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.

 

Below are the comments what I've gathered during the weekend. 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

 

Probably someone's cancelled order...

Sorry to hear of these things..hopefully you get it sorted so you can go racing...

 

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.

 

typical....


so sorry

 

Pete, in what country are you located? That type of cage is what I'm looking for. Is there anyone else who makes something similar?

 

I'm in Northern Europe. IMO the best option always is the OEM GT3 cage. It's just darn expensive. There's Safety Devices and Custom Cages in the UK, but I really don't know about US market.

 

Like I said in your other post in the GT2 GT3 section, why order out of the country when good race shops and fabricators are everywhere. Even in europe; if you dream it there is usually someone more local who can build it.

 

Never lived in Europe, have you?

Asking someone to order within the country in Europe is like asking someone in a small state in the US to order within that state. I'm sure you're right and he'd be able to find someone semi-local to do the job; it's questionable if he'd be better off timewise, though, and he certainly would not be better off moneywise. An I know I'd feel better with a bolt-in piece of safety equipment coming from a manufacturer with experience doing just that before buying something from joe-blow-fabricator who may or may not have experience (or skills) for doing similar.

Heigo has a very good rep as far as the quality of their products go.

Telling someone that your lead times are long is ok. Delaying a delivery with just cause is ok. Getting someone's order on the books and then stringing them along with the carrot bobbing just out of reach is not ok. Especially when you know that there are deadlines that can't be pushed back. The Dracula costume ordered for haloween is not going to be of much use on turkey-day.

There are 2 sides to every story, tho. Be interesting to hear the other side.

 

you are an idiot for paying something the seller doesn't have and keep on chasing it. many idiots do this and have lost money when the company folded or when the credit card chargeback rights expired.

do yourself a favor, call your credit card company and charge this back. dont tell me you pay him a check. if so, you just got shafted.

 

Yeah personally I'd cancel it and order from GMG. I know they do international shipping and make some really nice stuff. Email Fabryce, they're a site sponsor. I'm sure he'll not only get your cage to you quickly, he can probably even recommend a shop that's local to you to install it. Good luck.

 

Exactly.

This was the reason I chose their product in the first place. And I wanted a removable (ie. bolt-on) cage which comes powder coated from the manufacturer.

Again exactly what I think too.

Me too. Unfortunately they've been pretty silent on their side...


Pay something to a German manufacturer with a credit card? You must be joking, right?
There are still department store chains in Germany that doesn't accept plastic. Just cold, hard cash. But maybe that's the reason why their economy is running strong. And so far the issue (haven't heard anywhere or anyone) hasn't been not getting the cage, just when...

 

Wholly poop. There are some big-word-slingin-people on this forum who seem to have less than no clue.

dj, just out of curiosity: are you 6'10" and 375lbs. or do you only have like 2 teeth left?

 

Been in europe lots, both living and working due to the auto racing industry. I find many european countries and little village areas even better than America for finding little temples of speed stuck in the oddest places.

But you are right, you just never know who is the jem sometimes untill you or some friends have some experience with them.

This is a hard industry to deal with for a guy like me. I am a perfectionist caught in a world with mainly "Substandard is good enough nit wits"

Even a few of the big boy porsche players on here I chased like a hound dog trying to get some parts from and they just could not seem to care.

Sigh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What do you do?

Pete I hope you get something you are happy with in the end, it does not sould like the company is shadey, more so just slow and uncaring about it.

 

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...