Fanatec DD2 electrical issues and terrible support experience
Hello all,
I'm posting here to see if anyone can advise on my case and to raise awareness on Fanatec support.
I've had a DD2 for close to a year, and started to encounter electrical issues:
1) the unit was no longer able to switch off (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr-4wSy-3Ag) - I had to pull off the power cable to do so
2) sometimes when starting up, the unit was spinning full speed uncontrollably and erratically, which was very dangerous.
Now I filed a ticket with support and organized a return. I shipped the DD2 on 3/29 and had it professionally packed and protected with about $30 worth of protection.
On 4/19, they told me the unit got damaged during transport (!!!) and that they would be willing to offer a refurbished unit for 50% of the cost (so generous ...).
No response since 4/19.
For me, the level of customer service is far far below what I would expect, to the point where I told my friend building a sim rig to not go with fanatec (he got a simucube instead).
Most companies in the same situation would have sent me a new unit with a prepaid label to return the defective one directly, and support would respond under 1 or 2 business days.
Note, this is my second misadventure with their support team. When I placed my initial order in 2020, Fedex lost some of my packages (not fanatec's fault), but it took 3 months to resolve.
Comments
If it's got damaged you should contact the company who shipped it... that isn't the responsibility of Fanatec.
Now i always got a shipping label when i had to send stuff back but maybe that differs here in Europe vs the rest of the world.
This is what I was typing as well but you beat me to it.
What I don't understand, is why when someone has a problem he comes here and even if being his first post he is stating that, I told my friend to keep away and buy simcube or I will never buy another product, or raising awareness for the support of fanatec, or whatever he can think off.
Will this solve his problem? No.
Will this change anything? No.
Will support get better with one more message in the already gazillion topics or posts regarding support being below par in some cases that already exist and Fanatec has not deleted them like some other forums do ? No...
I feel terribly sorry that this happened to you, but why do you expect Fanatec to solve a problem that was caused by the freighting company, and suggest that they should offer you a free replacement? Saying that 'most companies' would do so is just a false statement, and discrediting Fanatec in public is simply unreasonable.
I'm sure that Fanatec will be willing to help you with images of the damaged product so you can take this up with the freighting company if you ask them to, but it's not their responsibility to solve it.
Surely this was a warranty repair as the base was less than year old. My understanding is that Fanatec are responsible for the return of products for warranty repair. If that's the case it's Fanatec's responsibility to sort out the damage issue withe the shipper and the OP is within his rights to be disappointed in their response. You guys jumping to attack the OP might want to consider how you would respond if you were in his shoes.
"My understanding is that Fanatec are responsible for the return of products for warranty repair."
Would be good to know whether this is true, i.e. this is written down somewhere in an official statement or document. I can imagine that for products under warranty, this may apply as the product is still 'under responsibility' of Fanatec, i.e. the fact that it had to be shipped back under warranty is Fanatec's responsibility. It does depend on the quality of packaging of course and such things.
Remco actually they are because in most of the RMA cases (at least in EU) Fanatec is creating the label to use and arranges the collection and shipping by the courier. They charge you an amount for the shipping and if they see that it is actually a faulty unit they give you the money back of the shipping and either replace or fix the faulty unit free of charge.
In his initial mail the OP said that he shipped (maybe he has done through the Fanatec's instructions and shipping company). So IF hes has done by him self and not through Fanatec then it is not Fanatecs responsibility/fault. IF it was done basis Fanatecs courier/logistic company, then Fanatec should give a solution to the customer and then they should take it up with their logistics partner.
True but i'm not sure how this is done in the US (i assume he's living in the states because of the dollars), here in Europe (or at least the times i had to send something back for RMA) i got a shipping label from Fanatec to return the goods.
If Fanatec makes the choice for the shipping company and sends you the label it makes sense they are the one who makes the claim at the company who shipped the item.
If the OP decided to choose the shipping company and insured it himself you woud imagine he would be the first person to file a claim at the shipping company, not Fanatec.
Besides above, first thing i would do is gather some evidence of the damage, let Fanatec at least send you images of the damage and the damaged packaging. Here in the Netherlands it's quite normal to not accept a shipping when it has visible damage, i refused a new vacumm cleaner a few weeks ago because the box was heavily damaged when they delivered it at my door... as soon as you take it it becomes way harder to prove it was damaged during transport.
The return policy on the US site says the following:
" If you return goods by reason of a defect within the warranty period or by reason of a shipping error, Endor AG takes over the shipping costs. Please pay attention that Endor AG can only take over the expenses for the standard shipping."
https://fanatec.com/us-en/return-policy