Fanatec, please consider switching away from USPS
Hi Fanatec Staff,
I've recently experienced what happens when you send large, expensive orders via USPS versus sending via FedEx to Canada. The difference is night and day. Also, Suddath Global hasn't been fantastic either. Please see the timing below, and seriously consider switching away from USPS for orders to Canada.
- I ordered my V3 Inverted Pedals on August 25th, along with the optional damper and brake performance kit.
- The order took 3 days to be processed--not a big deal--but then it took multiple days for it to leave Los Angeles. The pedals didn't leave Los Angeles until September 6th. The damper didn't leave until September 9th. The brake performance kit didn't make it to Los Angeles at all. Instead, it was returned to La Mirada, California, where it sat and was not emailed.
- Once the damper was out of Los Angeles, it took four days from the time it arrived at customs to the time it arrived at my door. That's totally respectable.
- Once the pedals were out of Los Angeles, it took 11(!!!) days just for it to clear customs. In two days, it will be a month since I ordered the pedals. I doubt I will get them by then. We will see.
- A number of days after the brake performance kit was returned to Fanatec/Suddath, I reached out to the customer service email to mention it. Nobody at the facility resent the package without me getting involved. It's now en route via FexEx. It was sent on Monday and should be here before the end of the week.
As a customer who spent a significant amount of money to purchase a premium product, I shouldn't have to babysit your shipping company, shouldn't have to wait a month for a product, and shouldn't need to come on here to complain about it.
Please, treat your customers with the same respect and admiration they treat you. Switch away from USPS for the time being (until issues are sorted out at USPS) or at least give customers in Canada the choice to use FedEx or another courier for shipping at checkout.
Also, please work with Suddath to improve their operation. There's no reason I should have to get involved to tell them a product that was mislabelled/returned to them should be sent out again.
Thank you
Mark Stevenson
Comments
Hi Mark,
Thank you for taking the time to compose your thoughts, customer feedback is always welcome.
I'm sorry to hear that you experienced some delays and logistical errors with your order. While some of this can be attributed to the high demand on fulfilment services during the current global situation, clearly there are processes that can be improved.
In fact we have been reviewing a switch of courier for Canada for some time.
There are already many changes going on behind the scenes, and we are taking your suggestion of the follow-up by the warehouse as useful input and it will be part of our continuous fulfilment improvements.
[Fanatec Community Manager]
Mark, Fedex is not much better.
I just had a horrible experience shipping from California to Oregon....with Fedex!
Paolo
Dominic, it is good to hear that feedback on the current logistics arrangements is being listened to. Are you also considering offering a cheaper postage option for small low value items like cables and button caps. In Europe at least, the postage can cost more than the items - at the moment the lowest cost postage option is over €20.
My apologies everyone. I need to take my comment back as I think I figured everything out and my confusion about all FedEx emails i received is over.
if I could, I would delete my above comment.
aplogies for causing additional stir
paolo
Thank you very much for your reply. I certainly appreciate that Fanatec is re-evaluating how it ships items to Canada. As of today, I still don't have my pedals, though I'm hopeful they will arrive tomorrow.
One interesting update though: my Brake Performance Kit, which was initially shipped via USPS in August, returned, then shipped again on Monday via FedEx, arrived today. I'm happy but also angry. I feel that my pedals would have been here weeks ago if they had been initially shipped by FedEx. Or maybe it was the fires in California that caused the initial delay out of Los Angeles? I'm not sure. Either way, we will see tomorrow if the pedals arrive.
At this point, unless Fanatec makes a commitment and can demonstrate that customer service and shipping times have improved, this will likely be the first and last Fanatec order I make. Too bad, too. I'm sure the gear is excellent.
My battle with Fanatec continues, unfortunately.
My v3 Inverted pedals arrived, but there are two faults: one is the load cell, which will read 0% at about 3/4 pedal position, the other being that they cannot be flashed with new firmware. I've been told I need to send them back, but supposedly they cannot send another set in its place while I wait for my pedals to be fixed. Considering the shipping times, that means I could be without my pedals for roughly two months.
Does that sound like a recipe for great customer satisfaction?
At this point, I've requested a refund of my pedals. I'll replace them with pedals from a company that has better customer service.
Fanatec came up with a workaround to me shipping my pedals back: sending me replacement parts. Unfortunately, they sent them via USPS. I've now been waiting a couple of days shy of a month for parts. There has been no tracking update with USPS since December 24th and the package was not received by Canada Post. Fun!
It's now been over a month since Fanatec sent out repair parts. The package is in Canada but it looks like it might be addressed wrong. It has gone thousands of kilometers in the wrong direction according to Canada Post and it may be out for delivery tomorrow to the wrong address.