Fanatec Rant

[Evan Madore]

I figured I would make this thread to warn potential Fanatec buyers.

I have read raving reviews on the new Fanatec GT3rs V2. Like my usual self, I listened to all of the good, and none of the bad. As a result I leave you with a video clip of calibration in iRacing and some music to your ears.

http://www.mediafire.com/?y1dqinw2rfsce87

http://www.mediafire.com/?ec6tab49aye48h4

 

[Alex Ball]

Ha ha, typical fanatec quality. I've had a GT3 RS, and a 911TS, both were awful. I still can't get over the fact they have a design flaw in the GT3 V1 wheels, which they want the CUSTOMER to pay to fix. Bonkers. Great looking wheels, but nothing else. Get a G25/G27 and modify it. Cheaper, and WAY more reliable.

 

[Evan Madore]

Also not impressed by their customer support. I emailed them yesterday and they have not gotten back to me today. Now the weekend is coming up! =[ I tried to call their number but they only take calls for two hours?! Complete crap.

 

[Senad Subasic]

That's awful... And I drooled over their wheels and pedals for months.

 

[Evan Madore]

I did too. It sucks. Apparently you either get a perfectly working product, or a completely f'ed one. I hope they get back to me soon, I would like to give a working one a fair chance. If not, I will have to find some other wheel other than this and the g27.

 

[Will Currington]

I was and to some point still a Fanatec supporter, even tho I've had my share of problems and customer support issues. What we all have to remember is that Fanatec is a very small company, with Thomas as CEO who not only makes sim racing products but is a sim racer himself. I'm sure he's as pissed as we are with all the problems that have happened. The main problem for Fanatec is there own success, they didn't envision the wheels selling like they have, and they don't have the resources like Logitech does when it comes to customer support. Armin and his team do try to answer all emails as quick as they can but there are only so many hours in a day and I've even had Armin email from home at the weekend to help resolve a problem. I hope for there sake they can resolve the problems they've had as when there products work, they work really well. Don't forget also Logitech had there fair share of problems with the G25, hence why the G27 wasn't such a big leap over the G25 as they used that to solve any issues and you'll find a hell of a lot less problems with the G27 on the tinternet than when the G25 was first released.
After saying all that I do have a brand new un boxed GT3RS V2 sitting in my race den, not sure if I can trust it, both V1's I had cost me races when they failed, yet the 3year old faithfull G25 still works flawlessly.

 

[Damian Henderson]

Will said it very well.

It's easy to curse and rip Fanatec without looking at the bigger picture.

At first though when they come about they had more faulty products but they moved quickly to fix that since early last year, and have solid products for the majority in terms of no issue's, it's only actually a small % of people who have issue's now and they have improved their support greatly over the past year or so.

It's the same with Logitech wheels also , one of our team members got a G27 and after only 3 weeks of use one of the springs bust, both companies have issue's with their wheels but it only counts for a small % usually now.

Most of our team are on Fanatec wheels now and have never suffered any issue's after over a years use including myself. It's unfortunate if you have issue's but it's also unfair to criticise Fanatec over it considering how small a company they are to Logitech and Logitech wheels having their fair share of problems also.

Also not impressed by their customer support. I emailed them yesterday and they have not gotten back to me today. Now the weekend is coming up! =[ I tried to call their number but they only take calls for two hours?! Complete crap.

Usually they don't respond during the weekend. Usually get a reply in the week (Monday-Thursday)

 

[Evan Madore]

I am sorry but Friday is NOT a weekend...

Also, I am not "ripping" them. I paid a fairly large sum of money for a product. I received this product after 10 days of waiting when they said 3-5. I asked this specifically because I participate in leagues and need a wheel. I receive the wheel and it is clearly broken. There was no evidence of it being mishandled in shipment.

Now, with a broken wheel, I still cannot race. I paid for something that is supposed to be quality. I do not care if they are a small company or not. Test the units before they are sent out. Just like other industries do. Not that difficult and probably saves money in the long run.

I contacted them on Thursday 3:30PM EST. Being where they are located, I figured they would not see it until the next work day for them. When I got home today, I expected a reply which I did not get. I was within their 2 hours of phone support so I called. I called and called but no answer. Really irritating.

NOW, it looks like I am going to have to wait another weekend, just to hopefully hear back Monday, then have to ship this back to them. Then I have to wait for them to get it, THEN wait for another one to be shipped. Probably another 10 days. All of this time WITHOUT A WHEEL!

Small company or not, when a consumer receives a broken product, you should be doing all you can to resolve it as quickly as possible. I have done the best I possibly can for them providing serial numbers, invoice numbers, sound clips, video clips, everything. Plus, I tried many times to call.

Again, I am completely dissatisfied with the whole situation. This also puts me in an awkward position because I talked my friends into buying them as well. If they receive broken units and have support issues, I am going to look like the bad guy as well. I cannot, and will not recommend them to anyone after this point.

 

[Nigel Atkins]

The main problem for Fanatec is there own success, they didn't envision the wheels selling like they have,

well employ people to help out with the customer support, if there wheels are selling that good then there bank balance must well into the black.

i sent a email on the 5th oct, got a reply on the 15th oct saying they will send me a new fan they just need my address which i sent. on the 1st nov i sent a email asking what is happing and still no reply. and if/when i finaly get the fan i have goto fit it myself, which is no easy job as you have to take the wheel off just to get to one screw the rest of the cover screws are easy to get at.

not impressed at all and am thinking of sticking the lot on ebay when the fans fixed and going back to a G27.

 

[David Mack]

Well, I've never ordered anything from Fanatec before, until about two weeks ago. Included below is what I posted yesterday on the Porsche 911 Wheel Club forum, because that's the site where Thomas has his blog and I'm hoping he'll see it. I've also sent this same basic message via the "I Want To Return An Item" page on the Fanatec Gameshop site, on Thursday of this week (two days ago), with no reply yet. All I want now is to return the PTSW wheel which I did not order, and get the Clubsport Pedals that I did order. Not too much to ask for, I'd say.

If anyone has suggestions or advice about how to get this resolved as quickly as possible, I'd be extremely grateful. I'm sure you can imagine my disappointment with my dealings with them so far.

This may not be the right place to post this info, but I'm kind of at a loss and thought someone here could help with some advice.

I recently ordered a GT3 RS V2 Clubsport Edition wheel (which includes the Clubsport Pedals), and the wheel's table clamp. The shipment arrived yesterday and included the GT3 RS wheel and clamp, but instead of the Clubsport Pedals for some reason Endor shipped a PTSW wheel/pedal combo (also, the shipping box for the GT3 RS wheel says "V1.5" on the box. Do I have some older version of the wheel?).

I filled out Endor's RMA request email form yesterday but have not heard back at all (as a side note, I never got any confirmation email from Fanatec or Endor that my order was even received...no tracking information, nothing).

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to proceed? I've read and heard about how their customer service record is really spotty, and I don't want this to fall into some kind of black hole.

 

[Mike McCormick]

Try contacting Armin Habermann here: ah@endor.ag

 

[Kevin Watts]

Contacting Armin would be a good idea. Its a shame to see posts like this because in my experience Fanatec have been absolutely 1st class with their support. Pre sales support was very good with emails answered inside 48 hours, usually no more than 24. After sales was even better. My 911 Turbo S wheel developed a terminal fault and so I emailed in a tech support request adnd it was answered inside 30 mins by Armin. Not only that but once he had diagnosed the issue within 2 hours he had already arranged a new wheel to be sent out immediately and not wait for me to send the faulty one back.

I know this may not be helpful to you and I don't wish you to think I'm just pouring oil on the fire but your experience is not the norm for Fanatec's support. Unfortunately its usually the bad experiences that get posted about on the internet, I know this from experience running a support site for a brand of flight sim hardware. They have recently advertised for more staff so hopefully stories like this will become even rarer. I hope you get some help for your issues as a working Fanatec wheel and pedals really are a cut above the rest in my opinion.

 

[Nigel Atkins]

Contacting Armin would be a good idea.

the reply i got on the 15 Oct was from Armin, and i`ve not heard anything since.

from what i`ve been reading on forums is in 2009 the customer support seemed very good, with lots of people prasing them. but it seems 2010 has not been very good and the internet is full of pissed off buyers.

i totaly understand there a small firm and am prepeared to wait a week to 10 days for a reply. but i got a email saying yes we are aware of these faulty fans and they`ll send me a new one but i`ve recived or heard nothing. and now every time i start my wheel up the small horizontal fan sounds like its going to explode and i have to tap the casing above it and afer a few hits it starts spinning normaly. when i 1st contacted them it was only every now and then that the fan would screw up but now its getting worse and i`m sure within the next few weeks it will pack up completly or something.

 

[Damian Henderson]

from what i`ve been reading on forums is in 2009 the customer support seemed very good, with lots of people prasing them. but it seems 2010 has not been very good and the internet is full of pissed off buyers.

2010 the support has been greater then ever for Fanatec, it's just more and more people are buying Fanatec hardware so you will hear about problems a bit more then normal. Around the net I see allot more people reporting issue's with their Logitech wheels then Fanatec as they still a bigger company with more sales, but again for both companies as Kevin said it's not the norm and only counts for a small few compared to the majority.

 

[Nigel Atkins]

don`t take this the wrong way Damian, but you and your team are sponserd by Fanatec so i can`t help thinking you would big them up.

 

[Damian Henderson]

It's nothing to do with our personal relationship with Fanatec it's just the way things are. I know lots of guys on Fanatec hardware outside of the team and generally 90% of those people have never had any issue's with the hardware or support.

As said earlier in the topic it's unfortunate if your having problems and obviously not a good situation, but its not the majority who are having problems just a small few of all the people, just like with Logitech wheels.

Hope you get things sorted either way.

 

[Sean Cebron]

(also, the shipping box for the GT3 RS wheel says "V1.5" on the box. Do I have some older version of the wheel?).

You got a V2 wheel, don't worry. I've seen other people posting about this V1.5 on the box and it turned out it's some kind of internal numbering.
Too bad you didn't get the Clubsports I hope you will get your support response soon - maybe they don't work during weekends, so it's taking longer than it should because of that.

 

[Evan Madore]

To be entirely truthful, I am sponsored by Fanatec as well. This is why I am disapointed. The good news is that I FINALLY got hold of someone. I got hold of Armin via phone. Apparently, all of the emails I sent did not get to their support email. Something is wrong on their side regarding that.

Once I was able to speak to Armin, the RMA process was quick and I am waiting on a response from the sales. There will be a new one on the way.

I will let you know more when I know more. All I have to say though, is that if you have a problem contacting them, contact Armin directly via his email posted above.

Thanks.

 

[Nigel Atkins]

the 1st email i sent was to e-support@fanatec.com & he replied with this email ah@endor.ag, i sent a reminde email on the 1st on nov but not heard anything. should i send another reminder or would it be better to call them?

if you recomend to call them then have you got the phone number please. i`m sure anyday soon this fan is gunna give up the ghost completly

 

[Nigel Atkins]

well i`m not totaly forgoten, i got a email today from Armin