Dear Fanatec, Why shouldn't we... BBB complaint...?

Dear Fanatec,

I placed an order for a CSL Elite PS4 Bundle around May 7th when the availability date was May 15th which was then changed to May 22nd, with some customer service reps citing a website glitch. This morning I see that it has been further delayed to June 12. I understand that we are in trying times but you are not the only ones who have to adjust to new norms; so do your current and (assuming they receive their orders) future customers.

Understandably under these circumstances some delays are inevitable. However, this is starting to look like you are posting slightly further dates one to 2 weeks at a time so that you can continue to gather funds from the fools who are taking the writing on your website as something to rely upon, while full well knowing that these products won't be in stock for the foreseeable future. What makes this worse and absolutely atrocious is that there is absolutely no communication with anyone who has placed an order until THE CUSTOMER, goes on to your site, sees the bait-and-switch date change yet again, sends an email to Fanatec USA, and gets greeted with an auto-reply that may as well read: "Sorry sucker! Just wait until we decide you deserve an answer or until we decide you deserve the products that we've already withdrawn your account for."

Now, I ask someone at Fanatec, PLEASE, can you PLEASE, explain to all the pour souls stuck at home, some furloughed, some laid-off, others perhaps even struck with COVID-19, just waiting for an order that they may have placed months ago just so they have something to do that they are passionate about, WHY SHOULDN'T every single person who has an order that has been delayed numerous times file a Better Business Bureau complaint for deceitful business practices and bait-and-switch.

Is it because you feel like because your products are slightly superior to another brand that shall not be named here you can treat your customer like the patties that fall from horses in the middle of Central Park? Is it because you feel like because you are donating a mask for each order that somehow absolves you from any shady business practices that you may seem fit? Perhaps it's because you feel that since more of your customer comes from the EU, that the US customers aren't that important.

Or is it, "We treat our customer like they don't matter just because we can?"

-An extremely disgruntled first-time purchaser, who is considering cancelling his order and filing a BBB complaint because he has NEVER had a retail experience this poor from a company that considers itself to be one of the "best"

«13

Comments

  • Fanatec,

    I'm having the same issue with my order, I was thinking about contacting the BBB also since Fanatec took our money and have not responded and if you look at the order click warranty and they are starting the warranty process without sending you the product. I hope this is a clinch in the system. I would just like a realistic date of when to expect. Jon if we have to get together on this we can.

  • Warranty CAN'T start until delivery - they're breaking the law - but I think they just don't care. Terrible service.

  • I am new to this club. I Just ordered on the 19th of May when the date was May 22nd now it has been pushed to June 12. I have sent emails before my order and after and have yet to recieve a response.

    I also called Germany long distance today, the line was busy for 45 minutes - no ring no nothing - when i finally got through I selected the options for sales, waited on hold (I was like phew finally going to get some sort of an answer) After about a minute i was put through to a voicemail and then the line hung up.

  • What did that cost? Been thinking about calling,

  • I'm curious to see if Fanatec responds to this post or more radio-silence

  • I filed a complaint with the BBB.

  • Good for you Eric - I'll do a trading standards here in the UK - this is a farce

  • I'm so glad to see that I'm not the only one who is this P.O.'ed I'm going to wait until the end of the day. To be fair they said the 22nd so they have until midnight PST to make some sort of an effort. Afterwards I'm going to cancel my order, file a complaint, go with a T.M. set and their new LC pedals whenever they are released stateside and never look back at what could have been.

  • I called the German number (as the US number is set up to ring and go to a full voicemail so you literally cannot contact them) and it took me roughly 90 calls over the span of two days to get through to a person ONE time. The lady listened to me and basically said she couldn't help me since it was on the US warehouse and she would contact them and have them email me before the end of the day. This was her way of hurriedly getting me off the phone. I received no email and have not been contacted since that conversation.

    It cost me just over $100 in international calls to have that 1 minute conversation that led to absolutely nothing.

  • Lol... a lynch mob is brewing right on their own forums... and still silence... guess i'm stuck with my CSR for a while yet then. No way i'm ordering anything from these guys until I can see some sort of evidence that things are returning to normal.

  • why cant we have the us warehouse number and the number to the repair shop?

    i am not asking you just posting the question here , thank you for your answer on the call.

  • I’m dealing with the exact same thing. I contacted them almost every day since the 15th. I even placed my order before you. I have gotten responses but they always blame it on “technical issues” but they never do anything to fix it. I was even told by Madeleine, the sales person, that she “spoke to her supervisor about my order and they are going to send it out ideally today” and that was 3 days ago. Absolutely nothing. No updates, no tracking number, order page hasn’t changed, nothing. This is the worse online buying experience I’ve ever had. I understand that there is a pandemic going on, but I have tracked several similar complaints dated back over 2 years ago up until now. I’ve ordered other sim gear during this time and I’ve had no issues with them like I have had here. I am filing a complaint with the BBB as we speak. This is border line theft.

  • This has me worried. I bought blindly based on the confidence i was given by them being a sponsor i see on track all the time in f1 2019 and WRC - I just expected a certain level of professionalism based on the affiliation. If I hear back from them I will post here.

    Thank you for making this post Jon - think we can all keep each other updated here.

  • Canceled my CSL Elite Bundle today... refund stuck in "Clarification needed" now... so we'll see how long that takes.. IF the refund processes by Tuesday, I'll try ordering a wheelbase and pedals that both show "in stock" and just source a wheel elsewhere... if no change to refund status by the end of the day Tuesday... BBB and charge dispute with Venmo on Wednesday.


  • You should send them the proof of the cost for the calls and demand they reimburse you!

    In case anyone knows anything to the contrary, the number for Endor America LLC, the parent company to Fanatec, (323) 556-0774 says it's been disconnected.

    I'm going to be asking for a refund tonight at midnight, and if it doesn't show up by Wednesday, then filing a complaint with the BBB and opeing a PayPal dispute. Let us know if your refund gets processed.

    Fanatec, I hope you're paying attention, though at this point I doubt it... More and more people are going to stop paying a premium for your products and go another route with Logitech and Thrustmaster if this is what you keep doing to your loyal customers.

    Why am I wasting my breathe, we should just expect some more crickets *chirp chirp*

  • No problem. It seems like it;s getting out of hand and someone had to put them on blast in hopes of a decent professional response. I hope someone at Sony sees this too and goes back to Thrustmaster as the official wheel set just based on Fanatec's unprofessionalism.

  • this is the number i got in email

    Endor America LLC, 8200 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 200, Beverly Hills, CA 90211, U.S.A., telephone: +1 (866) 292-6226

  • Let my join in. I have the same issues as the O.P. They moved my date. I have paid $1,000 USD through Paypal three weeks ago and have nothing! When I purchased CSL base/wheel 5/15 preorder and V3 pedals 5/22 date. Now pedals got moved to June 4th. But warranty started at the first of May.

  • Their own T&Cs say that the warranty starts when the item ships. I can't imagine they would go back on their own T&Cs. Then again, I'm starting to have some doubt about my pre-order and about Fanatec as a company in general now.

  • Did anyone try to contact them through Endor.ag website?

  • Not a bad idea. Didn't even think about it. Although someone on here did try to contact Fanatec in Germany and after spending about $100 in international call costs were told that there was nothing they could do for them because Fanatec US is separate from Fanatec Germany.

  • I would go to the office in Beverly Hill and see if I could get answer but pretty sure all office buildings in LA are shut down. Does anyone know the address of the shipping warehouse?

  • Kind of a little sad that this is what it has come to...

  • ERIC LEERIC LE Member

    I also have the same issue with my order of the CSL Elite PS4 bundle, I ordered on may 16th expecting a shipping date close to May 22nd but that is not gonna be the case anymore. I hope that Fanatec will address all our orders soon and also hope that they can just give a straight answer and not just changing the dates on pre-orders every 1-2 weeks.

  • I can't imagine they'll be responding until at least Tuesday since Monday is Memorial Day. I guess we just hope for some sort of response on Tuesday.

  • Haven't seen their community rep Dom around for quite some time now, he used to be quite active around various Sim racing forums.

  • Yes but that is just a post about events not answering people's questions which used to happen. I thought his role was to be involved with the community and answer questions. I have never seen a reputable company throw so much shade at their customers.

  • Uno mas, no hay respuesta y engañan para que pagues por adelantado, no estoy muy contento.

  • I have replied to that post specifically... And now we wait some more...

Sign In or Register to comment.