APR Deceptive Website and Marketing practices

General Discussion
#121

Wow. Way to keep digging that hole, APR. I am shocked at how they’ve handled the situation. We’re approaching jfonz levels of fail here. And now the approach is to attack AudiRevolution? That’s a great way to alienate so many customers who were with the company from the very beginning of the B8 platform (Primetime being the most important) - not to mention the members here who have purchased expensive APR supercharger kits and the like. I wonder if Mangrove Equity likes the idea that their newly infused capital is funding an employee’s seemingly intentional destruction of any goodwill APR had left in the community.

And btw, sean (because I know you’re reading this) - this forum is COMPLETELY moderated, just not in the sense you would like. Beemercer and I help the site owner moderate AR. However, unlike all other Audi/VW forums out there, we simply will not do your bidding when it comes to hiding unfavorable information about your company. We’re not paid shills like the guys on vendorzine or any other forum that you’ve bought access to. Here, you’re on a level playing field. Stick to the facts or gtfo.

In the meantime, no one is buying your attempt to discredit this forum. Everyone knows that you guys have several accounts on here with collectively hundreds of posts. When the times were good, you took advantage of the free flow of information that occurs here on a daily basis. Now that the gig is up, however, your silence on here speaks volumes. What an epic fall from grace.

#122

Yup, definitely a post that reeks of desperation, like he was cornered and in flight mode instead of flight. Hmm let’s not try to dispell the rumors or admit our mistakes…but rather lob grenades at entire groups of people in hopes that others will agree. Other than Saxon (who openly hates this forum), I’m not sure anyone else would bite on those garbage comments…only purpose was to throw out a big FU to all of us…who as Ron said, are supporting them by buying their products. Ugh.

#123

APR to Corsa: Take the fall for this or we won’t pay our outstanding bills.

Corsa: You weren’t going to pay them anyway, but fine show them this. Then help us out from under the bus you threw us under.

http://i62.tinypic.com/2yl0ara.png

#124

APR Bus, meet Corsa Dumptruck.

#125

Primetime is also one of the nicest most level headed guys around that offers his help and time to everyone. To see him this upset is surprising, but I think he has every right to be.

The laughable part is trolls barely last a day when they come here, so to call this a site full of trolls shows how out of touch this idiot Sean is. Just looking at his reasoning about the situation paints a perfect moron mural.

#126

Corsa’s response says it all. They designed the exhausts to the acoustic, design and material specifications of APR.

[QUOTE=Arin@APR]We reached out to the team at CORSA and they have provided this additional information:

"CORSA Performance Exhaust had been producing some exhaust systems for APR for the past several years. In that time, we worked with APR to manufacture exhaust systems that featured our proprietary RSC® Technology to eliminate drone, as well as deliver to the acoustic, design and material specifications of APR. In every case where a system featured RSC® Technology, it was designed, utilizing one of the various patented and trade secret methods we have developed to reflect sound waves out of phase, thus eliminating specific drone causing frequencies. Each vehicle application is different and produces different frequencies that cause drone. CORSA Performance goes to great lengths to find those frequencies, and use one, or several, of our tools to cancel those frequencies through reflection. RSC® Technology is not a one-size fits all technology, but a specific design, engineered as a system for a specific vehicle.

In all cases where we produced exhaust systems for APR we utilized various methods, some seen in our several patents and others that are proprietary, to develop systems, not just mufflers, to eliminate the resonance and still craft a sound profile that was targeted for the car. We are committed first and foremost to eliminating the drone in vehicles and believe we have accomplished that on every APR exhaust system we produced featuring an RSC® Technology. I would invite you to explore our recently completely re-designed and updated website (www.corsaperformance.com) to see our story (http://www.corsaperformance.com/OurStory.aspx), and recently updated RSC® diagrams (http://www.corsaperformance.com/Technology/exhaustRsc.aspx) showing more than one way we eliminate specific frequencies that cause drone. If you have additional questions about the technology, please contact us at sales@corsaperformance.com or 1-800-486-0999.

Best Regards,
The CORSA Performance Team"
[/quote]
Seems to coincide pretty well with a message I received from an APR employee a few days ago.

http://i.imgur.com/oKIFwVw.png

#127

crew, what are the chances that Corsa would even pick up the phone from an APR employee or accept “@goapr.com” email addresses at their firewall? Is this latest PR something APR put together?

#128

No one from APR would indicate that these were designed to their specifications. LOL.

Someone sent me this, dated 4/09/2013

http://i.imgur.com/YoknCcC.png

#129

That is what pisses me off the most about this ordeal.

ARIN fucking blatantly lying to consumers!! Justifying ridiculous costs due to the intricate design and using these amazing cut-away pics of the chambers of RSC technology mufflers and resonators.

Now the fucking idiots are back pedaling and saying well they are still RSC technology…but RSC is a term that can be used for anything that Corsa produces that eliminates drone. SO in closing …Arin fucking lied from the start and APR didn’t have any fancy intricately designed mufflers from the start, they were just pedaling an overpriced exhaust stamped with APR and sold under false pretense.

SCUM BAGS…period

Look at his bullshit comment about “tuning the exhaust to each application”, what the fuck do they do? add an extra pack of fiberglass to the muffler. I’m not sure why, but I’m heated about this today.

#130

Let’s not forget this, either… from the same thread.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y99/Zillon2/misc/rsc-technology-transparent_mid_zps34a0e181.png

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y99/Zillon2/misc/exhaust-competitor-transparent_mid_zps221975cf.png

#131

Your comments go directly to an item that has consistently puzzled me. If, as the chatter on multiple forums overwhelmingly demonstrates, the VAG world is devoid of people that mistakenly believe Arin Ahnell to be a sincere, honest, and trustworthy individual . . . why in the world does APR and Mangrove allow him to keep speaking for the company?

#132

From Corsa:

“CORSA Performance Exhaust had been producing some exhaust systems for APR for the past several years. In that time, we worked with APR to manufacture exhaust systems that featured our proprietary RSC® Technology to eliminate drone, as well as deliver to the acoustic, design and material specifications of APR. In every case where a system featured RSC® Technology, it was designed, utilizing one of the various patented and trade secret methods we have developed to reflect sound waves out of phase, thus eliminating specific drone causing frequencies. Each vehicle application is different and produces different frequencies that cause drone. CORSA Performance goes to great lengths to find those frequencies, and use one, or several, of our tools to cancel those frequencies through reflection. RSC® Technology is not a one-size fits all technology, but a specific design, engineered as a system for a specific vehicle.
In all cases where we produced exhaust systems for APR we utilized various methods, some seen in our several patents and others that are proprietary, to develop systems, not just mufflers, to eliminate the resonance and still craft a sound profile that was targeted for the car. We are committed first and foremost to eliminating the drone in vehicles and believe we have accomplished that on every APR exhaust system we produced featuring an RSC® Technology. I would invite you to explore our recently completely re-designed and updated website (www.corsaperformance.com) to see our story (http://www.corsaperformance.com/OurStory.aspx), and recently updated RSC® diagrams (http://www.corsaperformance.com/Technology/exhaustRsc.aspx) showing more than one way we eliminate specific frequencies that cause drone. If you have additional questions about the technology, please contact us at sales@corsaperformance.com or 1-800-486-0999.
Best Regards,
The CORSA Performance Team”

As a Corsa owner I stand by my statement I don’t really care whats in side I care about results, which they provided. Also the idea that the pictured technology should be in every single muffle and resonator seems a bit much. I’m really not in disagreement with APRs stance on its does what its advertised to in regards to sound. Why put “RSC” in where they are not needed for the intended result?

People always hate on those on the top. I never knew APR had so much hate until the Mangrove thing and reading more online. Admittedly the plane thing was a bit much for me, but it had been introduced to me that the race team was its own entity, maybe not?

A lot of it does seem a witch hunt. Crew219 seems to be spear heading an anti APR campaign when really his hate/issue is with an individual that is a friend. As far as I’m concerned when relationships get involved bias is introduced. From reading his thread in the war room Crew219 and Arin to me are cut from the same cloth.

Anyways I hope the best for APR, I do believe in a lot of their product. Compared to a lot of other stuff out there I deal with its quite good.

#133

So far the design APR has been showing in pictures isn’t found in any of their exhausts.

Is APR really on top if the company was in enough financial distress in which the first equity company bailed and opted not to continue financing and a second equity company had to step in?

You’re certainly entitled to your opinion. The difference is that Arin will continue to lie for whatever he believes in whereas I don’t bother covering up for any party. As stated, this is an issue that APR knew about for 2 years. Regardless of whether or not Corsa or APR is at fault for the design, they knowingly opened and photographed all the exhausts provided by Corsa in preparation for release of their own exhaust designs. With the staff they have in place, it would not take 2 years to product an exhaust system. Instead of using the talent which I introduced to APR, they chose to focus on cost reductions in other products in their inventory and continued to sell these falsely advertised exhausts to consumers with full knowledge of what they were doing.

Considering much if not almost all of my information is provided by APR employees both current and former, is it really a witch hunt?

Dave

#134

Btw, for those who may not know, Corsa also underwent bankruptcy and was acquired by an equity company in a bank sale.

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/2004-2007-cadillac-cts-v-performance/157937-updated-info-corsa-under-new-ownership.html

You can read the happy press release in post 28 on the 2nd page.

Dave

#135

Great question. Makes me think of launch control.

#136

Quoted for excellence

#137

Please ensure the batman avatar is in place before your next post. Thanks.

#138

Maybe I can help you…

IF THEY SAY IT IS IN THERE, IT BETTER FUCKING BE IN THERE

That’s it.

Apr sold a bunch of exhausts. At a premium to the marketplace. They justified it by LYING about what design was in their exhaust, even labelling it as such and showing images to illustrate what it would look like inside. They also shit on their competition for using (fiber)glass packed resonators and silencers, and Helmholtz resonator. Then they used that themselves and never once used the design they claimed to have used.

Some buyers made their decision based on that set of facts provided by apr. They suffered a financial loss as a result (paying a premium for shit tech and as we also found, shit materials)

Their competition suffered losses as a result when customers chose Apr based on apr’s lies.

So, fortunately, what you think is not really relevant to the argument at hand. You don’t understand the law, or advertising standards. That’s what you should have written.

#139

Satisfied? :wink:

#140

So it’s been an interesting few days, seeing what responses Arin has come up with. I’ve received word of many PMs that Arin has sent to forum members, moderators and admins regarding the exhausts and one common theme continues—Arin is unwilling to accept any responsibility for his actions and admit fault on behalf of APR. I won’t post the messages here since they were directed at individuals Arin felt comfortable confiding in, but a healthy dose blame was directed at me and they still continue to maintain a stance that these exhausts were somehow fabricated.

What did happen on GolfMK6 was that a prominent distributor of APR’s, APTuning, was caught red-handed trolling for APR. Here’s how he was exposed.

http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2055669&posted=1#post2055669

Thumbsup for moderators and administrators that go the extra mile to expose and prevent such deceptive practices from being employed.

Dave