Class action against Fanatec
Hello,
As many of you, I am one of the victims of dirty business of Fanatec. I placed an order during black Friday. This order included a formula V2.5x wheel at about 45% discount, that was marked as in stock at this time. After a few days, the status changed to completely shipped. Then, after almost 3 weeks without any news from Fanatec, I received a totally un-respectful mail from Fanatec explaining that they oversell v2.5x, and that I have the choice to wait (until January or March) to get my order or fill a cancellation form and received a 25% voucher on my next order. Moreover, this mail came from [email protected] and therefore no way to try to find a better solution. From this mail, it is clear that they don't care at all about customer since they remind that partial shipments are not possible. They would also have tried to find alternative, like send me a V2.5 with a small compensation instead of the V2.5x.
I tried to contact Fanatec trough support to say that none of the above solution is acceptable for me. But it seems that Fanatec doesn't think that they have to answer to me.
SInce Fanatec doesn't care at all about their obligations and laws protecting customers rights and that there are many victims, I wonder if an european class action would not be a better solution for everybody instead of individually trying to reach Fanatec? Does someone here have information about such action? I wonder if a separate action must be introduced in each country where there are victims or only one action?
If you are interested to evaluate the possibility of a class action, could you please reply to this post mentioning from which Country you are (I am from Belgium) and if your problem is black Friday oversell, abnormal delay or false information regarding your order.
I am sorry that victims outside Europe are not protected by European laws, but I am convinced that an European class action could change the way Fanatec treats all their customer.
Merry Christmas and happy new year to all.
Comments
I'm from the UK and I've waiting for my order since 29th August. I've emailed Scamatec countless times and had nothing but excuses or silence. I'm beyond angry at this point, they are a pathetic excuse of a company who have affectively stolen my money.
Very sorry to see that your situation is even worst than mine. As said, you people outside EU are not directly concerned by this post, but a kick in the ass of Fanatec could perhaps change the way they are making business.
In Europe these are normally referred to as mass actions and fall under the powers of the Representative Actions Directive (RAD) - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2020.409.01.0001.01.ENG
Individual consumers cannot seek redress under the RAD, instead they need to be represented by a qualified entity in each EU state. Not all states have appointed these - the directive is new and Mass Actions are still very uncommon in the EU, unlike the US.
I don't know what the qualified entity is in Belgium, but you should investigate this first (there may be none?) and see whether their view is that this idea has merit. They would become responsible for all affected parties in Belgium, and would lease with the qualified entities in other members states.
Hello,
Thanks for the information. In Belgium, "Tests achats" is qualified for mass action regarding consumer rights. But since there are probably much more victims in other countries, I am wondering if it would not be more efficient to start the procedure in a country where there are more victims.
I would also first know if I am alone or if we are thousands before evaluating a mass action :)
If you actually spoke to a lawyer and he told you to do this....he's getting ready to take your money and nothing will come from this lol.
No, as far as I Know, it is either the customer association or the compagny that paids.
Yup, this is going nowhere. What is the basis for the class action and what remedy would you seek? If your complaint is simply that Fanatec is inefficient the wise thing to do is to not give them your business. If you have an outstanding order that you are concerned about you should simply instruct a chargeback via your payment provider.
yeah I think it's clear he didn't speak to any legal expert lol.
The basis in Belgium is "Loi du 6 avril 2010 relative aux pratiques du marché et à la protection du consommateur". This Law clearly says that the seller must foresee enough stock for their promotion. If not, he must propose an alternative solution. I simply ask fanatec to try to find a solution and a compensation for tha anormal delay due to their lies regarding the order status.
A mass action is introduced by consumers protection association. Therefore, consumers don't need layer since this kind of association have layers.
Before contacting such association, the first question is how many victimes there are. If I am alone, I better have to try to contact fanatec.
Try it, legally you have zero chance. Everything fanatec did was legal. They can't conjure up a steering wheel for you any faster if they don't have one. Waste of time, energy and money. Buy from another company, wait or stop complaining, it doesn't help. With every price error, delivery delay, etc., there are always the same people who want to initiate an class action or something similar and they never succeed.
Many things (no enough stock for their promotions, lying regarding the status of the order...) fanatec did is illegal without any doubt in regards to begian laws. But it is not the point right now. I will probably not start an action alone in my name for an orders of few hundreds euros, since the first meeting with a layer will probably cost more than the total amount of my order.
Therefore, I was wondering if a mass action could be an option. But for a mass action, the Key point is to be more than one, and it seems that is not the case:).
i dont think so they keep us updated on the forums here
also they had problems for months since before august that we knew about because social media even of acad sim racing con in germany this was the case
dont think a real mass action would stand in court at all
i do see there could be improvements in fanatecs business
Oh yes I would join if I was in the EU.
I would pay money to join if one was opened in the USA.
Could never ship a DD I ordered, did ship 3 QR2s which I can’t use, ignored all my attempts to cancel the QR2 order, did allow me to RMA the QR2s, now they have had the returned QR2s in their possession for 4 weeks, no communication, no refund, looks like they are going to keep the QR2s as well as my money.
Never hated a company as much as Failtec, I'd quit sim racing before I would touch a Failtec product.
Which reminds me, need to search for mods to remove the Failtec signage from all the sims it’s in.
Lol you would be dumb enough to think this is grounds for a class action lawsuit
Hello, happy to have someone here that have solid background regarding European directives and their transposition in Belgian law. If you think mass action is not the right way, can I contact you in PM to have your advice on how to get Fanatec respecting the law of the 20th April 2010?
As fanatec respects the order and give you options, there is no more base for a lawsuit in my eyes.
If they had hold on their first strategy to cancel the contracts only from their side, it was a completely different case.
Is it illegal to charge a credit card for more than 2 months without any deliveries? The item was ordered when it was on stock but kept on moving the availability date, isn't that a fraud? Most companies in the US would only authorize the charge but will charge the customer when item was shipped. Fanatec is not doing that, instead they will charge you and use your money to fulfill their manufacturing delays and order, that is not a very good business practice in the US.
I suppose it could be legal if clearly stated. But since the items were marked in stock, with 4 to 7 days delivery, things are at least unfair.
In any cases, fanatec has broken at least the Belgian low regarding discounts:
- stock must be enough for reasonably expected sales. Not 400 v2.5x wheel sent for tents of dozens black Friday sales...
-if the sales exceed the expectations, the seller has to provide solution. But fanatec doesn't give any follow-up regarding my proposition I have sent to receive a non "x" v2.5 wheel. Moreover, they now sell again the v2.5x on the us website, marked as in stock. If they have stock, they have to send to consumers waiting.
- if the sale concerns an end of life item, it must be clearly stated. There was no mention that the qr1 will be obsolete a few weeks later...
I contacted a consumers protection association, since it is the procedure for mass action in Europe. They answered to first open a case at European consumers center, and come back if it gives no solution. I did it end December. It is free, but since it is a kind of mediation, fanatec is not obligated to follow the outcome. But the European consumers center is also competent to initiate legal pursuit of they estimate that the laws had been broken.
In second time, I could also initiate a small litige procedure (for litige under 5000€). It relatively easy, since it is only only a few forms to send by post mail. The cost is around 50€, and it is a constraining court decision.
In conclusion, for European, there are easy ways to get legal protection before mass action. For people outside Europe, I don't know what you have to do. But I fear that you are much less protected than European consumers.
I hope you will also find a solution.