Thank you for addressing the community! We spoke briefly via PM and thank you for addressing people's concerns as best you can. I think we all realize that it's not your job to take care of sales / customer service and the effort is appreciated. That being said I think the office needs to know about this so it can be addressed by the people who's responsibility it is.
It seems they are overwhelmed and likely need help (management give them help) the only other logical explanation is that they are incompetent and I'd like to believe they are good people just overwhelmed. We are all adjusting to this new crazy norm, We are going on 3 months now though. Adjust the amount of sales being taken, marketing is pushing harder than ever it seems. Maybe some of those people should be temporarily repurposed to service the customers? Service the customers you have, hire a CSR. A 2 line email would go extremely far in terms of customer retention and satisfaction it would seem.
People are concerned they are not receiving any communication not because they have to wait. You have control of this. We don't.
I cancelled my original order yesterday (CSL Elite ps4 bundle - due to uncertainty if I was going to have to wait until june12 maybe longer? from the may 22 preorder date) around noon est and woke up to an email today from paypal stating the refund was processed.
I also reordered 3 products all listed in stock, so we will see if there is any difference in the service. I'm hoping this goes better.
Just after my last post I received an email from Sales letting me know the products in my current order were in fact in stock and were in the process of being executed. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but the order has changed from "processing" to "processed"
Shortly after that I received another email stating my products will be shipped soon, which I think is automated letting me know my order is now "warehouse processing" and that is being prepared for shipping.
If this in fact true the previous issue seems to be just an problem with supply (on the preorder items, seems like they are being delayed) and way it's being dealt with, which could be easily remedied by just letting people know about delays and relaying that information.
Thanks for your update Tyler, that sounds like good news. Please do keep us updated. It sounds as if existing orders placed when products were 'out of stock' have got stuck and new orders are taking precedence and being shipped immediately. Not ideal!
Dom also sent me a PM after he reached out to Timmy in Sales asking him to address my concerns this morning.
I'm still yet to receive an update but I hope to get a response before close of play today.
I reached out to Dom yesterday and have not heard back from him. Like I stated in my previous post, I placed an order on April 29th for the CSL Elite racing wheel and the CSL Elite Pedals LC. The CSL Elite racing wheel was on preorder with availability of May 15th when I placed the order. That has now been pushed out to June 12th. At the time of my purchase and up until today, the pedals had been available. Today, the pedals are showing Availability of July 10th. I have asked Dom for an update on my order (sent him my order #) AND if they are holding a set of pedals for my order WHICH I PAID FOR. If Fanatec sold MY PEDALS THAT WERE PAID FOR BY ME to someone that subsequently only ordered items that were in stock that is FRAUD! You cannot sell 1 set of pedals to 2 customers!! I NEED AN EXPLANATION ASAP!
I want to be clear as I may have confused some of you. I ordered 3 products instead of a bundle. I ordered a standalone wheel base, basic csl pedals (not loadcell) and a porsche 918 wheel rim.
All of which state in stock. I'm assuming the ps4 wheel rim is whats out of stock, the loadcell pedals show out of stock for me when I look at the site. I would have ordered those but they stated they are preorder and I've learned my lesson going that route.
My initial order for wheelbase, V3 pedals and formula V2 rim showed V3 pedals and wheelbase out of stock. I can only assume Fanatec collect and store orders as they come in on a first come first serve basis. It seems the pedals and base are now in for my order but wheel rim now out (although showing as in on webshop). It's terribly confusing. I'm sure deliveries will happen but the question is of course when and how are orders prioritised.
Also, some companies (simlabs, etc) are not accepting orders until the back log is cleared and new stock arrives. I feel this is a better (although equally frustrating) way of placing orders as the buyer can hold off and not be held hostage by excessive and confusing lead times. If one cancels an order, I assume he/she is dumped to the back of a queue when reordering.
After speaking with Dom (his help is very much appreciated) I finally received and email from the sales team telling me that my bank transfer had been received and allocated to my order number.
The order remains ‘in process’ (CSL Elite Bundle, PS4) with the availability date showing as 29th May. The website is showing the same bundle as ‘Available Immediately’ so it appears orders placed prior to new stock coming available are not brought forward to ship immediately.
I’m buying from the EU site, UK based. Would be interested to know if anyone has bought the same bundle in the last 5 days since it was updated to be available... if so, has your order been processed or shipped?
Dom is the guy to contact. I was concerned that the pedals I ordered would not be available when the wheel becomes available. He confirmed my complete order will be shipping on or before June 12. Later than originally expected but at least there was finally some communication. Now I just gotta wait and hope there are no more delays.
I had an update from Sales today telling me that my order should ship tomorrow (in line with the preorder date that was displaying when I made the purchase)
I’m fine with that although it’s slightly confusing that the website says “available now” but existing orders are not brought forward to ship sooner.
My main gripe was that I sent my payment via Bank Transfer on 19th and only received any assurance that it had been received 9 days later after speaking to Dom on here who escalated it for me.
Hopefully I’ll be able to update tomorrow with a shipping confirmation!
I got a respnse from Dom and he lemme know that the date for my order for the CSL Elite pS4 bundle shouldn;t be delayed again and that June 12th is a reliable date. Can't wait!
what did you order? Im waiting on a shifter that I "preordered" in april for may 8th and then it was kicked back to june 5th and now july 3rd. Anyone have suggestions on other shifters that I could look into?
It's now shipped and I have confirmation from UPS, it should arrive by the end of the week. Note I am in the UK so my products were shipped from the EU warehouse, it appears there is more stock there than in the US.
Key feedback from my experience to Fanatec is that better communication would mitigate the need for most people to be posting here. Reading through the threads 90% are from people just wanting to understand their order status/payment status. A couple of one liner emails within a reasonable time frame would certainly go a long way toward putting minds at ease!
I hope all of you get hold of your products as soon as possible!
Their payment system doesn’t even work for ANY listed form of payment. Yet they actively are marketing a product. The CEO said they are short handed yet can still pay people to market for them??
Even tho i purchased items from Fanatec Before with no Problems ...years ago .
So i decided to buy a new steering wheel, The formula V2. went to their website ..ordered and paid for the Formula V2 .....Took about a 1 week a Half to get the package. Well the wheel that i got from them was the same one i ordered years ago ..the formula carbon and not the Formula V2 that i was suppost to get ....
Trying to get in touch with them now its almost impossible. ive tried both US and Germany phone numbers and even tho a robot asnwer the phone saying they have tech support and customer service , its just for show. have not receive any email back from them explaning why the mistake or how they will resolve the Problem .
This has been so far one of the worst experiences with a company when ordering a product . i already posted a complain with the BBB and documenting and keeping track of all my phone calls attempts and emails because i know this is not going to get resolved . so look elsewhere if you need any product when it comes to sim racing .
I have same problem payments by PayPal etc Fanatec says not working so used their recommended prepayment bank transfer then they say they don't have it and their Nazi bank Ober bank won't communicate either. Fanatec bunch of shysters and crooks
Comments
Dom,
Thank you for addressing the community! We spoke briefly via PM and thank you for addressing people's concerns as best you can. I think we all realize that it's not your job to take care of sales / customer service and the effort is appreciated. That being said I think the office needs to know about this so it can be addressed by the people who's responsibility it is.
It seems they are overwhelmed and likely need help (management give them help) the only other logical explanation is that they are incompetent and I'd like to believe they are good people just overwhelmed. We are all adjusting to this new crazy norm, We are going on 3 months now though. Adjust the amount of sales being taken, marketing is pushing harder than ever it seems. Maybe some of those people should be temporarily repurposed to service the customers? Service the customers you have, hire a CSR. A 2 line email would go extremely far in terms of customer retention and satisfaction it would seem.
People are concerned they are not receiving any communication not because they have to wait. You have control of this. We don't.
I cancelled my original order yesterday (CSL Elite ps4 bundle - due to uncertainty if I was going to have to wait until june12 maybe longer? from the may 22 preorder date) around noon est and woke up to an email today from paypal stating the refund was processed.
I also reordered 3 products all listed in stock, so we will see if there is any difference in the service. I'm hoping this goes better.
UPDATE
Just after my last post I received an email from Sales letting me know the products in my current order were in fact in stock and were in the process of being executed. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but the order has changed from "processing" to "processed"
Shortly after that I received another email stating my products will be shipped soon, which I think is automated letting me know my order is now "warehouse processing" and that is being prepared for shipping.
If this in fact true the previous issue seems to be just an problem with supply (on the preorder items, seems like they are being delayed) and way it's being dealt with, which could be easily remedied by just letting people know about delays and relaying that information.
-Tyler
Thanks for your update Tyler, that sounds like good news. Please do keep us updated. It sounds as if existing orders placed when products were 'out of stock' have got stuck and new orders are taking precedence and being shipped immediately. Not ideal!
Dom also sent me a PM after he reached out to Timmy in Sales asking him to address my concerns this morning.
I'm still yet to receive an update but I hope to get a response before close of play today.
Since you directly addressed me; Thank you very much. Working in customer service a message of appreciation means a lot.
I reached out to Dom yesterday and have not heard back from him. Like I stated in my previous post, I placed an order on April 29th for the CSL Elite racing wheel and the CSL Elite Pedals LC. The CSL Elite racing wheel was on preorder with availability of May 15th when I placed the order. That has now been pushed out to June 12th. At the time of my purchase and up until today, the pedals had been available. Today, the pedals are showing Availability of July 10th. I have asked Dom for an update on my order (sent him my order #) AND if they are holding a set of pedals for my order WHICH I PAID FOR. If Fanatec sold MY PEDALS THAT WERE PAID FOR BY ME to someone that subsequently only ordered items that were in stock that is FRAUD! You cannot sell 1 set of pedals to 2 customers!! I NEED AN EXPLANATION ASAP!
I want to be clear as I may have confused some of you. I ordered 3 products instead of a bundle. I ordered a standalone wheel base, basic csl pedals (not loadcell) and a porsche 918 wheel rim.
All of which state in stock. I'm assuming the ps4 wheel rim is whats out of stock, the loadcell pedals show out of stock for me when I look at the site. I would have ordered those but they stated they are preorder and I've learned my lesson going that route.
My initial order for wheelbase, V3 pedals and formula V2 rim showed V3 pedals and wheelbase out of stock. I can only assume Fanatec collect and store orders as they come in on a first come first serve basis. It seems the pedals and base are now in for my order but wheel rim now out (although showing as in on webshop). It's terribly confusing. I'm sure deliveries will happen but the question is of course when and how are orders prioritised.
Also, some companies (simlabs, etc) are not accepting orders until the back log is cleared and new stock arrives. I feel this is a better (although equally frustrating) way of placing orders as the buyer can hold off and not be held hostage by excessive and confusing lead times. If one cancels an order, I assume he/she is dumped to the back of a queue when reordering.
Quick update regarding my order.
After speaking with Dom (his help is very much appreciated) I finally received and email from the sales team telling me that my bank transfer had been received and allocated to my order number.
The order remains ‘in process’ (CSL Elite Bundle, PS4) with the availability date showing as 29th May. The website is showing the same bundle as ‘Available Immediately’ so it appears orders placed prior to new stock coming available are not brought forward to ship immediately.
I’m buying from the EU site, UK based. Would be interested to know if anyone has bought the same bundle in the last 5 days since it was updated to be available... if so, has your order been processed or shipped?
I couldn't help but notic that Dom seems to be the guy to talk to. I sent him a msg and hoping I get some good news fro him soon...!
Dom is the guy to contact. I was concerned that the pedals I ordered would not be available when the wheel becomes available. He confirmed my complete order will be shipping on or before June 12. Later than originally expected but at least there was finally some communication. Now I just gotta wait and hope there are no more delays.
I had an update from Sales today telling me that my order should ship tomorrow (in line with the preorder date that was displaying when I made the purchase)
I’m fine with that although it’s slightly confusing that the website says “available now” but existing orders are not brought forward to ship sooner.
My main gripe was that I sent my payment via Bank Transfer on 19th and only received any assurance that it had been received 9 days later after speaking to Dom on here who escalated it for me.
Hopefully I’ll be able to update tomorrow with a shipping confirmation!
I got a respnse from Dom and he lemme know that the date for my order for the CSL Elite pS4 bundle shouldn;t be delayed again and that June 12th is a reliable date. Can't wait!
Update on my end - I received an email from the warehouse with tracking numbers. The shipping labels have been created so that's good.
Seems the issues are just with the preorder stuff and lack of info.
My stuff is on the way - hope everyone is well.
what did you order? Im waiting on a shifter that I "preordered" in april for may 8th and then it was kicked back to june 5th and now july 3rd. Anyone have suggestions on other shifters that I could look into?
I have the same problem. They are constantly postponing the availability date.
Hi Adam, I ordered the CSL Elite Bundle.
It's now shipped and I have confirmation from UPS, it should arrive by the end of the week. Note I am in the UK so my products were shipped from the EU warehouse, it appears there is more stock there than in the US.
Key feedback from my experience to Fanatec is that better communication would mitigate the need for most people to be posting here. Reading through the threads 90% are from people just wanting to understand their order status/payment status. A couple of one liner emails within a reasonable time frame would certainly go a long way toward putting minds at ease!
I hope all of you get hold of your products as soon as possible!
Their payment system doesn’t even work for ANY listed form of payment. Yet they actively are marketing a product. The CEO said they are short handed yet can still pay people to market for them??
Customer services are appalling
Even tho i purchased items from Fanatec Before with no Problems ...years ago .
So i decided to buy a new steering wheel, The formula V2. went to their website ..ordered and paid for the Formula V2 .....Took about a 1 week a Half to get the package. Well the wheel that i got from them was the same one i ordered years ago ..the formula carbon and not the Formula V2 that i was suppost to get ....
Trying to get in touch with them now its almost impossible. ive tried both US and Germany phone numbers and even tho a robot asnwer the phone saying they have tech support and customer service , its just for show. have not receive any email back from them explaning why the mistake or how they will resolve the Problem .
This has been so far one of the worst experiences with a company when ordering a product . i already posted a complain with the BBB and documenting and keeping track of all my phone calls attempts and emails because i know this is not going to get resolved . so look elsewhere if you need any product when it comes to sim racing .
I have same problem payments by PayPal etc Fanatec says not working so used their recommended prepayment bank transfer then they say they don't have it and their Nazi bank Ober bank won't communicate either. Fanatec bunch of shysters and crooks