Update on shocking Fanatec Support and RMA.....Its worse

[Bonobhoy]

Not one for usually having a go at companies but this needs highlighted.

I spent over £2000 on equipment in the last year from Fanatec.

Most working fine outwith driver problems every few months.

About 3 months ago my Handbrake started to play up (gradually got worse and worse). Its taken 8 weeks for them to even acknowledge my emails. Finally i thought i was moving forward,i was then told to package the item and await pickup information....Still im awaiting with no acknowledgment yet gain as the weeks pass.

I'm sitting with a motion simulator worth 10k that i have build for myself and kids from the local special school play with. The kids were used to playing Rally games with the handbrake in use and therefor not having the handbrake is an issue for them as much as myself personally.

I'm hearing many horror stories now of Fanatec about constant issues and extremely long feedback and RMA times...which makes me think what if the wheel base is next to break or a Wheel Rim etc etc....and i have the same issues all over again with waiting times.

Now the pandemic has played its part and thats fair enough and i understand people are working from home...but there gets to a point when this becomes just an excuse for very long waiting times. A simple email helps with these issues and that doesn't even happen.

I work within the Hospital environment and i know more about what the Pandemic has done to slow areas down than normal.....but even within the Hospital environment things have been back to normal for a couple of months now......so this excuses of no one to even email me is starting to irritate me now.

Attempted to contact Supervisor and still get nowhere....Again if this was just a main personal issue i would maybe accept this a little more but i have many kids that are disappointed at attempting to play games and cant play them the way they want to.

I'm about to purchase another handbrake from another company now as i cant wait any longer..so thanks for the advice on another thread.

I praise companies when they do well but now i am highlighting issues when they also needed to be called out on.

So unfortunately i dont have faith in going forward with more purchases for sim builds in the future.....and i hope you can rectify your Support/RMA procedures in the future for others.

 

[ColinMac]

Did you raise a ticket via your Fanatec account in the portal ? I sent a support ticket in for my DD1 PSU which was being intermittently annoying. It did take them a few days to respond, but they then replaced it without question, couriered a new one to me and then arranged a collection of the old one once I'd tested the replacement.

I thought that was pretty tidy for a out-of-warranty part (I bought the DD1 launch-day)

 

[pullmehome]

I began upgrading my equipment 3 months ago. First thing I bought was the clubsport v3 pedals. They broke after 1 month. Fanatec have been terrible thru the whole process. So much so I ordered heusinkveld pedals. The blessing for me was that even before the fanatec pedals broke I was so unimpressed by the squeaky, notchy, toy feeling pedals that I bought a simagic wheel base instead. I would never buy something from them again and when I get the pedals back from warranty will just sell them for what I can and learn a lesson. When you read so many similar horror stories about a terrible customer policy from a company it's probably true. I hope all goes well with your situation. I feel bad for you having to be in the fanatec eco system.

 

[RasmusP]

Did you use the support ticket from within your fanatec account?
From what I've read over the years, support outside of Germany can be a bit hit and miss, depending on who you first end up with.

But as long as your problem is real and you're reasonable, solutions are always found, so don't worry about potential wheelbase issues!
Most horror stories end up being not that horrific but at least 50% because the customer wasn't following basic instructions and using the words "lawyer" and "where I work..." way too early and often.

To make this post a bit helpful in the end:
Maybe
@DomB_Fanatec
Can make your support ticket end up at the right place so things get forward for you

 

[fwyflyer]

I personally find my fanatec handbrake to "loose" for a motion platform as occasionally the motion of the platform will cause a 1-3 percent drag on the handbrake and prevent acceleration in titles ranging from Dirt Rally 2.0 to FH5. So, if you find a reasonably priced alternative, please let me know.

 

[RedBull48]

I personally find my fanatec handbrake to "loose" for a motion platform as occasionally the motion of the platform will cause a 1-3 percent drag on the handbrake and prevent acceleration in titles ranging from Dirt Rally 2.0 to FH5. So, if you find a reasonably priced alternative, please let me know.

I believe you can set a deadzone that will rectify this. You should be able to do so in the fanatec device manager or in the game settings itself.

 

[cnhoff]

From what I've read over the years, support outside of Germany can be a bit hit and miss, depending on who you first end up with.

I am not a fanboy by any means but for the one occasion i had issues with my DD1 i had a couple of unbureaucratic calls and callbacks from their support which led to a quick and easy solution that was even outside of their official return and support policy. Might have helped, that i am from Germany and even speak the same accent as the support person

 

[RasmusP]

I am not a fanboy by any means but for the one occasion i had issues with my DD1 i had a couple of unbureaucratic calls and callbacks from their support which led to a quick and easy solution that was even outside of their official return and support policy. Might have helped, that i am from Germany and even speak the same accent than the support person

Yeah I didn't have any support issues either.
My csl elite pedals needed new potentiometers after a few months, solved within 72h but I needed to remind them after 2 weeks because they forgot to actually send them.
Had them in the mail 48h later though!

Had to get my McLaren v1 repaired after the left shifter missed shifts after 4h of use.
Had a repaired one that was in perfectly new condition at my place within 3 days.

And finally my McLaren v2 has some play due to the simplified QR. Which is a known issue but not too bad so there's nothing to be done apart from upgrading to the metal qr or waiting for the qr2.
Or an update of the plastic qr, which might come or not...
(I upgraded to v2 because of the magnetic shifters and the endless rotaries instead of 1-12 position)

Got very friendly emails within 24h every time!

Csl p1 rim, Porsche rim, csw 2.5 wheelbase and v3 pedals are working completely fine since 3 years and the McLaren v2 shows no issues either since almost a year now!

 

[cnhoff]

The only thing that annoyed me was, that i called them to ask whether i could get the new leather grips to replace my Formula v2's Alcantara ones and they just would not do it without me actually owning the newer version...new grips are only 25EUR btw if your Alcantara ones are worn out.

 

[Metla]

Yeah I didn't have any support issues either.
My csl elite pedals needed new potentiometers after a few months, solved within 72h but I needed to remind them after 2 weeks because they forgot to actually send them.
Had them in the mail 48h later though!

Had to get my McLaren v1 repaired after the left shifter missed shifts after 4h of use.
Had a repaired one that was in perfectly new condition at my place within 3 days.

And finally my McLaren v2 has some play due to the simplified QR. Which is a known issue but not too bad so there's nothing to be done apart from upgrading to the metal qr or waiting for the qr2.
Or an update of the plastic qr, which might come or not...
(I upgraded to v2 because of the magnetic shifters and the endless rotaries instead of 1-12 position)

Got very friendly emails within 24h every time!

Csl p1 rim, Porsche rim, csw 2.5 wheelbase and v3 pedals are working completely fine since 3 years and the McLaren v2 shows no issues either since almost a year now!

You consider that a positive series of experiences and interactions?

Multiple failures, examples of poor design, quality control and forgotten deliveries?

That list of failures should be enough to put off new customers if the ongoing complaints from disgruntled customers doesn't do it.

 

[RasmusP]

You consider that a positive series of experiences and interactions?

Multiple failures, examples of poor design, quality control and forgotten deliveries?

That list of failures should be enough to put off new customers if the ongoing complaints from disgruntled customers doesn't do it.

I consider it a positive experience regarding the support.
The products are a bit hit and miss...

Forgetting to ship something can happen, in 2019 fanatec wasn't a big company where everything is automated so one person simply forgot about it and apologised.
No idea how things are now.

Quality control vs product design:
It's probably rather the product design, since you can find a lot of other users having similar issues with the same products.
I know from 5 other racers that their stock csl elite pots needed to be replaced but the replacement pots are doing their job for years.
The McLaren v1 had an issue with the "snapdomes" but when being repaired, the issue never came back.
And with the simplified qr.. It is what it is. Getting it replaced would only make it tighter for a few weeks.

The issue here is that the McLaren v2 rim is probably the most sold rim during the last year's.

However the Porsche rim, the csl p1 rim, the McLaren v2 rim (not the qr), the csw 2.5 and the v3 pedals are really good, no issues at all.

For me it looks like fanatec can do brilliant products but also every now and then get something produced that isn't great.
Sadly the "not so great" products seem to be some of the most sold items...

I see 2 issues:
1. They went into the premium market with their dd1, dd2 and podium series but these products also sometimes have unnecessary issues. Leaving a bad taste since people expect more from these products.

2. They tried to compete with thrustmaster but the products from that range have issues too.

Or in short:
The club sport range is brilliant and I can recommend everything from it. For everything else there might be better alternatives out there.

It's a shame that:
- the csl elite stock pots weren't the same as the replacement pots
- the McLaren v1 didn't have the same snapdomes like when being "repaired"
- the simplified quick release "simply" doesn't screw half a turn tighter

Little things, causing a lot of angry forum posts...

It doesn't change the fact that I'm happily racing since 3 years with only 3 days without the McLaren v1 rim and 2 weeks with a spikey throttle pot.

With my g27 I could've been racing every day for 5 years but honestly, after a few weeks I wasn't enjoying it as much as a single day with the fanatec gear... And anything more expensive would've been simply too expensive..

 

[cnhoff]

I am sure the anger is justified, and maybe quality changed over the last year or so, but i have had many of their products in my journey to my current config. over the last 2 years, both used and new, and apart from the mentioned DD1 issue which ultimately was an EMI issue on my side, had 0 issues:

- Podium DD1
- CSW2.5 (used, 2 years old, sold)
- V3 pedals (used, 4 years old, sold)
- shifter (used, 4 years old)
- handbrake (used, 2 years old)
- 919 RSR rim (used, 1 years old, sold); high-torque mode could not be enabled after a driver update, was fixed in the next driver rev., was staying on the last drier as a workaround
- Formula V2 rim
- 911 GT3 rim with Endurance and APM
- R300 rim (used, 1 years old, sold)
- magn. shifter upgrade

 

[Metla]

I consider it a positive experience regarding the support.
The products are a bit hit and miss...

Yeah, I'd be a little disgruntled myself.

Personally I've done two complete refreshes in regards to Fanatec setups, Haven't had a failure but the clunk in the CSL DD is disappointing and should have been addressed, and the inconsistencies built into the old version of the CSL pedals caused it to be a very poor product.

Given that the internet does facilitate exaggeration of discontent, its still concerning that the narrative of many people (not all, but many) across multiple outlets are highlighting repeat poor service that many customer believes fall well short of expectations.

There is enough similar stories out there in my opinion to give validity to some very poor customer service. I'd be reluctant to recommend there products at this stage.

 

[RasmusP]

Haven't had a failure but the clunk in the CSL DD is disappointing and should have been addressed, and the inconsistencies built into the old version of the CSL pedals caused it to be a very poor product.

Totally agree!

There is enough similar stories out there in my opinion to give validity to some very poor customer service. I'd be reluctant to recommend there products at this stage.

I agree with this too! Highly depends on your region though from what I've read.
German support is top notch, British support seems to be hit and miss, the "horror" stories are mostly from the US or somewhere else with long shipping distances.

 

[trichens]

I would guess that @RasmusP was just very unlucky, but if Fanatec were supplied with a duff batch of components then...

This will be rather a sweeping statement, but with the reliability of modern electronic components and the quantities involved, it's not practical to test everyone.
So the 0.001% failure rate will mean that at some point an end user gets something that either doesn't work or fails pretty soon after its first use.
Its makes more economic sense to replace items that do fail than test every one.

However, you need to provide pretty good customer support if this isn't going to cause you to get a bad reputation.

 

[DomB_Fanatec]

Not one for usually having a go at companies but this needs highlighted.

I spent over £2000 on equipment in the last year from Fanatec.

Most working fine outwith driver problems every few months.

About 3 months ago my Handbrake started to play up (gradually got worse and worse). Its taken 8 weeks for them to even acknowledge my emails. Finally i thought i was moving forward,i was then told to package the item and await pickup information....Still im awaiting with no acknowledgment yet gain as the weeks pass.

I'm sitting with a motion simulator worth 10k that i have build for myself and kids from the local special school play with. The kids were used to playing Rally games with the handbrake in use and therefor not having the handbrake is an issue for them as much as myself personally.

I'm hearing many horror stories now of Fanatec about constant issues and extremely long feedback and RMA times...which makes me think what if the wheel base is next to break or a Wheel Rim etc etc....and i have the same issues all over again with waiting times.

Now the pandemic has played its part and thats fair enough and i understand people are working from home...but there gets to a point when this becomes just an excuse for very long waiting times. A simple email helps with these issues and that doesn't even happen.

I work within the Hospital environment and i know more about what the Pandemic has done to slow areas down than normal.....but even within the Hospital environment things have been back to normal for a couple of months now......so this excuses of no one to even email me is starting to irritate me now.

Attempted to contact Supervisor and still get nowhere....Again if this was just a main personal issue i would maybe accept this a little more but i have many kids that are disappointed at attempting to play games and cant play them the way they want to.

I'm about to purchase another handbrake from another company now as i cant wait any longer..so thanks for the advice on another thread.

I praise companies when they do well but now i am highlighting issues when they also needed to be called out on.

So unfortunately i dont have faith in going forward with more purchases for sim builds in the future.....and i hope you can rectify your Support/RMA procedures in the future for others.

Hi Bonobhoy,

I'm sorry to hear about the problem with your handbrake and your experience with our support service so far. We acknowledge that the response speed over the past two months has been much slower than it should be, this is mainly a result of the massive influx of new customers to the ecosystem after the launch of the Gran Turismo DD Pro.

However, even at the peak of the backlog of requests, nobody was waiting 8 weeks for an acknowledgement. It was 2 weeks at its worst point. We've been working hard to restore regular service and the situation is improving - this week we are down to about 5 days response time, and we should soon be back to normal (2 working days response time).

I will send you a PM to find out what went wrong with your case.

 

[ColinMac]

Now you might get a response from some companies in a forum - but it's amazing that DomB is here and representing in the community.

Nice one Dom.

 

[pullmehome]

Ya it sure is nice having someone from the company aknowledge that the more stuff they sell the more that gets sent back. All companies have hiccups but I feel like fanatec responding is more a sign that their stuff is junk. Which it absolutely is!

 

[ColinMac]

Wow. Such toxicity and a negative viewpoint.

Fanatec gear is not "junk'.

You may have had bad experiences, which is perhaps unfortunate. All electronics manufacturers have a failure rate. No-one makes 100% all working kit. Of course they see a percentage of returns, which climbs the more they sell.

I have had so far:

Fanatec V3 pedals.
Fanatec CSW 2.0 Wheelbase.
Fanatec F1 Carbon Wheel.
Fanatec BMW Wheel.
Fanatec DD1 Wheelbase.
Fanatec R300 Leather wheel with a Universal Hub.
Fanatec Handbrake
Fanatec Shifter.

I've owned these for the last 4 years, some have been upgraded to new parts. You can clearly see I've stayed within ecosystem. I now have Heusinkveld Sprints.

I've a worn out button (!) on my F1 wheel and probably need to replace it at some point, just for that reason. It's worn out.

I had a failing (but not dead) PSU on the DD1. Fanatec couriered me a new one then when I was happy, collected the old one.

And that's it - I use the rest of the kit almost every day and race every weekend. What a load of nonsense some folk spout.

Fanatec have their place in the sim racing market, along with most others. The market is tiered as much by prices as it is by quality.

If it was junk kit it would have been replaced long ago. I gotta say I 100% disagree with your massively sweeping view of their kit.

 

[pullmehome]

Your right all manufacturers do have defects. In fact my ego chainsaw failed on it's first cut. They had a hotline for me to call and before 20 minutes the lady had me set up with a replacement in the mail. I was never mad about it in fact I was very pleased that they were so good to me. Fanatec on the other hand shut down their hotline. It's a trash garbage company flat out! Toxicity is a company that shut down their hotline. Toxicity is a company that takes so long to respond to the failure likely because they have a long line before you. If a company can't offer reasonable customer service it should cease to exist.