pete95zhn

I ordered a 6-point cage in the beginning of February from Heigo in Germany. Promised delivery time was 6-8 weeks. Mid March they said that it will be ready Mid April. Mid April arrived and I got no answer to my inquiries over e-mail, so on 20th of April I called them. "Ze cage vill be redy for shipping in zwo veeks." That is the first week of May, 12 weeks after the order!!
The delivery with a truck will take at least a week and the car should have been ready on the 15th of May, because our club has a two day track event (totally a 5 day trip, missus would have come along) in the neighbouring country. I had paid the event, ferries, hotels, track fees etc.
On Monday morning 14th of May I called them again and asked where's my cage. "It iz now in powderkoating." was the answer. So the claim on 20th of April that I was told it would be ready for shipping in two weeks now turned out to be an outright lie! I asked again when it would be ready for shipping and the anwer was that they will call me later (or send an e-mail). No reply ever come.
On Tuesday the 15th of May the company I bought the cage from (actually acted as an arranger) sent this message to Heigo:


Heigo Autotechnik GmbH
Ringstr. 5
97 270 Kist
Germany
Ref. 09.02.2012
AUFTRGS-NR xxxx KUNDEN-NR xxxx


Dear Sir,
I ordered a

-516.050-1 Porsche 996 inkl. Querstrebe Armaturenbrett inkl. Flankenschutz inkl. Tunnelstützen inkl. Diagonale mit Gabelkopfbef.
-600.034 Pulverbeschichtung Käfig in RAL-Farben
-600.036 Gurtrohr demontierbar
-ZGEL ONS/DMSB Zertifikat mit Lochstempel und Unterschrift

with order number 09.02.2012 / AUFTRGS-NR xxxx KUNDEN-NR xxxx
My order was confirmed on 09.02.2012.
It was agreed that the product be delivered in 6 to 8 weeks, however I and thus my customer have not received the product up to this date.
I therefore request that you ship the product latest on the 18th of May 2012 with a proof of shipment, either a tracking number or a copy of shipping documents.

Should you fail to deliver the product by that date I will exercise my right to cancel the agreement and will demand the full reimbursement of the purchase price of xxxx,xx eur to the following account....

As you already have guessed, no answer has arrived...
On 22nd of May I called them and asked why I or the company that delivered my order had not got any info about whereabouts of my cage I was told that "It vill be shipped tomorrow". And documents will be e-mailed to me.
As you already have guessed, no e-mail has arrived... This weekend I will again miss another track event because of their questionable business ethics.

So, if you don't want to be treated like dirt, do not buy anything from Heigo. Neither directly nor via their dealers...at least FVD and Cargraphic in Europe.

911SLOW

Ah.. don't get me started with Heigo's communication skills via Cargraphic or directly..

At one point the "middle man" was a guy's wife. (her words not mine)


My cage (a custom front section) is arriving mid next week . FWIW I ordered it 9 weeks ago.


Best,

runet

Sorry to hear about this.
I actually bought a Heigo cage from FVD some 8 months ago and got it within 4 weeks. I have never received anything but excellent service from both FVD and Cargraphic so far.

I hope you get your money back.

pete95zhn

I do not question FVD's or Cargraphic's service either. And I do suspect that they will get what they order and fast because they're big customers whose orders override everything else...

koenig_roland

Well,
it´s known in germany that the "good" cage-builders like heigo & wiechers (do you know that brand in the US?) are realy "slow" and not realy "customer-oriented".

I growed up 10kilometers from the heigo "headquarter" and bought a cage for my first car there. It was also a drama, althought i did the whole communication face-to-face...

pete95zhn

If I'd know that, I'd have sent my money elsewhere. During this issue of mine I've heard of similar cases with Heigo, and they seem to be happenend to private customers. Ie. dealers get their orders in due time and others just have to wait and suffer.

PS. I'm located in Europe. Wiechers was my other option, but I had heard of problems with fitment with their cages.

pete95zhn

Below are the comments what I've gathered during the weekend, including the ones above. Poor communications and very long delivery times seem to be modus operandi for Heigo. I would have liked to know this before I ordered mine, but no-one has made the issue public. I can assure that I did some googling in various forums but found nothing. Some have wondered why I've come public with this, but the reason is above. To let know potential byuers what they are going to face if they order their cage directly from Heigo.
The cage will eventually arrive, but do neither expect that within promised delivery time nor any information from the company.


"I waited for mine over 3 months" -Customer in Finland

"I growed up 10kilometers from the heigo "headquarter" and bought a cage for my first car there. It was also a drama, althought i did the whole communication face-to-face... " -Customer in Germany

"Ah.. don't get me started with Heigo's communication skills via Cargraphic or directly.. My cage (a custom front section) is arriving mid next week . FWIW I ordered it 9 weeks ago" -Customer in USA

"it is not a secret, that heigo needs a lot of time for producing and delivery. I waited nearly 7 months on my cage for a porsche 964.
the answer that I get was: if you dislike our deliverytime, we understand your cancelling."
-Customer in Germany

To be honest one positive comment has also arrived:

"I actually bought a Heigo cage from FVD some 8 months ago and got it within 4 weeks."
-Customer in USA

pete95zhn

The saga continues, today the company who arranged the order recieved this message:

Hello,

can we send the cage to ***** ****** or to ****** Racing?

Best regards
Gudrun Heilmann

So on last Tuesday (a week ago) I was lied to again, Frau Heilmann told me then that it will be shipped the next day. And the shipping address is written to order and agreed on the phone last week.

BTW, One Canadian customer wrote:
I ordered a roll bar from Heigo in the fall of 2011, took close to 14 weeks to arrive. Email communication was good, shipping was fast once the piece was made. I dealt directly with Heigo, not FVD. I was warned by others their timeliness was poor, and even poorer once the motorsport season starts in Germany.

pete95zhn

I just got a call from transport company. 51kgs of something (like a cage) will be delivered tomorrow.
Also my new seats will be delivered tomorrow afternoon.
I'll post pics when I return from summer cottage...vacation...

pete95zhn

So, I got back home from lakeside on the evening of 11th and just had to open the box and see what I got. The cage with all documents (including shipping docs indicating that it had been shipped on 29th of May) were there. On the next morning I started fitting the cage in. The rear part was a clean fit and attachment plates which are to be welded chassis were easy to locate. Front section was slightly more difficult... I managed to mark approximate area for the plates there and cleaned those sections of floor for welding.
My neighbour has a friend thatt has been involved in building race (mostly rally) cars for 30 years and he's also a pro welder so he arrived in the evening with all equipment to my place. Rear plates were welded in quickly but just after midnight I called it a day. Something was wrong with front section and it was a time for thinking and planning. Pro's woords were somehow comforting when he said that he hasn't yet seen a cage that has just been "thrown in". I twisted and turned the front section in and out of the car the whole Wednesday and it repeatedly seemed that although it's nearly there few tubes are too long. Even an excessive use of force dindn't help. After a telephone conference with him I made a decision to start cutting parts.
So on Wednesday evening, after shortening the tube that runs along the upper edge of windshield for 4 centimeters -1cm at a time, fitting and measuring again- I was able to get door hoops' legs fit to lower end of the A-pillar. Before that they were twisted towards each other trying to meet near cardan tunnel... and the upper edge was trying to push out A-pillars. Not to mention the light switch that was completely blocked by a 38mm steel tube. I've heard that having driving lights on in darkness brings added value to driving...
Next issue was to get door bars and the one running along the dashboard, connecting door hoops together fit in. Now I needed something else than an angle grinder, so I went to a friend's shop and he shortened those bars in a lathe. Door bars needed 3 cm's cut and the dashboard bar 8 (yes, eight!) cm's cut. Fortunately there were enough threads inside the bars so no new threads were needed. Bar ends are adjustable, very neat items indeed, and thus the cage can be pre-loaded.
This adjustability comes handy in fitting too and after this operation I could finally push and pull door hoops' ends to correct places. They were welded on Friday morning. Immediately after that I cleaned up the welds and painted the plates. Friday evening the whole cage was finally in. saturday was spent with my wife and on Sunday I lifted the car up, drilled last holes for four bolts that comes through the floor, replaced burned sealant and started installing the interior.
Pics are from Monday evening, the other seat is still missing and some finishing yet to be done because I had to go back to work.

In general I'm pleased with the quality of Heigo's cage. Paint was flawless, adjustability with those threaded bars is good and their fork ends look cool. I have to admit that although their customer service is below any standards. That fitment issue I had was mostly inexperience. If I'd ever install another one I'd know right away what to do, now I had to ask help and get confirmation before starting cutting.

What's interesting with this cage is that it is slightly wider and longer than GT3's OEM cage. I have GT3 CS's floor mats and while the part between rear struts fits perfectly the holes on the floor doesn't. Main hoop (B-pillar) is wider, those inner door sill plastic liners must be cut. At front too. And at front the cage goes more forward, there's more room to twist shoes in.

HiWind

nice write up - glad the painful wait is now just a vague memory (or soon to be )

996FLT6

Looking at the pics- does it have a diagonal bar running on mainhoop and that bolted bar behind the seat at rib cage level on both driver/pass side where does that bolt to? Mike

pete95zhn

Diagonals are the short bars between main hoop and rear seat belt inner attachment points. FIA/DMSB certified and documented solution.

The one you ask about is removable harness bar, which is not FIA/DMSB certified. It bolts to the main hoop. Should be good for track days (for attaching shoulder harness), but I'm using it as a guide bar so that shoulder harness enter the seat at a proper angle.

SH || NC

Looks nice and clean with the interior back in. Good work. What the plan for it; DE, TT, Club Racing?

pete95zhn

Thanks!

TT, DE & Nordschleife. Club Racing is a tempting idea but too risky even when compared to the 'ring.