Australian Cpe distributor issues

[LittleredMPS]

On my forum in Australia I have a reputation as the go to guy for finding parts for our platform.

I am recently receiving a lot of complaints from people that Cpe products can now, once again, only be purchased through the Australian distributor MPS Garage.

I realise, as the manufacturer, that you have to show a loyalty to your distributor network, both in the US, and overseas. That is all pretty simple, and quite fair.

The problem is that our forum ozmpsclub, which is the main forum for speed's in Australia, refuse to deal (for the major part) with this supplier.
MPS Garage has in fact been banned from our forum for serious breaches of forum rules, is no longer a vendor on our forum, and Daniel and Aaron, have also personally been permanently banned from our forum for further serious breaches of our rules.

By enforcing your local distributor rules, you have actually placed a number of our forum members in a particularly difficult situation.
Almost no member of ozmpsclub will buy from MPS Garage, some from previous bad experiences, most as a matter of principle.

I have only escalated this to MSF, because apart from direct contact, which has been fairly fruitless, we don't have many avenues to address this problem.

Now where we end up is basically in your hands. If you continue to enforce local distributor privilege, then you are going to lose a lot of sales, since most Australian speed members will buy from other suppliers, rather than deal with the local distributor for your products.

Certainly do not take this as an attack against Cpe, more a grave concern, that I am voicing on behalf of our members.

[SarcasticOne]

+1 on refusing to buy from them...
which is a pity, cause i was seriously considering all 3 of your motor mounts...

[bd581]

+1 also.
This problem has stopped me buying Cpe products in the past.
And even though i no longer have my MPS, i won't consider Cpe products for my new car if i have to go though the local supplier.
This applies to other well known companies that have similar agreements with them

[Jamesa2z]

+1 Also.

I had one experience purchasing from them in the past. After my experience I will simply not be purchasing anything from there again, even if it means I have to look at an alternative brand.

[Wilksy]

Hmm MPSgarage hate to love them love to hate them...

[Reedy]

lol iirps.

There is no way CP-e haven't heard about how terrible the Australian distributor is. Yet they persist with this awful single supplier arrangement.

The only ones that stand to benefit from this arrangement is MPS Garage, CP-e are only limiting their own sales in restricting what suppliers can sell to the Australian market.

[gen1mps]

+1
had a shitty experience with Mps garage lately where they took 8 months to deliver spark plugs to me. So for god sake don't even think about making Mpsgarage ur only distributor, you'll loose so many customers.

Edit: reputation is hard to earn but easy to lose.

[jmac]

No chance.
Id rather fall into a moshpit of hard dicks than buy from MPSG.

I cant say they have bad customer service because they actually dont have customer service.
Their pricing is ridiculous and you are basically locking us into a monopoly with a single company (which I am pretty sure is actually illegal according to Australian law anyways - not that I have the time or interest to backup that statement).

Short story - I refuse to buy anything from MPSG. Ever.
More than enough horror stories, cover ups and lies for me.
If that means never buying a CP-E product again, so be it.. All you guys are doing is giving yourselves a bad name. Give us the option of buying directly from you or your overseas distributors.. Cock blocking us with them as well is an insult.

[SpeedRebirth]

@www.cp-e.com

Give them some love

[jmac]

I think the fact two people have only one post on MSF and its in this thread says something..

[Justin..]

I have many CPe products in my car, but the pricing from the Australia Distributor is a joke. considering the Aussie dollar is so much stronger...

Eg.

CP-e Right Side Engine Mount

MPSGarage - $550.410 USD + ** Shipping

Edge - $ $270.03 USD + $78.30 Shipping

and the other side is about the same mark up


and after waiting 3 months for a Rear Swaybar... I'm very wary of dealing with anyone in Aus

[Grumpyjap]

I don't think it's about loyalty, I think it's more of the case that there are no other distributors reaching out to cp-e to carry their products or to be the wholesale distributor in Australia.

[JBR]

Feel free to delete this post as I know I'm not suppose to post in another vendors forum but..... I did business with MPS Garage for a few years and it was nothing but a hassle their customer service was horrid. I received so many complaints I had to cut ties and deal direct to customers in AU. I would encourage CPE to do the same.

[slixx]

Their prices are awful and a rip off

They have to know that we can buy CP-E from US distributors online and cheaper than they are locally

Of CP-E can't change because of a contract, support @EdgeAutosport.com as they are a paid up Vendor of our site and support us more than MPSGarage does!


Peter "SLIXX"

[helmetface]

lol at all the brownies from down under above

[SarcasticOne]

Originally Posted by Grumpyjap I don't think it's about loyalty, I think it's more of the case that there are no other distributors reaching out to cp-e to carry their products or to be the wholesale distributor in Australia.

That's fine, we're not saying don't let them sell your products, just allow us to purchase from sellers overseas. We understand we'll have to pay extra shipping, we live on other side of the pacific... But our dollar is good at the moment (used to be $1 aus = $0.60 USD) so Mpsgarage's prices aren't even competitive any more.

There has been instances when we have tried to buy direct from CPE, and get told, "go to Mpsgarage" and in recent times other avenues we've found have started refusing to ship CPE products to Australia. We're guessing CPE has started putting pressure on them.

Let us buy your products, but don't force us to go through Mpsgarage... They have such a bad rep down here.

[Grumpyjap]

cp-e isn;t forcing anyone to stop selling to people based on geographic location....

[SarcasticOne]

So... Why do we get told "we're not allowed to sell cp-e products to Australia anymore"?

[El_Diablo]

Sorry, but I couldn't help but think of this awesome song while reading this thread...

MEN AT WORK | DOWN UNDER - YouTube

MEN AT WORK | DOWN UNDER - YouTube

[speeed]

All that you (AU)guys need is a friend here in USA, you can order any part to an US address and somebody ship it overseas to you....

[www.cp-e.com]

We are aware of this issue and are looking to resolve this for our Australian customers. We were unaware of the unhappiness of some of you. Rest assured we will not leave you hanging.

[bd581]

Originally Posted by jbarone Feel free to delete this post as I know I'm not suppose to post in another vendors forum but..... I did business with MPS Garage for a few years and it was nothing but a hassle their customer service was horrid. I received so many complaints I had to cut ties and deal direct to customers in AU. I would encourage CPE to do the same.

Thank you for that.
It was in fact one of your products that caused my biggest personal complaint with them.
My father ordered one of your products as a Christmas gift in November, 3 weeks after the order and payment had been made he contacted MPS garage. Their reply was none in stock. Will be here by the end of the week.
Well that went on for a couple more weeks.
The final reply was "I promise it will be here before Christmas"
It finally arrived mid January.
Every phone call had a different excuse from blaming you guys, blaming freight, you guys had no stock due to some car show in America.

Other parts ordered from them, same story, excuses excuses.
Its been posted, the office girl must have made a mistake, never do they accept any responsibility

So please CPE and everyone else. Look at what they are doing to your business, tell them to wake up to themselves.
If people still want to deal with them, that's fine. But please allow those that don't the option to do so

[Kfunk]

^^^^^^^^^^This is the reason why I do not have any CP-e products on my car^^^^^^^^^^^^

I have nothing further to add its all been said many times over. You know how unhappy we are. I could only imagine the riots if the cicumstances were reverse for the US guys. You have excellent products which we will purchase but it's so ludacris with the way it is now and leads us to other vendors/company's products.

So please don't leave us hanging! Cheers from the MS crew Down Under!!!

[steviekfc]

WHATUUPPPP PEEELAYAAAASSSSSSSSS!!
and yeah mpsg can suck my big manly aussie penis

[Oldhead]

Again i have purchased all my mods ex USA (supporting their struggling economy) and of course benefiting my pocket ,(fully bolted + more) the world now has a free trading practice and MPS garage are obviously buying from CPE as a wholesaler ,no doubt at a better than retail price and then blatantly price gouging from Australian buyers .
CPE run the very real risk of loosing out on Austalian market and as such we will be forced to buy elsewhere,definately not the price gougers.(MPS Garage)
Strange that USA customers and its a huge country can purchase from any state and receive free postage (not that we here want free freight )
CPE are doing themselves a real injustice to their own market ,there are other great suppliers/manufacturers in the USA.
A special thanks to MSF for their time, credibly forum, and the latest info re SURE Motorsports).

[Yeldarb]

Agree with all here, I've had dealings with MPS Garage, bought a fair amount of stuff of them just so I could get the prices down as shipping from the US is a pig at times.

Thanks for dropping in CP-E. Maybe drop into our forum down at Oz and say hi.

Sent from Samsung Note 2 LTE

[ABolewski]

Very well thought out post @LittleredMPS;, I hope it gets resolved quickly. CP-e products are some of the best around, it's a shame MPSGarage is such a rip.

[camerongb]

+1
I have also brought your products from MPS garage because I was forced too, product is awesome MPSG is not.

[Reedy]

Cp-e should thank mpsg. After waiting 2 months for a Corksport Sri I got sick of the excuses and just asked them what they actually had in stock. That's how I ended up with a cp-e CAI instead thanks to classic mpsg ineptitude.

They installed it for me, then when I got home it practically fell out of the bottom of my engine bay. The halfwit who installed it hadn't even tightened a single clamp beyond finger tight. That's where my mpsg association started and ended.

This exclusive rights bullcrap only prevents CPe from selling to other Australian stores. It doesn't prevent American stores from selling to Aus and mpsg have no legal standing to stop it. The same thing happened with tyre suppliers and tirerack. They stopped shipping certain brands to Aus after suppliers applied pressure to them, the legalities didn't hold water and now the market has freed up again.

If CPe want to enter such a limiting contract then it is only to their own detriment. And trying to enforce it in realms that it does not legally cover is further to their detriment.

[Jamesa2z]

If CPe need to hear some of the install horror stories to disassociate themselves with MPSGarage, then Reedy's is just the tip of a very big iceberg.....

Some of the installs they have performed for people (myself included) is beyond just being of poor quality but seriously dangerous. They are lucky there have been no serious consequences (to date) for which they could be held accountable.

[jmac]

Originally Posted by Grumpyjap cp-e isn;t forcing anyone to stop selling to people based on geographic location....

Ive been told by other 'distributors' in the USA they were not allowed to sell me an item because we had a local distributor.
Either that or they were telling fuzzies.

[CaffeineFiend]

+1 for all the above.

MPS Garage will not get a single dollar from me ever again. I've had a similar experience to those listed above regarding delays and lack of communication when I bought my cp-e rear engine mount from them. In hearing other horror stories from our members, especially those who have had service work done by MPSG, I actually consider myself to be one of the lucky ones.

They do cp-e no favours in terms of Aus representation. cp-e could have the best products on the market, but if they're only available to us via MPSG, then I'll look for an alternative product.

[LittleredMPS]

Originally Posted by www.cp-e.com We are aware of this issue and are looking to resolve this for our Australian customers. We were unaware of the unhappiness of some of you. Rest assured we will not leave you hanging.

Thanks for your input. The easiest solution is to simply allow us to buy wherever we like, be it from retail suppliers over there, or from you direct for that matter.

If you decided to find another distributor in Australia, you might fix the customer service issues, but the rampant price gouging that is endemic over here will most likely continue.

A big thanks for the oz crew for chipping in as well.

[Reedy]

Don't need another Australian distributor, just want the freedom to buy from the American ones.

[jmac]

Bump..

[SarcasticOne]

@Grumpyjap; @www.cp-e.com; why is edge still unable to sell us your products???

im pretty certain one of my mounts (probably the SURE one) has just died on me... and i would like to get yours, but if you're going to make me go through mpsgarage, consider it a sale lost...

the mark ups are frankly rediculous...
on your website
S2 REM: $198
passenger: $300
Driver: $271

MPS Garage:
S2 REM: $277
Passenger: $528
driver: $484

i dont know what they are smoking, but when the USD and AUD are equal atm, how does it cost an extra 40-50% for them to send them to us...

[jmac]

What a joke. Last time I checked this practice is not even legal.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

[Reedy]

It's not legal. The problem is CP-e can just refuse to sell to Edge or any other retailer that doesn't play by the rules and they are able to successfully intimidate them into complying. Despite the fact that following through with the threat would be at the detriment of both parties. Literally the ONLY winner in this whole scenario is MPSGarage, the ones who are least deserving of any kind of help.

[Limeybastard]

Originally Posted by CaffeineFiend +1 for all the above. MPS Garage will not get a single dollar from me ever again. I've had a similar experience to those listed above regarding delays and lack of communication when I bought my cp-e rear engine mount from them. In hearing other horror stories from our members, especially those who have had service work done by MPSG, I actually consider myself to be one of the lucky ones. They do cp-e no favours in terms of Aus representation. cp-e could have the best products on the market, but if they're only available to us via MPSG, then I'll look for an alternative product.

I love reading your detailing threads on Ozmps forums by the way.

[Darksoul]

Just my 2cents, I called mps garage yesterday because I was looking for a braided clutch line for my 6 which was actually priced sensible at $35. After the first phone call rang out I tried 20 minutes later and I spoken to someone there that said there are none in stock then proceeded to tell me that he will be getting them next week and by what I've read and very small experience with them I would be much happier just waiting for the part to arrive from the US.

In this case I heard what a lot of people had to say, but I wanted to experience there great customer service (sarcasm!!!) first hand.

I think you should drop them as a distributer as they aren't doing you any favours! But that's my opinion.