Warranty Charges and Fees
I recently sent off my DD1 for repair under warranty. This week I receive a notice of delivery from Germany, so I presume I have been sent a new DD1 as a replacement, which is great news as it only took a week to resolve which is brilliant.
Obviously, for a replacement, the invoice amount is zero. However, UPS want me to pay £63 in charges, both brokerage and government charges, so I presume this is a flat fee regardless of the value of the item. I think this should be absorbed by Fanatec. Maybe a simplified solution for the customer to avoid these charges is Fanatec should be shipping replacements to their UK service centre and then I receive the delivery from there. I guess this might add a couple of days to the delivery schedule, but would probably be more welcome for most.
For me, £63 is not a bank breaker for me, so I am not going to make a big deal out of it. But for others, this could be a lot of money, especially the younger guys who are saving up to buy this kit in the first place and are not expecting their RMA's to cost them this much.
Comments
There should be no charges due on items that cross borders for warranty repairs. Either Fanatec have completed the paperwork incorrectly or UPS have made an error.
That's an error for sure. I had a warranty replacement arrive this week, no charge on the invoice and UPS delivered it without wanting a payment. Maybe you can sort it out with UPS as the invoice clearly shows zero so they have no reason to charge you for fees or VAT, or maybe you'll have to get Fanatec to talk to UPS.
Thanks for the responses guys. Fanatec got back to me and will reimburse the amount. So all sorted. But hopefully a useful post for anybody else in a similar situation.
Should not expect anything less than that. What is happening? They are just gonna blame it on Covid.
Many posts are mentioning regarding fees etc being reimbursed in RMA or warranty cases.
There should be no need for this though. There are special export processes set out in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the UK and EU that should be followed regarding the paperwork for cross border warranty repairs or replacements that ensure that no fess are applied. There are only two possible reasons why Fanatec are having to reimburse many customers in these situations; either Fanatec are routinely completing the paperwork incorrectly or the courier is routinely incorrectly following the process. Who wants to speculate on which is most likely?
It all depends on the courier and the customs I guess or like you leave it wandering in the air without writing it, Fanatec .
Have sent many shit (mostly engines) in 3 European countries from non European for repair and return, and some of the countries are like this while others don't. So maybe is easier for Fanatec to reimburse the costs.
Don't forget though that this is in place for repair and return of the same product. If product is faulty and have to be replaced in whole, then the repair and return policy doesn't count cause another item is coming back with a different S/N number.
Or even maybe the old device that was sent to the UK technical center, never left the country cause it might was beyond repairs and once confirmed the new one was sent from Germany. So no repair and return papers/policy there as well.
The Trade and Cooperation Agreement also specifically covers replacement of an item when repair is deemed unviable. If the paperwork is done correctly it should pass border inspections without attracting fees. I did note that it extended to warranty replacement in my earlier reply.