Notes on the ordering process from a Canadian customer
I know that there have been many issues with the Fanatec ordering process in the past months and wanted to give some feedback on my experience as a Canadian customer.
Let me start by saying that I hope everyone that pre-ordered items got their stuff shipped before my own items! I’ve seen multiple reports of new orders with only in-stock items getting shipped before pre-orders, and I hope this issue is resolved.
So, I’ve ordered on July 25 when all of my stuff (an 8-item order) was in stock. On July 27 my order was marked as “The order has been processed” which I've been told is the last step in the Fanatec ordering process and essentially means that the items were packaged up and are ready to get picked up by the shipping company at the warehouse.
I never received an email with tracking numbers (I checked my spam box), but by waiting ~ 1.5 week and following up with Dominic (Brennan, Fanatec community manager) in forum private messages, I received prompt support. Official Fanatec Support never answer my initial email. As soon as they were available from the Fanatec sales team, Dominic was able to provide tracking numbers to me. According to the tracking numbers my items were shipped ~ August 7, which is 13 days after my order was placed. Not perfect but not too bad considering the current circumstances.
Based on the amount of tracking numbers all of my items were shipped separately. I received one of the packages before I could get a hold of the tracking numbers. In the initial ordering process, I paid through PayPal and encountered no payment error / wonkiness.
So everything is now on the way and I’m reasonably happy with the whole process, because of how helpful and timely Dominic was. Otherwise it seems Fanatec’s support department is still swamped and unable to respond in a reasonable amount of time, and you may not be able to get tracking numbers this way. Luckily I didn’t have any issues with my order so I didn’t have to contact support directly for a refund, splitting my order in multiple packages, etc.
I hope this information is useful to potential customers in the US and Canada!
Comments
nova scotia, here.. ordered aug 6 and still have nooooo updates at all.. how did you manage to get ahold of somebody? im about to cancel my order and buy a pc so i can make my own peripherals if i dont get an update soon..
June 12th order date and zero feedback on my order.
At this point I feel like my money has been stolen from me and they are going to disappear without a trace.
Don't despair, they are (of course) legit, just very ineffective at the moment. Still, I am under the impression that it's better now than a few months ago.
Like I said in my initial post, contact Dominic directly on the forum. I never received any answer from Fanatec support (the support form on the main website) in ~2.5 weeks, but Dominic is very responsive; he answered each of my messages within 1-2 days at most and was very helpful. You can send him a message here: https://forum.fanatec.com/profile/Dominic%20Brennan
Check the status of your order in your Fanatec account on the main website. If your order is in "warehouse processing" or "the order has been processed" it's going to get shipped soon(-ish). My own stuff was shipped within 2 weeks from the "order has been processed" status. Usually I would have found this extremely slow but I can understand that shipments are less effective ATM.
For the record I'm in Montreal, Quebec.
Also note that you may well receive some items before getting the tracking numbers (unless you ask for them with Dominic). I received my wheel rim and have yet to receive the promised "tracking numbers" email. Dominic provided me with all of my tracking numbers on request through, so I don't care whether this email ever comes at this point.
Well I’ve messaged Dominic and still no reply :( lol
My order is the same as it was in mid June. Order is in process
Oh, I skimmed over the date in your reply. I agree that June 12 is a long time ago! When did you message Dominic? Was everything in stock when you ordered?
I also never received the shipping label email from Fanatec, but I sent through a polite request through the contact us section, and received the shipping info from Jeny at Suddath Logistics. I then received a tracking number I could follow on USPS.
Michael
i messaged Dominic on August 10.
nothing was in stock when I ordered. I got a message a few days after my order that it was back ordered and would be shipped on July 24th.
all items in my order show currently in stock minus the carbon shifter knobs
no word. So a few days after the 24th, I sent a message through the contact form on the website. No reply. About10 days after that I sent another message. No reply. A few days after that a third message through the site. No reply.
thats when I messaged Dominic on the 10th and still no reply.
ive asked in my messages if everything but the knobs could be shipped and then ship the knobs when they come in. No reply.
im about ready to cancel my $3000 order but skeptical about getting my money back.
I think ordering while things are not in stock gets you stuck in the pre-order "infinite" loop, unfortunately :(
However, I'm pretty sure you should receive an answer from Dominic soon. If not try sending him another message, maybe it just passed under the radar.
I finally heard back from someone so not sure if that was from Dominic’s input or not but finally heard from someone at least.
I ended up cancelling my order and reordering only what they are showing as ready to ship.
fingers crossed this works better :)
im just glad I actually heard from someone at least. Whew!
Here's a small update on my end:
I've received 4 of my 8 items thus far: handbrake, wheel rim, brake performance kit and a wire. I have not had to pay any duties on those items, though they are the less pricey ones by far. Maybe they don't take the time to collect duties for "cheap" items.
My other 4 items (wheel base, universal hub, shifter, pedals) have been in CBSA's hands for about a week, longer than the others to my knowledge. Fingers crossed they'll get released by the end of the week. I'll try to update you on the duties paid once I receive them so you can get an idea of the fees for your own orders.
In other news I finally received an answer from Fanatec support, 19 days after my initial request. They provided the tracking numbers that I asked for (and had already received much quicker through Dominic). I have still not received the official tracking numbers email that's supposed to be sent automatically when the order ships.
Another update: all of my packages have now been through customs and I now know how much taxes & duties are charged for each item in Quebec, where there is ~15% sales tax. You could probably use this as a reference to estimate the duties you'll have to pay, based on your order. I don't know if duties could vary for the exact same package ordered by someone else in the same province.
Duties
Xbox One Hub : 67.51$ CAD
Wheel Base v2.5 : 118.72$ CAD
Shifter : 59.39$ CAD
Pedals : 33.72$ CAD
Handbrake : 0$
Brake Performance Kit : 0$
Wheel Rim : 0$
Cable : 0$