Guess we will just have to agree to disagree. If you dont like what i have to say i suggest you "dont bother" reading the thread lol. Any intelligent person should realise that there are always many ways to look at things. Im more than happy to respond to intelligent comment
Big respect to okibi, i can tell you put in a bit of thought into it and you do make some very strong points. Kudos to your debating style.
At the end of the day this saga achieved;
-stopped the seller continuing to falsely represent his product, even when he was aware of the fact, lets face it, by saying you gotta cut panels will discourage some customers
(i can honestly say that i bought this product even thought i could have got a cheaper one because i thought the easier install was worth the $, but it was no different in reality)
-all the debate has cleared up how someone should go about doing a return, let people learn from my mistakes, thanks for the resident legal eagles for this
- warned people about the dangers of ebay/buying online/overseas
-warned people that its not only me that had a n power baffle collapse, this seems to be a trend
-maybe inspire others to stand up for what they believe even if that means taking an unfavorable stance
- shows people to stick to forum sponsors that have built a solid reputation
For me thats a win! a refund was just the icing on the cake, and im quite aware the chances of that were slim. Like i said early on, im strong in my principles, not getting a refund doesnt mean im going hungry. Not taking the store credit was a move on principle, have the seller take some responsibly is my main aim, if by challenging his policy this means losing the $ then so be it.
Having not been yet contacted by ebay/forum OP's or the seller, im pretty sure ebay have no reason to take down my listing. And having reviewed the rules, nothing i have said or done defames anybody, if i did, im sure the OP's would have deleted a thread with this much comment ages ago. As long as i have no refund the listing stays (revised it deleting any roll bar stuff as he now changed that), it will serve to educate those looking at mufflers and get them thinking about all the issues above at the very least. Whether im right/wrong, whether you think im an idiot/whinger/pain, is totally irrelevant, at the end of the day the listing will to some degree make people think twice about the products and if that means they dont have to spend $250 on some scrap metal then i feel like iv helped somebody out and done some good. At some point this will offset the money i lost on the product, just goes to show how stupid these policies can be, in this case his policy is going to end up losing him money and im not losing any sleep over it.
A big thanks to all the nay sayers, all the "get over it" comments only served to bump the thread and increase the audience of my message
I keep hearing people say "thats the rules" live with it. I can see why this rule is in place, its stops people from breaking things and sending them back. But i think i can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the item was defective before it was cut. And that it being cut in no way inhibits one from determining that internal baffle failure was the problem. All the other examples arnt really totally applicable. If i cut ignition leads then how would you test them?
Just some rhetorical questions to get the mind flowing for everyone.
Since we have established that the supplier needs it in original condition, lets follow the trail. WHY do the suppliers need it in original condition to inspect an unrelated fault?
Having my exhaust shop detail on my invoice that the muffler was inspected and found an internal baffle collapsed is what i did so they wouldn't think it was accident damage.
Will the supplier loose any revenue by accepting the cut muffler? What is the reason behind the suppliers policy? do they part it out? recycle it? or it is just something to hide behind? if someone was happy to explain this im not going to take offence i assure.
Questioning things never hurts, its why we know alot of the things in our world today. Ancient Greek philosophers and mathematicians came
up with an unexpected answer, one that seemed to defy common sense: that the earth was a sphere. They would not settle for its flat "because i said so".
Over and out, will update if anything else exciting happens, otherwise i think this thread might just well be exhausted itself.
Thanks everyone, mission accomplished (well almost), guess its time to "suck it up and move on", listing for the initial 14 days should be even to break even with the seller. But at least i know i made a difference and maybe stopped others having the same problems. If i just went quietly then nobody would know all this wonderful info (both for and against).
But it has been fun. 
