Dont buy a Fanatec

Comments

  • What brand would be best choise where quality and price meets and they have good communication channel(s) with their customers and also of course, kindly after marketing and technical support without delays?

  • Have a look at VRS Direct Force Pro.

    pedals are €50 more expensive but base is between CSL DD and DD1.

  • Make 73Make 73 Member
    edited April 2022

    I have Fanatec DD1 (PS version), Four Fanatec wheels, SimGrade R7 pedals, Fanatec shifter, Heusinkveld V2 handbrake, SimLab P1-X rig, eRacing Lab DIY MEGA+ motion, 2x ButtKicker Gamers 2, DIY windsim.

    Pretty happy with that set.


    Fanatec send satisfaction inquiry few days ago and surely answered to those questions honestly.

    Hope they can also take negative feedback and try make things better, other way there´s no sense to send polls like that.

    Noticed that almost every polls what their CEO makes are made like he do not want hear anything negative about Fanatec, that´s wrong attitude I think.


    Biggest problems with Fanatec?

    Quality issues with new CSL DD series, jammed technical support, shipping issues and high delivery prices, empty promises like give us new forum software, not enough communication with their customers like questions about upcoming QR2 zero answers from Fanatec...what else?

    Are those reasons to avoid Fanatec, don´t know but Greg S didn´t wrote anything why You should save your moneys and do not buy from Fanatec.

  • David ChiengDavid Chieng Member
    edited April 2022

    you asked what brand can be Fanatec's competitor, i tried to give you one.

    i had the CSL pedals. wanted upgrade. thought of V3 but VRS DFP pedals was €50 more expensive but with very good reviews. had to queue to buy too. 4 apr registered for queue. did NOT have to pay first. 18 apr i was informed that it is available to purchase. 19 apr i paid for it. €36 delivery. 21 apr i received it. paid UK VAT that morning itself. VRS came from EU.

    they have a discord channel with someone from the company monitoring it most of the time. if you have queries they will assist either hardware or software issues. they only have 6 products and only interested in making products which helps their drivers to go quicker with sim racing. nothing to do with immersion or being in a real race car.


    btw ... Greg S had some issues with his GT DD Pro.

    https://forum.fanatec.com/discussion/25832/zero-help-from-customer-service#latest

  • How did you manage to buy the VRS pedals for €50 more than the V3?

    V3 are €336 + VAT

    VRS two pedals are €446 + VAT, plus the clutch is another €161 + VAT.

    My rudimentary arithmetic makes that €261 more. Have prices changed?

  • Above is my last year order , which I cancelled and made new one. In the frame of 42 hours, there was 1416 orders. Now you can do a math about

    Fanatec monthly and yearly sale. You will realize that number of faulty products is drop in the sea when you look at numbers.

    My first Fanatec purchase was also RMA , it was about Christmas & Covid time 2020, I spend 20 days without the wheel....and I'm still alive :)

    They are overloaded now with DD Pro complains, and I would not put my hand in fire that it's solely Fanatec fault.

    My CSL DD working like a Suiss clock, it can go other way any moment but hey, there is lot of other sh*t around us, much worse than faulty wheels and pedals and nobody panicking. If you want replacement, Fanatec will provide you one, if you want your money back you will get it and you can continue with your life without pointless posts.

  • My bad... you are right! 🙄

    I was only looking at the €399 agst the €449 and did not even take the 3 vs 2 pedals too!!! 🤣🤣🤣

  • edited April 2022

    It’s frustrating that they seem to have no problem selling a defective product. This CSL Loadcell Pedal disabling the accelerator pedal makes my entire setup useless. But, the DD PRO 2 wheel base and GT steering wheel are pretty awesome.

  • David ChiengDavid Chieng Member
    edited April 2022

    And you always will have this fear that should you update your firmware, which Fanatec always recommend you to do, there is a risk you will convert your base to a doorstop. And a replacement is 6-8 weeks away.

    I do not feel so when I update my pc software drivers... only Fanatec drivers. Granted it went well so far and I have only done 2 updates. When I 1st got my CSL DD and to 434. Since 440 is not an official release, only beta, will wait for the next one.

    Do those that bricked their DD1/2 during updates, have not installed their driver correctly? Which results in error during flashing? Unstable pc? or just ignorance in handling firmware updates? like still having everything running in the background whilst updating.

  • 440 is an official release and not Beta.

    In fact, it's the release driver for the BMW M4 GT3 wheel.

  • Greg SGreg S Member
    edited April 2022

    For a top of the range product, everything about Fanatec sucks!


    Poor build quality

    Cheap components

    Non-existent customer service

    Long reply times 2-4 weeks


    You would expect a better all round experience from a company like Fanatec, buyer beware.


  • Thanks Maurice.

    Someone should update the downloads page under the CSL DD in the shop. It still says 439.

  • With that many orders, you'd think they'd be able to invest more in their customer support.

  • yesterday I showed this, so be even more aware they have taken their hotline offline. The opposite of what customers need:


  • Hotline service was turned off in order to "prioritize responding to your emails". Today I've been waiting a reply for 22 days since I opened my ticket and I don't have had the pleausure to receive concrete answer to my problem from Fanatec. My DD pro is parked useless since I was bought.

  • So I can update from 429 to 440 without fear & problems ?

  • In general, yes of course you can upgrade but no, there are the known issues which are listed in the thread of 440.

    Software in general will never be completely free of any problems, there will always be problems here and there. Thats the nature of Software. Just have a look at Windows... :D

    However, as you didnt upgraded for quite some time... I would mayyyybe wait a few days or weeks as something BIG is coming soon...

  • Thanks Maurice! As always, you were helpful

  • Even if they do respond to you it won't matter, you can't email back because their mailbox is full.


    Poor. Really poor.

  • Jeesus, wish I'd read these threads before updating my CSL-DD (now bricked).

    Can't believe they released such a poor update, someone in their software team is going to be looking for a new job.

  • edited May 2022

    bricked bases are caused by a "sleeping" hardware issue (or rarely user error) and have nothing to do with software updates.

    In theory every firmware update could brick a base when the base is affected by the "sleeping" hardware issue.

    So if at all then its a hardware issue and not a software issue and nobody is going to be looking for a new job.

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