Customer Service / Shipment Issues - Fanatec Response Requested
Ahmad Mahr
Member
Hello,
This message is to Fanatec. It is very apparent in the community that your shipping of orders is very slow. You're sending our "orders have been processed" and orders aren't being shipped for 10 days later or more. I myself received a "my order will ship" email back on 12/11 and my order just shipped on 12/20 and will not make it by Xmas. It would have been nice to know that my 12/11 shipping order would not make Xmas. I also placed another order last Thursday which will also not make Xmas.
Can you please explain to your customers why it would take 9+ days to ship out orders that you state you have in stock? You simply slap a sticker on the box and ship it. Any reputable company operating in the United States of America is able to ship within a minimum of 2 days and good companies can ship the same day. 3 to 4 days is a super long delay and 9-11 days is just unheard of and frankly unacceptable. With that kind of backlog, why can't you hire more people especially given Xmas? Furthermore, why can't you at least send out emails notifying customers of the estimated ship date once you confirm the item is in process and will ship.
Your customers are simply hoping to receive up-to-date information and or maybe an email advising of these very long delays. Please be open with us and let us know what is going on. We're spending thousands of dollars with your company and communication has not been great. It seems as though you know you have a great product and we're just at the mercy of bad customer service. It just feels like there is 1 warehouse in CA with 1 or 2 people working there just to ship items and they show up once or twice a week to ship orders. I've just never heard of any business taking almost 2 weeks to ship in-stock product. I know there is a supply chain crisis my job is a Buyer for international parts, but at least we're given updated information so we know what's going on when there are long delays. Please fill us in Fanatec and do a better job with Customer service and updates.
If as a customer you've had issues feel free to comment below. I think Fanatec needs to do a better job respecting its American customer base.
Comments
Hello there Ahmad. I just received my Fanatec email about my order today 12/21/2021 USA. My order date is 12/17/2021 and the original receive, or ship date WAS January 10, 2021. The email i received today:
Due to the pandemic, the cargo ship from China containing your product has been delayed.
As all orders leave our warehouse only once all ordered items are in stock, this means your shipment, including any additional items you may have purchased, will be postponed until roughly February 28th, 2022.
We will try our best to get the products in stock and ship them to you as soon as possible.
If you also purchased other items in the same order, your whole shipment will be delayed until this date.
No partial delivery is possible.
We truly apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Thanks for your understanding and patience!
Kind regards,
Your Fanatec Customer Care Team
I recently ordered some Flight Sticks from VKB USA and received those in less than 2 weeks. All items were shipped from their China warehouse. I ordered them before the Thanksgiving Holiday Sale price ended and I got them delivered in less than 2 weeks. 2 separate boxes. Not sure what would make that get pushed back more than 2 months. I ordered my Next Level Racing WS 2.0 stand after the CSL DD and I should have that by tomorrow. Darn it. I'm actually sad now. sighhhhhhhhhhhhh Has it really become THAT bad?? Sheeeesh.
I wondered why some in stock Fanatec parts sell for the same price used on Ebay. Now I know why, because Ebay users will ship faster than Fanatec. With Fanatec you don't know when you'll receive your parts when you place an order. I ordered V3 Pedals and a new shifter to play over Xmas break as I'll be off for 12 straight days. I'm very sad I likely won't be seeing my equipment until I've returned to work. Oh the good time I could have had during break :-(
Well said. I am in the same boat as you, but have not received shipping confirmation yet. Warehouse processed email was sent on December 10th as well. I was content when I was notified that my September 18th order was delayed until January 3rd but the latest update got my hopes up. Hoping it ships out soon but with the holiday rush I'm not expecting to see anything until mid to late January.
Yeah, I didn't provide much detail into my fiasco but what happened was my CSL DD was listed as 1/3/22 but changed to "Processed" and shipping on 12/11. After not receiving tracking after 3 days I reached out to customer service and they stated it's still in process and tracking would be provided soon. After 2 more days I reached out again and the next person told me the order was rescheduled to ship on 1/3/22 it's original ship date, but the order status was still "processed" so I reached out again and asked if it's delayed again why does it still show processed and why didn't I receive a new email advising a mistake was made. Got no response and then all of a sudden tracking appeared yesterday. Apparently, no one knows what's going on at Fanatec and it's more of an "if it ships it ships" cross your finger and hope for the best as any info before tracking info is almost meaningless at this point.
Yikes! Sounds like a gong show. I reached out to customer service yesterday morning and was told it should "ship in a few days" but with Christmas coming up quickly, I'm thinking it will most likely ship next week. Hopefully you get your order soon.
Yeah sorry Chris man that absolutely sucks. The same thing happened to me though my other purchase was supposed to ship in September then got pushed back with days left to 2 months. I understand though because there is supply chain issues and maybe something in production got held up, but once you say something is shipping there is no excuse for it to take almost 2 weeks. They advised last second your item will get pushed back. I deal with hundreds of suppliers. Out of 100 only maybe 5 will provide advanced notice of shipment delays, 20 will tell you same day it's not shipping, 25 will tell you after it's delayed and 50 percent won't ever even mention it and you'll have to reach out to them. In general suppliers are terrible and very few have world class customer service. This is on the manufacturing side though. With consumer retail I'd have to think Fanatec is in the bottom 5-10% of suppliers.
The difficulty in reaching Fanatec to deal with issues is frustrating, and will likely result in future purchases being made elsewhere. Three packages were shipped to my address last Thursday. Two of them arrived last night. The third appears to be lost in Chino, California, approximately 30 miles from the original shipping location. Unfortunately it is the quick release, which means I am unable to use the CSL DD and wheel I purchased in October.
The only number to call is international, and operable between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m PST, which leaves email as the only viable option. It takes a minimum of three days to get a response to an email. This means that in at least three days (probably more since Christmas is coming up) I will likely get a response that Fanatec is "looking into it", and will go a even longer without being able to use my purchase. This could seemingly be resolved in less than an hour with a phone call to customer service that was open for more than two hours a day, or a chat service that wasn't a bot.
this is absolutely scary. ive never heard of a company have SUCH A BAD IMAGE when it comes to customer shipping. EVERYONE has problems with FANATEC. For a company that has logos in ACC, RaceRoom, and other major titles, its appaling that they behave this way. ive been hearing about random people getting their tracking numbers or CSL DD's!! and they are all newer orders as alot of older orders have been skipped on. how pissed would i have been if i order in Sept and some guy who ordered in Nov got his first. its all kind of funny really. dont know what to say/expect at this point.
The latter part of your email may also come down to the different markets. I believe the European market is getting much faster shipping than the American market so orders are fulfilled quicker. You can see that each region has different availability dates listed when you go to buy.
that i understand, but thats NOT been the case.
example that HAS happened; 2 People in the SAME country, one order number 1324xxxxx. Nothing. No tracking number. 2nd order number 1348xxxx. tracking number recieved.
How does that make sense to you? that, my friend, is either shady/idiotic. one or the other.
so sorry to hear bro. that is actually such bullshit. HOW HARD IS IT TO HAVE A CUSTOMER SUPPORT PHONE NUMBER?? like they are making BANK. MOST of the money that they have LOST is due to their absolute SHIT respect and care for thier customers.
Someone from Fanatec really needs to respond to our requests. This is not how you treat customers. There are multiple threads in this OFFICIAL forum that are just being ignored by Fanatec.
“Ready to ship” implies that the order will be out of their warehouse in a day or two. But more than a week is just ridiculous.
To piggyback off your Fanatec processing complaints --- I have my own rants about their shipping process ...
Fanatec shipping in the US is an absolute joke. And the big problem is 2-parts: (1) They won't ship with any carrier other than FedEx, and (2) They ship each damn component separately in its own box, each with their own tracking number. Their LOGISTICS have absolutely NO LOGIC -- they have no common sense.
FedEx is the absolute worst. ONLY because I am new to & like the Fanatec ecosystem so much -- and because they don't use authorized resellers -- do I deal with buying direct from them. My first order included 3 components (two wheels, one pedal set), split into 2 shipments. I live in CA, a measely 300 miles from the Fanatec warehouse in Southern CA. Was supposed to arrive in 2 days time. Instead, it spent 3 days making it to my hometown -- largely sitting in Bloomington and Chino CA FedEx warehouses -- then it spent 2.5 WEEKS either sitting or bouncing around FedEx warehouses in my hometown before they got delivered. Effin'joke.
My next order (a wheel, and boost kit) arrived separately, a couple days apart, but at least they were only 2 to 4 days late, not 3 weeks. (See how low the expectations are that they condition you to have?) Next order was my big one, the Podium DD, shipped rather quickly by Fanatec, and arrived close enough to on time. Then my last order (wheel, with QR, and universal hub) arrived 1 WEEK LATE. Needed all three components to get it work, and of course the universal hub package somehow found its way to another state (Colorado), sat in the Henderson CO warehouse for 4 days without any status updates, before finally finding its way back to CA.
Mind you, this kind of FUCKERY does NOT happen (at least with the same kind of frequency) with UPS or USPS. Every (in-stock) order with Fanatec induces anxiety that I might not actually get the products in my hands for up to 3 to 4 weeks, even though the distance of travel is so short that I could drive to the Fanatec warehouse in 7 hours time. Having PATIENCE is one thing; but taking time off of work multiple times just to be around to sign for & receive the products you paid for, and for them not to be delivered not only that day, but days or weeks later, is another thing. I've pleaded with Fanatec support to stop using FedEx, but they aren't listening/don't care. Once they get your payment, they couldn't care less when the product(s) you paid for get to you. I've warned that using such a terrible company such as FedEx as your carrier reflects upon you, and reflects BADLY upon you, and it ultimately represents bad customer service on Fanatec that will backfire on your business.
Just look at FedEx-sucks.net and you will see a ground swell of irate customers of FedEx, and most importantly, of people refusing to use FedEx again, but also boycotting BUSINESSES THAT USE FEDEX as their carrier ...
Take deep breaths people. Do some yoga!
Get your gear from other manufacturers. You are not restricted to just Fanatec.
It will be better for your long term well being. Trust me.
"FedEx is the absolute worst"
Amen, and on Fanatec's website it says.
I'm a yoga master already😂 I play on console (PS5 & XSX), so for better or worse, Fanatec is clearly the best option to the alternatives (Thrustmaster, Logitech, Hori) ...
Man, tell me about it. I questioned Fanatec about that contradiction on their website, and they said UPS is used OUTSIDE OF THE U.S. WTF?🤷♂️
Man I feel your pain. Sounds much worse than my story. Fanatec realizes they have us by the balls and they aren't letting them go. They do need a good distribution network, but it would cause the product to cost more. Believe me I'm so close to canceling what I have and going with the Simicube Ecosystem but I like to play consoles even though I really do want to jump on PC action. Fanatec quit playing games with us and ship our Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
The thought of being off for 11 straight days and not having my shifter and new V3 pedals pisses me off so badly. If they would just walk over to the shelf right now, slap a Fedex sticker on my shipment and put in the mail I'd have it by Tuesday next week with a full week to play on vacation. FANATEC PLEASE MAKE MY DREAMS COME TRUE AND PUT MY ITEMS IN THE MAIL. PRETTY PLEASE. I'LL SPEAK NOTHING BUT GOOD THOUGHTS MOVING FORWARD, LOL.
^^this guy has the worst advice across the forum. just ignore him.
He's not wrong, just because you don't like the advice he offered.
Actually, he isn't necessarily right, either. You sound like anti-consumer, corporate shills.
lol ok yeah, you got me, I'm a shill. How shrewd of you.
I get that you guys are frustrated, I've had my share of frustrating dealings with Fanatec too. But I don't see anything productive coming out of forum rants like this where people pile on and dump on the company. You're never going to get an official response in a thread like this. The way I see it, people largely have two options: accept the situation, frustrating as it is, and wait for their stuff to arrive. Or cancel their order and take their business somewhere else.
FYI FedEx and UPS have merged for about 1-2 years now but still continuing using both names and separate books. Heck in some locations you can even see a FedEx van delivering UPS boxes.
It is like a marriage of dumb and dumber. 🤣
😄 classic movie that was.
UPS is quite alright here in the UK. 10 days from notification of tracking number to receipt of parcel. Germany to UK.
Or are my expectations to low? I am aware that other logistics companies charge more but are they quicker? Have heard that Fedex is terrible over the pond but not experienced it myself.
I am sure Fanatec uses UPS as they may have some agreement in place, just that 1 system to get used to, in terms of timing and paperwork (do they still use paper?) and cheaper for us in terms of cost, which I do appreciate though.
Sorry but I have to disagree with you. Posting in a Forum with comments advising Fanatec that we have issues lets them know that we are unhappy. It also acts to be a review of the company to potential customers in the future, so it's bad for business if they don't respond. We're doing our part to voice our frustrations. If Fanatec doesn't respond then it's up to them and their reputation will be tarnished. As with anything a revolution or change starts with things like this. If our voices are loud enough and these small forum post make an impact on their bottom line or gets the community in an uproar, maybe people will start to cancel orders or send support emails to Fanatec and maybe they will be forced to try to resolve our issues. It may not help us but it may help others in the future. I'm not about ragging on them constantly but everyone should feel free to tell their story and voice their frustrations.
Fanatec could easily release a mass email advising the issues they have with their warehouse and let us know general timelines for in stock goods to ship. This is very easy and basic to do, but they haven't even done this. I'm sure once we receive our goods we'll be happy, But I have to say I'm pretty close to thinking of switching to another ecosystem. Trust me these long waits are causing some to go other routes.
I've never had any issues with Fedex msyelf so this is all news to me. Everything has always arrived in 2-4 days of shipment.
FedEX aren UPS are separate firms. There has been no merger. You've only seen FedEx delivering UPS parcels in a dream. :-)
An update on my side. Got tracking from Fedex this morning for next week delivery.
Ahmad is right, communication would go a long way to settle some uncertainty/confusion. Accessibility to customer service would also be helpful. I’m sure their customer service is probably swamped with emails asking for updates from a number of delayed orders, which delays responses.
"UPS is quite alright here in the UK" ...
LOL. Should you even be commenting on how things are IN THE U.S. having to deal with FEDEX then?????? Who are you to tell people to chill, when the items you pay for are delivered to you regularly in a timely manner, and you don't have to wait 3 weeks and take time off work while your packages bounce courier warehouses due to incompetence & laziness? How about you🤫
Yeah I googled that last night -- no merger that I am aware of...