Daz of Mini Directory fame recently purchased a 6 point roll cage from Geronimo Cages. Believing it to be a decent purchase, he waited some 5 weeks for the cage to arrive. I’ll let him tell the story:

Advice to all mini owners thinking of using Geronimo Cages

Back in January i brought one of there six point cages, i paid for it by paypal so we thought i would have no worries…

5 weeks later the cage arrived all packaged up ready to fit, i had to wait a few days for help to fit it as i didn’t want to catch the car, then the fun began!

In short the cage will not fit without being modified, which is not what it says on Geronimo cages website!

Cages Fits well eh!

I emailed them with the mail below:

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—– Original Message —–
From: Darren
To: andy@geronimocages.co.uk
Cc:
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2008 8:03 PM
Subject: Roll Cage Quality and Fitment

Good Evening Andy

My other half Sonia brought one of your standard cages back in January 2008 and received it last week.

Couple of major points really,

Fitment: There is no way the cage as it has been built will fit a standard mini saloon car without some major modification, I have included some pictures:
With the front hoop in place and following the windscreen pillar so the connecting bars run parallel I assume this is correct?
Rear cage fitted so the floor bars touch the floor inside the rear bins, fitted as far back as it goes, the rear brace bars NEARLY come close to fitting onto the rear wheel arch but roof bars are miles too long
Rear cage fitted so the roof bars NEARLY fit, the floor bars come no where near touching the floor, however the rear brace bars would fit to the wheel arch

Quality: I have to rate your welding skills as poor to mediocre at best with your finished article looking rushed and poorly finished, the cage we have received is no where near ready for paint and will take some time to grind back your messy and poor welds to make this look like a professional job, not something made in a garden shed!

Where do we go from here,

We ordered a professionally built roll cage that takes aprox 30minutes to fit, Details below are direct from your website http://www.geronimocages.co.uk/id15.html

STANDARD SIX POINT CAGE

Our standard six point cage made from 33.7mm CHS tube. These cages can be either bolted or welded in. The roof bars are connected to the front and rear hoops via slide in tube joints. For fitting simply drill through and insert bolt or weld around the seam. Very easy to fit, takes approx 30 minutes. Arrives ready for paint.

DEAL PRICE - 150.00 GBP
This is not what we have received!

This is a formal request to provide us with a Professionally Built Roll cage that will fit without modification in aprox 30mins or our money back, obviously collection and re-delivery will be at your expense as this is no fault of us as the consumer

This email address is checked 10 times a day so feel free to respond or you can call me on 07725 646132

I can see no reason why this matter should take more than 7 days to resolve

Regards

Darren Newton
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Since then we have had communication back, and they have not offered a replacement (i dont think they do a cage that fits!) however they did offer a refund if we return the cage to them at our cost.

Now this didn’t seem right to me, as a consumer if you are supplied with something that is not fit for purpose or as described it is the trader responsibility to cover any costs, this includes return postage. I further had this confirmed by Trading Standards!

I then called Geronimo Cages back to explain this and i was told that they do not care what the sales of goods act says, they are not going to cover the cost, they then promptly hung up.

Does this sound like a trader you wish to deal with?

I don’t know about you lot, but I won’t be buying one of their cages!

One more warning. Their website says:

We can build and supply cages from a standard six point basic frame in CHS tube upto multi point full race cage in a MSA/FIA approved CDS tube or even a T45. Complete with certification.

Read that again. It says that the CDS Tube is MSA/FIA approved, NOT THE COMPLETED CAGE. Do not purchase this product if you are intending to race with it.

The ongoing thread is on the (excellent) Mini Directory Forum.