Used Cages and Spare Parts
We often get requests from people telling us they bought a used cage from some guy on e-bay and now need extra parts and/or the installation guide in order to complete the installation.
Unfortunately for us to protect our investors and employees, we do not support the used or second hand cage market. So if you are going to buy a used or second hand MiataCage on the internet make sure it comes with all of the parts and the installation guide.
9 times out of 10 people tell me they wish they would not have bought the cage second hand as they end up spending more time and money trying to fix the issues that pop up around used cages versus just buying the cage new.
Why can't I just get the installation guide? The installation guide we provide with our roll cage kit is a very comprehensive 40+ page guide with 7 detailed schematics. No one else in the industry has gone to this level of detail with an installation guide. So basically if someone wanted to get a hold of an installation guide and take it to a local fabricator they could copy our kit pretty easily based on the amount of detail in the guide.
Because of this, we only offer the installation guide in paper format with a new order. We do not sell installation guides by themselves or send them out ahead of time in digital format. Once something is on the internet, you can never get it back and for that main reason we must protect our intellectual property, investors and employees and not offer it other than in paper copy with the initial purchase of a cage.
Why can't I get replacement parts? This one is a little more complicated, but basically what we do is build cages in qty of (20) units. We package all (20) cages at once and then house them in a 3rd party warehouse for logistics and shipping. So basically there are no spare parts sitting around on a shelf for us to send you, as all kits are packaged right away in their entirety.
Can you make me spare parts? We can make spare tubes, but the lead time on the NC Tube Bender is 3-4 weeks depending on the time of year. The second issue that pops up is that UPS shipping is calculated on dimensional weight or actual weight whichever is more. So, if we have to put a tube that has bends into a box to ship or the tube is long, then the dimensional weight will be astronomical and not be cost effective. If you have cut a tube to short, there are sometimes ways of fixing the tube without the need to aquire a new one. Send us an e-mail (sean@miatacage.com) with pictures and a description of what happened and we can setup a call to discuss options.
I just want the front rounded perches, why can't I just get those to build my own cage around? We have invested in a very expensive tube laser that is capable of laser cutting intricate shapes and designs from round tube. The rounded front perch starts life as a tube and is one of the key unique signature elements of a MiataCage custom roll cage kit. Offering just those front perch tubes for someone to build their own cage around could cause confusion in the marketplace on a home built cage with our front perches that may or may not be up to our design standards.
We do realize in some cases these are not the answers one may be looking for, but we need to be consistent and we need to protect our investment, investors, employees and intellectual property, so we hope you will understand our position.
Thank you.
Sean Hedrick
President - MiataCage