Gas-N Problems?

[RFGoSlow2023]

Back in April, 2024, I ordered and paid in full for headers and side pipes from Gas-N. The headers were for a small block ford (BPE 347 with EFI) using the 3" bolt spacing. I received the side pipes toward the end of August, 2024 (approximately 18 weeks after ordering). I kept asking about the headers (I should receive them within12 weeks ordering by the website). I finally received the headers on the 3rd week of September. When I unwrapped them I found that Gas-N has taken a grinder to the header flanges. Some of the flange was ground down into the bolt hole while others weren't ground enough to insert the spark plug socket. In addition, the passenger side header flange had been ground on the front of each cylinder cut out instead of the back side. When we placed the headers on the car the poor grinding was very evident and the quality didn't match what is stated on the website about superior products. I talked with Georgie and was told that I could send back the passenger header and they would grind the back side of each cylinder. I said I was not happy with the appearance and would not accept the headers with the poor quality and incorrectly made headers. He said he would give me a refund minus the shipping cost. He received the headers on September 24th and said that he was out of the county for 3 weeks and would send my refund minus shipping when he returned. On October 16th he said the check would be sent that week. On November 1 still had not received the check and he said he would have accounting send the check out that day or the next. As of today November 13th still have not received my check. BTW-I did order the FFR headers on the same day I sent Gas-N headers back (September 20, 2024) and had them installed on September 27. We were able to do a first start and first go cart on October 13!

I'm interested if others have had similar issues with Georgie at Gas-N

Rick

[PNWTim]

I would sure like to know if this was some kind of one off. I chose header and side pipe delete for my coupe order thinking I was going with Gas-N. Hope others ring in as I have heard nothing but good things about them but the threads are a bit old.

[Jim Frahm]

Anytime I had an issue I contacted him directly and it was taken care of without hesitation and free of charge. Have you contacted him?

[edwardb]

I've used Gas-N's on all of my builds, including the custom ones currently on my Coupe. My experiences with Georgie have all been 100% positive. He's bent over backwards to make sure I was happy with everything. The only fault is sometimes promises might be a little "optimistic" so patience is the word. This is the small part of a larger company. I think he does his best. Without taking sides -- there are two sides to every story. I personally wouldn't take this incident as reflective of his overall service and quality of his product. Having said that, there's no question in my opinion that Factory Five has upped their game with headers and pipes. At least in the years I've been involved. There used to a huge difference in quality and appearance. I still prefer Gas-N's and would use them again if I get the chance. But Factory Five's current offerings are decent.

[RFGoSlow2023]

Anytime I had an issue I contacted him directly and it was taken care of without hesitation and free of charge. Have you contacted him?

Jim- have talked directly with Georgie at least 5 times about receiving the refund. I talked with him twice about the header issues. Once I said I was going to return them and ask for a refund his tone changed! I too had only heard good things about the company and the superior products. I hope my issues are not reflective of problems with the company and others are well taken care of.

[Jphoenix]

I received my Gas'n headers a couple of weeks ago, shipped on time and they look and fit just fine.

[Claybuster]

I'm just a little guy in NW Florida with about 15 months in my MkIV build and no other experience in this field except for occasional tinkering to learn, so take my input for what it's worth. I reached out to Georgie about 7 months into my build to talk about sidepipes. He took extra time to explain the differences between his available options, and even sent me pics and videos. I placed an order for touring sidepipes, and received them about 13 weeks later. They were exactly as promised and exceeded my expectations for appearance (mirror finish!) and sound.
I have to believe that this is a "one off" like PNWTim suggested. And of course, there are always two sides of the story like edwardb says. I'm very confident that Georgie and his team will make it all right. Who knows what stressors they are dealing with: Extended travel abroad, supply chain issues, raw materials procurement, etc. Hang in there...
Jason

[bobl]

I had a set made last year and they were perfect. Took a while to get them, but right on the timeline he said.

Bob

[Bajaoutlaw]

I ordered 3" spacing SBF headers and sidepipes in mid Dec. Received the headers later in January. Still no sidepipes. When I inquired by phone early Jan. Georgie told me the were being polished due they don't do that in house. Just inquired again and was told by the man, 12 weeks. Must be intricate work polishing sidepipes.

[gbranham]

I was talking to a relatively new forum member a few weeks ago about vendor support in this community, and I told him when he orders his MkV and starts building, that he needs to reset his expectations on how long it'll take to receive parts from many of our smaller vendors, because they all take quite some time to ship parts. I've worked with many of them, and in most cases, they are a one-person show, so if you're expecting Amazon or Summit Racing speed in deliveries, you need to adjust your thinking. Communications is a bit lacking in many of them (not telling you when things ship, not giving you updates on status of when they might ship, etc), and this really irritated me with my first build nearly 20 years ago. Knowing this is the landscape, this go-round, I told myself, 'it'll take as long as it takes', and to not get in a hurry. As it stands now, my build has stalled since mid-December, waiting on parts, but I don't really care...I just put the car cover on it, and forgot about it. The parts will be here when they get here. It's a journey, not a destination. Our supporting vendors provide high-quality, well engineered, thoughtful products at what I believe to be good pricing. And they know our cars better than anyone, to boot. It's worth the wait.

Greg

[BEAR-AvHistory]

No dog in this issue have FFR pipes. Looking from outside understand long lead time for some items. My own build was held up on a number of occasions waiting on parts.

Thing that bothers me about the OP's issues is the apparent poor job on the flanges. Offering to regrind something that is incorrectly ground the first time is not a good plan. No matter how many times I cut this piece its still to short or in this case to thin.

Wouldn't a simple exchange for the very next units in production been a better solution?

As for the travel thing I was in a global business & traveled out of country quite frequently. A phone call back to the US would solve most problems by having someone there take care of it.

[JMD]

I ordered and received my Gas N headers and pipes within about 6-8 weeks from order early last year. Love the product and the sound of the quiet pipes but the headers were a pain to fit. The bolt holes didn't line up very well and I had to ream out at least 4 on each side to fit...not easy with a 3/8" SS flange. Took an afternoon just to fit the headers. Other than that I love them.

[mrglaeser]

I ordered Roadster Touring pipes W Black Ceramic coating on 8/26. At that time the website said 10 week turn around for bare pipes, 14 weeks for polished/coated. Most of this due to shortages in stainless steel. However it appears since my order an additional shortage has started with Ceramic coating medium. Add in a 2 week holiday break and I received my pipes January 31. That comes out to 22 weeks(removed 1 for shipping), 20 if you cut out holiday shutdowns.

Unfortunately Georgie called me the following Monday and said there had been a mistake and they sent me 2 Drivers Side pipes and another customer 2 Passenger side pipes. He issued me a return shipping label and as I was out of town I couldn't drop them off until Friday. So I will expect to get my pipes back next Friday 2/21.

Georgie has been very responsive and honest with me the entire time. He gave me realist expectations that have mostly been met. I'm bummed about the mistake, but also not mad at Gas-N these things happen. As long as it is taken care of at no additional cost to me I'm not going to fuss.

My opinion is that the vendors here are supporting a hobbyist community. In most cases they aren't make hundreds of thousands of parts for a distribution center. And many things are made once ordered. It is fantastic that we even have so many options and upgrades via small businesses. So I can be patient and work on other things on the car.

I think it is on the builder to plan out when they need things. I would just suggest looking at current lead times adding 30% just in case then plan to order at least that far in advance based on your needs. I honestly was thinking to order the Pipes in May and then waited to hold on to cash a little longer. Had I ordered in May I'd have them now.

As long as venders are honest, deliver, and make things right when there are issues. I'll post back when I get my side pipes and let everyone know if everything came out alright.

This isn't exactly in line with OP original post as my dealings are long timelines just sharing my experience so far. But I am interested to see if OP ever gets their refund. I'm a little surprised they weren't offered a another set of headers in exchange since the one had been ground down too far. I would think that would fall into the 'defect' category.

[JeffP]

There is a very simple solution to these very common problems. Don't wait to order your parts until you need them and you won't be waiting for them when you need them. I built mine in the middle of covid, 9 month lead from FF. Ordered my Coyote at the same time which Mike had, but no control packs... told him he had 9 months to find one and I'd pick it up with my kit and he had it all waiting for me. So what if my engine sat for 3 months while I built it - when I needed it, I had it.

My advice? Plan your build and order it all at once. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

P.S. Also ordered Ceramic coated touring pipes from Georgie after my build when my local guy couldn't come through... 8 weeks post covid and I had them in hand.

[RogerRoger88]

I ordered Roadster Touring pipes W Black Ceramic coating on 8/26. At that time the website said 10 week turn around for bare pipes, 14 weeks for polished/coated. Most of this due to shortages in stainless steel. However it appears since my order an additional shortage has started with Ceramic coating medium. Add in a 2 week holiday break and I received my pipes January 31. That comes out to 22 weeks(removed 1 for shipping), 20 if you cut out holiday shutdowns.

Unfortunately Georgie called me the following Monday and said there had been a mistake and they sent me 2 Drivers Side pipes and another customer 2 Passenger side pipes. He issued me a return shipping label and as I was out of town I couldn't drop them off until Friday. So I will expect to get my pipes back next Friday 2/21.

Georgie has been very responsive and honest with me the entire time. He gave me realist expectations that have mostly been met. I'm bummed about the mistake, but also not mad at Gas-N these things happen. As long as it is taken care of at no additional cost to me I'm not going to fuss.

My opinion is that the vendors here are supporting a hobbyist community. In most cases they aren't make hundreds of thousands of parts for a distribution center. And many things are made once ordered. It is fantastic that we even have so many options and upgrades via small businesses. So I can be patient and work on other things on the car.

I think it is on the builder to plan out when they need things. I would just suggest looking at current lead times adding 30% just in case then plan to order at least that far in advance based on your needs. I honestly was thinking to order the Pipes in May and then waited to hold on to cash a little longer. Had I ordered in May I'd have them now.

As long as venders are honest, deliver, and make things right when there are issues. I'll post back when I get my side pipes and let everyone know if everything came out alright.

This isn't exactly in line with OP original post as my dealings are long timelines just sharing my experience so far. But I am interested to see if OP ever gets their refund. I'm a little surprised they weren't offered a another set of headers in exchange since the one had been ground down too far. I would think that would fall into the 'defect' category.

I'm the other customer that received the 2 passenger side pipes. Luckily I had gone ahead and opened the box to admire the side pipes even though I'm not ready for them. I noticed the hangers were in the exact same location on both pipes and knew something wasn't right. I immediately contacted Georgie, and he has been on top of it figuring out who got the 2 drivers side pipes. He sent me a return shipping label, and the extra pipe has been packed up and shipped back.

I ordered my pipes and headers back on 7/4, so it has taken a little while to get everything. However, I didn't mind as I knew I didn't need them anytime soon. Georgie always quickly responded to my texts when I would request an update.

[Valkster]

I ordered, and received in a timely manner, a set of polished Touring pipes during spring/summer of last year. No issues at all with the order and his communication was great. I wasn't going to need them for a while anyway. They sound nice on our go cart! If I had any issue at all it is that one pipe had a small unfused weld section (less than a 1/4") that caused a leak at the flange. I would not have noticed it had it not been on the side I added an O2 sensor bung. My sensor is in the driver side pipe collector. The leak messed with the O2 sensor but was a minor fix for me.

[Cobra Depo]

Is anyone else having a problem with contacting Gas-N? I have tried to call and email for weeks and just getting an automated response text: sorry missed your call with days and hours... etc...
was hoping to add to my current order from 3 months ago but have yet to hear back or get an update on my current order that is paid in full...

[OB6]

Is anyone else having a problem with contacting Gas-N? I have tried to call and email for weeks and just getting an automated response text: sorry missed your call with days and hours... etc...
was hoping to add to my current order from 3 months ago but have yet to hear back or get an update on my current order that is paid in full...

Yes, I've called several times over the past few weeks with the same results as you. I have an issue with one of my pipes, but at this point I'm planning to live with it because of the communication challenges.

[RR20AC]

Placed my order back in August. I was told at the time Georgi? Was not well and he was getting help. Around the first week of December on one of my calls, someone picked up and said “ Yes I see your pipes are done and ready to ship”. Never got them and still can’t get through either.

[rich grsc]

I thought I saw a post a month or so ago, he was selling the company? Can't find it now

[PNWTim]

I would approach this situation with caution. I was hesitant to order my headers and pipes because of these issues but finally spoke to someone in November (not Georgie) and had my questions answered and went ahead and ordered. I was told early January as I am not having mine polished. I called and texted early last week to check on status. A day later I received a shipment notification which was great. 5 days later, UPS had still not picked them up. Called and texted again and Horatio? called me and apologized for the confusion. Someone had jumped the gun with the shipping. My headers are finished but the pipes won't be completed until the end of this week. They offered to ship the headers now and I told them I could wait another week so we'll see.

My understanding is Georgie is either no longer the owner or no longer involved. I believe his lead welder has taken over the shop and is struggling with communication issues. I called and texted more than 7 or 8 times initially just to track someone down.

If it were me today wanting to order I would ask to pay half upon order and the remainder upon completion. They may not agree but I would at least ask and not be shy about telling them their reputation is slithering downhill. I wish I could report something better but I would approach a new purchase with a Caveat Emptor mindset.

[danmas]

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?51761-GasN-Question

Your mileage may vary. Caveat emptor.

[Doc76]

I’ve tried several times contacting them via their web page over the past few weeks, no response.

[PNWTim]

Sometimes if you call before they are open Horatio is there and will pickup. I gave up on the website 6 months ago.

[rich grsc]

So, another person who thinks you run a business by ignoring the customer?? :mad:

[Nigel Allen]

I guess their poor communication will soon sort their back log issue.