Fanatec Support
I've read countless posts on these forums discussing how bad Fanatec Support is, highlighting how slow they are to respond, how difficult the RMA process is, how long it takes them to resolve and return faulty products, and how often those returned products still exhibit problems.
So I thought I'd add to the discussion and share my own experience.
Last Tuesday evening I climbed into my sim-racing rig and fired up Gran Turismo 7. I instantly found that my brake was stuck at 100%. I eventually managed to get the brake disengaged but it kept either sticking or not responding to any inputs at all. The same behaviour occurred in other games like ACC and via the Fanatec control panel.
I raised a support ticket with Fanatec late last Tuesday night and first thing Wednesday morning I had a reply. I was asked to uninstall the drivers, do a clean install and reflash the firmware on my Fanatec gear. That just resulted in the load cell brake pedal not working at all.
Fanatec Support then started the RMA process and I was asked to package up the load cell brake pedal and let the RMA team know when I'd like a collection arranged. On Thursday morning DPD collected my load cell pedal.
Today, less than a week after the problem presented, I received my repaired load cell pedal back from the Fanatec repair centre. I've since tested it and it's working perfectly now. I haven't bolted it back onto my rig, since my CSL Elite v2 pedals are arriving tomorrow 😁
I've spent a great many years reviewing tech products and working with the companies that build them. I've always said that you can't judge a company's customer service until something goes wrong. I don't expect products to never go wrong, and when they do, that's when you find out how much they care and look after their customers.
In the case of my experience with Fanatec Support, I honestly can't think of a single part of the process that could have been done better. I had my faulty product diagnosed, repaired and returned to me within a week. And while it's human nature to always complain when the train is late, but never talk about when it's on time, I felt that amidst all the horror stories about Fanatec support, I should highlight my experience, even though it should - and hopefully is - the norm rather than the exception.
Now I just need to find someone who's looking to buy a set of CSL pedals with load cell brake 😂
Comments
As I mentioned before, I have this problem and tried several ways to solve it. Both the Fanatec solutions when it puts firmware 0, or trying to reload previous drivers, I can't update... The fan turns at maximum power but it never updates if the rest does. I sent a ticket to fanatec, but they don't give me a confirmation response as the e-mail has arrived or anything. I have the dd1 base under warranty.
It's been more than 2 years since I sent the ticket, and they don't answer me in any way
That's not good at all. Is it a regional thing perhaps?
I'm in the UK, and as I said, I couldn't have asked for a smoother process. I think the main Fanatec support is based in Germany, but I had to return my pedals to a UK repair centre, which probably made the process a lot faster than having to ship back to HQ.
Although if you're not actually getting to the RMA point, then I guess local repair centres wouldn't come into play 🤔
I’m having major issues with Fanatec support, weeks and weeks of email conversations, no appetite for them to call their customers and products being damaged when sent into their support hub.
To make matters worse they impose a 2 hour window for telephone support which clearly is understaffed as all you ever get sorry there is no one to help please fill in a web form
injust cannot understand how a company can function with a support model like this
They don't deserve the name support. I send my base for repair the clunky noise, after 5 weeks I got it back and now, the base don't work at all. Open a new ticket and set a deadline for solving the issue. No response from fanatec at all.
This company is digging their grave.
And these are all the horror stories I've been reading about on here for ages, hence my concern when my load cell pedal started malfunctioning. But then I got swift replies and RMA process, and my faulty product returned and working perfectly in less than a week.
None of that makes the lack of support that some customers have received any less of an issue, but I figured it was only fair to highlight that my own experience was one that met, if not exceded expectations.
so far I have 4 support issues (dont want to get into all the details) total, 3 DD2, 1 shifter related, I think the response has been fair so far, until I get my spare brand new DD2 and shifter back from repair and working they could be upgraded to good. My work around for down time is to have back ups for everything. so far i have two DD2 and two shifters. i know most people probably can't afford to do that, fortunately for me lack of money is not one of my many problems :)
AND when these thing are working I absolutely love them
It seems to me that you are not getting much solidarity or advice here.
I think the problem is communication. What you write is not offensive, there are no poor people here, is it just ... stupid?
I'm sorry if I offended you, but I did. I truly believe you would get help solving your problems by changing the way you communicate.
I was just expressing my expierence with fanatec support, and I don't care what you think.