, so I escalated my potential claim to an actual claim. Two weeks later Paypal found in my favour and I received a full refund from Paypal.

As I mentioned above, I buy lots of parts from US sellers and have spent many thousands with well know Norton folk such as Old Britts, Commando Specialties and Colorado Norton Works, and I have always found the people and the products excellent and customer service second to none, so EPCO's performance is puzzling. I should also say that all my communication with EPCO was friendly and courteous, so I'd done nothing to warrant being ignored.

Anyway. I thought I would share my experience as others may well speak glowingly about EPCO and show my experience to have been a one off. I would also like to say that Paypal was brilliant and they clearly stand behind their own guarantee.

In terms of my exhaust, I'm back to square one, but think I'll just look for the best quality chrome pipes and mufflers I can find - any recommendations?

Funny how the Norton world revolved.... You, try, to buy mufflers from the US and I bought mine from across the world too... And I am in the US! IMHO the best pipes etc are made here:
http://www.vikingexhaust.com/

I have now a great pair of Commando SS!
Philippe

Alas even after some personal friendly emails my set of Viking looked great but took hours of grinding and bending to get installed in head, figured cheater easier to get on the road again as others over last decade cried on BI and NOC list of flaking off chrome and fracture quickly so its toss of the coin who get what they paid for. Wasted money, hard feeling and bad parts is port of motorcycle hobby across all brands and eras.

I waited months for my set. They make them in small runs. I called about once a month to check in, and it took a lot longer than I thought. Sorry you felt the need to file a claim, but they wouldn't have ripped you off IMO.

I've no experience with EPCO. But I'll agree with the Vikingexhaust, Whom I believe are located in OZ.

Something I do know a little about is Customs. :evil: I've had items vanish into that black hole. Never
to be seen or heard from again. If possible have every out of country package sent with a tracking #
I've found they disapear a great deal less often that way. :wink:

I am still waiting for my set of EPCO pipes from about 1994. I didn't pay for them so nothing lost but a bunch of time waiting for them. Jim

From the sounds of things there should still be 2 sets of pipes in the mail. Eventually you would expect they should show up.

I've shipped I think in the thousands, packages around the world via regular mail without tracking for about the last 25 years and have never had a package go missing. I've seen packages take over 60 days to arrive to some destinations but no losses to date. (I think I better go knock on wood now)

Surface mail can certainly take up to twelve weeks, but the USPS doesn't offer surface mail any more and my experience (from 1000 plus parcels from the US) is that two to three weeks is the norm for airmail, with some parcels only taking a week or so. You're quite right though, by rights there's two sets in the mail somewhere between EPCO and here and if they do ever turn up I've assured EPCO that I will pay for them in full.

Well Bill & I have been in touch during the time he has been waiting. I too have been going through the Epco Bull Shit stories. And please understand I would not use that language with out warrent. Tom has given me every possible story from sickness in the workers to "they were sent and lost". For months & months. When he said the only reason they hadn't been sent was because his polisher was in hospital, I said "send them, I will have them polished"... Sudonly the guy was back & they would be sent the next day.. Did not happen. Not to mention the mufflers are now made in South America & he gave our credit card # to some unkonwn person down there who sent me a pair of horribly welded & dented mufflers!!! I am keeping the 2nd set because I don't think they can do better. I am now looking for a differant place to get the header pipes from like 7thphaseinc .net or Vicking. I don't care if a supplier is going to take months to get a part to me. Just say that. But don't lie like Tom has time & time again saying "it's all in stock & will ship today" I've had him say that so many times I have lost all faith. I did nit not want to bring this to the forum, I hate negative stuff but I feel bad because I recomended Epco to you Bill & feel I should let others know they should not trust this man.

Another happy Viking customer. After sales service and replies to Emails the same day, New Zealand close to Australia's time zone.
Ian

As you & I have talked, we are not hollding our breath waiting for them to show up. I have started to look for another support of stainless header pipes. ( 7thphase.net) I'll let you know how it worked out. Anyway to tired to think right now. Good night. Sleep dreams kids.... Xxzzzzzzz

I have no experience with EPCO and reading this am glad I don't. I have been looking into a stainless system and Viking is at the top of my wish list. I do see commando specialties offers the peashooters in stainless and has told me he can get the headers in stainless as well. I wonder who his supplier is? I would like to try commando specialties, but really don't know what I will get for 7-800 dollars and I am not up for a high dollar hassle right now. I can get a viking set for about the same with a good reputation to back my purchase or stick with chrome since it is looking like an easier cheaper alternative with more choices of vendors.

http://www.keihan.co.uk/catalogue.html#

1020 Norton Roadster Silencer Pair £181.22 (GBP)
1120 Norton Interstate Silencer Pair £181.22 (GBP)

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L.A.B. Those are decent in price. Don't see headers though

britbike220 said:

Don't see headers though

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Unfortunately, Keihan do not appear to make them for the Commando-but you could always ask?

I, too, had the same experience with Epco, about 25 years ago. I sent $400, plus a Dunstall muffler that belonged to a friend, to Tom Epperson at Epco, after he had agreed to make some megaphone style mufflers in stainless for me.

After many months and phone calls, and all kinds of excuses, Tom Epperson instructed me to stop contacting him after I asked him to return my money and the Dunstall muffler. I was only able to secure a refund because in a previous conversation I had learned that his wife was a Realtor. I contacted her at her place of employment, and my threat to notify her fellow employees about the business practices of her husband was enough to get a refund. Without knowing Mrs. Epperson's place of employment, I doubt I would have been able to get my money back.

The Dunstall muffler, however, was never returned.



In my opinion, anyone considering doing business with Epco would be wise to consider some other option.

pelican said:

I waited months for my set. They make them in small runs. I called about once a month to check in, and it took a lot longer than I thought. Sorry you felt the need to file a claim, but they wouldn't have ripped you off IMO.

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If this were the case, why would they claim they had been sent out? Maybe the postal clerk has a vintage bike he is collecting parts for? Thanks for sharing this. If nothing else it gives me faith in Paypal.

Russ

Thanks to living where I do, I buy almost everything but food online, including bike parts. Standard operating procedure is not to charge before shipping. Everybody takes your money with one hand and gives you a tracking number with the other. If somebody doesn't have a tracking number for you then they didn't ship it.

By way of an update, its now about four months since I paid for the pipes and mufflers and neither of the sets I was assured had been shipped have arrived. I can't believe that two sets have both gone missing in the mail, so I have to conclude I wasn't being told the truth. I'm just glad I paid with Paypal and was able to get my money back (minus Paypal's fees). EPCO is certainly not a company I would ever consider doing business with.

I got a call from Tom last week saying he had " finnaly finished" the pipes and wanted to know if we still wanted them. I had a hard time making the decision but gave in and told him to send them. Of course this is the set he said he shipped or was going to ship many times before. You should call & see if he has yours? I'll believe I'm getting mine when I have them. Glenn.