I made my $1000 purchase entirely based on the Pre-order Availability date displayed on the website.
Availability was June 12th when Fanatec accepted my payment. Now it's July 24th, 2 weeks after F1 2020 is released. All my products had an availability of June12th on the day I ordered, besides F1 2020 which is releasing on July 7th.
The fact that I had to wait WEEKS to see the date change A DAY BEFORE THE PRE-ORDER AVAILABILITY DATE is unacceptable. This isn't about COVID-19. This is about a business not communicating and having MAJOR logistical issues with their website and product. If the date was originally delayed, I could accept that if the date was displayed properly when I ordered. But after parting with $1000, waiting for weeks just to have the date change one day before the pre-order availability date exposes major issues and basic logistical incompetence.
Honesty and trust is the HIGHEST priority right now, and they completely lost that. This should absolutely reflect on the CEO and executives of this company.
Comments
Welcome to Fanatec...hold on its gonna be a bumpy ride.
The biggest issue is that you're not alone. There's a lot of us with the same outrage right now .
Good luck trying to get in touch with Customer Support though, they expect everyone to wait up to 2 weeks (if not more) for a reply.
As others have said, welcome to the club.
I also ordered based on availability, on April 13th. I ordered a CSW 2.5 bundle (no longer listed on the site) that was labeled as "ready to ship". I also added a loadcell pedal upgrade that would be in stock later in April. On April 21st I got processing notification, and April 23rd they emailed to say that they made an inventory error on the wheel rim. The wheel rim would ship from EU warehouse resulting in a two week delay on my order, having it in my hands roughly around May 7th. Didn't hear anything else, reached out and they came back on May 12th with "oh now your order is waiting on the wheelbase to be back in on June 12".
So yes, my order that was in warehouse processing and prepping for shipment, got delayed due to their own inventory error and while waiting on the wheel rim delay they sold off my other items. Well the bundle items are back in stock now, but the LC pedal has been sold out from under me and delayed to July 10th. Trying to get a partial shipment but no updates at this time.
I'm officially two months out from my purchase date, and was originally led to believe I would have the items by late April or early May. I'm in a revolving door of items being sold out from under me while waiting on other items to come in stock.
You would think they would offer a shipping upgrade to overnight or two day and get something in my hands asap as they have made error after error and not corrected a single mistake. Dom has been helpful, but trying to call the US number is literally a dead end as they don't pick up and it has a full voicemail. I can't call Germany because it costs a ton in international charges. The webshop email takes a minimum of 14 days to get back to me, which by that point they have sold more of my stuff off. I'm just left sitting here down $1000 for months with nothing to show for it, and no clue if I'm even getting anything soon.
Enjoy the ride.
Specifically this exactly "You would think they would offer a shipping upgrade to overnight or two day and get something in my hands asap as they have made error after error and not corrected a single mistake.", this is what I was waiting for but they don't give a damn.
Their CEO blatantly just placed the blame elsewhere and basically said that there was nothing they could do, when in reality is basically just nothing they care to do. No response on logistics, no apologies, no re-assurance, and no damn customer service. I'm paying 600 dollars for just a WHEEL that costs more than most wheel bases. It's fucking absurd.
I don't want to look like the bad guy but guys do you look out for something before purchasing it ? Even before covid those kind of thing happened and its all around the forum ... so like i don't know guys look out for post. I'm not the community manager HAHAHAHA. but you all should have lower your expectation except what happen with the UK shipments. I just decide to laugh at it instead and i know its not suppose to make it feel better
oh and cancelling your order just make it worst
Yeah, I pre-ordered the rim in May based upon the information the provided that it would be in-stock June 12th and start filling orders. I'm a huge F1 fan so the entire reason I made the purchase was that I would get the rim, and get to use it before F1 2020 comes out. If they updated their website, or made a notice that shipments and demand are taking longer than usual I wouldn't have purchased it and accessories for the rim.
Them STILL not updating the product page puts them in a bad light as it's still false information and Fanatec refuses to comment about when they expect everything to ship because they simply don't care.
I would expect this from an Etsy shop, not from a company whose average customer spends 200-1000 dollars. It's insulting.
i post on that like its really stupid that the pre-order present on the main page is the next date that first shipping is coming and not the date you should except when you buy now like let us know when we should receive the product if we order now not after. like put the restock date on the main and keep the date that the people who bought it earlier we the date they should expect it
but the thing that really make it worst is the fact that people try to have refund that they dont have right away ... and at the end slow the process because of the date they saw. Not putting the blame on us, the customer, but ...yeah. At the end they still need to improve on a lot of things. They really have nice product but when things like that happen its just sad.
Hope with all the people who canceled their order i get on the cut list for a sooner stock or seeing how the situation get better restock happen sooner :)